Posts Tagged ‘ethics’

As “The Poker Philosopher”, and in honor of one of my favorite non-poker blogs, I occasionally consider the ethical dimensions of a high-profile controversy in the poker community. Today, I consider a lawsuit brought on behalf of Ponzi scheme victims against players who allegedly won the fraudulently obtained money from the thief in a high-stakes poker game. Older editions of The Poker Ethicist are available in the archives.

CNN reports that,

“Celebrities who won big money in secret high-stakes poker games at Beverly Hills luxury hotels were paid with funds stolen from investors who had been lured into an illegal Ponzi scheme, a series of federal lawsuits contends.

Actors Tobey Maguire, Nick Cassavetes and Gabe Kaplan, along with professional poker player Dan Bilzerian, two nightclub owners and a Los Angeles lawyer are among at least 11 people being sued by a bankruptcy trustee.”

The lawsuit alleges that Bradley Ruderman fraudulently solicited millions of dollars in investments from at least 22 individuals and lost some of that money in an underground poker game played with the afore-mentioned celebrities as well as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and others. It seeks to recoup funds lost to these players so that they can be returned to Ruderman’s victims. Are the investor-victims ethically entitled to the return of these funds?  Read the complete post...

In response to my recent The Poker Ethicist: HUDs post, Piefarmer left an interesting comment that got me thinking about a few more of the ethical dimensions surrounding HUDs and other technology that helps people play better poker:

Technology always pushes the boundaries, especially ethical boundaries. The primary way to think about these boundaries, I think, is the way Andrew presented them: Does everyone have the same understanding of what is allowed, and the same opportunity to use technologies which are allowed? If so, no ethical problem.

I think the conditions that he identifies are spot-on, and I want to delve a bit deeper into them. This time around I’ve got more questions than answers, so I’ll be very curious to hear your opinions on the subject.

The Right To Know

My claim is that use of any technology allowed by the rules of a casino or poker site is ethical, and that using anything disallowed is unethical. This is because, by choosing to play at a particular venue, players agree to both their host and their fellow players that they will follow the posted rules.  Read the complete post...

As “The Poker Philosopher”, and in honor of one of my favorite non-poker blogs, I occasionally consider the ethical dimensions of a high-profile controversy in the poker community. In this edition, I address a long-standing controversy in the online poker world, in response to a question about Heads-Up Displays (HUD’s) posed in a recent comment. Older editions of The Poker Ethicist are available in the archives.

In response to a recent post I made about using a HUD, commenter “Elmer Fudd” asked,

“I would like you to comment on the ethics of using a HUD in the first place. It most certainly gives you an edge over players that don’t use such software and provides you with stats that you couldn’t readily obtain during a live game. I guess I’m an old-fashioned poker purist, but anything that gives you a slight edge over other players is cheating. “

I would say anything that gives you an unfair edge is cheating. Sleeping and eating better than my opponents gives me an edge. Reading more books than they do gives me an edge. Using a second monitor gives me an edge over opponents attempting to multi-table on a single monitor. Yet none of these is unfair, because my opponents have equal opportunity to take advantage of them.  Read the complete post...

When starting a session last night, I noticed that there were two 40/80 games going with several players whose names I did recognize. That’s usually a good sign, so I snatched up the last open seat at each and played a few hands while googling the unfamiliar screen names.

It turns out I didn’t recognize these guys because they are regulars in games so big I don’t even keep an eye on them to see if they’re ever worth playing. One guy was described as a “regular” at 300/600, which doesn’t even run regularly, so I’m not sure whether one can really be called a regular in them. In any event, I decided these weren’t actually games I wanted to play in.

In the meantime, though, I picked up some cards and won some big pots, including this one:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($13765.10)
Hero (BB) ($8080)
UTG ($14597)
MP ($19746.50)
Button ($17475)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
UTG bets $240, 3 folds, Hero raises to $820, UTG calls $580

Flop: ($1680) 10, 10, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $1212, UTG calls $1212

Turn: ($4104) A (2 players)
Hero bets $2468, UTG calls $2468

River: ($9040) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $3580 (All-In), 1 fold  Read the complete post...