Ban Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius from Online Poker?

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Do Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius deserve to be banned from playing online poker?

This is the question being asked by Bill Rini of Bill's Poker Blog.

His rationale:  The two poker pros are "sharks" and "net withdrawers".

Rini writes:

"They (Ivey and Antonius) are bad for the site and should clearly be banned if you listen to iPoker who gave Blonde Poker three months notice to find a new network because they had too many winning players."

That's right:  Online poker networks are now punishing their licensees (skins) for having too many winners on board.  Ivey and Antonius certainly qualify. 

He points out that Phil Ivey is up $15,661,019.27 and Patrik Antonius has clocked a cool $13.7 million dollars since 2007.  Few of the so-called online poker "skins" (those that operate rooms on bigger networks such as iPoker and Cake Poker) can sustain these type of losses to players the likes of Ivey and Antonius. 

But is it really fair to discriminate against poker players for winning?

"If you're going to start banning players for being too good or lowering the payouts to the skins to the point that they can't offer better players any retention incentives, they'll go elsewhere. I know that may seem like what some poker network operators want but like all ecosystems there are always unintended consequences."

Ace King, Gambling911.com         

Submitted by Ace King on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 12:39
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Comments

Makes No Sense

Mon, 12/28/2009 - 18:32 — Guest
Poker rooms earn a commission of rake from their players, it makes no difference if their players win or lose, as long as they play. Having pros on the site makes no difference. The only way it hurts a skin is if they give the pro all the rake back, or they pay players (props) to play. The room itself is not losing money since they only get a % of the rake that their players contribute. It is not the skins money that is being wagered with. the skin just collects the commission from the rake. In a nutshell!!

LOL

Mon, 12/28/2009 - 16:24 — Guest
Seriously are you guys that hard up for a story?

The Original Article

Mon, 12/28/2009 - 18:08 — C Costigan
Please take a moment to visit the linked website. The article referenced that discusses rationale behind such a ban is a good one. I don't necessarily agree with the suggestion that either of these individuals should be banned but there is some useful information contained within that article pertaining to how skins are teetering on financial collapse as a result of these pros. This is true of the sports betting sites over the years that are not financially sound and open themselves up to professional "sharp" action. We've seen the same scenario throughout the years. The original article makes mention of how professional sports bettors are also taking advantage of these online poker sites through partnerships such as William Hill, etc... I really enjoyed the Bill Rini article and think that our readers will too. http://www.billrini.com

Banned...LOLOL

Mon, 12/28/2009 - 14:47 — Guest
How do you ban players who actually own the site? They aren't playing on Full Tilt just cause they like it. Not sure bout antonius but definitely Ivey is a major owner. Shiet everyone knows this!