Multi-Accounting is Cheating: End of Story

Once again the 2+2 poker forums have come alive with one of those “only in poker would we have to debate this” threads on whether or not multi-accounting is cheating. Some of the biggest names in the game have weighed in so far and the opinions are fairly mixed and run the gamut from “it’s cheating” to “it’s a gray area” to “it’s not cheating.”

For me multi-accounting is most definitely cheating, but it’s not on the same level as marking cards or hacking someone’s computer. To use a basketball analogy, multi-accounting is the flopping of the poker world. It’s a scummy practice that a select group of players use to gain an advantage, but is easily justified as being “part of the game.” And to continue the flopping analogy, when people flop against you it’s only human nature to want to do it back, but this doesn’t make it right.

There are actually some instances where I have no issue with a player creating a new account, such as when a player has been playing on a site for years and can now get a rakeback deal. I don’t consider this wrong, so long as the previous account is retired. There are probably a few other instances where I would say it’s also ok or falls into the proverbial gray area as well, but these are the exceptions and not the norm. That being said, what is clearly cheating is when you create a new account (without mothballing your old account) for the sole reason to deceive the other players in the game. The notion that this is anything other than cheating is disturbing to say the least. If you can justify this as “ok”, than what else are you justifying as “ok?”

For me this seems like an exercise in Confirmation Bias. By saying that multi-accounting is not cheating (or is acceptable) because of x, y, and z is a way for players who have multi-accounted or still multi-account to downplay the negative effects of multi-accounting in order to maintain their belief that their actions aren’t really cheating and are justified in some way. Multi-accounters will often say things like:

• “I can’t get any action under my main account”

Well, that’s really too bad for you, because one of the aspects of poker (with the exception of tournaments) is that you are allowed to play against whomever you want. One of the lost arts of the Internet generation of poker players is the ability to create a good gambling atmosphere – or more simply put: To make people want to play against you.

• “You don’t know who people are in real life, so it shouldn’t be any different online”

True, but I can see them in a card-room. When I played regularly at Foxwoods in the mid-2000’s I didn’t know everyone’s name, but I knew their skill-set by sight, and if a game was full of tough players I could pass.

• “Everyone else is doing it so I have to”

If you know people who multi-account why don’t you report them instead of joining in on it? If you don’t have proof enough to report them than you don’t actually know these people multi-account.

• “Multi-accounting has been going on for years and almost every famous online player has done it”

This argument has two cognitive biases rolled into one: Anyone using this argument is pulling the Celebrity Bias and Status Quo Bias cards.

• “I was banned from the site so I had to create a new account to earn a living”

This was the Sorel Mizzi argument for why he multi-accounted at Full Tilt Poker, but to use a real-world example to explain why this is bad: Imagine if someone is barred from a specific bar for fighting, should they be able to go into that establishment in disguise? They can, but if they get caught they have broken the law (assuming a no-trespass order was issued) which would make the act itself illegal. Well, the same holds true if you are banned from an online site in my opinion.

What Should Be Done to Multi-Accounters

I’m not trying to say multi-accounting is an egregious offense and multi-accounters should be branded and shunned, as I feel it’s more of a misdemeanor. But it is a crime against the poker world and multi-accounters should be held accountable for their actions.  Do I think we need to perma-ban them from sites and confiscate their funds? No. A suitable penalty would be something like a one-week ban or a monetary fine of 10 Big Blinds at their average stakes played.