Poker Integrity Council cheater blacklist launched

GGPoker is teaming up with several poker series to launch the Poker Integrity Council. The goal of the new council is to stop what it calls rampant cheating in poker and inflict real consequences on those caught cheating.

The founding council members include five well-known and respected poker pros. Those five include Jason Koon, Fedor Holz, Andrew Lichtenberger, Seth Davies, and Nick Petrangelo. According to a release issued by the council they will be looking to expand the number of people on the council in the future.

How will Poker Integrity Council cheater blacklist work?

The members of the council will investigate integrity issues on a case-by-case basis. If an online poker player at GGPoker is flagged for potential cheating council members will review hand histories and make a disciplinary ruling if one is warranted.

The punishment enforced through a disciplinary ruling can vary dependant on the seriousness of the violation, but can include a warning, account suspension, ban from the site, and confiscation of funds. For those banned from the site it has serious consequences as the council is working with major pokers series to extend that bans to live tournaments.

Some of the series partnering with the Poker Integrity Council include:

World Series of Poker

World Poker Tour

Poker Masters

Poker After Dark

High Stakes Poker

Super High Roller Bowl

Asian Poker Tour

Rungood Poker Series

UK Poker Championships

Ace Poker League

Triton Poker

PGT

King’s Casino

Battle of Malta

DTD Club

Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party

The creation of the council comes at a time when several high roller poker players have face cheating accusations, including Bryn Kenney, Jake Schindler, and Ali Imsirovic. All three played in the World Series of Poker this year which drew contempt from several other poker pros.

The same week they launch of the council was announced PokerStars also announced that anyone banned from their site for cheating would also be banned from live poker events run by PokerStars.