Merge Network

[Dan Druff]

ktx, I am wondering why you play on Lock, when it's by far the shadiest and worst Merge skin.

Aren't you pissed about how they let one of their own pros (Girah) cheat to win their big promotion last year?

Aren't you pissed that they poached a lot of players from other skins last year with offers of 10-20% bonus rakeback (on top of the usual 35%), only to screw them over, change the terms, and pay out virtually nothing? There's a 80-page thread about that on 2+2, and it's still ongoing.

And even though this is minor compared to the other two things, they just signed Tim "tmay420" West as a pro, who has a bad rep for cheating people involving a stake.

Why not play on another skin that doesn't have such a poor record involving mistreating their customers and ripping people off?

[heyimsorry]

I blogged this and made a thread but will paste this here because it pertains to subject. Here is link to full thread too and merge part is below

http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...&p=633#post633

The 4th instance came this past fall when I was playing on merge. I was playing a 6-12 or 10-20 LHE HU match when a player named "shadowmode" joined me. He played weird where he wasn't spewy but he did stupid things but they were all correct and I felt something wasn't right so I quit and began chatting with him.

Then my buddy commented to me through skype that I was quitting a huge fish. My buddy sent me a link and I opened it and it was this guys PTR page. I noticed he was a micro player and logged in 500 hands at about every micro limit in August and he lost about 20 BB 100 per limit played. Granted it was a small sample but it was consistent with every game.

I felt something was odd so I asked the guy how long he had been playing on merge and he said he told me this account was BRAND NEW and this was his 1st or second day playing. But his PTR said otherwise. It had hands tracked for a 2 month stretch in the summer. WEIRD HUH?

So I emailed merge and told them that I felt I may have been cheated. And told them to look at the chat where he says he is brand new and that he had hands logged in here before. Their reply was "oh players say diff things all the time etc.." and refused to look into the chat. But again what would be the motive for him to lie to me? Anyhow I put this one in the past and then about 3 weeks ago I started talking to a Merge reg on Skype.

Merge reg asks me this exact question after talking for a while

"Have you ever played Shadowmode?" I say yes I have and he follows it up with "did you think anything was strange about when u played him" I say yes and tell him my story and why I quit. He says he thought he was a superuser and told me his story. Shadowmode joined my buddys table and beat him out of 6k in 30-60 and was playing "very odd" but everything worked. Keep in mind my buddy is a world class heads up player. Not that world class players can't lose but he told me the guy was doing the most odd things yet the guy beat him for a decent sum. Since that match vs. my buddy Shadowmode has never played a hand on Merge.

http://www.pokertableratings.com/mer...rch/shadowmode

Were we cheated? I don't know. Were their odd things about these matches ? Certainly. Not only did some random guy who comes in and takes on the best HU players win BUT HE QUIT and left and was never heard from again. When most guys whether it be donks or pros win on a new account they usually don't just bail and never play again. They usually stay and try and win more. Also SOMEONE whether it was shadow mode or someone else played micros in August and got destroyed yet he told me the acc was brand new. And when he started playing on acc in fall when he played me and my firsnd he payed no micros. It was all 4-8 to 50-100.

First let me preface this with saying I do not know for sure if I was cheated or not, the statistical sample I played him is not large and is not a large win in BB that he won, but this is my story. I played shadowmode a few months back he sat in at a 30-60 hu table I was at and after about the first 10 hands I could tell I would have a significant edge. He started the match folding the bb a ton along with limping almost every SB. I have been a pro for 8 years hu along with short and I can honestly say this is the first time ever in a match I felt something was "off". He would seem to play my hand virtually perfect post flop despite being one of the worst preflop and at 30/60 and up it is the first time I have ever seen anyone like that. There were certain hands which lead me to believe he couldnt see my whole cards because he would make river bluffs where I had MP or TP etc and there was no way I was folding. However if he could in fact see my whole cards (or some other form of cheating) he couldve purposefully done this as to say later.....look at the way I played that hand, if I could see youre hole cards I wouldnt of played it that way, etc. I do know I chatted with feardasadpuppy another respected hu pro about this guy for a bit and he had the same exact feeling that I did. He took 9k from feardasadpuppy and my overall session with him was 726 hands and he won $6,110 his went to sd numbers were 39/59 which is running very very hot but still within the statistical average. However I rarely play anyone that long and lose and especially not to someone who limps 50% of his hands....which were his stats over the sample size. So I dont have any concrete evidence but I felt "weird" playing someone for the first time in 8 years and I can say 100% he was prob the worst preflop player while being the best post flop player I have ever played. Also right after taking me and feardasadpuppy for a combined of 15k he left the network on Nov. 17th, and hasn't returned or returned under an alias (the network is not large and regs at 10-20 to 50-100 can tell an alias within 20 hands or so, he 100% has not come back).

[sah_24]

WHO LIVE LIKE THIS !

[BuSTMeANuT]

ktx, I am wondering why you play on Lock, when it's by far the shadiest and worst Merge skin.

Aren't you pissed about how they let one of their own pros (Girah) cheat to win their big promotion last year?

Aren't you pissed that they poached a lot of players from other skins last year with offers of 10-20% bonus rakeback (on top of the usual 35%), only to screw them over, change the terms, and pay out virtually nothing? There's a 80-page thread about that on 2+2, and it's still ongoing.

And even though this is minor compared to the other two things, they just signed Tim "tmay420" West as a pro, who has a bad rep for cheating people involving a stake.

Why not play on another skin that doesn't have such a poor record involving mistreating their customers and ripping people off?

I just made a deposit a few weeks ago on Lock. The only reason I chose Lock is because I signed up for rakeback last May and the other skins don't offer it anymore. Cashouts on RPM and Carbon from what I got from the 2+2 threads are taking up to three months to receive a check. I would gladly play on another skin if I got rb and they had reasonable turnaround times on cashouts. I read your blog on Lock where you mention you can still can get rakeback on the other skins but its a secret?? Care to elaborate??

[ktx49]

well tbh the reason i play on Lock is because I actually signed up on there right before BF and any of the stuff you mentioned...i got 35% rakeback deposited daily which i still get, and the cashouts have always been really good for me. i didnt know about alot of this stuff besides the Girah scandal until very recently.

you wanna hear something funny? before that girah scandal broke, I played in and won lessons from him in a VIP only tourney on Lock...like a week later he got busted and they told me i would be compensated but never have. hard to put the value on lessons from someone who turned out to be a fraud.

[jsearles22]

ktx, I am wondering why you play on Lock, when it's by far the shadiest and worst Merge skin?

I play Lock still because I had an account pre BF. I live in one of the few states that Merge won't allow new accounts in still. Has anyone heard of or know a way around this? I would love to get off of Lock, but I seemingly have no other option right now.

[Dan Druff]

ktx, I am wondering why you play on Lock, when it's by far the shadiest and worst Merge skin?

I play Lock still because I had an account pre BF. I live in one of the few states that Merge won't allow new accounts in still. Has anyone heard of or know a way around this? I would love to get off of Lock, but I seemingly have no other option right now.

Oh, I didn't know that Merge was still restricting certain states from signing up.

Yeah, you might be one of the people stuck where you have an existing account.

BTW, Lock has a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE reputation within the affiliate industry. I can't stress this enough. This is honestly the shadiest site still in operation, now that UB and Full Tilt are no longer.

[ktx49]

so dan the allegations on PAL etc that many of the big skins like Lock, BCP, etc are really just Merge operated skins are completely false?

[Dan Druff]

so dan the allegations on PAL etc that many of the big skins like Lock, BCP, etc are really just Merge operated skins are completely false?

I heard that Carbon was once a Merge-operated skin. Then I heard that they weren't anymore, and had split off.

I believe that the rest of them -- or at least the ones I know of -- are independent.

Did you read my report about Lock?

http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...ck-Poker-AVOID

If Lock were just a Merge puppet skin, I'm sure Calvin Ayre would have mentioned this in the various Lock-related blogs on his site. He definitely has no love for the Merge Network and would never keep this secret for them. I have seen no evidence that Lock is anything but an independent skin on the Merge network. Same goes for Black Chip.

I got to know David Jung (Hero Poker CEO) fairly well over the last year, as he sponsored my last site. Unless he's pulling a great level on me, he's definitely his own man and not a Merge stooge.

I think these accusations you're talking about are BS, but I'd like to see a link to them to read for myself.

[chinamaniac]

Another thing I wanted to add in about user "Shadowmode" is the fact that the name looks like a code name for a superuser or something like that.

Obv Shadow meaning he is shadowing you and mode for what mode he is in.

[Cupid Stunt]

Another thing I wanted to add in about user "Shadowmode" is the fact that the name looks like a code name for a superuser or something like that.

Obv Shadow meaning he is shadowing you and mode for what mode he is in.

If that is true, then they are retarded for hiding this in plain sight.

[The_Standard]

Quick question for Druff or whoever knows what the deal is. If you don't recommend Lock, then which Merge skin has been the best overall when it comes to fast reliable payouts and which site do you recommend I play on in regards to the Merge network?

[chinamaniac]

Quick question for Druff or whoever knows what the deal is. If you don't recommend Lock, then which Merge skin has been the best overall when it comes to fast reliable payouts and which site do you recommend I play on in regards to the Merge network?

They are all the same in terms of payouts. If you have a good contact u may be able to get wires if u are high volume. But some skins wont do that.

Bets bet is to buy your chips off 2+2 for 95 c and when you want to cash out sell them for 95c

[The_Standard]

Quick question for Druff or whoever knows what the deal is. If you don't recommend Lock, then which Merge skin has been the best overall when it comes to fast reliable payouts and which site do you recommend I play on in regards to the Merge network?

They are all the same in terms of payouts. If you have a good contact u may be able to get wires if u are high volume. But some skins wont do that.

Bets bet is to buy your chips off 2+2 for 95 c and when you want to cash out sell them for 95c

So which site do you recommend?

[chinamaniac]

Quick question for Druff or whoever knows what the deal is. If you don't recommend Lock, then which Merge skin has been the best overall when it comes to fast reliable payouts and which site do you recommend I play on in regards to the Merge network?

They are all the same in terms of payouts. If you have a good contact u may be able to get wires if u are high volume. But some skins wont do that.

Bets bet is to buy your chips off 2+2 for 95 c and when you want to cash out sell them for 95c

So which site do you recommend?

Blackchippoker has the best customer service BY FAR on Merge from my experience.

Hero seems pretty good and everyone who has dealt with CEO David has told me nothing but good things.

Carbon is pretty good too

[XR71WhiteFish]

Another thing I wanted to add in about user "Shadowmode" is the fact that the name looks like a code name for a superuser or something like that.

Obv Shadow meaning he is shadowing you and mode for what mode he is in.

Yea. One can only speculate at this point; there is truly no meaningful / solid evidence of a superuser scandal at this point.

However...I would say this:

The potential for something like this happening at Merge does in fact exist. A specific factor I see which in itself does not in any way, shape or form equal proof of wrongdoing - but is a condition under which, in theory, if there was going to be an "inside job" or superuser tool developed in-house, it could be carried out with low risk of discovery is explained below:

- evidence of a very small headcount in the software development organization at Merge. One of the oldest tricks in the book to assess the internal organization and depth of a software development house is to scan LinkedIn.

http://www.linkedin.com/company/merge-gaming (Merge itself admits to only having 11-50 employees in their main office! I would bet the number is a lot closer to 11 than 50)

Note: you have to be a linkedin member to do the research I'm summarizing below.

Searching for people who work at "Merge Gaming" shows a total of 16 hits (do an "advanced search" for company name "merge gaming" and located in Australia), about half of whom are not current employees.

Oh, ProTip: When you see a person's profile is "private" when selecting it from these search results, often it really isn't! For example, on page 2 of the above results, a "private" profile for the "QA Lead & Technical Writer at Merge Gaming" is displayed. However, if you then go to the google, and search on "merge gaming QA Lead", the top result is this person's profile, with their full name revealed! If you get anything out of this post, it's that you can not trust LinkedIn with your "privacy".


Judging by the individual profiles (and descriptions freely offered by people about the size of their teams/organization) it would appear their developement organization consists of a handful of developers, reporting to a "CTO" (Dan Henke) who reports to a "CEO" (Anthony Taylor). Also interesting is the aforementioned "QA Lead" who it seems is likely the entirety of their "QA" efforts, and who also doubles in documentation and project management. (In fairness, I am ONLY SPECULATING to this effect based on my own past experiences in software development orgs).

But if the QA side of Merge is in fact just part of one person, (or in fairness, even if it's two or three people) it is also very likely no one person "owns" or "oversees" the process of checking in code and safeguarding against the kind of shenanigans that would include putting secret backdoors in the software, or more likely, making secret "versions" of the client unreleased to the public, which could abuse some weakness on the server (such as servicing an "undocumented" API call, servicing a call out of turn, etc). To properly review and ensure the integrity of the server codebase calls for a lot more QA than one guy that's also the documentation person.

Again: I am NOT suggesting there is ANY evidence or proof of superusing at Merge. I am NOT suggesting any of the current staff are guilty of cheating the system. I am simply suggesting that software development organizations that appear to be as small in size as this one are the type of environments that can be conducive to abuse for lack of the proper oversight and process in place to watch over those with access to the code and production systems. As such it is probably reasonable to exercise caution playing at ANY poker site developed and run by a small "nimble" organization.

[Rollo Tomasi]

XR71WhiteFish have the data miners found any chinks in the armour of the Merge software

[ktx49]

i continue to offer up my database and others to anyone with a decent reputation so that they can analyze large samples of hands for anything blatantly strange.

im even willing to offer a helping hand although I doubt I will be of much use.

im pretty confident that there is a ton of basic cheating like collusion, chip-feeding etc....the best way to look at this....

has ANYONE ever heard of or personally received a refund from merge for cheating? if the best site in the biz, pstars, issues refunds all the time, why dont we see even a single case of a refund or cheaters getting caught on merge?

[Dan Druff]

I can say that, aside from some terrible players that have improbable luck (which I also see in live poker, so it's hard to draw any conclusions from that), I haven't seen any collusion or chip dumping at the 10-20 to 50-100 limit holdem games on Merge.

[ktx49]

i dont play limit or that high but im talking about MTTs here....the fields on merge are tiny, even a small team can do damage im positive theres some widespread collusion, team play, chip feeding(ie. a stack purposely loses his chips to his backer, friend watever). theres so many accts because of the skins its very difficult to track and pinpoint.