Doug Polk has compiled a list of who is or isn’t likely to be banned from the upcoming World Series of Poker. Justin Bonomo, Mike Postle, and Robbie Jade Lew all come under Polk’s scrutiny.
Interest in the potential ban for poker cheats rose after Fedor Holz recently hinted that GGPoker’s online crackdown on cheats could be extended to live play.
GGPoker Ban Cheats
GGPoker, who will be running the WSOP for the first time since their $500million deal last year, announced last week that 31 players had been kicked from the site for “violating fair play rules.”
Although no individual players were named in the online crackdown, the question was soon raised as to whether the bans would extend to live play. The answer, surprisingly perhaps, came back positive…
Enter Doug Polk who has, over the years, named, shamed, outed and sometimes simply clickbaited his way through the world of poker’s bad guys and gals.
This week he looked at who among those might be for the chop if they try to enter this summer’s rapidly-approaching WSOP: Justin Bonomo, Mike Postle, Tom Dwan and Nacho Barbero were among those on the ‘potential ban’ list.
Polk separated his names into five categories: Dead Man Walking – Probably Should be Banned – Could Go Either Way – Probably Going to be Fine – Should not be banned.
Some of the most recent ‘transgressors’ receive a pass from Polk, with ACR duo Nacho Barbero and Ebony Kenney receiving only a shake of the head for their recent silliness.
Bonomo gets a pass
Also on the ‘should not be banned’ list are Justin Bonomo, guilty of historic multi-accounting. “It’s been plenty of years…he’s done nothing unethical in a long time,” says Polk.
The most recent ‘case’ features last year’s WSOP Main Event victor, Jonathan Tamayo amid controversy as he ran from table to rail for advice from a laptop-wielding GTO-expert, Dominik Nitsche.
“While what he was doing did violate the terms of service… given that no-one even stepped in to do something about it… I would say that he probably felt it was just fine to do so.”
Polk’s ‘Probably going to be fine’ list sees Robbie Jade Lew, Tom Dwan and Alec Torelli escape the executioner’s axe, despite Lew (the infamous J4 hand against Garrett Adelstein) and Torelli (blatant angleshooting by hiding big chips) in particular incurring Polk’s wrath.
Dead Men Walking…
Another pass, then, but what of those on Polk’s Dead Man Walking category?
Jake Schindler and Men “The Master” Nguyen fall short in the ‘Probably no ban’ list, but “Worm” from the cult poker movie “Rounders” makes it to the ban list!
Unfortunately, there are all too real characters in poker and it’s no surprise that RTA-specialist Ali Imsirovic, CrotchGate cheat Mike Postle, and Ultimate Bet superuser Russ Hamilton all make it to Polk’s ‘Go directly to jail’ WSOP list.
GGPoker have yet to make an official announcement on whether or not their online exclusions will apply to this year’s WSOP. You can check out Doug Polk’s full video here and let us know on our socials who you think deserves a spot and why!
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