"I'm not a cheater," part 2

Back in December I ranted about Chris Vaughn and Sorel Mizzi ("Imper1um") and their disqualification from a major online tournament because the former sold his position in the game to the latter in the final stages. (See http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2007/12/im-not-cheater.html.)

Well, for reasons known only to him, Mizzi has recently spoken up in his own defense again--see http://betting.betfair.com/poker/imper1um/news/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-ftp-issues-100308.html.

I have a few scattered thoughts about his post.

First, he says that he had never previously bought an account to close out a tournament. I don't believe him. I have no evidence to the contrary, and he might be telling the truth, but his credibility is pretty darn low. Nearly everybody who gets charged with, say, drunk driving swears that it's the first time anything like that has ever happened, and they're usually lying. I think such considerations favor the hypothesis that it was not his first time, but I recognize that that is essentially unknowable.

Ultimately, though, I think it makes very little difference whether this was his first time. More important is that I'm quite confident it would not have been his last time, had he not been caught. His remorse strikes me as the kind that only results from the consequences of having been caught, absent which I think his conduct would have continued.

He says that he doesn't criticize others for having done the same thing. Why not? If he is convinced that it's wrong, why not say, "I cheated, and everybody who has done the same thing has cheated, too"? How can he plausibly maintain that he is convinced that what he did was wrong, if he's not willing to label as wrong the identical actions of other people?

He says that the "online poker gods" chose him "to make an example of." This strikes me as saying, in essence, "I shouldn't have the severe adverse consequences of having been caught, when so many others are getting away with it. It's not fair."

A little over a year ago, I got a ticket for speeding. I was coming out of a school speed zone, and I thought I was past the end of it, and was accelerating back to my normal speed. But I was a bit premature, and a hidden motorcycle cop with a radar gun nailed me at 7 mph over the limit in the last 40 or 50 feet of the school zone. (I thought the zone ended at an intersection, but the sign demarcating the end of the zone was just a bit past the intersection, and I didn't notice that fact in time.)

I suppose that I could whine that the ticket wasn't fair, because other drivers didn't even slow down at all for the school zone, and zoomed past while the officer was writing up my ticket, virtually thumbing their noses at us, whereas I at least made a conscientious effort to conform to the law, and just made a mistake. My mistake didn't endanger anybody, and was sort of a de minimis or technical violation rather than a flagrant disregard for the law. But the fact was that I was still inside the school zone and exceeding the reduced speed limit. That others get away with worse violations does not change that basic truth. Yeah, it's annoying, but I can't legitimately say that the ticket was undeserved. I paid my fine without contesting it.

Mizzi's words sound to me like he's bitter about having been "ticketed" when others continue to speed without consequence--which isn't the attitude of somebody who is genuinely sorry about his own actions. He is jealous, I think, that others have pulled it off better than he did.

Next, Mizzi writes, "Ghosting is not a topic that has ever been widely discussed until now and if these arguments had been presented on this scale, prior to me buying the account, I would have NEVER done it." This is pure BS. The subject had been discussed extensively in all of the forums, although often comingled with the related subjects of multi-accounting, collusion via phone or instant messaging, players getting help from friends, etc. Furthermore, the major sites had posted reasonably clear rules about what would be deemed to constitute a violation of their terms of service. (Granted, there remain some gray areas, but account purchasing is not one of them, and wasn't when his violation occurred.) The fact (if true) that he was unaware of such discussions doesn't mean that they hadn't taken place.

What's more, this really sounds like an "ignorance of the law" kind of excuse. He is claiming, in essence, "I didn't know it was wrong." First, I don't believe this. Second, even if it is so, it doesn't matter. Everybody is required to know and abide by the rules. I was supposed to know where the school zone ended, and I didn't. I have nobody to blame but myself for not paying sufficient attention to the signs. If Mizzi didn't pay attention to the rules and the online discussions, too bad--that's no excuse.

The last point I want to address in Mizzi's apology (of sorts) is this paragraph:

"Given the history of ghosting among the online poker community, I simply did not THINK when I bought the account. It was a reckless action, which can be clearly evidenced by my complete and utter carelessness to even try to cover my tracks which I could have easily done. It was completely stupid and naive. I was approached with an offer, I said yes, and I made a poor decision. I would NEVER do it again."

Let's dissect this a bit. He is clearly admitting that he knew of the practice of purchasing accounts in the late stages of online tournaments; the offer didn't come out of the blue as something of which he had never previously been aware. It seems to me that when one first learns that this practice is going on, one can have only two possible reactions: "Hey, that's obviously cheating, and I would never do that," or "Hey, that's a good way of making some relatively easy money; I hope I get the chance to do it some time." I don't see how one can be neutral about it.

Mizzi must have had a reaction akin to the second one I postulated. If his reaction had been like the first, then when the opportunity arose, he would have rejected it, actualizing the decision he had made in the hypothetical when he first learned of the possibility.

Last week after an installment of "American Idol," there was a game show called "Moment of Truth." In this, contestants are given extensive lie-detector tests in advance, then come on TV and have to answer some of the same questions truthfully in front of friends and family members. The payoff, of course, is that the producers do some dirt-digging, and ask the contestants the most painful, difficult, and embarrassing questions they can manage. On last week's show, a woman was asked, "If you knew you would never get caught, would you rob a bank?" She said "yes." That conformed to the answer she had given when hooked up to the polygraph, so her answer on the show was deemed truthful, and she got to go on to the next question.

Well, I think there are two kinds of people in the world, based on the distinction highlighted by the show's question. You either would rob a bank if you knew you could get away with it, or you wouldn't. I don't think it's a very difficult question for most people; it's something that you just know about yourself, one way or the other.

Mizzi knew about account purchasing and, as I see it, must have decided in advance that he was on the "Yes, I would rob a bank" side of the ethical line. Then, when the opportunity actually arose, he simply carried out what he had already decided, on some internal level, to do. I can't see how it could be otherwise.

And therein is the "big lie" about his confession/apology, the most obvious thing that he leaves unsaid. He thought he could get away with it, and that mattered to him far more than whether it was right or wrong. That gives us a lot of insight as to his character. The reasons that he gives for why the practice is unfair to other players are correct, as far as they go. But they miss the bigger point: it's wrong because it's cheating.

At no point in this little tirade does Mizzi say "I cheated," or anything like it. Perhaps it's true that he wouldn't commit this specific infraction again, even if presented a juicy opportunity and with no chance of detection. But what about some other method of angle-shooting? Nothing he has said leads me to believe that he would approach another ethical/rules-related gray area in a manner different than he did this one, i.e., "Does it give me an advantage and can I get away with it?" Nothing he has written makes me think that his fundamental approach as to whether to be a honest person or a dishonest person is different now than it was six months ago.

Lastly, nothing he writes here make me think that he would choose to recant or revise the statement that triggered my previous rant: "I'm not a cheater."

Yes, Mr. Mizzi, you were, and apparently still are.

Poker gems, #60

Matthew Parvis, editor-in-chief of Bluff magazine, in his "Editor's Letter," December, 2007.

I want to close it out this month by giving a shoutout to BLUFF's own managing editor, Chris Vaughn. Not only is he instrumental in getting great content each month for the Virtual Felt, but he is not too shabby at the tables himself. This past month he won both the Full Tilt Million and the Poker Stars Million in back-to-back weeks, an accomplishment nothing short of amazing. Oh, and the money doesn't suck either. Congrat, Chris--everyone at BLUFF is proud of you!

[Poker Grumps notes that this tribute was obviously written before a Poker Stars investigation revealed, and Vaughn himself subsequently confessed, that he cheated, that he wasn't actually the one who finished the Poker Stars tournament. See http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2007/12/im-not-cheater.html. His prize money was confiscated, and Bluff magazine shortly thereafter fired him. I wonder if they're still "proud" of him.]

"I'm not a cheater"

A few weeks ago there was another online poker cheating scandal. Chris Vaughn, who writes for Bluff magazine, got down to the final 20 or so players in one of the big Sunday tournaments. At that point, he sold his position to a well-known online tournament player, Sorel Mizzi ("Imper1um"), who logged on as if he were Vaughn and finished first in the tournament. But an investigation by the site, Full Tilt Poker, uncovered the irregularity. The win was voided, the prize money reclaimed, and everybody else retroactively moved up a spot in the final standings.

OK, nothing too surprising there. It's no secret that this stuff goes on. There have been at least four or five so far this year that I recall reading about, and it's anybody's guess how many go undetected.

What's surprising about this one is that the culprits have gone public with what happened, in an interview with Poker News: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/12/online-poker-sorel-mizzi-chris-vaughn-speak-one.htm. [Note added December 6: The second half of the interview has now been posted at http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/12/online-poker-sorel-mizzi-chris-vaughn-speak-part-2.htm.] To their credit, they both admit it was wrong and say that they regret it. Vaughn also says that he regrets frankly lying about what happened when confronted about it on this online poker radio show: http://www.pokerroad.com/_/big_poker_sundays/11-18-07/. (I'm listening to the interview even as I type this. He says the accusation is "ridiculous.")

The eye-popping bit of the interview, for me, is this:

PN [Poker News]: Right, so you logged off the account, and Sorel logged in. Sorel, is this something you do a lot and is it part of the gameplan? Is this the first time you've done this?

Sorel Mizzi: No, I'm not a – I'm not a cheater; I'm not a multi-accounter. I acted fast without malice and didn't intend to hurt Chris and myself, opponents, or the entire poker community. This is something that was a one-time – it was a one-time thing and I clearly didn't give it much thought, which is exactly why I got caught, because… because of actually logging into his account which would be traced. But, I want to make it clear that this is something that was an isolated incident and it's, it's not something that I've done in the past.

JC [John Caldwell, interviewer for Poker News]: So this is the first time you've ever done this – you've never bought an account before online, late in a tournament?

SM: Never.

That's what got me: "I'm not a cheater."

Uh, yes, you are.

You can't admit to cheating, then claim not to be a cheater.

I understand, I think, what he means. He means that he's not a regular cheater, a habitual cheater. But that's not the question.

Mr. Mizzi, since you are apparently unclear on this, allow me to address you directly:

The line between cheaters and non-cheaters does not fall between those who cheat whenever they can and those who cheat just once in a while. It falls between those who have cheated and those who have not cheated.

You cheated, by your own admission. Therefore, you are a cheater. You may not like that conclusion, but those are the simple facts. You, Sorel Mizzi, are a cheater, and that is so no matter how many times you repeat the words "I am not a cheater."

But the analysis should go deeper than mere semantics. You got a phone call from Vaughn, and you offered to buy his place in the tournament. Now, surely you knew that others have engaged in this practice. It's not like the idea of buying an account sudden leaped unbidden into the mind of a person who had never heard of it before.

Those who have read of this practice can really have only one of two reactions: There's,"Ugh. That's despicable. I would never do such a thing." And then there's, "Hey, that's not a bad idea--if you get bumped out of a tournament before making the money, you buy the right to finish using the account of somebody else who has made it deep. I hope I get the chance to do that some day."

Your claim that this was a spur-of-the-moment decision is completely implausible. Somewhere inside of you, you must have already decided to take the opportunity if it ever presented itself. Your action that day was simply the fulfilment of what you had decided long ago, when you first learned that others were doing this. When the call came, you were already prepared to figure out how much you could earn by winning, what your chances of winning would be, and, therefore, what would be a fair price to offer Vaughn for his account password and the right to take over his seat. You could not possibly have worked that out in the very short time available without having decided in advance that you would do it when you got the chance, and what the general parameters of such a deal would be.

That, too, makes you a cheater, because before the opportunity arose concretely, you had decided that you would do it. A less demonstrable, but still valid, way of separating cheaters from non-cheaters is to draw the line between those who would cheat, given the opportunity, and those who would not cheat, given the opportunity. By that line of demarcation, you were already a cheater before you logged onto Full Tilt using Vaughn's account. Your action that Sunday merely moved you from the "would cheat if able" category to "does cheat" category. Ethically, that's not much of a shift.

And one more thought: As far as I can tell from the chronology that has been made public, you took no steps to right the wrong yourself. Nothing happened until Full Tilt took its action. If you actually regretted what you did (as one might if it had genuinely been a spur-of-the-moment impulse decision), you presumably would have quickly admitted your transgression and turned yourself in to Full Tilt. It looks, instead, like you didn't regret anything about it until the controversy became public and you lost the money. In short, you acted like a cheater would, holding onto the money and hoping you wouldn't get caught--so that you could do it again later.

Mr. Mizzi, I encourage you to contact Poker News and request that they let you publish a correction to what you said in the interview. Try something along these lines: "I am, in fact, a cheater. I regret having been caught, because of what it has done to my reputation. I wish now that I had decided, long in advance of the situation arising, that I would never cheat under any circumstances. I am resolved to never cheat again, no matter how juicy the opportunity."

There--now doesn't that feel better than the ongoing denial?

(My thanks to an anonymous reader who sent the above doctored photo of Mr.Mizzi. It's a much better rendition than my poor digital manipulation skills could pull off with my own original version.)