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The Absolute Poker Scandal
CasinoSmack.com ^ | 10/16/2007 | staff

Posted on 10/20/2007 6:56:10 AM PDT by George W. Bush

The Absolute Poker Scandal

October 16th, 2007 · 5 Comments

Is AbsolutePoker.com rigged?

Either way, the company is in big trouble. What follows in this post is huge news in the world of online poker and online casinos.

Our story begins in 2003. Absolute Poker’s software is in development and many test accounts are created to make sure the program is working correctly. One of these test accounts, known as account #363, can see the hole cards at any table. This test account can not be used to play in real money games, it is only used for development purposes to see that pots are distributed correctly. The id number of this account being #363 is important because this tells us that this was one of the first accounts ever opened in AbsolutePoker, making it very likely the person in control of this account is someone with intimate ties with the company (owner, founder, employee, programmer, shareholder, etc.)

Absolute Poker CheatsFollow with me to the opening of Absolute Poker (AP). Four people in different parts of the United States open up accounts at Absolute Poker. These four individuals do not know each other. The names in question are Graycat, Steamroller, DoubleDrag, and Potripper. They play in Absolute Poker for a bit, but they don’t do well and their accounts are not logged into for many months. These are actual and real players, they are not fake players, they do not know each other, and they are not cheaters.

Key moment in the development of Absolute Poker: a major software upgrade is in process in 2007. The company hires programmers from many areas, including Costa Rica. Our villain in this scandal comes across the test account #363 with hole card access. Visions of big money flash in front of his eyes as he envisions hacking his way to big casino cash. He hatches a plan.

He finds inactive accounts at Absolute Poker and changes the password to these accounts at the server level. He opens test account 363 at a separate computer which allows him to see all the hole cards at the table. He then gets family and friends to cash out his winnings to. The way he does this is after he gets a big amount of cash at the poker tables, he plays against his relatives and buddies and loses all his cash to them. DoubleDrag loses to Reymnaldo, Graycat loses to SupercardM55, and Steamroller and Potripper lose to other various friend and family controlled accounts.

September comes, and as the money piles up, so does the ego and greed. Other poker players make comments in chat that they suspect there is cheating and collusion involved. He logs in as DoubleDrag and then loses every hand intentionally in No-Limit in an attempt to cover up his scam as he senses other players may be on to him.

September 12th. A well-known online poker tournament player named Marco Johnson, who plays under the screen name CrazyMarco plays in a $1000 buy-in tournament at AbsolutePoker.com. Cheat account Potripper is also playing in this tournament. CrazyMarco loses a head-to-head battle with Potripper when Potripper and asks for the hand history of the final table.

September 17th. The four Absolute Poker accounts (Graycat, Steamroller, DoubleDrag, and Potripper) are suspended and frozen.

September 21st. AbsolutePoker sends CrazyMarco a huge Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file (10MB and a full 65,536 rows, which is limit in Excel for most current versions). The spreadsheet is too complicated and scrambled to look into, so he saves it and decides to analyze it later.

October 12th. An AbsolutePoker.com official statement is released with their official comments on the cheating rumors, gossip, controversy, and overall poker community outrage. The company has been made aware of the poker blogs, chatrooms, and online casino discussion forums that are talking about this situation and they state that they take these allegations “extremely seriously”. They have “determined with reasonable certainty” that no can see the hole cards, and thus there is no superuser account. Their poker security algorithms have allegedly not been compromised and have admitted that “allegations that the player accounts at issue ‘always guessed right’ are unfounded”. On allegations this player exhibited “infinite river agression” (the player never called on the river cards, he only raised or folded), AbsolutePoker.com feels this is “also without merit”. The online casino has admitted that chip dumping did occur and will “investigate this issue”.

October 13th. Flashback to the huge Excel spreadsheet file AbsolutePoker sends to poker player CrazyMarco. TheWacoKidd, at PocketFives, reveals that Absolute Poker had accidentally sent hand histories of the entire tournament and of all the player’s hole cards. Looking through the play of PotRipper, it is obvious to see that he could see the hole cards of the other players due to his impeccable decision making, even in the face of ridiculous odds. As an example, Potripper routinely plays hands such as 2/7, but then folds cards such as KQ when AA is dealt to another player.

Breaking news: October 16th and 17th. 2+2 reports that Potripper’s email address is scott@rivieraltd.com. According to a 2+2 member, the IP address (a unique address that computer electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other) cross references to a cable modem owned by Scott Tom, who is a co-owner of Absolute Poker and their President since 2005. The Potripper account is now thought to belong to AJ Green, who is a former Director of Operations at AbsolutePoker.com and Scott Tom’s best friend. AJ Green is the current Vice President of Operations at nine.com. The domain rivieratld.com points to a mail server which is on an IP address allocated to Absolute Entertainment SA, at a data center owned by Mohawk Internet Technologies (originally thought to be the Kahnawake Gaming Commission).

Mohawk Internet Technologies MIT-BLK-01 (NET-66-212-224-0-1)
66.212.224.0 - 66.212.255.255

Absolute Entertainment S.A. MIT-ABPOK-02 (NET-66-212-244-128-1)

66.212.244.128 - 66.212.244.255

About 2 hours after the results of this investigation is revealed on the internet, the DNS (domain name server) information for rivieraltd.com is deleted. Absolute Poker claims Scott Tom has not been employed by the company for over a year.

Big thanks to Justin Goff, twoplustwo.com, natarem.com, and neverwinpoker.com.

Youtube video of the infamous AbsolutePoker tournament won by Potripper:



TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: fraud; onlinegambling; poker
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At the blogsite, they have more info on the owners of this company and their scamming of $250M from their shareholders.

I thought this story merits a warning to online poker players. Most folks are just doing the penny ante poker. But the high-stakes players have almost certainly been defrauded as have the investors in these companies.

1 posted on 10/20/2007 6:56:12 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: George W. Bush

My best friend lost her house and is now living in the ghetto of Cleveland because of Online Poker. She is still openning Visa cards and her daughter is doing a community college instead of a University because the college money put away is now gone. It doesn’t take high stakes to lose everything.

Buyer beware.


2 posted on 10/20/2007 7:01:05 AM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time .)
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To: George W. Bush
The most recent info on this story:
Online poker cheating blamed on employee

Refunds, with interest, are coming to the players. Plus the cheating insider tried to hide his tracks by implicating somebody else (Scott).

3 posted on 10/20/2007 7:06:36 AM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: George W. Bush

> Is AbsolutePoker.com rigged?

Is online betting of any kind rigged?

Why has anyone ever assumed the answer is,
and always has been anything other than:
Of Course It Is

When real money is involved, it is always just a
matter of time before someone games the system or
cheats outright.

At least online stock investing is no riskier than
offline stock investing.


4 posted on 10/20/2007 7:12:39 AM PDT by Boundless (Legacy Media is hazardous to your mental health)
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To: George W. Bush

Nybody who would play poker online is simply beyond gullible. You have no idea what is actually happening on the other end of the line and no reason on earth to assume anything other than that you are being ripped off.


5 posted on 10/20/2007 7:14:24 AM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: tickmeister

Nybody=anybody. First coffee.


6 posted on 10/20/2007 7:15:08 AM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: George W. Bush

Greed is good! NOT


7 posted on 10/20/2007 7:18:24 AM PDT by Crazy Jim (There are known unknowns and then there are unknown unknowns. - Donald Rumsfeld)
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To: tickmeister
Anybody who would play poker online is simply beyond gullible. You have no idea what is actually happening on the other end of the line and no reason on earth to assume anything other than that you are being ripped off.

I think playing for pennies is okay. Much harder to cheat, much less incentive to do so. I think that playing with a known regular circle of players can be pretty safe.

But these high-stakes games are another thing. So are the sites which are susceptible to bot players.

Anyway, I don't play poker, online or in real life. I just thought people should know about this fraud.
8 posted on 10/20/2007 7:24:20 AM PDT by George W. Bush (Apres moi, le deluge.)
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To: netmilsmom
The epidemic of gambling addiction is the most underreported story today. Beware of the government/casino complex. It’s doing incalculable harm.
9 posted on 10/20/2007 7:25:53 AM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA

Amen.
And like the lottery, it is hitting the African/American community hard.

But that’s never talked about.


10 posted on 10/20/2007 7:34:15 AM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time .)
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To: netmilsmom; All
"My best friend lost her house and is now living in the ghetto of Cleveland because of Online Poker." ...

And that statement, dear friends, is but one example of why the US of A is in deep trouble.
11 posted on 10/20/2007 7:35:23 AM PDT by G.Mason (And what is intelligence if not the craft of outthinking our adversaries?)
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To: George W. Bush

Just off the top of my head, lets say you and two of your friends set up a seperate private chatroom then join a table. You immediately compare your pocket cards in each hand and two of you fold the two worst pockets. Using your knowlege of the cards in the folded pockets and the fact that you have the best 2 out of 3 pockets and you increase your odds of winning significantly. If you use 6 or 7 or more friends with no same 3 playing a table twice in a row, it will take some time for the site to catch on. I would think its easy to cheat online holdem. Beats flipping burgers at McDonalds.


12 posted on 10/20/2007 7:53:30 AM PDT by Delacon (Don't Immanentize the Eschaton.)
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To: George W. Bush

I don’t even waste my time with “free” games for fun. The way I figure it, I’m the only shmoe that doesn’t have some Java applet that peeks at the other guys’ hole cards.


13 posted on 10/20/2007 7:59:31 AM PDT by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a Liberal when I married her.)
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To: George W. Bush

In hindsight, the GOP was correct when they restricted this scam.


14 posted on 10/20/2007 8:01:41 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: G.Mason
""My best friend lost her house and is now living in the ghetto of Cleveland because of Online Poker.

" ... And that statement, dear friends, is but one example of why the US of A is in deep trouble."


Bump.
15 posted on 10/20/2007 8:11:19 AM PDT by tfecw (It's for the children)
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To: Always Right
In hindsight, the GOP was correct when they restricted this scam."

The nanny state is never the answer.
16 posted on 10/20/2007 8:12:34 AM PDT by tfecw (It's for the children)
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To: George W. Bush

In the future, please place content from this website into the Bloggers forum.

Not the Frontpage.


17 posted on 10/20/2007 8:15:37 AM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: G.Mason

Exactly.


18 posted on 10/20/2007 8:18:59 AM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time .)
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To: Admin Moderator
There has been other reporting but I thought that was the single best account.

There's also been an MSNBC report on it as well but this one was so much more detailed.

Of course, I respect your choice to move it. But there are people whose lives have been and are being ruined by these frauds. I just thought FReepers deserved a heads up so they could warn family members and friends about these scam artists.
19 posted on 10/20/2007 8:30:32 AM PDT by George W. Bush (Apres moi, le deluge.)
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To: DManA
The epidemic of gambling addiction is the most underreported story today. Beware of the government/casino complex. It’s doing incalculable harm.

A second Amen...
20 posted on 10/20/2007 8:32:39 AM PDT by George W. Bush (Apres moi, le deluge.)
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