The case of Tobias Duthweiler and the blocking of his GG player account is the talk of the poker community
Tobias “dudd1” Duthweiler aka Ben ABC was banned recently from GGPoker and his balance of $180,000 was confiscated. However, GGPoker returned his deposit of $50,000 and only withheld the $130,000 in winnings. This report caused a scene in the scene. Duthweiler sees himself as a clear victim and has also opened a thread in the world’s largest poker forum 2 + 2.
What happened?
It all started in 2016 when Tobias played at Natural8 in the GG network. After a short time, he was excluded from gaming because he had violated the network’s terms of use (bum-hunting). He received a notification from Natural8 that he was no longer wanted as a player in the GG network. A network always consists of several skins and if the network should issue a general block, this naturally applies to all providers that are part of the network.
A few years later, he was aware of the GGPoker network again and first contacted the Skins BestPoker and Betkings to play there. Due to some changes with the VIP tables, he went straight to GGPoker. He signed up, verified his account, and paid $50,000 and puffed his bankroll to $180,000.
After a short time, his player account was blocked and the credit was frozen. As mentioned earlier, he got his 50k deposit back but not his winnings. Tobias Duthweiler, on the other hand, would like to have his 130k winnings paid out. However, GGPoker stated that he was not allowed to create a new player account in the GG network, as he was informed at the time that he was no longer allowed to play in the entire network, not even with another skin.
Since the matter caused quite a stir, Fedor Holz also reported to Word via Twitter yesterday.
I wanted to address the ‘dudd1’ case on GG that he posted about on 2+2 to share the perspective I’ve gained from talking to the management and looking into the case. From everything I’ve seen so far the integrity and quality of security at GG has been up to very high standards.
— Fedor Holz 🐧 (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
Dudd1 has been banned initially 2016 from Natural8 with a warning to not attempt to play at “GGNetwork” again. GGs standard procedure after this initial warning is to confiscate funds to disincentivize banned players to return, otherwise there would be no effect.
— Fedor Holz 🐧 (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
Following the procedure his account has been banned and funds confiscated. This is NOT a scheme to steal from players. The money has been distributed between the players he won from. Given the long timeframe that passed detecting it they decided to refund him his 50k deposit.
— Fedor Holz 🐧 (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
Comment from YPD: As annoying as it is for the player, we have to be honest here. If a player receives an official email and is banned from the network, there is nothing left to discuss here. It doesn’t matter whether it was 5 years ago or 2 months ago.
It goes without saying that to be on the safe side, you should ask the provider / network again beforehand to ensure that you can play there again and that there are no problems. Especially when it comes to such large sums and if you are not a newcomer to the scene. It is hard to believe that a high roller did not inform himself and that he did not know that Natural8 and GGPoker are fromt he same network.
So what is it that GGPoker has done wrong here, except that they had to block his account immediatly and not let him play?
Tobias “dudd1” Duthweiler still does not understand
Despite all the facts, Duthweiler continues to feel like a victim and has the assumption that he was banned for no reason because they don’t want any winning players.Duthweiler also stated that the player account should have been blocked when it was registered and that he always gave the same name and date of birth and sent the same documents to verify the account.
They should have noticed that immediately and block his account, according to his point of view
Comment from YPD: Yes/No! GG informed the player about everything via Natural8 in 2016. So GG did everything right and just because the player thinks it was 4 years ago and it’s a different skin doesn’t mean that something has changed about the lock. As already mentioned, the player should have asked again.
Of course, it would have been better if his player account had been blocked directly, but you shouldn’t forget that all skins are different and they work individually, so you have to re-verify your player account for each skin and send new documents over and over again. Since the verification is not carried out directly by the GG network, it can’t be recognized immediately.
In addition, different email addresses were given, a different place of residence than 2016 and probably a completely different IP address was also used by him. So it is not surprising that the alarm signals were not activated directly and that it took a little while before it was on the screen at GGPoker. Such things will usually only come to the screen when someone takes a closer look at the player account. It’s the same with other sites and not just GGPoker.
If you enter the same data as for a blocked player account, the new account will be blocked immediately after a few hours.
Update 15. August 2020
Official Statement from GGPoker to Pokernews.com
“We acknowledge that this case became complicated as the player signed up on multiple skins, where the GGNetwork security team does not have access to personal information including email addresses. Therefore, our security detection was limited to IPs and Mac Addresses when it comes to detecting trespassers. We will enhance our system so that we can request email addresses and personal information from our Licensee Operators.
We also acknowledge that our P2P transfer was too easy for the players. We have already removed P2P transfer for our UK customers and will be placing a strict KYC verification process and limits for all future P2P transfer.
We have already shown our goodwill with a gesture to the player by returning the funds he has received from his friends. All of his winnings have been re-distributed to the affected players.
We would like to apologize for the concerns that were brought up by this incident and will make sure that our security measures are more tight.”
In a statement provided to PokerNews, a site rep denied GGPoker has ever banned players for winning and every player is more than welcome. Exactly this is what also YourPokerDream can confirm because until now nobody of our players is banned, and we really have a big amount of players playing at the gg network.
“We have only banned players who have violated our Terms of Service agreement by cheating, bumhunting, colluding, or acting in away we deem to be predatory. GGPoker maintains a healthy poker ecosystem and works to provide a safe and fair playing environment for all players.”
In answering what constitutes bumhunting, GGPoker answered the following:
“We consider both direct and indirect bumhunting. Direct bumhunting is defined as joining a table once the mark has joined and leaving shortly after the mark has left, even though the table has not broken. Indirect bumhunting is defined as refusing to give action to certain players while giving action to others.”
GG also made clear that nobody should have any fear of having their money confiscated. GGPoker says they only take this final, drastic step in the following three types of cases:
- Usage of bots, real-time solvers / advanced charts during gameplay, and malicious software circumvention to gain an advantage over others
- Ignoring a permanent ban notice and trespassing
- Repeated cheating and violation of our terms and conditions
Absolutely understandable and totally fair. As Duthweiler was deemed in violation of a permanent ban, the operator says it was simply following its usual protocol in confiscating the account’s balance.
