Brian Townsend Confesses To Online Poker Multi-Accounting

American professional poker player Brian Townsend came clean Tuesday, confirming the growing suspicions of many poker fans by confessing in a blog post that he was in fact guilty of multi-accounting at two of the most prominent online poker rooms in the industry, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Townsend, currently one of the top instructors of poker video tutorials at CardRunner.com, admitted to using two identities at PokerStars – his usual name “aba20”, with which he is known to be Brian Townsend and participated in higher stakes games, plus “Makersmark66”, Townsend’s lower stakes username.

In March of 2008, Brian Townsend dropped his known nickname at Full Tilt Poker, “sbrugby”, and became a Red Pro instead, using his real name “Brian Townsend” to play at the online poker room. According to his blog admission, Townsend was also playing under the nickname “Stellarnebula”.

In recent years, the discovery of multi-accounting – a practice that is strictly forbidden by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, as well as every other respectable poker site – has caused several scandals in the online poker industry.

Full Tilt Poker has already handed down punishment to Brian for his iniquitous actions. Townsend has been suspended from Red Pro status at Full Tilt Poker for the next 6 months. PokerStars, on the other hand, has yet to comment on the matter.

In Townsend’s public ‘blogged’ apology, he affirmed that he never abused his multi-accounts for collusion purposes, seating both in the same tournament or cash game. Allegations nor evidence of that sort were ever brought up, and Townsend is adamant that he has not participated in such activities.

In concluding his apology, Brian Townsend stated, “I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives. I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologize to entire the online community. I will never partake in this type of activity in the future. This post should act as a full admission of my guilt, and I sincerely apologize to anyone that I’ve wronged.”

Townsend made the decision to come clean after speaking at length with Cardrunners COO Lee Jones, former PokerStars manager and EPT host. Knowing his actions were not that of a true professional poker player – who should be a role model, not a red mark on the reputation of the poker community – Townsend has gone a step farther than apologizing by reprimanding himself with a hefty fine. Townsend will be donating $25,000 from his Cardrunners earnings to a yet-to-be-determined charity.

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