GGPoker has been in the news for months now as the online poker platform has grown to massive proportions. The network has worked with WSOP and other brands to bring quality online poker content to players located around the world. However, the network is part of a controversy that they have now spoken out about. Poker player Tobias Duthweiler alleged that GGPoker confiscated $180,000 in his account and shut it down for the wrong reasons. GGPoker is now speaking out about the matter.
What’s the Deal?
When the issue first came to light, poker players were defending as well as accusing Duthweiler based on the GGPoker incident. Poker pro Fedor Holz, a GGPoker Ambassador, decided to eventually speak out on the matter.
So let’s start from the beginning. The controversy started on August 5 when Stuart Rutter took to Twitter to talk cash players being banned for life. He said they were banned for winning too much and asked why the poker world was not more angry about this.
Other poker players spoke out in the same manner, while Bryn Kenney, another GGPoker Ambassador, defended GGPoker’s right to run their business as they like. Fast-forward about a week and Duthweiler took to the TwoPlusTwo forum to say he was an affected player. He said his full balance of around $180,000 was confiscated by the brand.
The poker player stated he created an account on Natural8 in 2016, a skin of the GGNetwork. He played for a week or two and won $5,000 before the network told him to take his money and not play on the network anymore.
Duthweilder was told that if he played there again, the network would begin security protocol. He asked for a clear statement as to what they meant or what he did wrong. He was later told by Natural8 that he did not satisfy the poker ecology requirements of the network.
Three years later, Duthweiler crated an account on Bestpoker, another skin of the GGNetwork. He played at higher limits and moved on to Betkings once Bestpoker took down their high stakes tables. He then moved on to GGPoker when the skins merged.
The poker player said he did not know that GGPoker and Natural8 were on the same network. He verified his account at GGPoker and then deposited $50,000. He started playing and losing. However, he eventually turned $30,000 into $180,000 in less than two weeks.
Duthweiler eventually found his account locked when GGPoker started requiring a real name policy at the high stakes tables.
The Reaction
After hearing this story, some felt that Duthweiler was in the wrong because he joined GGPoker and it was connected to a network where he was banned. However, others called the action by the online poker room theft and crazy.
When Fedor Holz responded to the situation, he basically said that Duthweiler was warned that he should not play on the GGNetwork again from Natural8. The standard procedure after such a warning by GG is to confiscate funds. This is done to disincentivize players who have been banned from returning again.
Apparently, when the GGPoker account was created, it was not flagged immediately due to the information that was used did not match the Natural8 account. It was not flagged until an internal check was conducted.
Holz stated further that the money was distributed among the players Duthweiler won from. Because the timeframe was longer between signup and when the site detected the issue, a refund of $50,000 was given to the player.
