Absolute Poker Scandal

[Stiganator]

My brother is a big poker player and has accounts at all the major poker sites.
It turns out the owner of Absolute Poker or someone affiliated with him has been using a super user account that shows all the current cards in play. He has been using this to cheat as that account has been entering tournaments and winning nearly every hand.

I'm still looking for the supporting details that my brother mentioned, but apparently a user who was mysteriously beaten in a recent tournament requested a hand history. Someone at the company sent him an excel sheet with every hand of every person in the whole tournament, along with their bids, usernames, and IP addresses, as well as lists and IPs of people just observing. That is how some poker sleuths tracked down the owner to Costa Rica.
When my brother found out a few days ago he decided to withdraw his money, but for some unknown reason his withdrawal was cancelled.

I just thought I'd spread the word, so you guys don't loose your money if it turns out to be true.

 

[FoBoT]

if the NY Times has info, it might not be a rumor

http://freakonomics.blogs.nyti...andal-blown-wide-open/

http://news.google.com/news?hl...oker+&btnG=Search+News

http://www.securitypronews.com...utePokerKerfuffle.html

 

[Jhill]

My bro was a big online and still is a real life player. He swears up and down that the online rooms were fixed in a way or two. I always laughed at him. He might of been on to soomething.

They go into detail here

If this is true, I wonder how many other times it happened?

 

[Ns1]

http://www.poker-king.com/poke...ticles.php?article=282

 

[DBL]

If true, that's bad news indeed.

Graph

If that graph is correct, that is some pretty damning evidence.

 

[Sphexi]

I knew a guy locally who played online, said all you had to do was have 6 computers running through proxies, get 5 to join a table with some random 6th person, then just keep going until there's one left (he played elimination), and 5 out of 6 chance it'd be one of his players left. If it were two of his left, he'd just keep going all in until one of them won and that was that. He made like 40-50k a year just playing online poker.

 

[Toasthead]

Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

Talk about missing the point.

 

[jamesave]

it's not surprising.

I mean, if people cheats on other online gaming, they will find a way with a game that offers the winner money.

 

[Stiganator]

Messing with the odds at a casino will get your head in a vice grip, I don't see why is should be any different here.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

but you won't lose any hands either

 

[Phokus]

Why on earth would anyone be playing on servers located outside the USA anyway? It's a shame the US outlaws this stuff, at least there's a big incentive not to go to PMITA prison. Costa Rica? Good luck with that. At least in card rooms/casinos, you can be sure you aren't playing against Bots and other cheats.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: jamesave
it's not surprising.

I mean, if people cheats on other online gaming, they will find a way with a game that offers the winner money.

The thing is the math can always expose a cheater over enough hands, especially an instance as blatant as this. In this case, the data that was leaked was enough to create a pretty overwhelming case against Absolute. They need to come clean and open themselves up to an independent investigation. Otherwise, you have to assume it is connected to the site at a very high level as opposed to a rogue programmer.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

He didn't win every hand.....

Do you even play poker? Did you even read the article?

 

[Jhill]

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

He didn't win every hand.....

Do you even play poker? Did you even read the article?

Hell, if you win 25% of pots at a full table (a tourny) your kicking ass and taking names.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Subject title is a little misleading, they may have people who cheat with super user accounts but "your money isn't safe" isn't necessarily true.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Jhill

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

He didn't win every hand.....

Do you even play poker? Did you even read the article?

Hell, if you win 25% of pots at a full table (a tourny) your kicking ass and taking names.

Take a look at the spreadsheet here. It sticks out like huge sore thumb!

http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/vpipvbb.jpg

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Jhill

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

He didn't win every hand.....

Do you even play poker? Did you even read the article?

Hell, if you win 25% of pots at a full table (a tourny) your kicking ass and taking names.

Take a look at the spreadsheet here. It sticks out like huge sore thumb!

http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/vpipvbb.jpg

I didnt see all the hands he was involved in (i saw most i think) and the only one I saw he lost on was after he got his money in good.
His infamous QT hand was sick.

 

[buck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FczbS7FiWSM

 

[Pantoot]

Originally posted by: buck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FczbS7FiWSM

Wow, that youtube link is pretty damning. As far as your money being safe, I wouldn't want to bet that they stay in business long. Run on the bank...

 

[Firebot]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Subject title is a little misleading, they may have people who cheat with super user accounts but "your money isn't safe" isn't necessarily true.

Would you play in a tourny where the play is compromised, and the winner is predetermined? Why not bet on a wrestling match while at it?

There's also the problem where the guy, now caught, might just run and take everyone's money with him.

 

[bGIveNs33]

Speculation on what happened-

"July or early August, 2007: AP is in the process of a major software upgrade. One of the programmers, who lives locally in Costa Rica, stumbles upon account #363. He realizes how much money one could make by exploiting this little test account at the highest games the site has to offer. He realizes that this would need to be done carefully, as much suspicion will be placed upon a new account that inexplicably crushes the best players in the world. This rogue programmer comes up with the following plan of action?"

purely speculation though

 

[JS80]

wow. just wow.

 

[KeithTalent]

Reading those threads on 2+2 is just fascinating. Pretty much hosed my entire afternoon at work.

What an absolute disaster.

KT

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Toasthead
Even if you saw every card on the table...it wouldnt help you win EVERY hand.

Talk about missing the point.

For real...

Not to mention, if you're cheating you don't WANT to win every hand, because then it'll be obvious your cheating.

Although it doesn't sound like these cheaters were the smartest crackers in the pack, because they apparently made their cheating obvious enough that others noticed... and that their dot on that graph linked above (which I don't understand one bit) is a MAJOR outlier.