Brian Townsend Stripped of Full Tilt Poker Pro Status
Written by RogerCP | Monday, December 28th, 2009
Brian Townsend, member of Full Tilt Poker’s prestigious Red Pro team was stripped of his membership for a month, following accusations of data mining.
The bizarre case began after Townsend, together with two other pros Brian Hastings and Cole South, played a series of sessions against the mysterious Swede Isildur1 in a bid to win some of the money back that he has systematically won at high stakes play.
In a particularly successful game, Brian Hastings walked away with $4 million belonging to Isildur1, causing many to wonder whether the anonymous player had finally been brought to his knees.
When interviewed about the poker session, Hastings innocently admitted to what many have come to construe as data mining. “Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here,” he said. “I mean, Brian is honestly the hardest worker I know in poker. He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots. In a way, I feel bad that it wasn’t Brian who got this win instead of me. Obviously I’m happy and I’ll take it, but Brian did a ton of work. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I’m very thankful to him and to Cole as well.”
This admission immediately came to the attention of Full Tilt Poker, which double checked its terms and conditions that state quite clearly that “Shared hand history databases and “data mining” software, including subscription services and the exchange of personal databases: The use of shared hand histories provides detailed information on opponents a player has little or no personal experience playing against, and is deemed to be an unfair advantage. Violating this policy is subject to the maximum penalties for prohibited software use.”
Later in the week, Full Tilt Poker issued a statement saying that while South and Hastings would not be penalized, Townsend “was found in violation of our rules regarding data mining” and would be stripped of his status as a Full Tilt Pro for a period of one month.
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· Written by RogerCP · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
