Ruscitti suspended
The World Series of Poker Online has suspended recent online bracelet winner Kevin Ruscitti after allegations were made of his use of real-time assistance (RTA) software during tournaments.
Ruscitti, who goes by the screenname “GR4ND_THEFT” online, is the current WSOP Online Michigan player of the year. He won his first bracelet over the weekend in a $500 No-Limit Hold’Em PKO event, defeating Cherish Andrews heads up for the title.
several fellow Michigan pros publicly accused him of cheating
However, days later, Ruscitti had his account suspended by the site after several fellow Michigan pros publicly accused him of cheating, submitting evidence that many of his hands had failed fair play checks.
Fair play checks
Suspicions about Ruscitti arose earlier in the year, when Michigan player Ryan Hiller said that Ruscitti bragged about RTA use to other pros. Hiller then began running fair play checks on Ruscitti’s hands to determine if any foul play was involved.
Hiller used popular poker study tool GTOWizard to run the checks. Unlike a traditional solver, GTOWizard contains a library of solutions which are rapidly accessible. To help catch players using the solutions during a game, players can check to see if the solution for any particular spot was requested at the time it was played.
Hiller and several other Michigan players found multiple cases where he failed fair play checks
After repeatedly checking Ruscitti’s hands, Hiller and several other Michigan players found multiple cases where he failed fair play checks. The players kept things “under wraps for a time until enough evidence was compiled that we thought WSOP would have no other option but to ban his account,” said pro Mario Arribas, speaking to PokerNews.
Arribas then posted the accusations publicly on his X account, revealing several of the high-profile spots that had failed fair play checks. Days later, Ruscitti’s WSOP.com account was suspended pending further investigation.
Evidence questioned
Ruscitti immediately denied the allegations, posting on social media “I’ve been playing poker 12 hours a day every day for the past 4 years and for whatever reason it’s hard for some people to accept the fact that maybe I’m just a good player.”
once proven innocent I’ll be back”
“I don’t need GTO to win all I need are my notes and I’ll be crushing. Anyways once proven innocent I’ll be back.”
Well-known pro Matt Berkey also chimed in to advise caution, stating that the fair play checks that had been publicly submitted were insufficient to accuse Ruscitti of cheating, noting that they could be false positives.
Speaking on X, Berkey said that the checks were “not consistent [with] positive hits and shouldn’t be used to publicly persecute someone. If someone is using GTOWizard maliciously there should be no shortage of positive hits that align to the spot.”
Finally, Andrews, who was defeated by Ruscitti heads up for the bracelet, did not state that she believed he cheated, but did say that his opponents should be reimbursed if the allegations are proved.
“If it is proven that he is guilty and that he did cheat, then that money should be confiscated and it should be distributed appropriately.”