Brian
Santa Barbara,

My Apology
Aug 26, 08 23:52:36


For the past 6 months I have been playing under the 2nd aliases Stellarnebula on FTP and makersmark66 on PokerStars. I have not used the aba20 account on Stars since I began playing on the Makersmark66 account. I have since gone back to using the aba20 account and will play only that account. During this time I played the 25/50 and 100/200 PLO games. I played under the Stellarnebula account from February until the end of June at which time Lee Jones and I had a discussion and we came to an agreement that I needed to close it. During this time I was playing under the Brian Townsend account, never at the same table with the Stellarnebula. Under the Stellarnebula account I played 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 PLO. During this time I played a very small amount of 50/100 PLO and primarily 200/400 PLO under the Brian Townsend account.



I wanted to have come forward and make this public sooner, but unfortunately because of certain business relationships I could not do that. What I did was wrong and I am going to be punished by FullTilt poker by having my red pro status revoked for 6 months. I am unsure what action, if any, PokerStars will take.



I have also hurt those that I work closely with primarily at CardRunners but also at FullTilt. To compensate those that were hurt by my actions I am going to be donating 25,000 dollars to a charity to be determined in the future. This money will be removed from my CardRunners distributions. This is by no means me making my actions correct but I hope that it shows some good faith towards those that I work closely with. I am very proud of CardRunners; we are doing something very special.



My first reaction when this occurred was to go hide under a rock. I am not going to do that and I will answer any questions that are asked of me. I feel that I have nothing to hide. If you wish to interview me on this subject please email ezra@cardrunners.com and we can set something up. I will also be answering questions in not only the CardRunners forum, but the 2+2 forum as well. I will not be hiding from anyone or any questions.



Those are the pertinent facts. The reason why I created these accounts was because I enjoy anonymity when playing smaller and am very prideful in what I do. The past two years I have made a lot of money playing poker. This year I have been breakeven. For me it’s correct to play smaller when things aren’t going well. I have never played poker for the money; it has always been a byproduct of my play. Whatever I do I want to be the best at it. For me playing the 200/400 PLO games was not the right thing to do because my results haven’t been good. I think I am a winner in those games and I intend to prove to myself that I am one of the best poker players in the world. I believe what it takes is an incredible amount of focus and work to accomplish this goal. I intend to work harder than anyone to prove this, because I have not been playing my best for the past year. I have something to prove to myself.



I have removed what I have online and left myself with 100K. From here I am going to play 25/50 PLO until I have 200K then 50/100 until I have 400K online then 100/200 until I have 800K online. From there I will play 200/400. If things don’t go well when I first move up I will move back down and rinse and repeat until I am at the 200/400 PLO games.



I used to think that playing 25/50, 50/100, and 100/200 was a failure because I wasn’t playing the largest limits. I am smart enough to move down when things aren’t going well; I was just too prideful to make it public.



Along with this I plan on continuing managing CardRunners and create the best poker instructional videos. I have put a lot of effort into my past videos and I want my partners to know that effort will continue, as well as the effort I put into running the company.



I hope that people can look to me and not only learn about poker and bankroll management, but also how to do the right thing and be a good person. Poker isn’t about luck or how you are running. It’s about the work and effort that you put into it. I have not had good results this year because of my poor play and lack of focus, not because I have run below expectation. I want to prove that to everyone. If you follow my play as I move up you will see the trials and tribulations that I face. There will be days of intense frustration and times when I will doubt my game. But I know that with hard work I can accomplish the goal I am setting.



I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives. I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologize to entire the online community. I will never partake in this type of activity in the future. This post should act as a full admission of my guilt, and I sincerely apologize to anyone that I've wronged.

User Comments:

Aug 26, 08 23:56:06

outstanding brian. thank you for showing the class to own up to your actions. i personally root for your continued success.

d_smith77

Aug 27, 08 00:09:54
Meh. No biggy

I understand how CR wouldn't want this to tarnish the sqeaky clean image they try to propagate, and it's obviously against the Full Tilt rules, but you're not alone. Never seemed to bother FT when Patrik had three different accounts prior to becoming a red pro, and I'm sure other red pros do the same.

You did wrong technically (and contractually), but there are plenty of worse things to do in online poker. You are not a God, and I don't think is reasonable for people to expect you to be without foibles.

Build a bridge and move on.

RZ_Smokey

Aug 27, 08 00:22:27
Good man

We all mistakes and I think that playing under a diff screenname isnt that much of a bigdeal.

I mean, just because you change name wont make anyone a winner player.

Even if a large number of players know your original screen name, and you play under a diff one, they should be able to adjust there play to your play- Not your screen name.

Get back to playing well brian and do your homework.

peace

streetfamep

Aug 27, 08 00:25:53

its ok, you are not the only person that has done this, and i dont think it even makes you look bad. not like you were cheating or anything. godspeed w/ plo, you can do it!

mastertrey436

Aug 27, 08 00:32:45

mad respect for this brian

brystmar

Aug 27, 08 00:59:01

this shows nothing but class...although the actions were clearly wrong, and the severity of it can be debated...i will remain a fan of your and look forward to seeing you crush the biggest games once again...best of luck

pgcannonball

Aug 27, 08 01:22:36

This is one of the reasons that I like CR. It's hard to be a poker player online. I want to change my screen name so bad sometimes. There are 100 SnG's that I played as a losing player. There are people who've seen me donk off money and assume I'm bad and play with me because of it. And this is at tiny-tiny stakes. Hell sometimes I want a separate account just so my girl won't know how much \$\$ is in my account on Stars. You live under a microscope. People post Hand Histories about hands you play that they watched. That's insane pressure. The pressure on you to win is enormous, more so when you factor in CR. I understand completely why you did what you did. You're teaching all the people at CR and 2+2 about the importance of integrity in poker. Some already know, some will hate on you anyway, and some (read aisflat439) will appreciate the fact that you man up. That's a bigger a lesson as learning when to float with overs in position.

aisflat439

Aug 27, 08 01:24:46

As for the 25G's i thnk it would cool for you to give it to somthing that helps animals or the environment cuz kids and foreigners get all the love.

C.R.E.A.M

Aug 27, 08 01:37:34

LOLZ! Break the rules make hundreds of thousands of dollars and then get caught and donate 25k. The boys at Enron would be proud Brian.

BigBadDevil

Aug 27, 08 02:56:39

I think I understand both sides and frankly, I mostly agree with both sides. Because of that, I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on the subject... Nevertheless, I appreciate you on your straightforwardness and honesty with the members here and what sounds like the poker community. Part of being a leader is owning up to the negatives when under your responsibility and I commend you on that.

Waterpilot

Aug 27, 08 03:08:23

not that big a deal. patrik had like 3 sns and david benyamine had 2, maybe more. I'm sure it violated your contract with ftp, and that is for them to deal with, but other than that it really isn't a big deal. good of you to own up to what you did brian.

dtat0529

Aug 27, 08 03:35:49

Thanks for clearing this up Brian.

I LOVED your last 2 10/20 CR videos, so just keep up the good work I'm sure your I like to move it series will be awesome aswell.

Also GL on your PLO quest to the top. I'm sure you can do it.

ECart

Aug 27, 08 03:59:31

You da man! Dude Please update your blog as much as you can during your climb back to the the nosebleeds. Oh, I suggest cashing out some along the way too. Trust me, you won't regret cashing out but will regret not cashing out some here and there..

cpar1

Aug 27, 08 04:16:46

I suspect SamH got banned from CR for multiacounting )

FatalBazooka

Aug 27, 08 04:53:28

MAXIMUM RESPECT Brian!

This must have been very hard. I appreciate your honesty and am mightily impressed by your apology.

Actually you were the reason I joined CR back then in 2007. I'm still very happy about this.

Keep going. You are the man!

LuckyJoe

Aug 27, 08 04:56:40
unethical?

Hey brian, i lack the understanding of why it is unethical for you to play under a different screen name? Anonymity is certainly important - why are you not allowed to? (Ok - if you violate contracts with Full Tilt its another matter...)

Anyways, good luck for you - you are always an inspiration for me!

The_Hutze

Aug 27, 08 05:47:00

This isn't a huge deal imo, there were various reasons for you to create other accounts, and unless you're somehoe using 2 accounts at once on 1 site i think "multi accounting" is over rated anyhow, gl

carrotallan

Aug 27, 08 06:08:33

You deserve a great deal of respect for this 'confession' Brian, tho i dont think it is as big a deal as people will undoubtedly make out.

I look forward to seeing u get back to 200-400 plo in the near future, and more quality vids from u too.

chambers10

Aug 27, 08 07:00:45

who put the squeeze on you? deny till you die

perunjd

Aug 27, 08 08:07:31

Is my full tilt account considered a charity?

DPikes

Aug 27, 08 08:45:30

Im paying you guys to try and become a a better player so that I can play in the games that you were fleecing. 25K is about 1 buy in for some of the games you were playing. Months of playing under those names, and you think this makes it right? The only reason this all came to light was because you were exposed on 2+2 - its not like you came clean because of the guilt you fealt - you got caught - and thats why you stopped....and now its damage control time.

eddieob