Official Absolute scandal thread

[Dorkus Malorkus]

^ The extent of his involvement is still being investigated.

This is a very good read.

 

[Four Dogs]

So is this.

Tough Times For Absolute Poker

 

[tedekm]

Apparently they have hired a private investigator to look into this...

I dont know how they can get any justice being based in Costa Rica

 

[Bombjack]

From the Wizard of odds page (Dorkus's link above):

Of these 93 hands, POTRIPPER won 56 times, in an average 8.13 players per hand. Assuming all players are equally skilled you would expect 11.49 wins. POTRIPPER was 14.03 standard deviations above expectations. The probability of luck this good or better is 1 in 1.88 × 10^44.

Nothing too unusual there then, just an everyday 188,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000:1 chance it was legit.

 

[MarkMorf]

AbsolutePoker.com says ‘geek’ hacked system to prove it could be done

From: Geek blamed for online poker cheating - Security - MSNBC.com

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

Wow, and think of all the smart geeks that are doing it (insiders or not) that only take a few thousand here, a few thousand there. Bad news for AbsolutePoker and all online sites if you ask me.

 

[wsorbust]

Of course it could be done. What does that prove? lol. Every site is vulnerable if someone wants to take it far enough. But, it's obviously a lot easier, and faster, if you know the system in place. The guy probably partially programmed the poker system/program to begin with. pfff.
Nice article though. Looks like Dougie Houser's going to the slammer.

 

[KingNothing4]

wow that sucks, hope nobody hacks full tilt! i wonder wat kinda punishment he will get....

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

From: Geek blamed for online poker cheating - Security - MSNBC.com

Wow, and think of all the smart geeks that are doing it (insiders or not) that only take a few thousand here, a few thousand there. Bad news for AbsolutePoker and all online sites if you ask me.

This is yet more bs from Absolute.

If their story is to be believed, this 'employee' has apparently been playing from Scott Tom's house (according to the IP checks etc. that some guys on 2p2 ran), which is rather odd. Plus the "he just did it to show it could be done" thing doesn't explain the blatant chip dumping, and it also doesn't explain how on earth AP could conduct an initial investigation which uncovered nothing.

Pretty ridiculous, tbh. It will be interesting to see what their 'forthcoming statement' says.

Seriously guys, if you have money on AP, get it withdrawn now. If you were thinking of depositing there, for the love of God, don't. They are, quite simply, a menace to online poker.

 

[Warui Guy]

Dorkus Malorkus, funny how your opinion of suspected online "rigging or cheating " poker sites has changed now, You seem to be the one to bash anyone that makes such a statement. I know, you've done it to me. Its a wonder people actually still post when they just know you're gonna just make fun of their opinions. You seem to think your opinion is right and others are just nonsense. I know for myself that I will never start a topic on here again in fear of your attacks. Shame on a moderator for doing such things.

Dorkus Malorkus

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Closed with pleasure.

You got stick because we've had about 549769638567824569854672954624576254682749 "ONLIEN POKAR IS RIGED" threads before. They bore us.

Also you playing 8 hrs a day 7 days a week at a place you think is rigged is pretty hilarious.
__________________
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[zachvac]

Dorkus Malorkus, funny how your opinion of suspected online "rigging or cheating " poker sites has changed now, You seem to be the one to bash anyone that makes such a statement. I know, you've done it to me. Its a wonder people actually still post when they just know you're gonna just make fun of their opinions. You seem to think your opinion is right and others are just nonsense. I know for myself that I will never start a topic on here again in fear of your attacks. Shame on a moderator for doing such things.

Dorkus Malorkus

vbmenu_register("postmenu_600169", true);
SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Birmingham, UK
Plays at: Stars
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Posts: 5,469


Closed with pleasure.

You got stick because we've had about 549769638567824569854672954624576254682749 "ONLIEN POKAR IS RIGED" threads before. They bore us.

Also you playing 8 hrs a day 7 days a week at a place you think is rigged is pretty hilarious.
__________________
Clicking this link would have made your life 27 times better, but unfortunately it doesn't work.

Stars: Qhr1s
Full Tilt: Qhr1s0

If you have proof, show it. There's pretty extensive proof that Absolute's been doing some not so legitimate things. Other people that say "it's rigged because I take so many bad beats" need to put together some proof. When there's real cheating it's easy to prove (as shown here). If you have no proof when you accuse something of being rigged, you have no credibility.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

note the difference between your thread which had 0 evidence and this thread which has lots of evidence. as i said in like the second post in this thread i'm not surprised that people are jumping around using this as some sort of justification for their wild conspiracy theories, but guess what, this Absolute Poker situation and you losing with KK a few times are completely different.

plus i never 'attacked' you. stop being so sensationalist.

derail over, back to AP's suckage now please.

 

[rainsoaked]

I've been following this all over the place like the serial drama it, apparently, is. Doesn't seem very likely that the current spin Absolute Poker is putting on things is any better than their previous attempts at spin. Unfortunately, if readers are only getting the spun parts they're liable to come away satisfied that this poor (non-existent?) geek is to blame for everything and now it's all been fixed and all's right with Absolute Poker World, show's over, move along.

I hope this doesn't end with a whimper.

 

[MarkMorf]

Unfortunately, if readers are only getting the spun parts they're liable to come away satisfied that this poor (non-existent?) geek is to blame for everything

Exactly. It doesn't sound like there is any proof to the validity of any of the Absolute Poker publicist statements.

From page 2 of the MSNBC article:

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.”

It should be interesting to see what surfaces in any legal hearings about who the "geek" is and if he really framed the Abs.Poker "official" Scott Tom.

I bet Scott, the geek and more officials were involved in this. I hope we hear a lot more on this.

 

[Egon Towst]

If their story is to be believed, this 'employee' has apparently been playing from Scott Tom's house (according to the IP checks etc. that some guys on 2p2 ran), which is rather odd.

Maybe I have misunderstood, Chris, but if the cheater (whoever he may be) was able to hack the system, would it not be simple for him to alter the record of an IP address ?

As far as I know, the IP address information comes only from a document released (in mysterious circumstances) from within AP. I know of no independent confirmation.

Not saying I swallow the official line. Just pointing out that there may be a range of different explanations for some of these "facts".

 

[Genso Hikki]

There's a part of this scandal that I really don't hear anyone else talking about, but that concerns me: the issue of security of player's private information.

The original spread sheet sent to Marco by AP contained not only the detailed hand histories, but if I am understanding all this correctly, email addresses and IP addresses of the other players in the tournament. This of course was how the account was traced back to this Tom Scott in the first place. It makes me nervous to know an online poker site would send such information about me to a player who was simply requesting the hand history of the final table. Given only an IP address and and an email address, you can find out an awful lot about a person, as the fine detective work of those analyzing the spreadsheet proved. It makes me EXTREMELY nervous to know my private information could be leaked in such a way by any online poker site.

 

[Egon Towst]

It makes me nervous to know an online poker site would send such information about me to a player who was simply requesting the hand history of the final table.

They don`t. At least, I never heard of such a thing before.

It`s one of the unexplained oddities of this story.

 

[myvette66]

I had found this file and after googling it, I was concerned about it. It could explain what's going on there, if it is a malicious form of the file. I wrote this blog at another forum, but thought it might be applicable here as well.

Absolute Poker or Absolute cheat?

OK so I was looking at all the files in my programs and came across one in Absolute poker in the main program file called "bugslayerutil.dll" . After searching for the file on google, I found several references to this file as being a backdoor or trojan horse. This file was created by Absolute Poker and every time the program updates it adds this file back after I have deleted it. AP runs and loads fine without this file, so what could the purpose be for this file? This is exactly the kind of file that could be used for cheating purposes. Look at yours if you have it and do the research online and get back to me about what you think.

Now there are legitamite forms of this utility, but it does make you wonder after all of the accusations flying around. I raised this question back in June before any of this stuff happened recently. Who knows? Maybe I am the one that started all of this!!

I searched my AP folder and found the same .dll file. I contacted AP to find out what the file is used for.

 

[USFDoh]

I searched my Absolute Poker folder and found the same .dll file. I contacted Absolute Poker to find out what the file is used for.

Here is a link to Microsoft on what the utility is for (if indeed what you have is the Microsoft version).

Bugslayer, MSJ, February 1998

 

[snrcreech]

Insider Cheating???

if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();window.yzq_d['KRcJj9j8a4Q-']='&U=12659jev7%2fN%3dKRcJj9j8a4Q-%2fC%3d-1%2fD%3dTP%2fB%3d-1';

Massive Online Poker Cheating Scandal Uncovered

Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:24PM EDT
See Comments (33)
I knew there had to be a reason why I was so bad at online poker. It's got nothing to do with my skill level at all. It's that the winners are cheating. Really, it's the only explanation, right?
Laugh all you want, but in the case of Absolute Poker, this really seems to be the case. The details of how the cheating was discovered make for exhausting but fascinating ongoing reading (and they involve a possible whistleblower from inside the company), but the short of it is that someone on the inside was feeding information to one of the players about what other people in a large tournament had in their hands. (And in fact, if you read the detail thread, it might have all been the work of a single player who cracked his way into a supervisory account.) The betting pattern by the cheater (who eventually won the tournament) really has no other possible explanation (and there were suspicions to begin with), and now there's forensic proof, too. As cheaters go, this one was, to be frank, patently stupid (or just got greedy in the end).
Online poker cheating takes many forms (collusion among players conversing through IM is a common one), but to date I've never seen a poker site operator implicated as implicit in the crime, even if it's through just having poor security. As the Freakonomics guys note, "online poker is a game of trust," and any trust in Absolute Poker's operation now has to be completely shattered. The company has yet to offer a response, though the accounts in question have been frozen. Now, as Freakonomics notes, the only way to keep their company intact is to sacrifice the cheaters and see that they're locked up tight, then issue copious apologies and free money galore. But even then, would you continue to trust the company?
Maybe it's for the best that lawmakers are cracking down on these games... Sigh, has it really come to this? Kudos to the sleuths who tracked them down, and for bringing this all to light.
LINK: The Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal Blown Wide Open

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[gETKrunkhoe]

i ReaD

yeah i was REading abou this on YAhoo! its some crAzy ish yo. im not SurpriseD but DAm isit just aBSolute>? or many others tOO?

 

[FrankAllinStein]

Absolute Poker is totaly a fraud.
The server is located i Kahnawake near Montreal, this is an indian reserve owned by an ancien grand chief Joe Norton.
This morning in the Montreal(Im from Montreal) news paper they said Absolute Poker have give back all the buy-in to everyone who have enter the tournament.
Why pay back everyone if its not a fraud ?

Anyway i hate those kind of casino cause they are make billion $ every year but they did not give anything back to there own community.

Just in this indian reserve, they have 6 of the 10 biggest casino on earth but they cant event build a school for there children, its realy an ungly place where u can find: drugs, weapons, cigarettes
They dont pay any tax, there not doing anything but keep the money for them, so for that reason i dont play in those site.

I invite u to do the same as me and ban all the Canadian Indian Casino from ur list of good poker site

 

[FrankAllinStein]

there wont even have a real investigation because it will be done by some crook Indian officer, Canadian police cannot enter the reserve to investigate, its just not under there juridiction, so if someone think they will have a honest investigation... think again

 

[Toasted_Luck]

...why do you think they have blackjack on their site...i don't know what blackjack is doing on a poker site, but as for me, i would never want to gamble online, against the house. i'll just stick with poker...
yea and there is video here saying an employee admitted on friday he hacked the game...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/?GT1=10450

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Statement posted on 2p2 (I haven't read it yet).

Please find initial AP Statement for open release from Jo Norton 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.



Quote:
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

 

[Irexes]

there wont even have a real investigation because it will be done by some crook Indian officer, Canadian police cannot enter the reserve to investigate, its just not under there juridiction, so if someone think they will have a honest investigation... think again

Talk about Absolute all you like, but racial stereotyping doesn't have a place in this thread or forum. Anything that crosses that line will be deleted (if in doubt PM me to ask where it is).