Gossip Column: Fedor Kruse Outed by Roommates For Using Real-Time Solver Assistance & More

Just as the Mike Postle saga was on the road to wrapping up, a new scandal has rocked poker town. German pro Fedor Kruse was outed by his roommates last week for allegedly using Real-Time Assistance (RTA) software to gain an edge in nosebleed online cash games.

The Run It Once (RIO) Legends Showdown has entered the finals with Kevin Rabichow and Pauli Ayras surviving till the end. With €40,000 on the line, the duo will square off on September 15.

Yet another poker duel is also in the lineup. This time, it will be between two of the poker community’s biggest names, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari, in round 2 of PokerGo’s latest series, ‘High Stakes Duel.’ However, the date for round 2 is yet to be announced.

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner, Daniel Negreanu`s bracelet prop bet was one of the big stories to follow and one that kept his fans on the rail all through his numerous deep runs these last two months. To add insult to injury, the GGPoker Ambassador had to pony up $100K in a bracelet bet to Conor Drinan after the latter won the last bracelet at the series, Event #83: $10K WSOP Super MILLION$.

Fedor Kruse Outed For Using Real-Time Solver Assistance

A startling new scandal broke over the weekend when evidence was found of German high stakes player Fedor Kruse using Real-Time Assistance (RTA) software to gain an advantage in cash games. It seems that Kruse’s former roommates released the details in a detailed post on the 2+2 forum, while also reporting it to PokerStars and GGPoker.

Kruse, who plays under the moniker “GlitchSystem”, allegedly used a ‘dream machine’ computer set-up to access and use pre-solved cash game simulations for GTO play.

The first hints of the storm to come were dropped by Patrick Leonard during a WSOP stream, when he said, “I know some huge drama that I can’t say just now…I’m not laughing about it because it’s bad, it’s not funny.”

Poker vlogger Joey Ingram had also claimed to know what the big story was, although he felt it would be less dramatic or understandable to the general poker community.

Watch the stream below.

The Kruse scandal is probably what they were talking about. Using the ‘dream machine,’ Kruse quickly became one of the biggest winners in the high-stakes cash game across several sites. His roommates apparently confronted Kruse and told him to stop cheating – something they say he refused to do, which led them to ask him to leave the apartment.

The text of what they are said to have sent to the PokerStars security team was shared on 2+2

Leonard took to Twitter to comment on the scandal.

https://t.co/v255LLBMew
Getting dozens of messages about this. Can’t reply now because playing. 3 things for now
1- I’m 98% sure roommates are innocent
2 – I’ve spoken to Fedor 3x+ about this and he has his side and will reply in the thread.
3- this is very important

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 13, 2020

I’m not on any side fwiw. I’ve been helping mediate and doing calls with Fedor. He’s been very willing to cooperate and speak with me and not hostile at all. That said the evidence is quite strong and amongst the Vienna community his house mates have a strong rep. I’ve not met

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 13, 2020

Will be hard to keep up with all of this whilst playing this week. If somebody wants to collate all replied/accusations/opinions etc I can do podcast Wedwith them and go through everything. I’ve spoken to both Fedor and the Vienna crew throughout. So many things to consider

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 14, 2020

Screenshots of chats have been shared on the 2+2 forum in which Kruse seems to admit to having used solvers during his playing sessions.

However, Leonard wants to give Kruse a chance to explain his side of the story.

Doing with Bencb, but I want to give Fedor the chance to reply first because I truly believe in both sides shluld always be able to put their points across. May try and convince Fedor to come on to the pod too. I’ll take responsibility.

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 14, 2020

Important thing to remember here, if you played against him a lot on stars/gg and haven’t received refunds, then he has not been found guilty from their security departments. Lot of people saying they played vs him did anybody receive refunds?

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 14, 2020

So much stuff about this subject that people are missing. But also please remember Fedor has not responded yet so the argument will always be one sided. I imagine he will respond today. There is some strong sides to his argument….

— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) September 14, 2020

There has been quite a reaction to this scandal on Twitter.

Played against him quite a lot. Never knew this shit waa going on.

— Jody Shelley (@JodyShelley86) September 13, 2020

Allow me to state the obvious. This kind of thing is catastrophic for online poker. I don’t know how the community will be able to prevent it. Knowing that @PhilGalfond is working on it gives me hope.

— Ben Husmann (@RealArtistZ) September 13, 2020

So the two biggest poker sites including the one with supposedly best security with methods that they dont disclose because they are so great didnt have any idea about this and no alarms were raised.
Why is this not a bigger deal? Most Regs are cheating/Recs dont care/know?

— Ingo (@syneclisa) September 13, 2020

With the Postlegate scandal now done and dusted, the poker world seems to now have a whole new problem on hand. Let’s wait and see how this plays out.

Kevin Rabichow & Pauli Ayras Make it to RIO Legends Showdown Finale

After weeks of intense play, the Run It Once (RIO) Legends Showdown has reached its finale, and the two pros you have survived till the end are Kevin Rabichow and Pauli Ayras.

The duo outlasted fellow competitors Bjorn “AsianFlushie” Li and Fedor Holz, as well as Mikael “ChaoRen160” Thuritz and “Makeboifin.” They will now have to play 2,250 hands across three sessions of €50/€100 to determine the winner.

Interestingly, Rabichow and Ayras have not played each other throughout the series thus far. The player who eventually wins the series will get €40,000, with the runner-up receiving €20,000.

With only the finals left, here’s the breakdown of the money won in the series, thus far:

The Legends Showdown finale will play out on September 15 and be streamed on the Run It Once Twitch channel.

In 24 hours, we’ll be kicking off the Finals of the Legends Showdown! @KRabichow will be playing three 750 hand sessions against @Fiilismies08. The duo will play tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday, with every match starting at 16:00 UTC on https://t.co/MtaYAY0lRd! pic.twitter.com/uH8VuZWRpS

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) September 14, 2020

Antonio Esfandiari vs. Phil Hellmuth: High Stakes Duel Round 2 to Take Place Soon

PokerGo’s latest series, ‘High Stakes Duel,’ pitted two poker world behemoths against each other, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari. Round 1 saw the 15-times WSOP bracelet beat out the ‘The Magician’ back in August. Round 2 of Esfandiari v. Hellmuth will happen soon, and both seem to be looking forward to the rematch.

“It’s pretty cool that the loser has an automatic right to battle at least two more times,” Esfandiari said. “Usually when you play poker in any kind of a match or a tournament, once someone wins it’s over. But now, even though I lost, I still have two chances to redeem myself.”

“It’s interesting because we can challenge each other, other people can challenge us as well,” Hellmuth added. “This concept of also having the people that are staking you in the room with you is kind of cool.”

In the first match, each player put up $50,000 — and the stakes are to double each round. Talking about why he thinks he lost to Hellmuth, Esfandiari said, “I have to give him more credit. I underestimated my opponent [in two spots], which is what caused me to lose the match. Next time, there’s no way he’s going to get away with what he did. He’s just going to have to show it to me.”

“If I go into that match feeling really cocky against him, then I’m in trouble,” Hellmuth said. “I have to go in there with an open mind and be ready to play my best. He’s a great player and I know this.”

While the rematch date has not yet been announced, fans can watch round 1 on PokerGO’s YouTube channel.

Daniel Negreanu Loses $100K in WSOP Prop Bet

GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu has a habit of making prop bets. Back in June, he had made a $1 Million that he would win a seventh gold bracelet in 2020. While that bet did not come to fruition, Negreanu seems to have lost an additional $100,000 to Conor Drinan, who won Event #83: $10K WSOP Super MILLION$ for $1.42 Million.

Apart from his $1 Million prop bet, Negreanu had made a few other bets, one of which was betting on who would or wouldn’t land WSOP gold. Drinan had taken up Negreanu on the bet for the maximum of $100,000.

While Negreanu is a six-time WSOP bracelet winner, Drinan became the first player to land 5 SCOOP titles in a single series, showing his online MTT class and the fact that the series was held complete online gave Drinan an edge.

However, with the final event kicking off last week and neither player having landed a victory, it looked like the prop bet would come to a push. Unfortunately for Negreanu, Drinan shipped the last bracelet awarded at the series to win the bet.

Negreanu, despite the last-minute $100k hit, was among those to congratulate Drinan.

Congrats @ConnorDrinan I watched a little of the heads up and it was truly insane! https://t.co/MV2fjShG4p

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 8, 2020