Swift justice
GGPoker has made a quick decision on how it will handle the players involved in a real-time assistance cheating incident during the final table of the $10,000 GGMillion$. On Wednesday, a week after the situation occurred, GGPoker announced that “RealOA,” the player who won the tournament, is permanently banned from GGPoker, the World Series of Poker, and all partner platforms. Ren Lin, the player who provided assistance to RealOA, has been “indefinitely suspended from the same.
“Real-time assistance through private communication channels remains challenging to prevent, but GGPoker’s detection and investigation capabilities will continuously improve,” said GGPoker in its announcement of the penalties. “Competitive poker depends on trust and equal conditions. We will not allow anyone to undermine that foundation.”
In addition, GGPoker has taken the $250,523 remaining in RealOA’s account to redistribute to the other players in the tournament. Lin voluntarily contributed $96,380 to cover the gap between the quarter million and the prize money RealOA won in the event.
Commiserating over live hand
The transgression became known to the public when Lin was disqualified from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Super Circuit Cyprus Main Event at the beginning of Day 2. It was announced on the live stream that it was because of cheating on GGPoker and Merit Poker posted on social media that Lin had violated GGPoker’s Poker Integrity Policy, but beyond that, it was not known what Lin did.
Then it all came out. The third place finisher in the GGMillion$ event, “Buzzcut,” went public was accusations that RealOA got help from Lin while competing at the final table. RealOA, he said, shared his screen with other players to get assistance; one of those players was Lin.
Buzzcut provided screenshots of group texts messages involving himself, RealOA, and Lin, among others, in which RealOA thanked Lin “for the coaching.” Lin also texted Buzzcut apologizing for what he did.
Lin apologizes
The main reason that Lin got off with a lesser punishment – “indefinite” could be a long time, but it is not necessarily permanent – was because he published an apology and explanation of what happened and contributed his own money to make RealOA’s opponents whole.
Lin said that during a break in a live tournament at Merit Cyprus, RealOA invited him to an online meeting. It was a screen-share of the final table, and RealOA asked for advice on a hand.
“I responded instinctively,” Lin explained, “offering my personal advice simply out of a desire to help a friend.”
He added that at the time, he didn’t process the significance of what he was doing, thinking it was same as helping someone analyze a hand after a tournament. Lin said he received no compensation and later realized what he had done.
“As a public figure, I am deeply ashamed and remorseful for failing to live up to the standards I advocate,” Lin wrote. “I am prepared to accept all penalties and will make every effort to compensate the players affected in this event.”
Image credit: World Poker Tour
