Brian Townsend: influential in sharing hand histories with Hastings
The record breaking $4 million losing session Isildur1 booked against Team Cardrunners member Brian Hastings has caused quite a rumpus amongst poker circles. Moreover, the revelations made by Hastings in his blog may well have brought the triumph into disrepute.
In his blog, Hastings admitted to sharing extensive hand histories with other Team Cardrunners members (including Brian Townsend and Cole South) in order to decipher Isildur1’s betting patterns and gain an advantage. One savvy twoplustwo member, ‘HogMajor’ suggests this violated Full Tilt Poker’s terms and conditions:
‘2. 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.
Players are not permitted to use the hand histories for hands that they have not personally participated in. Software designed to collect hand history information from games that the player did not participate in is prohibited. Some specific examples include:
•community shared hand histories
•exchanging hand histories with a friend’
Twoplustwo members seem very much divided on the issue. Some argue that the rule is absurd, since the policing of sharing hand histories is impossible. Others make the distinction between sharing hand histories to improve as a player, and sharing an opponent’s hand history to strategize against that opponent. Since Townsend and Hastings were guilty of the latter, it may amount to collusion. But, given the fact Hastings made the admission on ESPN, he may have ratified the decision beforehand with Full Tilt.
The ball is now firmly in Isildur1’s court – is he more interested in the money, or being gracious in defeat? But even if the enigmatic Swede does appeal, it is unlikely Full Tilt will pursue the matter, given the amount of bad publicity it would bring to a site with a squeaky clean image. Furthermore, it would open a can of worms, as the sharing of hand histories is common across a number of instructional sites.
Railbirds want to see the money returned to Isildur1 – there is nothing but admiration for a player gutsy enough to 8-table Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius simultaneously. But Full Tilt Poker and Cardrunners have a strong relationship – with a healthy portion of the poker site’s rake coming from players attached to the instructional site.
You can check out the full debate here on twoplustwo.