ShareACR Poker has rolled out a series of deep security updates and reworded portions of its terms and conditions to improve player experience and maintain a high standard of game integrity.
Earlier in the year, a group of cheaters were caught after employing unethical practices and winning $184k from unaware players. ACR apologised and doubled down on its efforts to move forward with increased vigilance.
An internal investigation revealed that multiple accounts were involved and funds were redistributed back to the affected players.
“As a result, we’ve closed eight accounts involved in collusion and banned an additional 25 related accounts suspected of engaging in suspicious activities.
“As you should expect, we’ve taken steps to correct any harm caused by these offenders. We’ve reallocated funds and adjusted tournament results to ensure fairness among impacted players.
“In total we credited $184,000 to 402 players.“
Virtual Machines Banned
As a part of these changes, ACR has banned the use of virtual machines and real-time screen sharing tools. Players must now play only from their own machine and not be operating the platform remotely from a device in another location.
“4.3.1 Virtual Machines
The use of virtual machines is strictly forbidden. Virtual machines refer to any tool or software that enables the creation, emulation, or operation of an operating system environment within another operating system. ACR Poker Rooms must be accessed and run from a native hard drive.“
Players who are caught violating this rule will receive a warning for the first offence and then face having their account closed with all the funds confiscated.
ACR Team Pro Chris Moneymaker wrote that he was sad that such measures are necessary in today’s games.
“I’m sad that we have to engage in this high-tech game of Whack-a-Mole, but it’s important for us to try to stay ahead of the bad guys.
“I’ve been playing online poker for more than 20 years now, and just as the cheaters get more sophisticated, so have the poker rooms. ACR invests heavily in technology and people to deliver as fair a game as any of the major sites.”
Other changes were added to the company terms and conditions, including one that is a hark back to the past—grimming.
Grimming used to be the bane of the heads-up players back in the day when security was more lax.
“5.1 Grimming: The practice to consistently play the small blind (SB) and skip the big blind (BB).”
It has also been highlighted that multi-accounting will not be tolerated. Players can only have a single account “within the ACR Poker network of sites.”
