ShareJustin Bonomo has joined the chorus of players unhappy with the amount of alleged cheating in the high-stakes community. Alex Foxen recently outed Ali Imsirovic as an alleged prolific cheater who has been banned from GGPoker for multi-accounting, and the use of real-time assistance.
Suspicions of recently peeking at Paul Phua’s cards in a high-stakes event have left some prominent figures in the poker community to say enough is enough.
Justin Bonomo Gives His Thoughts
Only a few weeks ago, big hitters in high-stakes poker Jason Koon and Fedor Holz were hypothesising about a poker blacklist for online cheaters where they would be banned from prestigious live events.Now, this idea is gaining momentum given the ongoing uproar over the behaviour of Ali Imsirovic.
Poker black-list can't come soon enough.
— Alex Foxen (@WAFoxen) April 18, 2022
Ali is banned from GG for Multi-accounting and RTA. I have witnessed numerous chip dumps to horses, and many suspicious changes in play from people known to be his horses when deep in online MTTs.
Justin Bonomo started his response by asking the poker community to refrain from abusing Alex Foxen for taking the lead on this matter, given his sometimes controversial views and previous accusations of his own transgressions.
Here is a conversation with ACR support followed by email from stars. Seems pretty clear we were unfairly targeted despite no evidence on both accounts. We both can play EPTs still and were able to cash out, neither of which is allowed for anyone banned for collusion. pic.twitter.com/EZY5ZbSWfZ
— Alex Foxen (@WAFoxen) April 19, 2022
“Foxen’s worldview is very different from mine, and I strongly disagree with some things he’s done and said But I have respect for people who knowingly risk putting themselves through shit storms, seeking no personal gain, for the good of the community,”
Bonomo says that we should pick another time to call Foxen out but to let him do his thing today to avoid impeding the message. More than fair.
Back in September 2020, GGPoker banned 40 accounts, with 13 of them having their balances confiscated to the tune of $1,175,305.43. Justin Bonomo says he spoke to a trusted source who gave him information about the scandal.
1) the infractions range from looking at preflop charts, to occasional RTA, to constant + automatic RTA, to full on collusion with horses (or MA’s) who were also using RTA software
2) I was told A was the #2 biggest offender, while someone whose first name starts with the letters ‘Ja’ was by far the biggest
He added that he was a victim of this unethical behaviour for a massive amount himself.
3) I lost over a million in the games where I believe this was going on. Feels bad man.
4) I’m told the evidence goes far beyond hand histories, and is completely irrefutable. I have not personally seen it, but I trust the source
Bonomo was quick to point out that the “Ja” clue was absolutely not Jason Koon, one of the most respected members of the high-stakes community. This leaves no other suspect than Jake Schindler.
After such a fallout over the last six month, there’s going to be a lot of pressure from respected high-stakes players on to the companies who run the major live poker festivals to enter discussions about a blacklist.
