Dating back to middle of 2006 when full tilt added 500-1k limit holdem and then shortly after 1k-2k heads up limit holdem. I began the epic battle which I logged in at least 400-500 hours vs the infamous Texas Limit King. A very strange hand came up in our 3rd match. TLK had the button and he raise and I called. The board came down Q62 rainbow, and I had 33, so I check raised the flop, and was called. The turn came Q and I bet he called. The river was the 6, again I bet and he called. I had 3 high and was counterfeited on the river, but so was TLK holding 44 fro 4 high as he scooped the 12k pot. I immediately sat out and contemplated the possibilities of a call in which TLK can I only beat 2 hands. He can only beat 33, or 2,3, if I held 22 I would have had a full house still obviously. So how can this be? If he was able to see my hole cards, why would he just call and not raise. In the chat he claimed he had a great read and that he would never quit me unless he went broke. At the time the only rational explanation was that he miss clicked for 2k or he misread the board and didnt see he was counterfeited as well.

I thought for 15 minutes and said who would be dumb enough to make such a call if he was indeed cheating. OR maybe he thought if I made this call then everyone would think if he was cheating then why the hell would he just call, making it even more unlikely right? Also at this time it became apparent that he has an ego, knew that I has a big ego as well from the ensuing chat the occurred. However since then there are many things that contradict that no foul play every existed. I should have quit him regardless of any reasoning whatsoever. First off if he did have an ego the call there is enough to put anyone on tilt and an attempt to make him look like a genius or retard. He accomplished both obviously. Over the next 4 to 5 months I proceeded to lose about 1.2 million to him on full tilt poker.

TLK was a young kid around 19 years old at the time and he did have some experience playing some high limits on Ultimate Bet and Crypto before he beat me. After he beat me he proceeded to beat virtually all the best high limit heads up holdem players in the world. These are just some estimates, but I believe he beat David Benjamine for over 2 million and Phil Ivey for close to 1 million as well. He also beat up on Jakz101 for 600k and nimag for a nice amount as well as the invincible Patrick Antonious. Jdags as well, and im sure some other names that are not as well known. At one point TLK was seen with 1 million on two tables of 1k-2k limit hu holdem waiting for action. Then after winning roughly 5-6 million from the best players in the world over a 7-8 month time frame he suddenly disappeared from Full Tilt Poker and has rarely been seen again.

At those nose bleed limits if you run hot it is definitely possible to go on such a sick run. It is possible he was smart and decided to book the win similar to what Freedom25 "the bryce" did when he won close to 2.1 million in almost the same time frame.

Of course now with the known "super user" scandal on AP we now all know it is possible for someone to have access to see hole cards. It has been proven and admitted. However if this was in fact the same scenario of cheating or seeing hole cards or even something that TLK used to gain an advantage, he played in a manner that is almost virtually impossible to prove. He did not blatantly win every hand and fold every time he was beat. This was a person with previous experience of playing high limit holdem before. He had what it takes knowledge wise to make it look almost "perfect". Give me the option of seeing someones hole cards and I will 100 percent make sure there was nothing that can raise any suspicion, without ever losing in the long run. Obviously there were many instances where he would call down with K high on the river or Q high and I would scoop the pot. But there were also many times where he would cap a very marginal hand where he was ahead as well but like I said before, a great player is capable of making sick reads like that. It has been stated before and I will state it again, if someone who knows how to play holdem very well and has access to anything that would gain an advantage in an unethical way it would enable them to beat any opponent over time with 0 chance of losing while making it look completely realistic.

Here's the problem, there is inconclusive evidence in this situation because this was a player that was capable of make it look like normal play. The only way this could ever be proven is if Full Tilt knew about the cheating or the program that was used and admitted to it. If absolute was able to get away with never admitting to someone using any program to give a player an advantage, you can bet your life they would have taken it to their grave. Is it possible full tilt knew about it, absolutely. Is it also possible he legitimately won, without a doubt. Even if I could get all the hand histories TLK played lifetime against every opponent how can u prove beyond a shadow of a doubt there was something fishy, and thats the whole point, YOU CAN'T! And if someone at Full Tilt did know anything about it, just like AP, why would they admit to it? I lost 1.2 million to someone who has been challenged to play big live action and has denied to play anyone since then. Obviously at this point I have no choice to just chalk it up as a loss, an unfortunately will undoubtedly never know or prove that the money was won in a legitimate fashion. Full tilt has repeatedly emailed me saying that they have reviewed the situation in depth looking at all the hand histories and has claimed it was a fair game. Is there any options at this point. Can there be any solutions. I am anyone who reads this, the entire poker community what their take is on this.

It has now been close to 2 years since TLK dominated the biggest heads up limit holdem game to date online. Do I still have doubts? Yes, and I always will. I have been wanting to write about this for a long time and maybe it will help relieve me of the nightmares it has caused me.

If anyone would like to talk about this more in depth, or want me to write something in more detail, I would be very gracious to anyone who would be willing to investigate this further or discuss any other ideas involving this experience that still haunts me to this very day. As one the biggest advocates of online poker, I would like nothing else than for every single person to feel safe and secure playing online!

Dustin aka nevewin (pokerstars) aka eastsideslim (full tilt)

Read more on 2+2 http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.p...e=0#Post8130193

Someone linked me to this thread after I wrote the blog, and whether it was sarcastic or not there were some things in the thread that I believe to have some truth. I really believe this is something that should be seriously investigated again with all the info out today, and also I would like hear more info on pattern mapping as well. For example the biggest things I noticed and remember when I played TLK is when he jammed the flop or the turn with a draw, he hit the draw with an extremely high frequency, as well as when I was ahead with one pair and he turned or rivered 2 pair or a higher pair to beat me. Lastly one other fact that needs to be figured in was how many times I might have folded a big hand when I was getting jammed with these extra bets.