Natalie Teltscher, who is the sister of professional poker player Mark Teltscher, has dropped her claim against Poker Stars that sought to regain the money she lost when her account, “TheV0id”, was disqualified shortly after it won the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. TheV0id was disqualified due to the belief held by Poker Stars and several others that Teltscher was not the person playing on the account, thereby violating the Poker Stars Terms of Use Agreement. The investigation by Poker Stars found evidence that Teltscher had indeed let someone else use her account. Consequently, TheV0id was disqualified and everyone else in the tournament moved up one slot, with ka$ino becoming the new champion.
In her claim Teltscher denied that she violated any rules and that she should be awarded the first place prize money which was over $1.2 million. However, Natalie Teltscher withdrew her claim after being faced with the overwhelming evidence from Poker Stars that proved she had not played on her account. Teltscher admitted she let someone else play on her account, thereby ending any and all claims she had previously made to the money.
Poker Stars issued a statement that expressed their pleasure at the resolution of this case.
“PokerStars is pleased to announce that Natalie Teltscher has recently withdrawn her claim in the Isle of Man Courts against PokerStars. Furthermore, in discontinuing her claim, she has agreed to contribute a sum towards the legal costs incurred by PokerStars in this matter.
Ms Teltscher brought her claim against PokerStars because she was disqualified from first place of the 2007 WCOOP Main Event after PokerStars internal investigations demonstrated beyond doubt that she had not played on the account. On her disqualification all other players were moved one place higher in the prize table and the money confiscated from her account, TheV0id, was redistributed in full, according to the amended tournament placings.
Ms Teltscher initially claimed that she had played the account. However, when faced with the results from PokerStars’ investigation she eventually admitted she hadn’t played.
The decision of Ms Teltscher to withdraw her claim fully vindicates PokerStars’ decision to disqualify her from the tournament and subsequently defend the claim, actions which were taken in order to protect the integrity of the games on offer at PokerStars.”
This news comes shortly before the start of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, which is scheduled to run from September 5th thru September 22nd and consists of 33 different events featuring many different varieties of poker.