Back in the saddle, it seems
The term “indefinite suspension” does not necessarily mean forever, but it typically means “a long time,” at the very least. Define it how you will, poker pro Ren Lin’s indefinite suspension from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and GGPoker lasted less than two months.
Lin is currently playing in WSOP Paradise Event #9, the $100,000 Triton Main Event. As of this writing, he sits in 130th place with 136,000 chips, with 237 players remaining.
And that likely comes as quite the surprise, good or bad, to many in the poker community. Lin has been a popular high-stakes player, but he helped a GGPoker player cheat in October. As such, the poker room suspended him indefinitely from both GGPoker and WSOP events, as it owns the famous brand.
Cheaters, cheaters are no fun
In mid-October, Lin was set to start Day 2 of the WSOP Super Circuit Cyprus Main Event at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Casino when Tournament Director Andy Tillman told him he had been disqualified. According to Merit Poker, the disqualification was the result of a “violation of the Poker Integrity Policy on GGPoker.”
A few days prior, Chinese player “RealOA” won GGPoker’s $10,000 GGMillion$ event. In the days following the tournament, third-place finisher “Buzzcut” went public with an accusation that RealOA received “real-time advice from other players to gain unfair advantage.”
Buzzcut said that RealOA shared his screen with other players during the final table to get strategy advice. One of those poker players was Ren Lin, who actually apologized to Lin via text for helping RealOA, while at the same time saying such a thing was common in the online poker world.
“Indefinite” does not mean “permanent”
After a brief investigation, GGPoker banned RealOA from the site and all WSOP events for life and “indefinitely suspended” Lin from the same. GGPoker took a quarter million dollars from RealOA’s account to pay the tournament players whom he had victimized. Lin voluntarily contributed over $96,000 to make up the shortfall.
“Competitive poker depends on trust and equal conditions. We will not allow anyone to undermine that foundation,” said GGPoker when announcing its actions.
Ren Lin did issue a public apology, claiming he did not realize the seriousness of what he was doing in the moment, thinking he was just helping a friend as he often does after tournaments have concluded.
It is not known why GGPoker decided to lift Lin’s suspension after only about seven weeks. While he of course missed out on playing on GGPoker (though presumably not on other internet poker rooms), he did not miss any major WSOP events, just WSOP Circuit stops.
Image credit: World Poker Tour
The post Ren Lin’s ‘Indefinite Suspension’ from GGPoker, WSOP Short Lived as He Plays in WSOP Paradise appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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