After days of angry discussion on 2+2’s poker forums, High Stakes pro and StoxPoker.com founder Nick Grudzien admitted to playing on multiple accounts while denying claims that he colluded with other players.

The accusations surfaced in this thread, which began with the accusation that Grudzien played using the screen names “40putts,” “Knockstiff,” “bulltf0rdtuff,” and “gr3atvlewbr0.” The accuser then suggested that the first two names had been accused of collusion. Five days later, Grudzien admitted to violating the Terms of Service of PokerStars and Full Tilt by playing on multiple accounts. Five hours later, he resigned from Stoxpoker and declared he would be taking “an indefinite break from playing any poker at all.”

On his training site, Grudzien describes himself as “One of the world’s best online professionals and accomplished author,” and advertises that he has won over $1 million in both $500-$1000 limit games and $25-$50 no limit games. However, others criticize him for being a rat holer at no limit – a short stack player who leaves a table every time he doubles up. According to the accusations, Grudzien played on new accounts so that other players would not be aware that he employed this strategy.

In addition to this, players accused him of the far more serious charge of colluding, or at the very least softplaying, on these accounts, as well as playing on multiple accounts at the same time. The most suspicious charges are between his account “40putts” and another player named “Kinetica.” Accusers pointed out that they have more hands against each other than anyone else, that Grudzien’s Went to Showdown Percentage against Kinetica is far lower than against other players, and that his Cold Call to 3Bet Ratio is thirty times higher against Kinetica than against everyone else.

On Wednesday March 17, Grudzien wrote a response where he admitted to having an extra account on both PokerStars and Full Tilt but denied colluding. He claimed to have played on these accounts for only one month, adding: “Since I have admitted to breaking the TOS of stars and ftp I don’t plan on playing any poker until I receive communication from the pokersites that it is ok to do so.” As for the accusations of collusion, he said “At no point have I ever colluded. This is a categorical denial without exceptions.” He invited both sites to do a thorough investigation, but would not post his hand histories and refused to allow his hands to be independently analyzed.

Five hours after this announcement, Grudzien wrote that “It is with a heavy heart that I must announce my resignation as a stoxpoker coach today” and declared that he would break from playing poker altogether. He apologized for breaking site rules by having multiple accounts, saying “I cannot say why I made that decision, but it is… something that is ongoing and I cannot make public.” He continued to deny collusion, explaining the his high number of hands with Kinetica by claiming that they discussed poker strategy and “practice similar table selection strategies.”

As part of his resignation, Grudzien was required to sell all his shares of Stoxpoker.com. According to his response, he resigned to protect the site from negative publicity and hopes to continue to contribute to the site as a member, but not a representative.

Questions about collusion or softplaying are still under discussion.