Nov 03
Michael Connelly and the “resolution” of Brian Townsend thing
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (my favorite author) just hit the shelves. I have read all of his books and had preordered this one. His novels are always so great because they are fast paced mysteries with interesting, complex heroes and multiple layers of endings that always leave the reader deeply satisfied. The Brass Verdict was no exception. I started reading it at 1 am one night, planning to go to bed by 2. I was still reading it at 9 am when i sleepily dropped it down and went to bed happy and finished. If you are into mysteries and thrillers I highly recommend starting Michael Connelly at the beginning with The Black Echo and going all the way through.
The first line of the novel goes “Everybody lies. Cops lie. Lawyers lie. Witnesses lie. The victims lie.” This leads nicely into what I have to say about the Brian Townsend/stellarnebula mess (see my blog below for the story to date). A representative from Full tilt called me up to discuss the situation with me. The fact that they called me as opposed to emailing was odd to begin with, I assume it’s so they could more fully deal with the problem, though a cynic may say it’s so I don’t have any of their response in writing. I spoke with the guy for about 45 minutes and he made it clear that while he totally agrees with almost every point I made about why Townsend’s actions were unaccpetable and effectively stole EV (and therefore money) from his opponents, full tilt simply will not reimburse people that are the “victims” of multi accouting. He made no real effort to explain why the site’s pros aren’t held to higher standards andhe kept insisting that Townsend did receive a major penalty by losing his pro status for 6 months. When I explained that while I understood it hurts him, it doenst help anyone who had a long history with him who would have played him differently or not at all in the very high stakes nosebleed cash games had they known the truth. He acted understanding but in the end Full Tilt clearly will take no action and this is unacceptable to me. I could go on forever about this, but the fact is there is limited competition of big good sites and I need to play on Full Tilt so in the end there is not much I can do about it.
With that said, I can write here exactly how this makes me feel about Townsend, a player who I respected who had even blogged about having good games with me back when he played on his real account. He was someone who pretty much has been given everything in life. He comes from (what I’ve heard) is an extremely wealthy family, he made more than pretty much anyone for a long stretch playing online poker and received countless endorsements and opportunities as a result, including coveted deals with Cardrunners and Full Tilt Poker. All of this was not enough for him and he felt the need to play on a secret name because he claims he “enjoys anonymity”. In an online poker era where JJprodigy and his associates are constantly getting busted, where Zeejustin was branded a cheater and an outcast for several years due to multiaccounting, where mrcasino was just permanently banned from stars for playing on a different account solely because his real account was banned for 3 months, Townsend really has absolutely no excuse. He did not play on stellarnebula because he “enjoys anonymity”. I find that statement so highly offensive and insulting to the intelligence of all his readers. He did not do it because it was his only way to play or any other semi-legit reason. He did it for one reason and one reason alone. He knows in the long run he will win more money that way, it was greed, pure and simple and the fact that he doenst have to pay for it is a huge black eye for online poker. All of these others have been severely punished and their reputations have been ruined for what are in my view far more minor transgressions than what Townsend did to high stakes heads up players like me.
It bares repeating that this guy was/is one of the most highly respected and successful poker players in the world. He had NO NEED WHATSOEVER to lie and cheat, yet he pays no monetary price aside from losing some opportunity cost (his pro status for 6 months), and the site that employs him refuses to provide a remedy. I don’t understand how every single person that lost money to stellarnebula (or even won money from him) isn’t totally outraged.
In the end though, as Connelly aptly points out, everybody lies. His reputation, his well to do background and the respect others have for him did not stop him from lying to and stealing from other players. When I first got into poker I read a book called Poker Nation and I remember there being a line about how a poker room was filled with liars, theives, dupes and morons and the deeper I get into it the more I learn it’s true. I have often been flamed for not being more a part of “the poker community” but the fact is that if people like Townsend are at the core of that community (he was a twoplustwo hero for ages), I want no part in it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
What Brian Townsend did is not only cheating but shows the nature of his capabilities. Maybe his entire success is a sham. Maybe he used other ways to cheat as well, such as collusion or even using 2 accounts at the same time in the same game. Not only should you be refunded every penny, Brian should lose his status period and let it be known to all that this guy so called accomplishments are deeply in question. In poker and in life people do bad things. If there was a poker prison, imo he’d surely serve some time.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
I’m surprised you haven’t written a post about the Phillies. I agree with you 100% but in this highly competitive market do you really expect them to admit that someone whose representing them as a company is guilty of fraud? Unfortunately these guys have no shareholders to answer to nor as a player do you have any recourse, besides stopping to play on their site. The best solution to the problem would be busting their top players in the last # of hands and withdrawing the money, lol. GL, hope BS is going well.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
As for Full Tilt, You said it yourself, Everyone lies and as far as I know Fulltilt is run by poker players. I’m sure they have all taken some short cuts in thier lives.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Steve,
Just out of sheer curiosity here.. Have you ever held more than one account on ANY poker site, or have you ever played on someone else’s account?
It’s evident from your email that your pissed off and feel hard done by, many poker pros have different accounts some have come clean and owned up others have been caught, just interested to see if you practice what you preach ?
Look forward to the reply
Regards
McWin
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
wowowow
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
In response to McWin, I have never owned multiple accounts, I am stevesbets across all sites I play on (which isn’t even necessary to use the same name across sites). I haven’t played on a single account but my own for a long long time and if I ever did play on other accounts it was NOT to gain edge, it was due to technical reasons and almost always the sites and my opponents were aware of it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Poker used to be about getting your money in with the best hand. With the advancement in software and certain players like sally woo and roblp amongst others, they are no longer playing fair and sqare poker. Is it unconceivable that they online edge or better yet the poker edge has drastically went down. Why will certain players never ever, ever, ever play a ring game and only play hu str8 high games. Gimme a break. It’s fun to go on rushes online and its nice to run the money up but if Full Tilt wont take a simple responsibily for an obvious and Blatent disregard for the rules they put in play by one of thier own, then who knows what else they are conviently overlooking.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
maybe it’s because full tilt decided it would be less -EV to not pay back steve and others saving some amount of money but revealing that full tilt pros are NOT held to the same standard as all players and everything that entails than to refund a possibly embarrassingly high number but then also being known as a site that protects the customers from cheating and fraud 100%
(longest sentence ever)
if you were running the company and were faced with the same decision we all might make the same decision
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
You are delusional. This coming from a person who you swapped a percentage with (Genius28) and said that eventhough he was a mortal enemy you paid him anyway. Lol. You are some saint. And while not widely publicized, you past of owing/not paying people on time is a joke. Glass houses.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Normally I would just delete a negative, false comment like the one above, but it’s so incoherent that I figure I’ll respond and let everyone see how dumb some commenter’s are. I swapped 10% of my big tournament win with Genius28 and paid him his 56k without a single word of reminder or thanks from him on the very night the tournament ended. How does this make me delusional or unethical? And as for owing/not paying people, there is not a single shred of truth to that statement and anyone I have ever dealt with in any way would tell you that. From now on I won’t dignify such comments with a response but I felt like tilting so what the heck.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
In the age of young internet sensations, millions have dollars have been won, it’s hard to seperate the good from the bad. In my opinion almost nobody in poker is above the code. I believe most poker players to be scumbags and self preserving peices of garbage like Brian Townsend. I never read blogs and I am a well respected high limit player. I will keep my identy unknown for the following statements. All the big name poker players that are getting idolized are just as bad as SBRUGY if not worse. I have personal shared peices with some of the games legends in cash games many years ago. Now case in point, If they would cheat for a little it makes dam good sense they would cheat for alot. Full Tilt’s irresponible actions are a true testimont of what we deal with in poker. Sure its nice to believe people have honor but the reality is 99% of the peopel out there don’t. False reputations are given for both good and bad people. I say screw em all. I hope the U.S. takes over online poker and closes all the sites. That way if someone hacks or multi accounts or has a super user, the penalty would not only be monatary, it would be punishable to the full extent of the law. Rather then handled for what’s best for a favored individual.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Hi,
I live in the UK and just bought a copy of our well respected
magazine ‘Inside Poker’ of which one Brian Townsend is on the
cover and featured in a four page article which contains the
following quote written by editor Alun Bowden:
“In reality Townsend’s offence was pretty minor, and
something replicated by many of the big online pros in the
past. His crime was more one of vanity than one of collusion
or angle shooting.”
I find well resepcted magazines printing this crap to be
frankly disgusting. They are almost exonorating him. I have
just sent a letter to them basically saying I and many others
completely disagree with this and urge others to do so. The
only way to stop others blatantly breaking the rules is to
see adequate punishments dished out to high profile rule
breakers. The email address for ‘Inside Poker’ is
editor@insidepokermag.co.uk
November 6th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Ive gotten comment after comment making things up about me, impeaching my integrity and spewing falsehoods that I refuse to post. I have NEVER EVER played on multiple accounts to hide my identity, I have never ever used multiple accounts on a site during one time period, and to this day for over a year I have been exclusively stevesbets across all sites. So no more dumb comments please, focus on the problem, not silly allegations.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
how much money in expected value would you estimate that Townsend’s trickery has cost you?
November 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I don’t see the major problem here. Is it really that big a deal?? I play against ppl all day who i don’t know. If, after some time, i realise that they have an edge i’ll quit. If i feel i have an edge, i’ll keep playing. End of.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Townsend is a sponsored player of the website, and sponsored players must be held to a higher standard. He is a representative of the site and his actions represent the integrity of the site itself. Demand full disclosure Steve!
Did Townsend follow sponsored players protocol when he played as stellarnebula (and others)? Has the site published his suspension on the site and explain why?
Who are the names on the various bank accounts involved with Townsend’s masking, and to whom (and when) has Townsend made large transfers.
Make your dispute part of the public record. And encourage journalists to write about his actions from your, the known players, point of view. Let’s encourage Pokersites to offer players fraud/theft insurance to high stakes players. The big games should have a higher standard.
I agree with you Mr. stevebets, but please help me understand further… Did Townsend play with these masked players at the same table or tournaments? What about masking ones identity is cheating? Please clarify what does coach “ghosting” offer? Did you keep the game logs of the games inquisition? Do you use players play logs in your assessment of action? What tools (programs) do you use in this assessment? What is the most telling metric(s) of H2H NLHE?
Thank You, I don’t have $800/hr but please please Email me the last 4 questions. Continue to be great!
December 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Had to comment because Connelly is also a favorite of mine. I’ve gone to many of his signings and he’s really a great guy in person. It’s very interesting when he tells the story about taking art history in college and then naming his famous character Harry Bosch after a famous artist. He’s very good friends with another author, George Pelecanos, and they often do signings together. I’m sure if you’re a fan of Connelly, then you’ve read Pelecanos as well.
As for reality TV, you didn’t mention Amazing Race which is a must for reality TV watchers….not to mention the Real Housewives of Atlanta which is a must see. lol