[Deptheads] Strategicon: Cheating feedback

[Neil Figuracion]

Hey folks,
 
I'm re-posting this message from Chris Johnson, who is one of the folks who has reported some instances of alleged cheating in our board game tournaments. I've also spoken with David Zevin who has said some similar things.
 
>From the reports, the most we can conclusively say is that he makes many mistakes and may be taking advantage of confusion and distraction at the table. While no one is sure enough to decisively say that David Hu is cheating, both reports are certain that he has made significant mistakes in his game accounting. There has also been some suspicion laid on his shuffling during the Mega Dominion tournament. As a player who lost to him in a round, I did watch him and ask that everything be played transparently, though I never considered that he might have been top-decking. 
 
So here's a course of action and I present it here to allow for some feedback:
 
1) I will contact David Hu and alert him to the suspicions that are being raised. He will be welcome to participate in our tournaments on a probationary status. I will make sure that he has the understanding that he must be completely transparent in his accounting during each transaction. Any further complaints of obscurity or possible error will lead to more drastic measures.
 
2) All of the GMs will be alerted to David Hu's probationary status. Otherwise, there is no way to enforce this measure.
 
3) Dominion tournaments and other deck-building tournaments may have an optional "shuffle and cut" rule to be employed at the behest of any players. This will be offered to players at each table and only through a complete "nay" vote will each round play without.
 
I still don't have David Hu's contact information. 
 
Any other thoughts? Thanks for your time!

twenty-three-skidoo,

Neil Figuracion
Fad23

Here's the repost:
 
Sorry, this will be short and sweet (for unpleasant values of sweet).

I've played a number of games with David, and observed him in a number
more, and discussed his behavior in a bunch more with other people. In
all cases, he aggressively splashes/grabs money and/or resources into
and out of the supply, in such a manner as to make it difficult to
track if he is properly doing the transaction.

In a number of cases, where it has been verifiable/calcuable, he has
*not* done the transaction properly; either under-paying, or taking
too much change. In a close game, filled with good players (of which
David clearly is one), that is often enough of an edge to ensure
victory.

In a couple of cases, I've set myself up as the banker, to address
this issue, and watched him carefully. Rather than hand in his
resources and receive any change in an orderly manner, he's then
waited 'til I was "distracted", and then awkwardly reached/lunged
across other players to do the same thing. He's been caught making
"mistakes" in those circumstances too.

This behavior has been observed by a number of people, in pretty much
every game he plays (and not only at Strategicon). In Dominion (the
mega tournaments), people who play poker professionally have reported
him dealing from the bottom of his deck, and purposely poorly
shuffling, to keep his good cards clumped, etc.

This guy clearly has a problem, and a quiet word to the wise is long
overdue, and will hopefully put an end to this behavior.

Whether or not he is actually actively cheating, he is giving every
appearance that he is, and that needs to be addressed, even if, by
some miracle, he isn't actually purposely cheating (and is just
consistently making "mistakes" in his favor, in every game he plays).

If this behavior continues, I and others are going to have to start
calling him out, and "warning" the people playing against him to be on
the lookout. I would very much prefer not to have to do that. It's
unpleasant for everyone involved, and should not be necessary.

Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Chris

 		 	   		  
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