I agree, this whole situation is completely ridiculous. I don't know who is wrong here, but with 100k on the line, it's up to Noble to prove that he cheated. I want to see specific evidence showing his collusive tactics -- and in my opinion, it has to be convincing. Someone folding AT when he pushes and the person has the right pot odds to call won't do it for me. Just because you might be playing against idiots shouldn't stop you from collecting on the jackpot.

I'm going to continue to follow this situation. Noble better do the right thing and show the world why Isaac isn't getting paid. If he was cheating, I'll happily move on.

There's also a 2+2 thread covering this issue.

the guy is a jackass

edit: he cheated thats why i think hes a jackass

I do remember replying to a post on there sng jackpot and how easy it would be to set up some tables
Im neutral either way on this

I completely agree, they need to step up and show the community that they deal with these issues seriously and honestly. The fact that it has been so long already indicates to me that they are attempting to blow off the situation. 6 SNGs just doesn't take this long to review if it's a priority situation.

The funniest parts of the whole thing are the quotes from the "Fireman" and "Teacher" who supposedly won the jackpot previously. I don't think I've ever read anything less believable than those stories/quotes. I'd be willing to bet a large amount that those people don't even exist.

I thought about getting an account at Noble recently. I am sure I'm not the only person watching this closely, and if Noble can't offer some valid reasons for this then I'm damn sure not interested in playing there.

I also was considering opening an account there and I won't until this is properly resolved. They can't just say "you colluded" and close the account without expecting serious backlash from the community.

Should Noble post the HH to prove this? Show everyone's hole cards to the world? Where should they post this? Here or Two plus Two?

I think the only hand history shuld be posted by the guy that won it! He doesn't have the hand history of the SNG that won him 100K? At least the 6th? (Don't tell me it's because they froze his account, Unless it was froze right after the 6th SNG!!!)

I never played at Noble or Plan to. But this thread seems to paint Noble as the Villian and this guy as the Hero. This should probably be reversed.

i also was just thinking about opening there.... guess i will wait for now... he probably cheated.... but we should see.

Sorry ment Pokerroomreview .com

these people where asked to investigate the case by the person who said he got scammed. Noble provided them with all the evidence and they agreed 100% with Noble .Guess he isn't getting his $100,000.

Nevermind

I'll post this again just to make sure people see it......

Let me start off by saying that it wasn�t my function to make a decision in this matter. Noble already made theirs. As a mediator, my job is to review their evidence to see if they had the necessary proof to back up their claim. Contrary to what some have claimed on this forum, Noble has indeed been forthcoming with me and has responded to any requests I made and have been available in the event I had additional questions. They never rushed me, nor did they ever try to sway my opinion.

After a comprehensive review of materials, it is clear they have more than enough proof. If this were a court of law, a jury presented with the same evidence would�ve taken 5 minutes to reach a unanimous decision on behalf of Noble. To be completely sure, I did my own investigation and came to the same conclusions Noble did. This player�s claim is riddled with flaws. A few examples: 2 accounts sharing the same IP address, several others living in the same building and 23 players out of the 30 (excluding Isaac�s 6 entries) in the entire tournament series came from the same specific region. Let�s say you held a series of online tournaments over the course of 3 weeks, and out of a possible 30 entrants, 23 came from Tennessee. The odds against that alone occurring naturally are stunning.

And there is additional evidence I agreed not to divulge in order to respect Noble�s security protocol. As a result of this, 22 accounts have been blocked. They also had this to say about not ever paying out the $100,000 prize: �. . . this jackpot has been won 7 times across the network with Noble player SODERLIND winning the $100,000 in March 06. We have paid well in excess of $1,000,000 in jackpot prizes associated with this event alone across the network.�

By the way, the findings were not solely my opinion, other members of our staff viewed the evidence on their own, and we compared notes only after each had concluded their review. We did not go into this lightly, nor with an allegiance to either side. We merely functioned as fact finders.

We were asked to perform an important function: validating the trust that online players place in the sites that host the games. As we went through the evidence, we realized how sad a situation such as this is. No matter which side had the evidence to support their claim, hard feelings would surely result. The only positive thing that came out of this was that players called for a poker site to prove their case, and the site responded.

My thanks to Wilheim and everyone who added their voice to the discussion and helped push this issue forward.

Best,
Mike

^^^^^^From original thread.

Been following this thread on here, 2+2 and rx as I work as a journalist on a UK poker mag. I contacted Noble and got a fast response from them about why they didn't pay Issacm the money.

I think most of us realised he was scamming but as Noble hadn't come forward, we wanted evidence. The sent me the following and i thought i'd share it... (if anyone is a member of therx forum or 2+2 then feel free to post this there.

<HR>

<SPAN>NoblePoker would like to share information with you regarding the rumor spreading around the online poker community. </SPAN>

<SPAN>As you probably know, NoblePoker offer the well known $100,000 Fort Knox Sit and Go Jackpot.</SPAN>

<SPAN>A NoblePoker player "isaacm" who won 6 consecutive tournaments, claimed the $100,000 grand prize.</SPAN>

<SPAN>After reviewing the log files of the games, we decided to reject the prize award, as the success of "isaacm" was based on fraud and collusion. </SPAN>

<SPAN>"isaacm" chose to fight back and smear our good reputation, and to claim all over the internet that we denied his prize just to avoid paying him.</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>In case this issue was brought up in your site, please take few minutes to explore our reasons for the decision, described below by our network manager. </SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>We appreciate the importance of forums to the online playing community and at this initial stage of communication we welcome your comments on the bellow. We would ask that you do not post the full text of this communication as we are sure you appreciate that it is not in our best interest to reveal publicly the precise details of our collusion investigation methods.
</SPAN> <HR>

So i can't post the full text but here are two of the four reasons they did not pay. (if anyone wants to know the other two criteria that alerted Noble please pm me)

<SPAN>2. <SPAN>Players tournament activity</SPAN></SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>Isaacm played in total against 27 unique players. >From those 27-</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>1 player has played 40+ FK's including 1 with isaacm</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>2 players have played 2 FK's including 1 each with isaacm</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>1 player has played 3 FK's including 2 with isaacm</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>23 players have played only in the series with isaacm (6 of these players have no other tournament activity apart from this series). Isaacm has played 6 FK's where 85% of the opposition has never played a FK before. This pattern is unique to this series and not something we believe to be a random event.
</SPAN>

<SPAN>4. <SPAN>Network mix</SPAN></SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>As Noble is part of the iPoker network it is of course usual for our tournaments to be contested by players from other rooms as well as Noble. Below is a comparison between "isaacm's" series and the previous winners.</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>% of Noble players is each of the successful winning claims is 19%, 36%, 18%, 17%, 6%, 19% and 10%.</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>% of Noble players in FK that played in two random 24 hr periods is 13% and 14%</SPAN>

<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>% of Noble players in "isaacm's" claims is 92.6% </SPAN>

I don't know much about this particular case (other than what's in this thread), but I remember when they had the 1M jackpot that they said that when someone wins, they would then go through an extensive review of the SNG's played.

In addition, I don't know how many people remember pokerstars refunding a whole bunch of accounts a few months ago for any money they may have lost to a team of colluders in the low buy in SNG's. Those people were playing together for months before they were caught. It's just not always immediately obvious when people are colluding, but when someone wins a massive jackpot and then when reviewing the SNGs played (they're not going to closely review all SNGs on the site), the site notices that 23 of the 30 opponents were from the same region, among other things apparently, you can see why they became quickly suspicious.

I don't know enough not to be suspicious at least a little of a site in this position, but I'm more suspcious of players---players are just much more likely to try the scam, based on minimal risk (what can the site do to them if they're caught?) and a large reward. I know there were all kinds of people trying to pull off a "team win" for the $1M jackpot, and I almost just think it's the nature of this promotion that is the problem---it just opens the door for way too much shady activity.