Reputation and ensuring player safety, including the investigation of nefarious activity, is the lifeblood of any great poker operation, and fortunately online we have tools and visibility that a live or private game never does.

It’s also why on a recent podcast our founder Bryn Kenney - when accused of cheating - suggested that the operator needs to be the judge of that. The operator Bryn was referring to was GGPoker who have even gone as far to recently set up a Poker Integrity Council, an initiative the entire industry should be supportive of.

It’s paramount that operators give players trust through response, and through actions that are far more important than any social media “he said, he said” complaint or debate. Bryn today continues to play his online poker at GG who are doing some great things in the game, but as founder at 4Poker will only play in future at our site either promotionally, or for charity. Bryn will certainly have no additional privileges afforded to any other player.

Players at 4Poker can expect diligence, and where appropriate compensation. We will be thorough, fair and even generous. I thought this week it would be good to introduce some of our own integrity team and policies, as I don’t believe it is fair that Bryn Kenney be expected on a podcast to speak with authority on all things game security, where we have subject matter experts and leaders.

I couldn’t be more confident in the team we’ve assembled to tackle this topic and genuinely believe we have the best operations leader, architect, product manager, and developer in the space. The same people that have already proven and delivered what I consider best in class tools and services in this field.

Ed Ramshaw is an industry veteran of over 17 years in and around Game Integrity. A tenure almost as old as the online poker industry itself. Ed comments below on the areas of the game we need to protect most, as 4Poker’s Director of Customer Experience…

[HC] Why should players trust 4Poker?

[ER] Poker players should care about a couple key points concerning integrity online, no matter who is behind investment;
A) that their money is safe – in accordance with our license obligations, 4Poker will be keeping all player funds separate from operational expenses, and in addition to that will have various levels of account security available for those who are either active or have significant balances in their account.
B) that the games that they play in are fair - The key to facilitating a fair game is the ability for us to detect transgressions, both proactively through a robust alerting system, and through vigilant players. We have a game integrity team with over 40 combined years of experience of protecting the integrity of online poker games. Players who violate our rules and terms of service will be penalized accordingly and the nature of the offence will determine the level of punishment. This will extend from warnings and rules acknowledgements, through to being permanently barred with confiscation of funds. These policies and procedures have been tried and tested successfully for many years. Unlike other sites we have also made the conscious decision to not be offering games that are particularly vulnerable to forms of game abuse such as Double or Nothings and Heads Up SnGs, among others.

A couple of things we will guarantee though, is that 4Poker will not hide behind privacy and GDPR as a defence for complacency. If someone makes a complaint regarding the integrity of the games, there will be a thorough investigation and response from the team. Additionally, if someone has been materially adversely affected by a violation, they will receive appropriate compensation.

[HC] There have been a number of people questioning Bryn Kenney “superusing” as in investor or ambassador here. What comfort can you give to prospective 4Poker players that this will not be the case?

[ER] Bryn has a special dispensation from the regulators to be able to play on the site however, he will have no access to any back-end tools or data, and any money won on his account will be used for either charitable or promotional means. Furthermore, and the real kicker, is that Bryn will be streaming his play on 4Poker!

[HC] How will 4Poker respond to issues of Multi-Accounting?

[ER] We have an extensive roadmap of development items that have been prioritised according to need, but our initial focus is on having all of the data, detection and alerts necessary. We will cover a number of measures in the future such as statistical fingerprinting, web cam challenges in higher stake games, and the possibility that if players are playing in high stakes games that their real name (not UserID) will be shown, to help with any anonymity concerns. Players will also have to go through a strict verification process at various points to prove they are indeed the account owner, and this combined with our platform not containing multiple skins nor easily allowing multiple sign-up, should all amount to robust protection against multiple-account abuse.

[HC] A lot of players today use 3rd party tools to improve their game and some sites even have in-client HUDs. What will 4Poker’s stance on 3rd Party Tools be?

[ER] HUDs, bots and real-time assistance (RTA), data mining, hotkeys, seating scripts etc. will all be prohibited while playing with us. At the end of the day all of these types of programs - some of which other sites permit - just give an advantage to those that use them. 4Poker has long held the vision to return poker to its roots and essentially be a battle of the minds, so that is what we will endeavour to ensure happens.

[HC] There has been a lot of talk recently about RTA… Please explain what exactly that means in layman terms?

[ER] RTA is spoken about as if it is a relatively new threat to online poker. The reality is that proven cases of usage date back as far as 2013, so in that regard I am pleased that they have not been the threat to the game as I once feared. It is essentially the evolvement of automated poker bots but with an individual following the advice of a solver as to what the optimal action they should take in any given situation. I am not going to deny the challenges that RTA causes for the integrity of the games, but there are also many ways of identifying usage, and statistics, amongst other technical information, do not lie.

[HC] “Ghosting” has been the other hot topic. What exactly is being referred to here?

[ER] Despite the game being online, I’m sure many people reading this will have experienced fellow poker players and friends sweating their play in-person if not virtually, and we’re of the belief this naturally is fine, and in-truth expected across our community.

Ghosting in a nutshell is when players receive advice, often from another more experienced player, as to what action to take and integrity comes even more into question when significant money is up for grabs (e.g. final table) or where normal decision making is being affected. Our terms of service and game rules will help to guide our investigation and management of any such activity.

[HC] What will 4Poker’s approach to a player’s location be?

[ER] Bryn referenced “grey” markets in an interview, and the different challenges for operators, still needing to maintain a case-by-case (i.e. territory by territory) approach to regulatory risk and market availability.. A grey market effectively means that the country is not directly and locally regulated (e.g. Spain, Italy, France, UK etc.), and at the same time not specifically prohibited (e.g. Australia). In order to even download 4Poker, players will need to be located in one of our permitted jurisdictions, and prove that they reside there.

[HC] Finally, what will be the approach to game integrity offenders, and will they ever get a second chance at 4Poker?

[ER] The short answer to second chances given, is yes – if/where deserved. Some of the biggest names, players and winners in the game today have prior history and encountered security and integrity penalties, but am sure also learn and grow from it. The two overarching factors from my perspective when considering second chances are; whether the individual in question has honoured their suspension, and whether they exhibit remorse for their prior actions. That said, serial offenders and anyone engaging in blatant, hostile and malicious cheating will be dealt with zero tolerance, and such offenders will simply not be welcome at 4Poker.