Shady operators of online poker 'club'
A friend invited me to join his poker club, which moved online during the pandemic. After playing there some, I came to realize that the owners and admin also play in their own games. They use a software called Mavens, which allows them to see everyone's hand history as soon as a hand is complete. There is also potentially a way for them to upload hand histories to PT4 (and I think the software has even been hacked in the past to allow god mode).
I brought this up to my friend and he insisted the owners were 'gold', although he has never met them in person. I also probed one of the admin, and he tried to tell me the site was the 'safest out there' and that the owners would never cheat. Personally, I find it hard to believe that even the most honest poker player would never look up an opponent's HH if they could, let alone have a secret HUD/profile on every player in their club.
The club has over 1,000 members, mostly in the states, but some international now too. It is all cash, so this is not a play thing. And, they only verify accounts that play .50/1 USD cash games and higher, although most people play MTTs, which require no verification. The site also gives off Ponzi scheme vibes, where they need a constant source of new players and deposits to pay off others' withdrawals.
I know some of the other recs who play there, and I'm guessing many are oblivious to the fact that the owners and admin have an edge and not much is being done to stop multi-accounting.
What should I do? Just walk away? Or do I try to at least make it publicly know that the owners and admin have access to everyone's HHs and are not being transparent?
2 Replies
I used to run a game on Mavens, I never was able to see hands in real time or anything like that but it does feel like it has the potential to be hacked. I dont know about the god mode instance youre referring to but I stopped hosting the game there and moved elsewhere. Its also just really janky looking
Is it actioncardz??? I have played on there a few times and games are soft but you never really know.
It wouldnt be shocking if they were importing all the hands and building player profiles I suppose. You never rly know and I dont think you could find that out unless they tell you. I dont see mavens(pretty sure thats the name of the network too but maybe not) on the pt4 list, so if they do take their hands it might just be for importing and not an in game hud.
Usually with private clubs I only play in ones where the owners have good reputations and something to actually lose. The ppl behind the above club are sorta kinda known but not really. But there hasnt been any threads made about them or anything like that
Id ask your buddy how his results are on the site and have him show you if hes actually winning. How good of a friend are we talking? Hes likely getting a piece of your rake(are you getting rakeback?)
hmu if you want to discuss this privately if it is this club. @sam_fts on tg. I can tell you more about the software too. Fwiw I do trust the ppl behind this as its been like 4-5yrs and theyre still open. So they definitely pay ppl out and nothing shady has come public about them. But its always best to be careful and cover all your bases. If they arent being transparent about something thats important to you, act accordingly, but maybe verify with another person first if what youre asking is unreasonable.
Hey thanks for your reply. It's not actioncardz. I'm still on the fence about it. Never thought that my friend, call him a poker friend, but not a close personal friend, might be making some rake off or me. I do trust Mavens though. I was able to find their main support website and learned a bit about the program there, like that someone developed a java script to convert Mavens HHs to PT4 HHs. Yeah, you can't use a HUD, but you could easily look up a PT4 profile on other players, say at a final table. I only keep 'house money' on the site now and play cautiously. Most of the players are fish/blasters, but there are a handful of regs that seem to win very often.
