Banned Without Warning or Reason

They consider table and seat selection cheating. Are you sure you haven't sat on the left of a fish once or twice?

I am MTT PRO player and my account is frozen for 2 months . I sended all documents and answers what they wanted and still account is frozen. The last answer was that they are investigating my account and the entire HH I played. It has been 28 days since their last reply. I play 10-15 tables and the only thing I was guilty of was that I run HM2 because I also play on PS,winamax this is how 95% of MTT players play. If I knew they had it in the new rules, I would definitely not turn it on. The answers you will receive will be automatic messages prepared in advance. GG support is pathetic and they are absolutely not interested in what you write to them.

I think that GGpoker has a lot to learn about how cybersecurity works in general.

Automatically assuming players are cheating when a specific service is running on their system is not security.

Equivalent would be that the government of a country automatically hands out a life imprisonment sentence to anyone who is found with blood on their clothing. Sure, it's suspicious, but justice involves a complete investigation. There needs to proof that a crime took place, not a single indicator that is ultimately likely to be inconsequential.

In 99% of cases, if someone has a tracker running, it's not being used for GGpoker. Trackers don't even work with GGpoker. If a user with advanced technical skills is able to modify a tracker to work with GG, they also have the intelligence to rename and obfuscate that running process. GGpoker must be banning players with an alarming rate of false positives using their current method of detection.

Curious to hear what GGpoker's final response will be, if any. I just wanted to say that Stars and ACR have both offered MULTIPLE (I'm surprised they haven't issued a "last chance" yet because I keep forgetting I leave things open like MonkerViewer/Equilab) warnings about prohibited software etc. I typically receive an understanding email and I can share a direct quote from the Pokerstars email, "We realize that you probably were unaware of the forbidden nature of this tool, and therefore we will not take any stern reactions due to this detection. Instead, all we ask is that you reply to this email stating that you're now aware of our policy towards third-party tools and that you won't use such prohibited tools on our site again in the future." Like I said, this isn't the first time they have had to warn me and likely won't be the last.

Hopefully GGpoker doesn't do something stupid enough that leads to the downfall of online poker (if they are not already)

This is really all that is needed by an operator. I've received the same email from stars in the past.

ACR let's you know exactly which forbidden process is running and then doesn't let you actually play until it is closed. Simple, effective, no unnecessary bans.

The only way to get a direct answer from someone who knows something, is going public.

The problem with GG is that their T&C allows them to ban people when they like to. And I have never heard them giving exact reasons for it. On the other hand, I have heard multiple times that after a ban they give general reply and that's it. Just like in your case.

To me it's really hard to understand why GG operates this way? They are focusing on being the biggest network, and on some things they put a lot of effort to their PR. But on the other side they are the most non-transparent network I have ever seen. They have some REALLY shady things in their past, but they don't seem to care to fix their reputation at all. It amazes me how little GG puts effort on their PR. Like in this case, just give the evidence and reasoning, so players can decide if they want to take it further. That's transparency, and that creates trust.

And if someome thinks that GG works ethically, here's the thing: Some years ago I asked their security department, whether these things are considered "predatory behaviour" and therefore might result to a ban:
- if I color code opponents based on the strategy they are using
- if I make notes on players what strategies they are using
- if I leave table, when high rake combined with opponent strategies results for a table where it's hard to make profits

The answer was YES on all three. I asked for clarification, is it true that I can therefore be banned for using the color coding and note making they have put in their software. The answer was yes, if it's used to gain monetary advantage. And I thought that the whole idea of poker is to put my strategy vs. my opponent's to win money.

Little googling showed that there are quite many players being banned by that Circumvention rule. Meaning they have detected forbidden software running on the computer. No warnings, just bans. They changed the rule, it was unclear what softwares it was referring to, and then after mass banning players have no chance to even know what they did nor get it resolved.

And in their office someone has thought that this is a good way to go.

"How to become the biggest Poker Room in history of Online Poker and then go to zero" Speedrun, Any%
But hey, you should be hyped about the new influencer that joined them!!!

Official Moderator confirms (06.03.24) that Pokertracker4 is not banned.

source; ggpoker discord

fits here.
I would like to share.
Things are really going on in the Russian forum.
GGpoker has once again made it clear that it does not want winning poker players and the long-term goal is to make the poker game similar to casino games, with negative return on investment and only gamblers play the game and not people with edge and strategy.

2plus2forum ggpoker russian start banning stables and regs cause they take money out of the eco system

Originally posted by Superior1712
fits here.
I would like to share.
Things are really going on in the Russian forum.
GGpoker has once again made it clear that it does not want winning poker players and the long-term goal is to make the poker game similar to casino games, with negative return on investment and only gamblers play the game and not people with edge and strategy.

2plus2forum ggpoker russian start banning stables and regs cause they take money out of the eco system

Thanks for your post.

This was my fear even before this news about stables. I'm guessing that GGpoker are trying to make poker just like any other casino game. Only house is guaranteed to win and they have tight control over who actually takes any money from the system due to extremely high rake and opaque rewards system.

Not only is it disrespectful to poker players in general, but could signal the end of the poker industry as we know it.

The reason for banning any player with a tracker running likely has nothing to do with circumvention of rules. It's simply that players who are detected having trackers running are likely slightly better players, and GG doesn't welcome advantage players. GGpoker is basically now a gamblers only club.

Problem is that while this is very good for their own eco-system, it could have very serious consequences for the poker eco-system as a whole (across all networks). Players talk about RTA as being the biggest threat to the online poker landscape, but I'm not so convinced right now.

Originally posted by Kyyberi
Little googling showed that there are quite many players being banned by that Circumvention rule. Meaning they have detected forbidden software running on the computer. No warnings, just bans. They changed the rule, it was unclear what softwares it was referring to, and then after mass banning players have no chance to even know what they did nor get it resolved.

Yeah, I can also see after running some searches, that this is not an isolated incident. There is widespread banning of players for any reason whatsoever usually with a vague reference to the Circumvention rule.

Problem is that GG works on two fronts. On one front they try to get rid of good players, while on the other front they sign up Botez to stream, who approaches poker in very strategical and mathematical way.

Once they make it too hard to win or ban winning players, they won't have streamers. And when all pro's start to talk negatively about them, they start to lose rec players too.

Originally posted by Kyyberi
Problem is that GG works on two fronts. On one front they try to get rid of good players, while on the other front they sign up Botez to stream, who approaches poker in very strategical and mathematical way.

Once they make it too hard to win or ban winning players, they won't have streamers. And when all pro's start to talk negatively about them, they start to lose rec players too.

Thing is, with tight control over where the money is assigned, GG can ensure that their streamers and sponsored players walk away profitable and still convey the idea that there is money to be made regardless of whether this is true or not.

I hope what you are saying is true, and players realise what is going on - although I fear that they won't.

Any update on your case ?
In my case , for 1 month they investiagtion my account and all HH . I sended on gghelp across 1 month 4-5 emails and they reply is always automated prepared same .
"Thank you for getting in touch.

Please note that we have forwarded your concern to our Security team.

If your report is in relation to other players, stringent privacy laws prevent us from sharing investigation results but rest assured that your report is being taken seriously and that appropriate action will be taken against accounts found in contravention of site rules.

If our Security team requires any further information, they will be in touch.

Kind regards,
GGPoker"

-> security team dont reached me out. I dont understand how they can investigate the account for more than 2 months and not give any conclusion of the investigation. If I had the HRC and PIO solver turned on, they would detect it. I dont hacked their software or something similar like that MoneyTaker69. Their treatment of the player is terrible.

That's the general reply that means "we don't want to discuss with you, bye bye".

Originally posted by 4shark4
Any update on your case ?

No response.

Although the cashier did send me an email asking for my wallet address for withdrawal. I didn't reply because it's not about the cash at this stage. (Also, they have violated my Circumvention rule).

Originally posted by 4shark4
Their treatment of the player is terrible.

I agree with this. The only sites that have treated me worse than this in 20 years of playing poker were outright scams.

"Just needs to not be used to influence any of your decisions in our games" - GGpoker rep
Probably not the best response they can give, IMO. I can imagine this phrasing reaching to off-table analysis.

"GGpoker is basically now a gamblers only club." - w34z3l
Seems like it.

So, one of the things that I noticed playing GG rush and cash (and I'm not the only one who has reported this) is a large amount of obvious bots running at the rush and cash tables.

There was a group of players that had 3bet stats higher than PFR stats, something that's virtually unheard of for legitimate players. So when a large percentage of the population is exhibiting this exact same characteristic, it becomes obvious quickly that a bot ring is in operation.

Seems strange how legitimate players are being banned from the network in what appears to be an extremely stringent security policy and yet obvious bots continue to play without issue. The obvious question is whether these are actually house bots that are running at this network. Experienced players (the kind who are currently being banned) generally detect the presence of bots, but recreational gamblers typically won't.

Is there any proof that the high traffic numbers at GGpoker are actually legitimate?

2plus2 thread about bots on ggpoker winning on smallstacks

how fitting