Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, an instructor at the popular poker training site CardRunners.com, has had his “red pro status” revoked on Full Tilt Poker for six months as a result of multi-accounting, according to his official blog posted on the company’s website. He has played under the names “Stellarnebula” and “Brian Townsend” on Full Tilt, a violation of the online poker room’s Terms of Service. Townsend also claims that he multi-accounted on PokerStars. However, that site has yet to hand down punishment.
He commented on his official blog: “I have also hurt those that I work closely with, primarily at CardRunners, but also at Full Tilt. To compensate those that were hurt by my actions, I am going to be donating $25,000 to a charity to be determined in the future. This money will be removed from my CardRunners distributions. This is by no means me making my actions correct, but I hope that it shows some good faith towards those that I work closely with. I am very proud of CardRunners; we are doing something very special.”
Townsend used the Stellarnebula account to play $25/$50, $50/$100, and $100/$200 Pot Limit Omaha on Full Tilt. He commented that he used his “Brian Townsend” account to play $50/$100 and $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha at the same time. Accordingly, Townsend violated Full Tilt Poker’s Terms of Service, which state,
Players are not allowed to create, use, or deposit to more than one account. Players who are found to have multiple accounts or to have allowed multiple users to access their account may face account suspensions or revocations, and forfeiture of their accumulated Full Tilt Points and real money balances.
Townsend explained that he played under the Stellarnebula account in order to preserve his anonymity. What is clear is that the Stellarnebula account was used to play in the lower limit Pot Limit Omaha games. He claims that he’s withdrawn all but $100,000 online and will begin to work his way back up in bankroll. He summed up his blog post by stating, “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.” A request for an interview by Poker News Daily was declined “due to time constraints and his upcoming travels,” according to CardRunners media representative Ezra Galston.
Townsend is no stranger to the poker spotlight. He’s appeared on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and finished 10th in the Main Event of a World Series of Poker Circuit Event in New Orleans in 2006; he cashed for $22,610. He received an electrical engineering degree from the University of California – Santa Barbara.
It remains to be seen if PokerStars will take action against Townsend for multi-accounting. He admitted that he had played under “aba20” and “Makersmark66” on PokerStars; he now plays under the former account exclusively.
Other members of Team Cardrunners include Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Andrew “muddywater” Wiggins, and Brian “stinger85” Hastings. Guest pros include Aaron Been, Ryan Daut, Ian Johns, Jason Laso, Isaac Baron, and Randal Flowers. The subscription-based poker training site features instructional videos made by the poker world’s top pros and has grown to become one of the largest on the Web today. The company also employs former PokerStars Poker Room Manager Lee Jones as its Customer Service Director. CardRunners pros are members of Team Full Tilt.
