GGPoker vs Poker Stables

Author

Vargoso

Published

4/9/2024

Updated

4/9/2024

The Russian skin of the GGNetwork, PokerOK, has declared war on poker stables and schools that organize support for MTT players with training and backing. Read our article about how the confrontation began and how the players and GGPoker reacted.

Gg Poker Vs Poker Stables Chronology Conflict

GGPoker vs Stables – chronology of the conflict

On March 27, 2024, an extensive press release appeared in the official telegram channel of PokerOK (a Russian poker room operating in the pool of the GGNetwork), in which the room announced the beginning of the fight against unscrupulous stables, poker schools, and anything similar:

Poker Ok Vs Poker Funds Telegram

(the text of the message from the English version of the channel).

Interestingly, on the same day, literally an hour before the post from the poker room, the famous Russian PRO player Ilya “pokanuktus” Pavlov publishes a message on the largest Russian-language poker forum with his claims to PokerOK CEO.

The player accuses the poker room of unreasonably blocking the accounts of regulars and restricting the withdrawal of funds.

Until April 1, the forum pages were active in discussions of various topics between representatives and ambassadors of PokerOK on the one hand and heads of poker stables on the other. The opinions of regular players were divided.
April 1, 2024: PokerOK offered to arrange a general conference call with stable managers to find common ground. The proposed interaction terms during the call did not suit any parties. In particular, the heads of many stables were unsatisfied with the ultimatum demands to send a complete list of players from their communities.
April 2, 2024: after it became clear that the dialogue between the heads of stables and PokerOK had failed, PokerOK CEO entered the public space and offered the entire community a question-and-answer communication. However, nothing came of such communication.

PokerOK CEO called the stables “absolute evil,” as they provide their players with endless bankrolls and make them strong grinders.

His final position was as follows:

The operation of backing funds and stables in PokerOK is completely prohibited.
Stables must provide the poker room with lists of all their participants and publicly announce their withdrawal from the network within a week.
The accounts of all stable players (about 3,500 in total) will be frozen, and they can only cash out once the checks are completed.
All new winning accounts will be checked for involvement in the stables.

Translation of the main statements by PokerOK CEO from 2+2:

✅ About poker stables in PokerOK

✅About stables in other skins of the network

✅ About the new poker boom

The reaction of the English-speaking poker community

The conflict almost immediately seeped into the English-speaking community. Russian regulars sought support from colleagues from abroad and representatives of GGPoker. Twitter posts and a separate 2+2 topic appeared very quickly.

In this case, the players' opinions were also completely different. Joe Ingram welcomed the new anti-stable strategy, while Fedor Holz expressed surprise at Bryskin's radical approach.

The most extensive Twitter post on the topic was left by Patrick Leonard. The Brit really only told about:

✅ His vision of the problems with stables

✅Possible ways to solve these problems

But he did not say anything specifically about how PokerOK approached the issue of fighting stables.

The official response from GGPoker

On April 8, 2024, a joint statement by PokerOK and GGNetwork was released. It consisted of the following items:

Stables' activities that systematically violate the platform's rules (including teamplay, soft play, ghosting, collusion, bumhunting, multiaccounting, collective collection of statistics, notes, and mining) must be stopped. Otherwise, according to the updated Agreement on Ecology and Safety dated April 8, stables' bankrolls will be confiscated.
We accept that poker is an individual game. Such stable activities imply the promotion of an attitude towards poker as a collective game, which contradicts the position of GGNetwork.
Players' backing in tournaments should only take place using the in-app feature. In the next two months, we will implement a feature that allows you to see the player's backers to expand the functionality of backing.
Stables should not publicly advertise player backing. Backing should be a private arrangement, not a marketing tool, to attract more players to stables.
Any stable that violates these rules is prohibited from doing business on PokerOK and GGPoker. Funds can be blocked or confiscated.

For most regular GGPoker players, such changes will allow you to increase your win rate in tournaments. Their rivals will now be only the same individual poker players and not the “collective mind and wallet” of poker funds.