German poker pro Tobias Duthweiler revealed that his account on GGPoker was banned and $130,000 in winnings was confiscated. In response the network said that he was warned in 2016 and that his winnings were returned to the players he played with.
The Poker Pro Tobias Duthweiler Banned from GGPoker
A discussion arose earlier this week on the poker forum Two Plus Two. The high-stakes German pro player Tobias Duthweiler revealed that GGPoker confiscated his winnings and closed his account. Initially depositing $50,000 the pro’s funds shrank to $30,000. In May after a streak of wins, Duthweiler topped his account to $180,000.
The poker website ran Duthweiler’s identification once before. But back in June all high stake players had to go through secondary identity verification processes and this is when his funds were confiscated and the account was closed. The professional player found this concerning as he said that he always gave valid information upon registering and even provided a photo ID.
Upon discussing the issue with GGPoker, Duthweiler received his initial deposit of $50,000 back. This however left him with sour taste of the situation saying that he was free-rolled for more than 1 year. Duthweiler also raised his concern about GGPoker’s security system given the fact that he wasn’t banned for such a long period of time.
GGPoker Warned Duthweiler in 2016
The discussion caught the attention of the GGPoker ambassador Fedor Holz who commented on the subject in Twitter. Holz explained that Duthweiler’s account on Natural8 back in 2016 was banned with a warning to not attempt to play at “GGNetwork” again. He further outlined that confiscations of funds is a standard procedure after the initial warning.
Holz stressed that Duthweiler’s new account within the GGnetwork wasn’t flagged immediately as some of the provided information didn’t match the information from the initial account. Here, we cannot miss to say that Duthweiler did change address for the period 2016-2020.
Holz noted that Duthweiler’s deposit was eventually returned and the $130,000 in winnings were distributed back to the players he played with. In conclusion, he assured that GG’s integrity and quality of service has been up to the highest standards.
What Led to the Ban of the Professional Player?
The current ban of Duthweiler’s account on GGPoker is the result of a previous violation from 2016. Back then, the poker pro had an account with Natural8, which is a site, part of the GGNetwork. Back then, allegedly Duthweiler conducted “bumhunting” which violates the “Security and Ecology Agreement” of the website. As a result, his account was banned.
The so called bumhunting is an activity, where experienced players target weak players. The experienced players would sit into a table but not play until a weak player which was targeted joins. Players who engage in that practice usually track the weak players from the game lobby and join/quit with them on the tables.
More recently, in 2019 Duthweiler joined another website, a part of the GGNetwork – Bestpoker. However, once the skin removed the high-stakes tables, the poker pro left. Duthweiler also joined Betkings earlier this year. The website then became a part of the GGNewtwork and eventually Duthweiler opened an account with GGPoker and deposited $50,000. However, according to his forum post he never knew that the skin Natural8 which he used in 2016 and GGPoker were on the same network.