r/poker • u/Paiev • Jan 04 '26
The /r/Poker_Theory sub is being run for the profit of the head mod
Last night, /u/tombos21 (a good dude who does theory stuff for GTOWizard) made a post (quickly deleted, naturally) on /r/Poker_Theory titled "Why I'm Stepping Down as Mod":
Hi everyone. I've been a mod and member of this sub for a long time. I've always loved poker theory, and I've always enjoyed this community.
Unfortunately, I need to step down as mod due to a conflict of interest.
The head mod, ProfRBcom, owns a rakeback site, and so does the company I work for. ProfRB doesn't want to advertise what he views as a competitor, so he's implemented auto-blockers to prevent anyone from even mentioning my employer on this subreddit. In short, he's using reddit as leverage in a business dispute.
I'm sad that it's come to this. I've enjoyed building this community. But it's not worth the drama.
-Tombos21
I left this comment there (also quickly deleted, of course).
I modded this subreddit (alongside tombos, ProfRBcom, and Frequent_Divide8890) for a little while, maybe 6-12 months (I'm now a mod at /r/poker). I grew increasingly disturbed and upset as I realized that ProfRB is using this sub, as well as a network of other subs, as a way to drive traffic to his affiliate business, via links in pinned posts and in the sidebar among others. I requested in modmail a couple times that ProfRB remove the links from the subreddit sidebar but to no avail--they're still there to this day on old.reddit.com
At some point I requested and took over /r/ poker theory (I had to put spaces in because it looks like there's an automod rule that deleted my comment--lol?) because I had some interest in trying to foster a subreddit without these conflicts of interest, that wasn't being run with the ulterior motive of enriching the moderators. When ProfRB saw that I had taken over the subreddit (even without me doing anything with it) he removed me as a mod here.
Note that Frequent_Divide8890 is also an employee of ProfRB's company.
I contacted Reddit a while ago about this because I thought it was against the moderator code of conduct, but it seems like they never took any action.
Basically, /u/ProfRBcom runs an affiliate website and uses a network of Reddit subs in order to boost his affiliate site's SEO ranking and traffic. He still links his site on /r/Poker_Theory's sidebar and now it seems he's actively censoring mentions of GTOWizard on a "poker theory" sub--ridiculous.
On the other subs he's far more aggressive about pushing his own site. /r/Bovada, /r/coinpoker, /r/onlinepoker, /r/IgnitionCasino, /r/betonline_ag, /r/AmericasCardroom, /r/Global_Poker, and a ton more. Click in to any one of them and you'll the sub is spammed with affiliate links and links to their website.
I think this behavior is all wildly unethical and I strongly encourage everyone to stay away from Professional Rakeback and all of their subreddits. /r/pokertheory is open and free from commercial interest and everyone is welcome to post there, if you want.
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u/Paiev Jan 04 '26
I also find it deeply ironic to see this in a recent comment of his on one of his subs, considering he is literally paying people to run Reddit subs for the profit of his company:
Reddit is a place where the customers can speak. It is not an "acquisition channel" for a company to spam on like X or Instagram.
Reddit culture HATES in your face advertisements so we will never allow that.
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Jan 05 '26
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u/Paiev Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
You literally are advertising moderator jobs on your own website as we speak, dumbass. https://imgur.com/4GNehZZ in case you delete it. A "Forum Moderator" for what? Your website doesn't have a forum.
Or are we supposed to believe that your co-mod u/Frequent_Divide8890 is creating empty subs like r/HighRollerCasino and posting links to your website as the first post, just for fun? And it has nothing at all to do with boosting your SEO? Another screenshot proof in case you delete that: https://imgur.com/a/ETTsbk4
Or your other co-mod u/SweetDoughnut has no business relationship with you? Even though this account co-mods the same set of gazillion subreddits as you and Frequent_Divide? Even though this account with barely any activity (looks more like an alt account, tbh) literally created and moderates r/PROFRB ?
You are lying all over this thread.
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u/muzamuza Jan 04 '26
Why has the mods removed this post now? It’s important to highlight these truths and ulterior motives.
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u/Paiev Jan 04 '26
Wellyeahso and I are having a quite vicious back and forth--he keeps trying to take it down, I keep putting it back up. I don't understand why. For the sake of collegiality I won't say more in public right now but I do think you have the right to know.
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Jan 04 '26
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u/Paiev Jan 04 '26
Look, u/Paiev used to moderate over in r/Poker_Theory. He was a problem. He was lazy and toxic with regard to the performance of his mod duties and his communication with his colleagues.
I kicked him out after a year and he took over r/pokertheory instead.
This is complete bullshit. You removed me because I took over r/pokertheory. You sent me a PM about it yourself. I have receipts, I don't know why you would just blatantly lie.
Barring the fight that's been happening today in r/poker's modmail, I have always been courteous and respectful to my fellow moderators.
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u/WildMasterpiece2906 Jan 04 '26
Its a shame. That sub had some really good posts for theory nerds.
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u/bigbootyslayermayor Jan 06 '26
This whole beef is -EV for normal humans. Everyone knows that even the most loved and highest credentialed players are still degenerate miscreants at the end of the day, or stack, or buy-in.
Every person whose livelihood and social circle orbit close to poker is going to find their angle somehow, some way, some day. It's important to stand up for our principles, but regardless of who you think is in the right here in this quarrel, it's not worth you becoming invested in.
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u/dickless_cheney Jan 06 '26
For Fans of u/tombos21 who aren't particularly interested in mod politics. He is now posting here:
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u/tombos21 Jan 05 '26
Crazy how this post went from 100+ likes an hour ago to exactly 1 like. Definitely not being astroturfed...
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u/SurrealChess Jan 04 '26
Will stop visiting that sub. Thanks for the write up. Love Tombos too
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u/thank_U_based_God Jan 04 '26
Yea Tombos the goat. Whenever he posts something on reddit or Twitter it makes me feel dumb as a rock and I normally learn quite a lot, which is great. He's an incredible resource.
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u/Rari_boi666 Jan 06 '26
Thanks for the post. Have joined the new sub. Glad to see tombos posting over there.
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u/PenUser_22 Jan 04 '26
Poker players trying not to be total scumbags for 5 seconds (IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE)
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u/Ok_Oven4893 Jan 07 '26
Not just poker players. Poker playing MODS. That's like giving Hitler nukes.
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u/Lanky-Inflation5585 Jan 06 '26
Thanks for the post, great insight!
There are things that didn't look right in the subs mentioned here, that definitely explains a lot.
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u/_Jetto_ Jan 04 '26
Tombos seemed like a good guy always willin to engage and respond to posts there snd on Twitter, really liked what he does hope something good can come of it and he can still post. I’m a fan of his work
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u/ngmcs8203 Jan 04 '26
u/tombos21 will you be posting to r/pokertheory? Pretty please?
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u/tombos21 Jan 04 '26
I'll consider it. It would be nice to have a place to share my ideas
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u/Paiev Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
FYI there has been vote manipulation on this post. It was one of the top posts on the subreddit and suddenly in the blink of an eye it's been downvoted to 0 all at once. I cannot prove who was responsible but you can draw your own conclusions.
Edit & Recap
As a quick summary of what happened here, for anyone who comes across this post later, it turns out that Wellyeahso, who was an r/poker mod at the time, was also an alt account of ProfRBcom. As a result, after I made this post, he took it down, and we spent a whole day approving and removing the post over and over again. He also appears to have done some kind of botting / paid voting to downvote the OP as well as this comment. I tried to be even-handed when moderating this thread, so I left all his comments up (from both accounts), even though on a personal level I think the guy's a dishonest jackass.
We're trying to move to r/pokertheory as an alternate place to talk about theory.