UltimateBet - Absolute Poker Scam

[pokeraddict]

Here is a great cliff note as this continues to unfold. For a good laugh read the "Cornell Fiji's retraction post" towards the bottom.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...d.php?t=251207

[jetset]

Interesting that KGC have issued a statement a day after the PPA had a go at them with a public condemnation of the cheating incidents earlier this week.

KGC admits it could have communicated better, and says the UltimateBet investigation will bring forth a new statement within the next few days.

The Kahnawake statement acknowledges that the guys at 2+2 have done a very praiseworthy and impressive job of investigating this whole scandal, deploying some sophisticated analytical capability.

I think they are (belatedly) starting to realise that this is not going to just go away.

I found the "retraction" very interesting, too - it was probably not something that the chief's lawyers anticipated or enjoyed LOL!

[pokeraddict]

Also AP/UB have announced they are officially merging.

http://www.ultimatebet.com/poker-news

http://absolutepoker.com/media/cereu...r-platform.asp

This was pointed out today.

New poker platform will integrate customers and features from two leading poker rooms to create third largest online poker network.

If you take their trailing 7 day average it is about the same as #6 Everest and less than half the size of #3 iPoker.

Anyway I wonder if a rebranding of the skins is coming. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea at this point. UB also has many skins. I have to assume they will be coming along as well. AP bought up their skins in the last couple of years.

[jetset]

Pretty much the realisation of rumours and speculation that have been doing the rounds for a while, with the next development (allegedly) to be rolling the brands into one entity.

If that happens it will presumably be at least in part designed to cast off the bad reps for both of these operations that have been generated by cheating scandals and the lack of transparency surrounding same.

I guess the question is will these leopards change their spots by forming a bigger pool of players? Annie Duke speaks very highly of this new CEO Leggett, saying that his professional approach to business is what dissuaded her from abandoning her endorsement.

Yet I still don't see too much in the way of a changed attitude when it comes to putting all the cards on the table regarding this monumental scandal.

And Tokwiro Enterprises remains officially the owner....it hasn't exactly covered itself in glory in these matters imo.

[lots0]

Originally Posted by jetset

If that happens it will presumably be at least in part designed to cast off the bad reps for both of these operations that have been generated by cheating scandals and the lack of transparency surrounding same.

I guess the question is will these leopards change their spots by forming a bigger pool of players? Annie Duke speaks very highly of this new CEO Leggett, saying that his professional approach to business is what dissuaded her from abandoning her endorsement.

If Tokwiro Enterprises is going to change Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet's names and roll them into one poker room...

Brings to mind what my Grandpa used to say... "You can put lipstick, purfume and a dress on a Pig... But it's still a pig."

The fact that Anne Duke continued to promote these theives AFTER she KNEW they were stealing from players... Means nothing more than she is a better poker player than she is a person.

Her opinion about the 'new' management at Tokwiro Enterprises means nothing... Did she talk about how much money Tokwiro Enterprises was paying her to say nice things about them? Of course not.

No serious player is going to believe anything she or Helmuth has to say about the online poker "business".

If Duke and Helmuth were so knowledgable about the Poker 'Biz' what were they doing promoting these theives in the first place?

If you advertise and promote theives, when you know they are theives... what does that make you?

[jetset]

New statement out from Tokwiro, I haven't really had time to digest this yet, but it still seems to fall short regarding the responsible individuals in this debacle.


QUOTE:

Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG ("Tokwiro"), proprietors of UltimateBet.com ("UB"), one of the ten largest on-line poker cardrooms, today announced that it has concluded the investigation into allegations of unfair play on UB's web site.

Tokwiro has compiled complete forensic evidence including the IP addresses, devices, transfer and withdrawal histories, and names associated with the player accounts that benefited from illicitly viewing hole card information. The results of Tokwiro's internal investigation have been turned over to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) and its auditors, as that regulatory body continues its independent investigation. These results are in addition to the data which Tokwiro has already shared with the KGC.

Tokwiro has identified a total of 19 accounts and 88 associated usernames that were involved in the cheating, including the accounts that were named in Tokwiro's publicly posted investigation updates of May 29, 2008 and July 8, 2008. The same perpetrators that were previously identified controlled all of these usernames. There are no new perpetrators involved, only new usernames. Usernames were changed many times over the course of the cheating scam in an apparent scheme to avoid detection. Our complete list of usernames involved in the cheating scheme has now been turned over to the KGC, and the Company does not expect to uncover any additional usernames.

Paul Leggett, Tokwiro's Chief Operating Officer, said, "Make no mistake: our management team is outraged that this cheating occurred on our site through illicit software placed on the UB servers prior to our purchasing UltimateBet. Tokwiro is aggressively pursuing legal avenues of redress in order to protect and compensate our players and the business. Rest assured that we will release more information to the poker community and to the public at large as we enforce our and our players' rights."

"With respect to refunds to the affected players, we are continuing our analysis in order to determine the refund amounts. We will move forward with another round of refunds in the weeks ahead. We thank the poker community for its invaluable contributions to this investigation and assure it that we remain committed to fully investigating any claims of fraud on our site," Mr. Leggett said.

The investigation revealed that the perpetrators logged into the client software, using an account that had the ability to view hole cards. The ability of a specific account to view hole cards was enabled by illicit software that was placed on the UltimateBet servers prior to October 2006, which was before Tokwiro acquired the business.

The account that was used to view hole cards never actually played in a game. Instead, the perpetrators used hole card information gained from logging in with this account while playing on other accounts, which thereby benefited from the cheating. The money won by the accounts that received hole card information was then moved around and off the site in a complex web of player-to-player transfers and withdrawals. This contributed to the complexity of Tokwiro's efforts to uncover the truth.

Mr. Leggett concluded: "We cannot over-emphasize the fact that Tokwiro and its entire management team had no knowledge of the illicit software until it was revealed by our investigation; and no one associated with Tokwiro was involved in the cheating scheme at any point." UNQUOTE

[jetset]

Originally Posted by pokeraddict

Here is a great cliff note as this continues to unfold. For a good laugh read the "Cornell Fiji's retraction post" towards the bottom.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...d.php?t=251207

Noticed today that the above thread has now been closed.

A pity - it was a useful rolling progress report on what has been happening in this matter.

[bb28]

Awesome post Lotso and I couldn't agree more!

Originally Posted by lots0

If Tokwiro Enterprises is going to change Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet's names and roll them into one poker room...

Brings to mind what my Grandpa used to say... "You can put lipstick, purfume and a dress on a Pig... But it's still a pig."

The fact that Anne Duke continued to promote these theives AFTER she KNEW they were stealing from players... Means nothing more than she is a better poker player than she is a person.

Her opinion about the 'new' management at Tokwiro Enterprises means nothing... Did she talk about how much money Tokwiro Enterprises was paying her to say nice things about them? Of course not.

No serious player is going to believe anything she or Helmuth has to say about the online poker "business".

If Duke and Helmuth were so knowledgable about the Poker 'Biz' what were they doing promoting these theives in the first place?

If you advertise and promote theives, when you know they are theives... what does that make you?

[USA2112]

Originally Posted by lots0

If Duke and Helmuth were so knowledgable about the Poker 'Biz' what were they doing promoting these theives in the first place?

If you advertise and promote theives, when you know they are theives... what does that make you?

Sad to say lots of money!

[jetset]

IMO there remains too many unanswered questions in the latest Tokwiro statement, and unfortunately I don't expect the next Kahnawake effort will be much better.

They say they now know who these 'perpetrators' are, yet there is no indication of who they are, what their relationship to the company past or present is and exactly what concrete criminal action is being taken against them in this multi-million dollar fraud of what must be a considerable number of players (we don't know how many because they haven't revealed this either).

The current Tokwiro strategy appears to be that the criminally defective software was positioned before the sale of the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet sites to Tokwiro's ex-chief Joe Norton, but the company statements don't reveal who was behind the company that sold AP and UB to Tokwiro, how much was paid for these companies and whether any of the sellers are still shareholders or have other links to Tokwiro.

This lack of upfront transparency will continue to generate questions about the integrity of Tokwiro and by association about the KGC.