In the United States except for New Jersey, online giant PokerStars is still illegal for players. However, high stakes poker pro Sorel Mizzi found a way around it.
As a Canadian there are sites he has legitimate access to back home, but on which he isn’t supposed be playing online when he travels south to play in love poker games in the US.
The reality was hard to face for Mizzi. Apparently, to play on PokerStars in the US the poker pro used a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Mizzi was caught in action now that the online site comes to regulatory cooperation. Because of this, even when he’s in legal territories, he won’t be able to use the world’s largest online poker site.
What is a VPN?
This is the simple explanation if you’re confused what a VPN precisely is:
“A VPN is a private network that extends across the internet. It allows users to send and receive data across a shared network as if their computers were connected to that network, while disguising the users’ actual IP addresses, so it appears that users are somewhere else to anyone who might check on such things. Many VPNs allow users to select the city and country they want to look like they are situated in.”
In order to spoof their location in the US, poker players use a VPN. In this case, the IP shows “a foreign location that would appear to locate him somewhere that the site is legal”. Mizzi used a VPN while playing on PokerStars in Las Vegas. Although it’s unclear how the internet regulatory system caught him, they did with a seemingly long arm.
From anywhere going forward, he won’t be able to play on PokerStars as a result.
In 2007, the Canadian poker player was been tossed from an online poker site as well. In a $1 million guaranteed tournament, Mizzi took over another player’s account late in $1 million after which Full Tilt Poker banned him for life. Fortunately, the other player’s prize money was shipped back in his account by FTP.
Live Poker the Only Option for Mizzi?
Multiple times before the poker pro found himself in hot water while playing internet poker. From now, he might want to stick with live games:
“His live tournament poker resume is quite impressive, after all. It includes more than $11 million in earnings, with his biggest payday coming in the 2013 Guangdong Asia Millions Main Event in Macau, where he took 3rd place for $2,073,868. And last month, Sorel finished 157th in the World Series of Poker Main Event for $49,108.”
Pursuing a mixed martial arts career might be another good option for Mizzi. In a charity fight last December, high stakes poker pro Brian Rast was defeated by a very dominant Mizzi. If Mizzi is ready to dump poker altogether, is something we have to find out.
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