Vojtech Cervinka says he identified more than 11,000 suspected bots on QQPK, far more than the 893 accounts the poker platform has banned after investigating a cheating syndicate. It remains unclear how many accounts in Cervinka’s findings overlap with QQPK’s investigation.
QQPK, also known as QQPoker, primarily targets Asian markets, particularly China. High-stakes regulars Danny Tang and Punnat Punsri are listed as ambassadors.
QQPK bans 893 accounts
Cervinka first made public his claim that he had found “thousands” of bots on October 11. On October 13, QQPK’s X account said it had banned 724 accounts following community reports.
On October 15, the operator said an investigation had uncovered a “collusive cheating syndicate”. Multiple accounts had played at the same tables and shared hole-card information to gain an unfair advantage.
QQPK said it had banned 893 accounts and set aside $300,000 to compensate affected players. Of that sum, $64,627 came from the banned accounts, with the operator covering the balance. The platform said 567 banned accounts had been identified in the external investigation and 326 by its own security team. Another 2,020 accounts remain under review.
QQPK said it would publish details of affected tournaments, accounts and compensation payments by October 17, with payments then credited directly to players. The operator acknowledged that its security systems had not detected the activity sooner, saying: “We sincerely apologize to our players for our risk control system's failure to detect this novel cheating method earlier."
It maintained that its random number generator was “objective and fair” and announced an “Integrity Bounty” for researchers who helped uncover the activity, inviting them to serve as external risk advisers. Cervinka responded: “How much is the integrity bounty paying for each bot? Because I just posted a list of over 11 thousand bots. Slightly more than your 893.”
PokerStars comparison
Cervinka said he applied the same detection filters to a PokerStars multi-table tournament database and found no players showing signs of being bots. He said loosening the criteria produced the same result; relaxing them further identified “just three random fish”. The comparison is not proof that PokerStars has no bots.
CoinPoker ambassador Patrick Leonard responded to Cervinka’s findings, writing: “This guy is a sharp guy. He says it’s not 724 bots but in fact 12,000. Interesting.” Leonard also praised QQPK for addressing the allegations publicly and taking action, saying other sites should be held to the same standards on bots and “superusers”.
Cervinka previously helped expose a bot account on ACR Poker in 2024. It was leading the chip counts in the site’s flagship $12.5 million guaranteed Venom tournament. ACR Poker banned that account and others shortly afterward. Cervinka said the operator’s response time improved from “one-to-two months to one hour.”
