UB finally admits to the cheating

After staying silent for months, when everyone knew what was going on, Ultimatebet finally came out with the statement...
UltimateBet Poker News | UltimateBet.com

They didn't cheat, they admit to cheating happening on their site.

Investigation Timeline
These are the key events in the course of the incident.

• January 2008: UltimateBet is alerted to suspicions of unfair play on the part of the account "NioNio". Within 24 hours, UltimateBet contacts the KGC to provide formal notice that UltimateBet has initiated an investigation of the incident. UltimateBet subsequently forwarded a copy of all related data to the KGC.
• January 2008: The "NioNio" account and related accounts are suspended pending further investigation.
• February 2008: Preliminary findings indicate abnormally high winning statistics for the suspect accounts. After discussions with the KGC, UltimateBet engages third-party gaming experts to assist with the analysis.
• February 2008: Investigators confirm that the suspect accounts are associated with individuals who had worked for UltimateBet under the previous ownership.
• February 2008: UltimateBet discovers the unauthorized code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The code was part of a legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators of the fraud.
• February 2008: UltimateBet immediately removes the unauthorized code and works with the KGC and with third-party auditors to verify that the security hole has been eliminated.
• March 2008: Six player accounts are confirmed to have participated in this scheme. No accounts were deleted at any point, although some account names were changed multiple times. The following account names are known to have been used in the fraudulent activity: NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen.
• May 2008: The investigation confirms that the fraudulent activity took place from March 7, 2006 to December 3, 2007.
• May 2008: Gaming Associates certifies that the software code that enabled unfair play was removed from UltimateBet servers in February of 2008.
• May 2008: Customers affected by this incident are identified, and plans for corrective action are reviewed with the KGC.

Corrective Actions Taken
The following actions have been taken or are currently underway as a direct result of this investigation.

• The security hole identified in UltimateBet's investigation has been permanently eliminated.
• UltimateBet is establishing a state-of-the-art software Security Center that consolidates and greatly enhances existing security capabilities. The first release of the new Security Center focuses solely on the immediate detection of abnormal winnings. Gaming mathematicians, poker professionals, and security software developers have all contributed to the specifications for the new Security Center.
• UltimateBet customers are no longer permitted to change account names unless they have suffered abuse in chat rooms. Requests for changes must be supported by proof of abuse and must be approved by the Chief Compliance Officer.
• In addition to its existing security department, UltimateBet has established a new specialized Poker Security team of professionals dedicated to fraud prevention.
• The refund process will begin immediately. The accounts associated with fraudulent activity did not use an unfair advantage in all play sessions. Regardless, UltimateBet is refunding all losses to these accounts.
• Accounts related to the fraudulent activity have been disabled, and the individuals associated with those accounts permanently banned from the site.
• UltimateBet has worked closely and transparently with its governing body, the KGC and its designated expert auditors, to determine exactly what happened, how it happened, and who was involved, and has taken action to prevent any possibility of this situation recurring.
• Tokwiro is pursuing its legal options in regard to this incident.

If this is all correct good on them.

I think they cheated. The cheating on the site was done by themselves, although I can't prove it. But the evidence is fairly insurmountable. That statement they came out with sounds pretty good, but for those who've been following it and have put 2 and 2 together, it reeks of an inside job, perpretrated by the owners themselves.

[ ] shocked
[x] awaits zingbust's evidence that the site cheated

I don't play at UB. Cant imagine how UB players must feel, or do they even know???

Well, anyone who actually lost money to those players got all of it back. A player on a different forum got $155,000 put back into their account :|

Good on them? They have a breach in security which allows a player to see all hole cards enabling him to steal from their customers, they do not pick it up (it was a 2+2 player that rumbled them), and they took 4-5 months to come up with that statement. Good on them indeed.

Please, this isn't 2+2. Can we stop the checkboxes now.

I bet they don't really care. Cardschat still endorses Ultimate Bet, that should tell you enough - if people think they can make a few bob on/from a site, the integrity of a site isn't an issue.

As they should. UB don't deserve any praise for this, it should never have happened in the first place.

well you would think that since it happened once on absolute poker that all of the other websites would be watching closely for something like this to happen. i mean its basically the same situation. the person or ppl invovled used to work for ultimate bet.

looool

I think it's pretty amusing that the two only uncovered superuser scandals to happen in online poker history were both on sites owned by Joe Norton and Tokwiro, yet one was because of a disgruntled former employee and the other because of past owners. Of course neither had anything to do with Tokwiro at all, and the fact that nobody has been named in either case (aside from by deductive minds at 2p2 and elsewhere) and that no legal action has been or appears to be forthcoming is just a result of Joe and Tokwiro being really nice guys, obv.

Good ol' Joe is a pretty unfortunate guy, one has to say!

That press release is garbage for at least half a dozen other reasons that I might ramble on about in a while too.

In other words, UB is gonna look for all players at every table the cheaters have ever sat at and refund any loss? Especially when most players would not even remember the user names that dished out the bad beats? And how do they know the cheats didn't use their 'unfair advantage' all the time? Why WOULDN'T they? For personal challenge?!?!?! Hmmmm, why even mention this? Something is rotten in Denmark. I'm with Dorkus on this one. Let's see some 'legal action'. But we all know how long the legal process takes, even in Canada. Let's put out a long diatribe of BS, and this will probably blow over soon.

Online gambling is obviously dangerous..corruption always follows the Big $$$
At least, if you'rer seeing a lot of cold decks, a taxi home is just a mouse click away!

Now...here's the BIG question...were they caught because they got way too F'n greedy which is the usual classic reason with any crook?
Do you really think that this is isolated to a couple of rogue events?

You may need another taxi quick from anything associated w/ Joe Norton,Tokwiro, and oh yes " the infamous The Kahnawake Gaming Commission!...that includes you Ultimatebet! and Absolute!

"The superuser account that cheated and stole money on Absolute Poker was being operated by Absolute Poker's founder and it also had direct ties to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and Ultimate Bet. It was no wonder why Absolute Poker tried to cover up the cheating."

Ultimate Bet is owned by Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG , a privately owned company that also owns and operates Absolute Poker .
Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG is run by Joe Norton, the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is the regulatory arm of the Mohawk Indian tribe in Canada.

Check out the details @
ULTIMATE BET Silent About Insider Cheating Allegations; Millions Suspected Stolen - Two Plus Two Poker Forum

This is exactly why this industry has to have a real and accountable regulatory agency to survive...right now it's fun but we're fools to believe it's all on the up and up......obviously games have been hacked and past posted.

Who knows how many millions have been stolen in smaller, harder to detect amounts..like a hundred here, and couple there!

Another point is about the game of Texas Holdem itself..online or live!
In a draw game the deck to you is constantly changing due to variations
in the draws....not in TH...After the shuffle, only a random burn of a card
can change the outcome..Pros will occasionally ask for this out of sequence move in their cash games if they suspect a cold deck!

It's all a gamble, but unfortunately, even a larger one in cyberville.

It's the price of entertainment and we all like the price to be right....

Peace out...............and Beware......but most of all.....have some fun!

I no longer favor one site over another. I did, but have now played enough online poker that they are essentially all the same. I also have never played the stakes one would play if one had such access. So in essence I have no real or imaginary stake in these incidents at this time.

However, I, like a zillion other online players want, nay NEED to believe we are playing a fair game, where only true variance and skill will determine outcomes.

That said I will come down on Tokwires side here. Even though they have been goaded into compliance, they have, while no other sites have, acknowledged something fishy went on. They have found and rooted out the culprits. I would hope some legal action makes some headlines somewhere and those culprits end up being the poster kids for poor rich kids gone bad everywhere.

I do not believe that Tokwire was or is the cause. I have NO knowledge of this Joe guy, who apparently has created shadow corporations to hide himself from deeper public scrutiny.

I do believe that eventually the BIG 2 will suffer some similar incidents.

The nature of programmers, and programming, in general not only allow such things to happen, but even encourage such things to happen.

Imagine a programmer creating the ultimate piece of code, and selling it to the Military. Some schmuck with no knowledge of programming instantly sets himself up as the most secure user. He rightfully deletes the originators access. 5 years down the line, that schmuck is gone, and the program has now gone ballistic, and only the originator can fix it. But he can't get in. Even his backdoor was closed.

The world goes to nuclear war, and all life is obliterated on planet earth.

Just get the system to play tic-tac-toe against itself. Crisis averted.

I do play alot on UB as I like their format--but I do play on other sites as well. I rather like Poker Stars-but to many bad beats OR is it really variance? And I was under the assumtion (we all know what ASSUME means! ) thet Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were connected--true? Anyway, last March I WAS given $10 back into my account and really am not sure WHY--They, UB, said it had to do with "Mass Reund"--Whatever that ment--but I'm not one to question FREE money! Could it be related to the investigation ya think??

No DJ they did NOT find and root out the culprits. Players smelled a rat firstly about some of the calls that Potripper was making at the end of an MTT, and secondly about the pokertracker win rates of NioNio. The Ultimate Bet superuser was actually BEFORE the Absolute Poker one.

Tokwire Enterprises, Kahnawake Commission and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet rooted out nothing - it was an indepth investigation on 2+2 that started this.

I LOVE, yes LOVE Ultimate Bet. I think they have the best software of any site that I've played and the best tournament structure.

BUT considering this scandal combined with other things like the crappy changes in their points system and the horrible changes in their tournament schedule, I most likely won't be playing there again. Kinda like the girl you loved but found cheating on you or stealing from your bank account. Gotta kick her to the curb even though it hurts.

I say "most likely won't" because I might be tempted back with a booty call that includes some free bonus money or something, but not too likely. LOL.

I meant IF all the things highlighted above have been done then good on them, not good on them for having leaks in their security.

While @ 2+2, I noticed a stink regarding the Sunday Million final table on Stars.

OK. Just to clear things up:

The people caught cheating on Ultimatebet were FORMER EMPLOYEES who exploited a little known piece of auditing software that allowed them to see hole cards.

The site itself, meaning the current owners and employees, WERE NOT the ones caught cheating. They make plenty of money legally. So why would they cheat their own site and jeopardize their legal cash flow?

Did the owners drag their feet in the investigation? Sure. Fear of negative publicity does that to people.

Were they negligent and careless by not keeping their site secure from this kind of stuff? Of course.

So everyone who insists on saying "the site cheated" is dead wrong unless someone presents new evidence to the contrary.

Stick, according to UB the culprits are former employees yes.

However, let's say hypothetically that the current ownership/management are behind it - would they (a) try to cover it up by blaming other nameless people (notice they're happy to say former employees and give account names, but real names of the people who've cost them millions of dollars? nosiree!), or (b) say "oops we're sorry it was us it's a fair cop guv take me away to jail now kthx"?

More ramblings in thinly veiled blogspam right here.

I totally agree with everything you say. Especially the point that it IS possible that they are holding back some pieces of evidence in order to protect their own interests. I just wish that there was an official unbiased government body that could investigate this kind of thing and not some "third party" that was undoubtedly hired by UB and answers to them. Then criminal charges would have to be filed and the names of the perpetrators would be part of the public record. Then we'd know exactly how they are related to the company.

Prediction: JohnnyBax will make zero impact on any media relations for UB and Phil Helmuth will dump them within a year.

Finally lol, took them long enough to admit it.

Maybe they know they are going down the drain and dont care anymore?

I've always liked UB just posted two times in other threads about them. I realize i am small fish in a big pond . I don't play big and doubt i'd ever see cheaters on any of my small stake tables too much risk for such little win. I will continue to play there.

SOB's....i have lost money on UB....r they going to credit me the money i have lost because of possible cheating at tables?

Crap....... cheating at poker....... looks like internet poker is the modern "wild west."

When are we gonna get a sheriff to clean up the place? =P

It doesn't really matter if they admitted to cheating or if they admit that cheating took place on their site. I don't trust putting any money on a site that we know is vulnerable to such attacks. On the other hand, I guess it could happen to other sites as well. That's why I don't play high stakes.

I believe all poker sites have to have an edge to make their money, and maybe they can track how someone will redeposit after losing their money. The big money makers make the site a lot of money.

Poker sites do have an edge to make money its called a rake? They as an entity do not need to cheat at poker. The other games now there where the mystery is.

i find it freaking weak how could you just steal cash from your paying customers just to win more cash for your own oh well

If it's true and your a big money player on Ultimatebet, i suggest you file a lawsuit or something.

Saying that i find no reason why poker companies should steal, they make so much money from rakes and buy in fee's.

Its crazy that so many sites are coming out with info like this. Absolute had the same thing happen last year. It is rediculous that this even goes on. Greed is an ugly thing and it hurts all of us because less fish are going to come play online poker because they are afraid they are being cheated so the majority of us good players have to take the punishment of some derelict's behavior. If only we could figure out for their to be legal punishment for doing these things then maybe it would quit happening. I would like to strap an M80 to these guys's balls and watch them squirm before it explodes. Okay that was a little demented but you get my jist none the less. Hopefully poker sites will get wise soon and we won't have this problem any more.

Ub might not of cheated but might of known of the cheating and let it go because of the huge rake they were getting. personally ub is a bad site anyways and is almost full tilt jr.

I use to play at absolute all the time glad i found a better site ,FT seems like the best site around,

the funny thing about that 4 me is that i registered on UB the day before i found out about their scandalous ways.....i suck