Isildur1 (Victor Blom) vs Brian Hastings: $4M Cheating
“Isildur1″, a name that sounds like it should be in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, is actually the name of a poker player that has caused much excitement and controversy in the world of poker. Isildur1 burst onto the poker scene back in September of 2009 and immediately caused some major damage in the high-stakes game of $1000/$2000 Pot Limit Omaha – a game usually reserved only for poker veterans. Within only four months of joining Full Tilt Poker he was able to take part in the 12 largest pots that have ever been played online. Not only that, in only two months, Isildur1 won over $5,000,000 while playing at Full Tilt!
This Swedish Phenom was often seen playing heads up action with the world’s top online pros, which include Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. As a testament to his competitiveness, Isildur1 has played all of them, even at the same time, and he usually accepts all challenges – an approach that reminds one of the late Chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer. But on December of 2009, poker pro Brian Hasting beat him and made him lose over $4M, this was in spite of his unequaled skills and an inborn capability of knowing what his competitor was holding.
A dispute followed after Hasting later exposed to ESPN that he had beaten Isildur1 through the use of a prepared report taken out of a hand history database which incorporated the hands played by poker players Brian Townsend, Cole South and Isildur1 himself. We should recognize that collecting a database of hand histories is a form of cheating. And based on Full Tilt Poker’s End User License Agreement (EULA) it is considered a violation to gather such information.
A database of hand histories is an example of a non-software based EPA Program. EPA (External Player Assistance) Programs are specifically designed to give players an unfair advantage against their opponent.
Full Tilt Poker made an action on Hastings’ confession: that he got some assistance from a hand histories database to defeat Isildur1. So the “Red Pro” status of Townsend got a 30-day suspension for assembling the database of hand histories. However, despite Brian Hastings’ admitted use of the said database to win against Isildur1, he was not penalized.
The lack of severity in the actions taken by Full Tilt Poker not being enough to trim down the number of cheaters is arguable. Is there an alternate legal recourse that Isildur1 can resort to in order for him to get his money back?
Isildur1 declared that he would be filing a formal complaint to Full Tilt Poker. Should Isildur1 remain discontented with the result of his formal complaint and would like to further pursue this matter, the best argument/contestation he could use is to point out a breach of contract and say that Full Tilt Poker’s EULA was breached by themselves.
Nonetheless, it is improbable that just by the use of an online gambling site’s Terms of Use or EULA we could prevent all fraud. We can confirm this if we take a closer look at Full Tilt Poker’s EULA: it says that once they discover that an online player got involved in any fraudulent behavior, including using EPA Programs, Full Tilt Poker has the prerogative to take any action that they deem necessary. Therefore, by giving a 30-day suspension to Townsend’s Red Pro status, Full Tilt Poker can assert that it already satisfied its responsibility. It can be disputed that Full Tilt Poker is not obliged to make any action at all – based under the language of the EULA.
As it was Brian Hastings and Brian Townsend who breached the EULA, and was not Full Tilt Poker; the breach of contract argument can still be refuted and would not be successful. Nonetheless, under the breach of contact contention, Isildur1 would have no expedient against them: the contract between them and Isildur1 lacked privity.
Under tort law, Isildur1 may have a contention to recover his money – if on top of a breach-of-contract argument we assume there is no other compensation claim. “Waiver of tort” can also be claimed by Isildur1 – a term commonly applied in instances wherein the defendant, as a result of perpetrating injustice upon the plaintiff, was unjustifiably enriched; the plaintiff asks for the disgorgement of the earning as a result.
Nevertheless, Isildur1 could still be prevented from making any claims because of some jurisdictional matters – despite the fact that Brian Hastings admitted cheating against Isildur1 and as a result he gained unjustifiably.
Cheating has happened in online poker sites before; Isildur1′s experience was not the first time – and it won’t certainly be the last. More than $20M got cheated from online poker players who played on Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet – one of its affiliate sites – around 2007-2008. It was found that a past employee was able to break the software codes enabling him and his accomplices to see all of the cards as they were being played in the game. As with the case with Isildur1, in this situation the online poker sites did not make any drastic measures to penalize the culprits. Instead, Absolute Poker made a deal with them: they received a full confession on how they did everything – in exchange for identity protection.
Adding more weight to the problem is the fact that there were jurisdictional matters that gave them lesser options in making additional complaints. In this instance, in the US – where the poker players were residing – online gambling is illegal; plus the location of the computer servers used for the poker games was in Costa Rica. Therefore, even though a strong breach-of-contract contention or an effort of recovering money under the tort law was exerted by those poker players, there would be no meeting place where these players could make such contentions.
Even though there are available options to Isildur1 to recover his losses, it’s improbable that he will pursue them. He would need to show his true identity, and it is implausible that he will do so (UPDATE: He has revealed his name to be Victor Blom). Isildur1 comes from Sweden, where the tax laws are especially burdensome when it comes to online gambling. Isildur1 probably owes more taxes than what he was able to win, hence making it more likely for Isildur1, together with Sweden’s many other poker players and online gamblers, to choose to stay anonymous in the hope of being able to evade paying taxes on his winnings.
Because of his instant stardom, he was given chances to continue his poker playing career. Nevertheless, everything is not lost for Isildur1. A lot of other poker websites want him to play in their poker rooms. To be more specific, a dedicated set of high-stakes tables was offered to him by Real Deal Poker, where he can directly invite others to play with him.
There was no doubt that in the fall of 2009 – though details are unavailable – Isildur1′s gaming augmented Full Tilt Poker’s online audience and the poker forums were kept abuzz. With online poker’s very tight competition, soon other sites will imitate what Red Deal Poker did; more offers may follow.
With regards to Isildur1, although it has been reported that his bankroll is in the red, he pledges that it has not been wiped out and that he is preparing for a comeback. There is no doubt that millions of avid high-stakes poker play fans, the “railbirds”, await his next move.
UPDATE: Isildur1′s real name is Victor Blom. He made his television debut on WSOP Europe Main Event 2009.
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