It was recently announced that GGPoker will be giving reinstatement breaks to some players who have been banned from the site. It’s not a blanket welcome-back – sidelined players need to apply for clemency and the site’s decision makers on this matter will figure out whether or not to let them ante-up again.
Getting A Second Chance
They are calling this the Olive Branch Initiative. I think it is a great idea and a great name.
There are some people who have been backed off for what I would consider to be technicalities that didn’t blatantly hurt other players. Like someone from out of the site’s legal jurisdictions might have used a VPN to play.
To me, that is a pretty mild offense, and I’m not sure how it hurt other players. Of course, if the dispatched player still lives some place where he is forbidden from playing on GG, being let back on may seem like an invitation to repeat the transgression.
When To Be Let Out Of Poker Jail?
Things like collusion and multi-accounting are obviously worse. I’m guessing that specific circumstances and the damage done will play a role in whether or not the players are once again seated.
Out and out blatant cheating? Well, that seems like a bit of a no brainer. How do you let a cheater – even a seemingly reformed one – back onto your site? They’d need to prove change 10x.
Maybe GG should consider a crazy (but entertaining) option: Make it so cheaters get scarlet Cs next to their online names, and they can only play against others who’ve been found guilty of cheating. Now, that is a game I would like to railbird!
Not Every Infraction Is The Same
Then there are people who claim to have been banned for reasons that they can’t comprehend.
One guy on the Poker Strategy poker forum claims to have been barred for “circumvention.”
Honestly, I had never heard the term before and had to google it. But it seems to be a broad one that encompasses infractions ranging from VPN usage to collusion. There’s a big difference between the two. I hope he gets a fair shake at coming back or at least an understandable explanation of precisely what he did wrong.
The fact that a misunderstanding may get someone tossed from a site, that already makes a case for the olive-branch gambit and to maybe have them back.
Players Can Change
Beyond all of this, I generally believe in redemption. I know a lot of poker players are uncomfortable with the idea of letting bad actors back to the table, but I probably see the world a little differently. I think people make mistakes and then they grow up, they realize that there’s a better way to live, and that they don’t want to be on the wrong side of things.
Arguably, some of the banned and the tossed and the backed off have spent enough time in online poker prison. If they’re ready to mend their ways, I can see the wisdom of letting them back in.
But if they mess up a second time – and it would be totally warranted to have extra scrutiny on those with past infractions – GG might want to throw away the key.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of six books including Advantage Players, and has worked for publications that include Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on technology, gambling, and business — with a particular interest in spots where all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is currently in development as a feature film.
