Fedor Kruse in the middle of a new online poker scandal
German poker pro Fedor Kruse is rumoured to be the pro at the centre of a Real Time Assistance (RTA) online poker scandal, with claims that he had ready access to pre-solved cash game situations as he played.
The revelation comes on the back of our exclusive article that saw Patrick Leonard and Joey Ingram discussing a ‘huge new poker scandal’ ready to erupt.
During a WSOP stream this week, Leonard stated: “I know some huge drama that I can’t say just now…I’m not laughing about it because it’s bad, it’s not funny.”
Ingram also claimed to know what the big story was, although he felt it would be less dramatic or understandable to the general poker community.
However, if the rumours are true, although different from the likes of a Postlegate scandal, it is still a major incident.
Second-hand claims from one 2plus2 forum user state that the player had ‘thousands and thousands of sims of all possible cash game spots presolved in a well organize set of folders, to be able to just open the sim and follow the solver advice in every single spot.’
Apparently playing across most or all of the major sites, the pro is said to have used ‘two PCs, two sets of keyboard and mouse’ in a bid to circumvent the usual safety protocols used by online poker sites.
Almost all sites now ban HUDs, solvers, and other software that offers a huge advantage to those using them.
Rumours about involved players
Meanwhile, hints were being dropped right, left, and centre as to the identity of the pro, and both Leonard and Ingram appearing to know (while fellow commentator Ben Rolle was in the dark).
Finally, someone plucked up the courage to put a real name and online nickname to the rumours.
A search revealed that Kruse’s name had already been put forward in an accusation, posted on Textbin…
The writer of that claims Kruse, “…consistently makes very non-intuitive plays, which to very little surprise are all “solver-approved.”
Listing other suspicions, they also write: ‘His former roommates have detailed information, which apparently already has been reported to Pokerstars on how he uses a second set of mouse and keyboard to access his second PC on which he has all the solves.”
Kruse may not be a household name to the average poker player, but he is a well-known pro within the mid-to-highstakes community.
Fedor Kruse – Poker Player, Gamer, Twitch Streamer
He had several deep runs during the recent online WSOP series, although a 1st-round defeat to Daniel Negreanu in the $10k Heads-up Championship wasn’t his best effort…
I drew Fedor Kruse in the first round… he good? @GGPokerOfficial WSOP $10k NLH Heads up
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) August 8, 2020
Fedor Kruse came to poker after being a successful Call of Duty player, building up a 400k+ fanbase on YouTube and regularly streaming to over 3,000 viewers on Twitch Poker.
Interestingly, it was a fellow German highstakes pro who got him into poker – a subscriber to Kruse’s gaming channel and ‘one of the biggest high-stakes cash game players online at the time’ according to Kruse.
“At some point in 2015 a subscriber wrote to me privately on Facebook and asked me if I could put together a gaming PC for him that could handle six monitors,” he explained in a PokerStars blog interview late last year.
That initial discussion turned into a lucrative poker career for the already-rich young YouTuber, who eventually moved to Vienna to grind, a popular spot for the top German online pros to base themselves.
“He showed me everything about poker over Skype, including Holdem Manager – and at first I didn’t understand anything.”
That changed, Kruse says, when he “used database analyzes to look at how they play and what stats they have.”
Kruse has so far not commented on the allegations and rumours. PokerStars and GGPoker have been contacted for comment.
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