Absolute Poker Rigged

[Plastikman]

Hi everyone. 1st time poster, long time lurker. Just thought id post this incase it hasnt been posted already incase anyone is till playing on Absolute Poker. http://www.pocketfives.com/445F78F0-7D44-4F3B-AF24-0AFA96F28812.aspx All of the information regarding the cheating is in there. Seems like an inside job to me!! Check out the hand histories on page 4- its pretty conclusive. Seeing this kinda stuff has put the sh1tters up me a bit, but hopefully its a one off incident. I played in the pokerroom 19k gauranteed that wasnt tourney a while back, but this seems a lot worse. Absolute are still denying everything. Its going to be interesting to see how this one pans out. Plastikman

[Burnley Joe]

Re: Absolute Poker Scandal view From A Pros Eyes For those who dont know DanDruff is Todd Witteles, a highstakes limit holdem player and respected member of online poker. Okay, so I didn't completely "solve" the whole AP mess. After all, nobody has received any compensation, nor has Absolute even admitted that any sort of fraud even occurred. However, some recent damning evidence has come to light that has allowed me to put together a complete start-to-finish re-creation of the crime. The newest development again involves the POTRIPPER tournament. Thanks to a blunder by support, one of the players in that tournament accidentally received an Excel spreadsheet containing the hole cards, IP addresses, AP account ID numbers, and e-mail addresses of most players in the tournament. Nat Arem of pokerdb.com analyzed it, and came up with the following new conclusions: 1) POTRIPPER was initially placed at Table 13. He folded his first few hands. 2) About 2 1/2 minutes into the tournament, a railtard opened up Table 13. This railtard had a Costa Rican IP address, which is where AP is located. The ID number of this account was 363 -- a number so low that it probably pre-dated AP's opening to the public. 3) Account 363 stayed at Table 13 for the entire duration that POTRIPPER was there. 4) POTRIPPER started cold-calling every hand as soon as Account 363 showed up. The Excel spreadsheet is incomplete. Not all hands are listed, and not all users are listed. However, the part that has been seen has been authenticated by several players in the tournament, according to those on 2+2, and it is generally accepted as being legit. Obviously, given the Costa Rican connection, as well as account #363 being involved, it is now clear that this was an inside job, as opposed to being perpetrated by outside hackers. ==================================== Given the above, as well as everything else that has come to light over the past 2 months, I now have competely pieced together this entire situation. I will outline it below, in "timeline" format: Sometime in 2003 or 2004: Absolute Poker's software is under development. Several hundred test accounts are created during the development and QA process. Among them is account #363, which is a superuser account. Account #363, unlike the others, has the ability to see hole cards at any table it opens. This can be an important tool during the testing process, as the developers can quickly and easily see that the pots are being shipped to the correct people. Of course, Account #363 is not actually registered to anyone, nor is it ever enabled to play in real money games. It exists strictly for "visual" purposes, and only used during the testing and development process. Sometime between AP's opening and the middle of 2007: Four totally unrelated accounts are opened by four differnet people in different areas of the United States. GRAYCAT likes Limit Hold 'Em, but he isn't particularly good at it. He takes a few shots at the game, but is outclassed by his opponents and busts. He finally gives up on the site and stops logging in. The same happens with STEAMROLLER, who plays both Limit and NL. Again, he's a donk who plays some here and there, is never too active, but is active enough for a few people to remember him. Like most donks, he chunks off one too many buyins and is done with AP. DOUBLEDRAG, who likes NL, has a similar story. He plays a number of times, yet can't seem to consistently win and eventually busts. POTRIPPER enjoys tournaments, but he just isn't catching the right cards or making the right moves. Like the other three, he goes donk down and tries his luck elsewhere. These four guys are not cheaters. They aren't friends. They have never met, rarely (or never) played in the same game, and each had a different focus on the type of poker they liked to play. However, they all have one important thing in common: They were donks, lost their money, live in the United States, and have apparently not logged into their AP accounts for at least a few months. 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: 1) Take over legitimate (but now inactive) accounts on AP. This can easily be done at the server side of AP, by simply changing the password of such accounts. He looks for an inactive, losing Limit player and comes up with GRAYCAT. When searching for an NL counterpart, he finds DOUBLEDRAG. He sees the apparently abandoned POTRIPPER with a history of losing tournament play. Finally, he finds an all-purpose account, STEAMROLLER, who has a (losing) history in all three areas. The password to all four accounts is changed, and they are now in the possession of the rogue programmer. The actual owners of the accounts are not likely to find out, as they seem to have already given up on AP. 2) Plan to play short sessions at the highest limit games with each of these accounts. Log onto account 363 on another computer, opening up the table where you're playing, so as to see everyone's hole cards. Don't multi-table, as there is a lot of information to see at once, and this will be too hard to manage. Regarding game selection, stick to the area of interest previously shown by each account. GRAYCAT will stay at Limit, DOUBLEDRAG will play primarily NL, etc. Don't win too much at one sitting, and don't stay for too long. Come up with excuses such as, "Time for dinner" when abruptly leaving. 3) When winning pots, act excited in chat, saying things like "Yes!" or "All right!" when winning. This will make you look like a maniac-type donk who is giddy about winning thanks to freak luck. 4) Get friends and relatives involved, preferably those who might already have accounts on AP. Have them deposit some money to get started, even if you need to front it to them. 5) You cannot use GRAYCAT, STEAMROLLER, DOUBLEDRAG, or POTRIPPER to cash out, since they are still registered to innocent, legitimate players in the United States! That's where the friends and relatives will come into the mix. After winning a lot of money on GRAYCAT, STEAMROLLER, DOUBLEDRAG, and POTRIPPER, play against these friends/relatives heads up, and dump all the winnings. Make sure that each friend/relative plays a different cheat-account heads up, so as to not arouse suspicion. GRAYCAT will play SUPERCARDM55 and lose badly. DOUBLEDRAG will drop his entire roll to REYMNALDO. STEAMROLLER and POTRIPPER will also play different friend/relative accounts and, like the other two, will lose everything. 6) Cash out of the friend/relative accounts. Enjoy the hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from the top online poker players in the world. Mid-late August, 2007: The plan actually goes into effect. It happens to start just a few days before the major software upgrade is complete. There is particular reason to begin on this day, but rather is just an arbitrary date that the rogue programmer decides to begin the operation. Late August, 2007: Plan is proceeding well. A lot is being won, but never too much in one sitting. Even heads up, the cheater restrains himself and keeps the winnings relatively moderate. Still, after numerous very successful short sessions, he is now up in the multiple six figures. The first chip dump operation commences. GRAYCAT drops 55k to SUPERCARDM55 at a 200-400 Limit heads-up table. For the benefit of anyone watching this supposed drubbing, "GRAYCAT" constantly laments his terrible luck, but overacts a bit. SUPERCARDM55 plays one session the next day, loses a few thousand, intentionally, and never plays again. He initiates a cashout. Early-mid September, 2007: Greed takes over. The money is rolling in so easily, and nobody seems wise to what is going on. GRAYCAT starts to absolutely destroy people both heads-up and full ring. DOUBLEDRAG does the same at NL, often calling huge all-in bets with as little as king-high, if it's the best hand at the moment. POTRIPPER plays his now-infamous tournament on the 12th, blatantly taking advantage of what he sees under account 363 without concern about later scrutiny. The STEAMROLLER account is brought into the NL and Limit games to try and take some suspicion off GRAYCAT and DOUBLEDRAG. In the meantime, DOUBLEDRAG dumps 300k+ of his winnings to fellow Costa Rican friend REYMNALDO. REYMNALDO initiates a cashout shortly thereafter. September 16, 2007: Perhaps greed isn't always good. People start remarking in chat that they are suspecting cheating. As a cover-up attempt, DOUBLEDRAG plays NL again, this time intentionally LOSING every hand. While a decent amount of money is lost in this session, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what has been won, and is in fact a necessary evil for damage control. September 17, 2007: The accounts in question are frozen by AP, pending an investigation. It is unclear whether the cashouts of SUPERCARDM55, REYMNALDO, and other recipients of chip-dumping were successful. === There you have it. I strongly believe that the above is VERY close to what actually happened. If the full story ever comes out, you'll see how close the above is to the actual truth. Strangely enough, I believe that the actual owners of GRAYCAT, DOUBLEDRAG, POTRIPPER, and STEAMROLLER are innocent. I remember seeing the cities of GRAYCAT and STEAMROLLER, who both played Limit, before the update. (They eliminated the ability to see cities after the update.) Both lived in the U.S. I remember STEAMROLLER being from Miami and GRAYCAT being somewhere further north, like Chicago. There is a myth that the cheating began after the update. This is not true. I saw cheating occur a few days BEFORE the update. I believe the only part the update has in this whole thing is the fact that it allowed this rogue programmer to go through the AP software and stumble onto the existence of account 363. Account 363 has clearly existed since the beginning. This was not a vulnerability brought on by any recent software change. I also believe that, before greed took over, the guy behind this was more careful. Near the beginning of the whole thing, in mid-late August, he kept things more moderate. He lost some hands on purpose, and he never killed anyone heads up too badly. For example, GRAYCAT beat me for 6k heads up at 200-400, then quit the game and insulted me from the rail. Obviously he did this to keep things in moderation, not due to any fear of losing to me. This differs from what he did later, such as when he slammed STEREOFLAVAS for 28k in an hourlong September heads-up match. The POTRIPPER tournament was also executed highly carelessly, but again he was probably blinded by greed at this point. I believe that the guy playing all accounts was one person. I also believe he had a second computer logged into superuser account 363. I think that the only time he invovled others was for chip-dumping. I am relatively certain that you will find SUPERCARDM55, REYMNALDO, and the other dump recipients with Costa Rican addresses, while the four accounts used to cheat all have U.S. addresses. Also, keep in mind that the cheater simply needed to open account 363 at the right table on a second computer in order to see the hole cards. I am certain that POTRIPPER, GRAYCAT, STEAMROLLER, and DOUBLEDRAG were not special or superuser accounts, and were just like any other account on the system. Perhaps AP support simply looked at these accounts themselves and stupidly determined that no cheating went on. More likely, however, they know what happened and are covering it up. This is how it happened. You heard it here first.

[dik9]

Absolute Poker Rigged Pocket five and 2+2 forum have been extremely interesting today ........ waiting for a bomb to go off, this is probably the very tip of a huge iceburg and was only discovered after the HH was requested, and mysteriously all information including IP addies were included of players and a mysterious observer who has an id of 363 indicating that the number is so low that it must be an employee used for testing software. It's like a who dunnit of online poker, it's very intreaguing The far reaching effects though looks like they will stem from Kanawahke itself, as they are involved with most sites, and the fact they own Absolute doesn't do them any favours http://www.pocketfives.com/FB93FA8A-FCCF-452C-B7FA-C137B61E265A.aspx http://www.pocketfives.com/A4DDCEF4-907D-41D4-949C-B758BDA8E65A.aspx Briefly 1) During a tournament played by cheater 'Potripper,' the person who ended up coming second ("Marco") thought he was cheated. He emailed Absolute, and they sent him a hand history file - an XLS file. 2) Marco opened up this file, it seemed all gibberish to him, and he didn't think anything of it. 3) First Absolute Poker scandal blow up - PT screenshots, etc. Graphical representation here: http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/vpipvbb.jpg 4) Fortnight passes 5) In passing discussion, Marco mentions he has this file. He shares it with a few people, including N 80 50 24(pokerdb.com maintainer, maker of The Poker Film, part owner of Bluff Media) who analyses what is in this file 6) Nat (N 80 50 24) & 2p2 poster Snagglepuss discover that this file is a complete hand history for the tournament - showing every table, and all hole cards of every player. Hand histories here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=beats&Number=12493401&page=0&fpart=1 7) Big excitement over #6 8) In further analysis, Nat + Snagglepuss discovers that this file contains IP addresses and user details (including email addresses) of people observing the table 9) In #8, they discover user #363 is observing PotRipper's table the whole time 10) At the start of the tournament, for the two hands that user #363 is not observing the table, Potripper folds preflop. He doesn't fold another hand pre-flop for 20minutes, when he open-folds with KK held by a player behind him. 11) The IP address recorded for user #363 tracks out to be a user who uses email on an Absolute Poker server hosted by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission Nice little image going back to the cash game scandal from a couple of weeks ago: Basically this is a plot of VPIP compared with winrates (of over 5000 players in a multi-million hand database). The red dot is the accused player

[AJ]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged, you decide it appears very compelling to me. From this point on I'd saw aviod them and anyone linked to the KGA

[AJ]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged threads merged and moved to poker chat btw :ok

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged, you decide

it appears very compelling to me. From this point on I'd saw aviod them and anyone linked to the KGA

Most sites are linked to KGA in one way or another :eek

[slapdash]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged

Basically this is a plot of VPIP compared with winrates (of over 5000 players in a multi-million hand database). The red dot is the accused player

Do you know where I can find out more about how this and how it was compiled? There's some very important information that's not shown on the plot, such as "How many hands from the red dot player are included?". Presumably it's a reasonable number, but if it were only a dozen or so, then the plot would essentially tell you nothing.

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged fcuk knows Mr Dash, will try and find out for you, but not holding my breath for answers

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged http://www.natarem.com/ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FczbS7FiWSM

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged AP have now come out with a statement that they will be opening up to independent scrutiny on this matter.

Quote:

Absolute Poker Management wishes to inform the poker community of the following information in response to the most recent claims posted over the past 48 hours on the 2+2 and Pocket Fives forums wherein again it is alleged that some person or persons breached Absolute Poker’s redundant and varying levels of game client security. As was stated in Absolute Poker’s Official Response released on Friday October 12, 2007, Absolute Poker conducted an extensive investigation in response to the claims it was made aware of and received. The results of that investigation indicated that to the best of Absolute Poker’s knowledge, information and belief there was no security breach. Specifically, Absolute Poker’s internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards. Based on the most recent claims that Absolute Poker has been made aware of and at the request of some of our players and business partners, Absolute Poker has agreed to retain a widely acclaimed independent third party auditor, Gaming Associates, to conduct an independent audit of Absolute Poker’s security systems. Specifically, Absolute Poker has requested that Gaming Associates conduct a thorough and extensive review of Absolute Poker’s practices and security systems to determine whether it is possible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards thereby gaining an unfair advantage. (http://www.gamingassociates.com) Absolute Poker has agreed to fully cooperate with Gaming Associates and its investigative team and to provide the above with unfettered access to all systems, protocols and databases at Absolute Poker worldwide. Absolute Poker has also agreed to allow Gaming Associate’s final report to be made available to Pocket Fives and Bluff Media for their review. With respect to the claims that Scott Tom, a former Member of Team Absolute Poker, is in anyway involved in wrong-doing, Absolute Poker has requested a formal investigation into that matter as well. Mr. Tom has not been involved with Absolute Poker for over a year and to the best of our knowledge, information and belief has not had access to any of Absolute Poker’s systems, databases or information. Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable which may procure to it as a result of any unlawful and injurious actions taken by any individuals who may have falsified any information, documents, files, or have by other means attempted to disparage and/or harm Absolute Poker, its Players, its current or former management, employees, business partners or affiliates. Absolute Poker shall bear all expenses related to such investigation and is eager to learn about Gaming Associate’s findings. Absolute Poker highly values and intends to protect its players, shareholders, business partners, and affiliates. Absolute Poker Management

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Absolutely (no pun intended :tongue2) stunned!!! Just watched the hand history replay on pokerxfactor - if the hand history is genuine (and I'm sure Absolute would have been quick to say if it wasn't), then there can be no reasonable doubt that the player had access to everyones hole cards - stunned that Absolute could even attempt to deny it!!! Some talk on 2plus2 on links between Absolute and GA :loon If that's the case, GA cannot be the right choice of independant auditors....

Alan Pedley was there and he is currently on GA's staff of consultants. They aren't lying about that, but I *do* have my reservations regarding GA. It doesn't make sense to hire GA to do this investigation if you want the very best investigation you can get. It looks more like they're trying to save money on the investigation and not get hassled.

Quote:

---

re: the legitimacy of the auditors. They claim "Our staff includes the only interactive gaming consultant in the world recognised as sufficiently expert to be summonsed as a witness before the 1999 Australian Senate Select Committee into Australia's Online Gambling Industries" Source:

http://www.gamingassociates.com/Pages/aboutus.aspx

The list of witnesses to that inquiry is online at

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/it_ctte/completed_inquiries/1999-02/gambling/report/e04.pdf

1) There was no organisation called "Gaming Associates" to be represented in those hearings. The closest options are: Global Gaming Services Pty Ltd WWWagering and Gaming Consultants Pty Ltd eBet Ltd 2) All three groups spoke in Sydney; the transcript is available online at

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/s2663.pdf

I'll read #2 soon.

Made the NY Times too :loon I can see this bringing Absolute down.... What exactly is the role of "Kahnawake Gaming Commission"? Are they like a regulator?

[shuby1982]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged just started playin on this site too, with poker spy, and $10 they game me free, up to about $200 now so i can see a withdrawly coming if this is the case

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged http://www.kahnawake.com/gamingcommission/permits.asp

[Osesame]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged a) forum on this topic http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=12523924&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1 b) October 17, 2007, 9:36 am The Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal Blown Wide Open By Steven D. Levitt A few weeks back I blogged about allegations of cheating at an online poker site called Absolute Poker. While things looked awfully suspicious, there wasn’t quite a smoking gun, and it was unclear exactly how the cheater might have cheated. A combination of some incredible detective work by some poker players and an accidental (?) data leak by Absolute Poker have blown the scandal wide open. You can read the first-hand account in the following thread at 2+2 Poker Forum, but here’s the short version: Some opponents became suspicious of how a certain player was playing. He seemed to know what the opponents’ hole cards were. The suspicious players provided examples of these hands, which were so outrageous that virtually all serious poker players were convinced that cheating had occurred. One of the players who’d been cheated requested that Absolute Poker provide hand histories from the tournament (which is standard practice for online sites). In this case, Absolute Poker “accidentally” did not send the usual hand histories, but instead sent a file that contained all sorts of private information that the poker site would never release. The file contained every player’s hole cards, observations of the tables, and even the IP addresses of every person playing. (I put “accidentally” in quotes because the mistake seems like too great a coincidence when you learn what followed.) I suspect that someone at Absolute knew about the cheating and how it happened, and was acting as a whistleblower by sending these data. If that is the case, I hope whomever “accidentally” sent the file gets their proper hero’s welcome in the end. Then the poker players went to work analyzing the data — not the hand histories themselves, but other, more subtle information contained in the file. What these players-turned-detectives noticed was that, starting with the third hand of the tournament, there was an observer who watched every subsequent hand played by the cheater. (For those of you who don’t know much about online poker, anyone who wants can observe a particular table, although, of course, the observers can’t see any of the players’ hole cards.) Interestingly, the cheater folded the first two hands before this observer showed up, then did not fold a single hand before the flop for the next 20 minutes, and then folded his hand pre-flop when another player had a pair of kings as hole cards! This sort of cheating went on throughout the tournament. So the poker detectives turned their attention to this observer. They traced the observer’s IP address and account name to the same set of servers that host Absolute Poker, and also, apparently, to a particular individual named Scott Tom, who seems to be a part-owner of Absolute Poker! If all of this is correct, it shows exactly how the cheating would have transpired: an insider at the Web site had real-time access to all of the hole cards (it is not hard to believe that this capability would exist) and was relaying this information to an outside accomplice. If this is all true, I presume that the two cheaters are looking at potential prison time. I would also guess that if Absolute Poker continues to argue that nothing out of the ordinary happened, they will take an enormous hit to their profits. Online poker is a game of trust — players send their money to a site believing that they will be playing a fair game, and trusting that the site will send them their winnings. If there is even a little bit of uncertainty about either one of those factors, there is no good reason for a player to choose that site over the many close substitutes that exist. If I ran Absolute Poker, I would take a lesson from past corporate attempts at cover ups, sacrifice the cheaters, and institute safeguards to prevent this ever happening again. The real lesson of this all, however, is probably the following: guys who aren’t that smart will figure out ways to cheat. And, with a little luck and the right data, folks who are a lot smarter will catch them doing it. (Hat tip: Dan Hirschberg and Dean Strachan, who have kept me up to date on this story.)

[staffy]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Wow just read this and I am amazed that this took place. I feel for anyone who is the victim here of what clearly looks like cheating.

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged 10/17 update: The Potripper account belongs to AJ Green, former Director of Operations at AP and Scott Tom's best friend. AJ Green is currently VP of operations at nine.com :eek:eek:eek:eek:eek:eek

[RandR]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged

What exactly is the role of "Kahnawake Gaming Commission"? Are they like a regulator?

This is what surprises me. I was under the impression that the Kahnawake is a Mohawk Indian reservation in Quebec, and that the KGC was its gaming regulator. To find that the regulator is also the owner is concerning. Looking at the list of casinos they have granted licenses to, I see that some of them match up to the casinomeister blacklist of places not to play. Although I note that it also includes reputable sites like Poker Stars. I've never heard of "Gaming Associates." If they were serious they would get a top professional firm of auditors to investigate. I won't be playing at Absolute any time soon, and I won't be placing any trust in a KGC banner on a website.

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Updated Cliff Notes for the 18th..........

Quote:

A lot of this is copy/pasted from the last cliffnotes, Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A lot of this is copy/pasted from Josem's last cliffnotes, so thanks Josem for those. Previous thread here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho.....part=1&vc=1 Short version: There is almost indisputable proof that users at AP were cheating by somehow viewing the whole cards of their opponents. Some information has come out that indicates an AP employee or ex-employee may have been involved. There is further evidence that it may be ex-owner, Scott Tom. Long version: 1) During a tournament played by cheater 'Potripper,' the person who ended up coming second ("Marco") thought he was cheated. He emailed Absolute, and they sent him a hand history file - an XLS file. 2) Marco opened up this file, it seemed all gibberish to him, and he didn't think anything of it. 3) First Absolute Poker scandal blow up - PT screenshots, etc. Graphical representation here: http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/vpipvbb.jpg 4) Fortnight passes 5) In passing discussion, Marco mentions he has this file. He shares it with a few people, including N 80 50 24(pokerdb.com maintainer, maker of The Poker Film, part owner of Bluff Media) who analyses what is in this file 6) Nat (N 82 50 24) & 2p2 poster Snagglepuss discover that this file is a complete hand history for the tournament - showing every table, and all hole cards of every player. Hand histories here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho.....e=0&fpart=1 Youtube video of hands being replayed here Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, for the straight dope on how this we got to this point, check out N825024's blog at http://www.natarem.com/. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7)In further analysis of the spreadsheet, Nat and Snagglepuss determine that the IP address, user number and email address of observers has been documented. 8)In 7, they determine that an account with user number 363 observes Potripper's table from 2 minutes into the tournament until the end. 9) At the start of the tournament, for the two hands that user #363 is not observing the table, Potripper folds preflop. He doesn't fold another hand pre-flop for 20minutes, when he open-folds with KK held by a player behind him. 10) They also discover another observer, with the same IP (in San Jose, Costa Rica), with a different user number and the email address [email protected], observing another table for a short period of time. 11) It is speculated that 10 could be Potripper's user account. 12) It was determined that the domain rivieraltd.com was pointing to a mail server which happened to be on an IP allocated to Absolute Entertainment SA, at Mohawk Internet Technologies' data center. 12.5) Shortly (within an hour or two) after the findings in 12 are posted here, the DNS information for rivieraltd.com is deleted. 13)The IP associated with the observer in #10 turns out to be a residential cable modem registered to Scott Tom, AP's President as of 2005. 14)Mason weighs in on things here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho...p;page=0&vc=1 15)Absolute sends an email to one player saying they will undergo a formal audit from gamingassociates.com here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho...;page=0&vc=1. AP also claims Scott Tom has not been employed by AP for over a year, although he's made posts on 2+2 spamming for AP as recently as June of this year. 16) Steven D. Levitt posts about this story on his NY Times blog for the second time: First post New post 10/17 update: The Potripper account belongs to AJ Green, former Director of Operations at AP and Scott Tom's best friend. AJ Green is currently VP of operations at nine.com. If I've missed anything important, let me know. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 The ABS Poker worker who sent the .xls file out no longer is employed by Absolute. 19) DanDruff speaks to a "senior" member of staff @ AP Dan Druff's 1st suggestion A lot of uproar and criticism followed this post from DD, DD's Next Idea Dan Druff's view 21) Absolute agree to letting KGC audit/investigate them : KGC Story 22) Mark Seif plays $1k tourney on Absolute and gets grilled by the rail...but then roceeds to still deny that tourney hands look suspicious and say that Dan Druff is likely to be sued for slander yadda yadda yadda... Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARK SEIF: yes i was watching the hands on a player MARK SEIF: i actually saw quite a few hands that suggest he couldnt see MARK SEIF: the hands - he played very poorly if he could see them MARK SEIF: i watched 80 something hands MARK SEIF: i marked a few whcih troubled me MARK SEIF: i marked a few that it appears there is no way he could see MARK SEIF: the hands MARK SEIF: that's my honet opinion so far MARK SEIF: still havent seen it all MARK SEIF: i never said he was legit - dont put words in my mouth pleas MARK SEIF: yeah that's what i watched some of the hands on - you tube MARK SEIF: dan druff is an out and out LIAR MARK SEIF: and exaggerator MARK SEIF: i have no problem going on record about that MARK SEIF: and he is likely to be sued for his libelous and slanderous MARK SEIF: statements MARK SEIF: i dont normally say stuff like that but i read with my own MARK SEIF: eyes some of his lies UNSEIF: I OPEN FOLD FULL HOUSES IN CAPPED POTS MARK SEIF: with respect to that assertion that i open folded - that is MARK SEIF: a total and complete LIE MARK SEIF: that never happened and i challenge anyone anyone at all to MARK SEIF: show me that hand MARK SEIF: its is bald face LIE MARK SEIF: i am just a spokesperson i am not an owner, manager or direc MARK SEIF: tor MARK SEIF: i am concerned about this and awaiting the investigation to MARK SEIF: decide what to do MARK SEIF: unlike some people i believe in withholding judgment until MARK SEIF: all the evidence is in MARK SEIF: maybe its the lawyer in me - maybe its a sense of fairness MARK SEIF: I played against gray cat and lost a lot MARK SEIF: I am down over a million on ap -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23) Associated Press have picked up the story...http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=7229673 24) P5's Admin invited to ABS Poker offices in Costa Rica... Meeting doesn't go as people would have hoped as Absolute still denying a lot pretty much..but P5's possibly letting them off lightly when presented with a great opportunity. Crossposted Summary 25) With regards to other account aliases on other sites : AJ Green/Potripper on AP [almost certainly] = FATRAISER on Stars I am reliably informed that Scott Tom has account at Ultimate Bet under the name of 'PotChopper' Potchoppers Non-cashes from the DB http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho...p;Number=12554120 26) More Absolute Staff appearing to be 2+2 members : Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josem : I am reliably informed that: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sho...t=0&User=7262 = RUNNINONMT on UB That player is Brent Beckley, another major player at AP his email is [email protected] and from the montana group of people who run ap -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27) Several other "suspicious" $500 MTT winners were listed but so far, nothing concrete on those and maybe a bit of paranoia...nonetheless successful tourney players : Although - This shot is quite suspicious : Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josem - the Swongs r 1 thing is priceless. Nice podcast guys. Time to make more popcorn. The Oscar account came out earlier but we were holding back on those accounts for the time being. Can anyone post an "all mtts played shot" of him. It's only 4. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Deposit $15 Win seat Win 37K -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Dan Druff awaiting follow up call from AP management with a possible plan of action. Edited to add: Dan Druff's 2nd Call with AP (Is posted in full 5 posts down) 29) Gambling911 picks up the story : http://www.gambling911.com/Absolute-Poker-101807.html

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged

PocketFives just received a phone call from Absolute Poker confirming the suspicions of the online poker community over the past month. While we need to be vague in this post to respect their wishes, we can say that their systems were compromised, and that they are prepared to provide the details in a statement coming shortly. Part of the statement will include a plan to refund players affected by this compromise. We are extremely relieved to hear this outcome, as our most important goal in all this is to see justice given to those who were cheated in this process. Pocketfives is extremely proud to have played a part in the process of uncovering the impropriety that has occurred. We would of course like to thank all the other parties who played a key role in this process—specifically the folks that have been posting here and at twoplustwo.com. This is great news for everyone. Keep your eyes out for the statement. Extremely Relieved, --Adam http://www.pocketfives.com/18B87A4F-0F8E-4BB7-A3B8-5729C725E0FA.aspx

Wow!!!

[dik9]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/

[philossify]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Wow!!!!! .... always wondered when some scam like this would occur. I've occasionally had suspicions that some players could see the dealt deck and know for certain that their 72o would win the hand, but being a "small" stakes player its highly unlikely that I've ever been cheated. Having said that, MTTs even the smaller entry cost ones, if you can see the deck, offer a huge potential ROI in this situation. It would be "nice" if MTTs were properly mionitored (and the stats openly available) to prove their legitimacy - possibly even with a time lag until funds were cleared (then it could be done offline). In an ideal world the base poker engines would be open source and the deployed real engine stripped of any "debug" ports - with the production (unix) servers also being tightly monitored for any access by superusers. In the "evil plan" part of my brain I've always thought how lucrative it might be to be the support programmer for one of the server companies that had bad code change control in place. Some nerd is probably sunning himself on a beach in Brazil as we speak. The "auditing" software on poker sites needs to get better!! The fact that its a relatively major player (AP) where this has been found is worrying. Is AP on a network and therefore sharing players with other poker site operators? If so then its not just AP players that have been affected (as the hack must surely be on the network server). One thing that this affair certainly proves is the neccesity for poker players to unite through blogs and forums as this helps ensure poker operators do more than they might to ensure fair play.

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged The thing that unnerves me the most about this is that Absolute initially gave the industry standard response along the lines of "we have investigated your claims and found no evidence of collussion/cheating/superusers ... etc" - it was only when the full hand history was "accidentally" released that it seems they even bothered to investigate - this evidence was overwhelming - if it wasn't they would still be saying that nothing untoward had happened :unsure

[philossify]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged The thing that worries me is the evidence coming out that "management" types were involved - VP's and the likes (although virtually anyone in a startup company on t'internet can be a VP). Its one thing if some employee figures out how to screw the system, its another if it looks as though its management organised - see http://www.bluffmagazine.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8927&SID=9527cb9b9zf8e5z391cd3bbe767681db

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Not easy to keep up with 2+2 - so many posts .... so much crap...... but this looks significant .... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/ By >Mike Brunker Projects Team editor MSNBC Updated: 3:47 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2007

Mike Brunker Projects Team editor • Profile • E-mail

In a case that illustrates the perils of online betting, a leading Internet poker site said Friday that a hacker exploited a security flaw to gain an insurmountable edge in high-stakes, no-limit Texas holdem tournaments — the ability to see his opponents’ hole cards. The cheater, whose illegitimate winnings were estimated at between $400,000 and $700,000 by one victim, was an employee of AbsolutePoker.com who hacked the system to show that it could be done, said a spokesman for the company, who spoke with msnbc.com on condition of anonymity. “This is literally a geek trying to prove to senior management that they were wrong and he took it too far,” he said. The Costa Rica-based company, which is controlled by a parent company owned by members of the Kahnawake Mohawk tribe in Canada, was expected to issue a statement later in the day acknowledging the breach and promising to refund all money to players who were victims of the scheme. The spokesman said the employee did not withdraw any of the money from the accounts that were used in the scheme. “We acknowledge a significant internal security breach whereby a resource who was infinitely knowledgeable about the system was able to get into the accounts in question. He played on those accounts and he saw hole cards,” the spokesman said. “We have closed that security breach and we have identified a very serious issue internally as far as communications flow and we’re resolving that, ” he said. Lawsuit and criminal charges possible The spokesman said the company also was contemplating filing a lawsuit and criminal charges against the employee. While peeking at an opponent’s hole cards was likely to bring a hail of lead in the Old West, the group of wronged players in this case had was initially rebuffed by Absolute Poker when they aired allegations of apparent cheating on the 2+2 poker forum in late September. In a series of postings that soon spread to other poker forums, the players said that some players using the aliases “Greycat,” “Potripper,” “Steamroller” among others appeared to have superhuman powers at the poker table. Several players who had encountered the suspect players in games from mid-August through mid-September said they played with wild abandon, always seemed to know when to raise and fold and were winning at an inconceivably high rate. Serge Ravitch, a 27-year-old New York lawyer turned poker player who was among the first to level cheating charges, said the company’s response to the initial posts was “essentially to stonewall and deny any cheating had ever occurred or that the described events were even possible.” Many players also were initially skeptical, though that sentiment largely melted away when players posted a re-creation of a tournament (requires registration to view) involving “Potripper” on the Internet. The re-creation, also posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FczbS7FiWSM, was based on a “hand history” that Absolute Poker sent to one of the complaining players, but which contained far more information than the hand histories usually available to online players. This one showed all players' hole cards, rather than just those of the requesting player, and included a great deal of private information, including IP addresses and e-mail addresses. Two independent experts who examined the re-created tournament record at the request of msnbc.com came away convinced. ‘He can see the cards’ “(He) can see the cards, and you can put my name on that,” said Roy Cooke, who was head of security at the pioneering poker site Planetpoker.com for six years. “When people are doing things out of character and consistently doing it right, there’s a reason for it,” he said. “When they’re always playing the hand that has value in a situation and then folding a great hand when it has value, they can see the cards.” Michael Shackleford, a former actuary with the Social Security Administration who now focuses on gambling at his Web site, wizardofodds.com, said it was highly unlikely that Potripper’s streak was simply attributable to good luck. “It would be easier to buy a 6/49 lottery ticket in six different states, and hit the jackpot all six times," he said. If the experts found the evidence overwhelming, Absolute Poker did not. In its first statement on the allegations, the company said, “The result of our investigation is that we found no evidence that any of Absolute Poker’s redundant and varying levels of game client security were compromised. In other words, we have determined with reasonable certainty that it is impossible for any player or employee to see whole cards as was alleged. There is no part of the technology that allows for a “superuser” account, and there is no way for any person to influence the game software to their advantage.” Who was the mysterious observer? Ravitch, a blogger known as “Adanthar” in the online poker community, and Nat Arem, another player involved in posting the tournament re-creation, began fielding a flood of tips from insiders in the offshore Internet gambling industry and continued to press their case. With help from other players, they traced the IP address of a mysterious observer at Potripper’s table to Costa Rica and determined that the account was an internal Absolute Poker account developed during beta testing. They also cross-referenced an e-mail address used by the observer and found that it apparently belonged to Scott Tom, who they identified as either a past or current official at Absolute Poker. It was only in this last detail that the amateur sleuths erred, according to the account emerging Friday. Adam Small, an official with Pocketfives.com, a community of online tournament poker players, said that he spoke with officials of Absolute Poker on Thursday night and was told that the rogue employee had deliberately used information pointing to Tom. “What they said on the phone was that it was not Scott Tom ... and that he has sort of framed Scott Tom,” he said. The Absolute Poker spokesman did not confirm that the employee had attempted to frame Tom, but he said, “No management was involved, and Scott Tom … had no part in playing on any of these accounts.” In a statement earlier this week, Absolute Poker said Tom “has not been involved with Absolute Poker for over a year and to the best of our knowledge, information and belief has not had access to any of Absolute Poker’s systems, databases or information.” Site owned by Canadian Mohawks Absolute Poker states on its Web site that it is owned by Tokwiro Enterprises Enrg., located in Kahnawake Mohawk territory nine miles south of Montreal, Quebec. Tokwiro is described as a Mohawk owned and controlled sole proprietorship. The site also is licensed and ostensibly regulated by the tribe’s Kahnawake Gaming Commission, though it is not clear what level of scrutiny the commission applies to its licensees. Many poker players interviewed for this article expressed concern that the incident would be another “black eye” for online poker, which has surged in popularity in recent years despite attempts by the U.S. government and many states to prevent Americans from playing over the Internet. Most indicated they would prefer that the sites were licensed and regulated by the United States, but said they consider most of the leading offshore sites to be fair and secure. “I think that the reasons this got handled the way that it has, with a happy ending, is because the overwhelming majority of people in the industry … want things to be run in a fair and honest way,” said Small of Pocketfives.com. “… There is a perception that a lot of people in the industry are thieves, but that’s not the case for the most part. When something like this happens, the rest of the people, as soon as they catch wind of it band together and look for ways to pool information and bring people down who have done harm to them.”

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Having skimmed the main thread on 2+2, I think the view seems to be that this is a complete sham - that it's a pure fabrication by Absolute to try and fit the known facts - 2+2 aren't accepting it at all and the "fight goes on"....

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Latest Summary.... Short version: There is almost indisputable proof that users at AP were cheating by somehow viewing the whole cards of their opponents. Some information has come out that indicates an AP employee or ex-employee may have been involved. There is further evidence that it may be ex-owner, Scott Tom. Long version: ---------- entire history since POTRIPPER tournament ---------- 1) During a tournament played by cheater 'Potripper,' the person who ended up coming second ("Marco") thought he was cheated. He emailed Absolute, and they sent him a hand history file - an XLS file. 2) Marco opened up this file, it seemed all gibberish to him, and he didn't think anything of it. 3) First Absolute Poker scandal blow up - PT screenshots, etc. Graphical representation here: http://www.absolutepokercheats.com/vpipvbb.jpg 4) Fortnight passes 5) In passing discussion, Marco mentions he has this file. He shares it with a few people, including N 80 50 24(pokerdb.com maintainer, maker of The Poker Film, part owner of Bluff Media) who analyses what is in this file 6) Nat (N 82 50 24) & 2p2 poster Snagglepuss discover that this file is a complete hand history for the tournament - showing every table, and all hole cards of every player. Hand histories here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=0&fpart=1 Youtube video of hands being replayed here

Quote:

---

Also, for the straight dope on how this we got to this point, check out N825024's blog at

http://www.natarem.com/

.

---

7) In further analysis of the spreadsheet, Nat and Snagglepuss determine that the IP address, user number and email address of observers has been documented. 8) In 7, they determine that an account with user number 363 observes Potripper's table from 2 minutes into the tournament until the end. 9) At the start of the tournament, for the two hands that user #363 is not observing the table, Potripper folds preflop. He doesn't fold another hand pre-flop for 20minutes, when he open-folds with KK held by a player behind him. 10) They also discover another observer, with the same IP (in San Jose, Costa Rica), with a different user number and the email address [email protected], observing another table for a short period of time. 11) It is speculated that the other observer could be Potripper's user account. 12) It was determined that the domain rivieraltd.com was pointing to a mail server which happened to be on an IP allocated to Absolute Entertainment SA, at Mohawk Internet Technologies' data center. 12.5) Shortly (within an hour or two) after the findings in 12 are posted here, the DNS information for rivieraltd.com is deleted. 13)The IP associated with the observer in #10 turns out to be a residential cable modem registered to Scott Tom, AP's President as of 2005. 14)Mason weighs in on things here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12536144&page=0&vc=1 15)Absolute sends an email to one player saying they will undergo a formal audit from gamingassociates.com here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12537406&page=0&vc=1. AP also claims Scott Tom has not been employed by AP for over a year, although its known that he was involved with AP as recently as 6 months ago, and may still be running the show from behind the scenes. 16) Steven D. Levitt posts about this story on his NY Times blog for the second time: First post http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/how-not-to-cheat/ New post http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/20...lown-wide-open/ 17) The Potripper account belongs to AJ Green, former Director of Operations at AP and Scott Tom's best friend. AJ Green is currently VP of operations at nine.com. AJ Green changed his name from Allan Grimard, and was involved in internat scams before AP. 18) The ABS Poker worker who sent the .xls file out no longer is employed by Absolute. 19) DanDruff speaks to a "senior" member of staff @ AP Dan Druff's 1st suggestion http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12545720 A lot of uproar and criticism followed this post from DD, xxxlink DD's Next Idea http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12546896 Dan Druff's view http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12546433 21) Absolute agree to letting KGC audit/investigate them : KGC Story http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12548190 http://www.kahnawake.com/gamingcommission/story.asp?show=10 22) Mark Seif plays $1k tourney on Absolute and gets grilled by the rail...but then proceeds to still deny that tourney hands look suspicious and say that Dan Druff is likely to be sued for slander yadda yadda yadda... 23) Associated Press have picked up the story...http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=7229673 24) P5's Admin invited to ABS Poker offices in Costa Rica... Meeting doesn't go as people would have hoped as Absolute still denying a lot pretty much..but P5's possibly letting them off lightly when presented with a great opportunity. Crossposted Summary http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12553493 25) AJ Green/Potripper on AP = FATRAISER on Stars Scott Tom has account at Ultimate Bet under the name of 'PotChopper' Potchoppers Non-cashes from the DB http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12554120 26) More Absolute Staff appearing to be 2+2 members :

Quote:

---

Josem : I am reliably informed that:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showprofile.php?Cat=0&User=7262

= RUNNINONMT on UB That player is Brent Beckley, another major player at AP his email is

[email protected]

and from the montana group of people who run ap

---

Brent also runs the security department at AP. 27) Several other "suspicious" $500 MTT winners were listed but so far, nothing concrete on those, and probably just paranoia. 28) Dan Druff second call from AP was handled by a PR flak and was back to the usual stonewalling and lies. Dan Druff's 2nd Call with AP http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12554163 29) Gambling911 picks up the story: http://www.gambling911.com/Absolute-Poker-101807.html 30) P5's gets a phone call saying AP will make a statment saying their system were compromised and they will provide details in a statment coming shortly. http://www.pocketfives.com/18B87A4F-0F8E-4BB7-A3B8-5729C725E0FA.aspx --------- history in last thread ---------- 31) The interwebs go wild with everyone patting themselves on the back. Many think AP will own up to everything and redeem themselves. 32) Now that both sides have made public statements and talked with news organizations, the story starts hitting the mass media. "No management involved" story on Gambling911: http://www.gambling911.com/Absolute-Poker-101907.html The 'geek' defense on MSN: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/ ABC News coverage: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3752500&page=1 33) While agreeing that the stories are all generally well written, posters immediately point out the holes in AP's story, noting it is ripped directly from the plot of recent big-screen blockbuster Live Free or Die Hard. Other posters point out that we might want to wait until the "official" statement, so as to avoid giving AP more information to concoct a believable cover story. 34) N 82 50 24 and Adanthar state that they have more information on AP, but will refrain (for now) from posting the drama bombs to avoid tipping their hand to AP, essentially allowing them to hang themselves with the rope they've been given. We're definitely playing a game of cat-and-mouse with AP now, and AP is losing. 35) A plea from NLfool:

Quote:

---

somebody please save all the previous releases from AP and their previous emails to AP players and post it another thread for clarity or the media. There have to be so many lies in it that the public should even be able to decipher.

---

AP has shown a willingness to try and make evidence disappear. Can someone catalog everything so that their lies are visible to all? Thanks. 36) Mark Seif agrees to have the HHs from his questionable session posted to clear up the issue. Mark and stuckinpgh have requested the HHs from AP. 37) More stories hitting. Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5225533.html Cardplayer: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/9959/absolute-poker-confirms-security-breach 38) AP has started calling everyone in the POTRIPPER tournament and giving them $500 for accidentally releasing their personal information. http://www.pocketfives.com/71799506-992E-48C2-9EC0-4DABF161EF92.aspx 39) Nat talks to AP on the phone, and they said that they will clean up and go after the person (persons?) who are responsible..

Quote:

---

So the bottom line is that he said all of the right things and, if he's telling the truth, then I believe that AP will come out of this an improved and effective organization. If he's feeding me a pile of crap then we're right back where we've been for the last month.

---

40) As of Friday evening, cashouts from AP are still being processed.

[Tax_Monkey]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Excellent write up of the whole thing here : http://www.egamingtoday.com/Article/AbsolutePoker/Fraud.htmland hand by hand analysis here: http://www.egamingtoday.com/Article/AbsolutePoker/HandHistoryAnalysis.html

[GaF]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged Absolute Statement

October 21, 2007 Dear AP Player: I am the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker. As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of AP’s commitment to player security. I am sure that this letter will not address all of the questions and concerns you may have, nor will it extinguish the heated discussion surrounding this issue. At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue. We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred – some of which are accurate, and some that are not. Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation. What We Know and Actions We Have Taken AP was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response forwarded players’ hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged world-wide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests, and information security. Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized. We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense. We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole. Next Steps We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrong-doing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated. We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually. The specific allegations of unlawful activity are being investigated both by AP and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced. Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for AP to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution. With my full sincerity, I thank you, and I promise to keep you updated as we bring this situation to a close. Sincerely, Joe Norton

[msaban]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged

Some nerd is probably sunning himself on a beach in Brazil as we speak. .

Hi Guys, sorry Ive missed quite a few focus games recently, currently drinking a nice cold rum punch on the beautiful beaches of Brazil, postcard probably delayed due to the postal strikes youve got back in the UK, anyway I bet you never guessed how I got here, well.......................

[slapdash]

Re: Absolute Poker Rigged

the consultant, who was immediately terminated.

Zero tolerance for cheating! :loon