ABSOLUTE POKER CHEATS TOOK $800 000 (Update)

9 November 2007

Beleaguered online poker operator issues progress report


The Kahnawake registered company Tokwiro Enterprises, 100 percent owners of Absolute Poker.com issued a progress report as the week closed on its ongoing investigations into a cheating scandal that has seen the company widely condemned by the player community (see previous InfoPowa reports).

The report contains some interesting numbers, with Tokwiro claiming that the cheating "window" lasted for 40 days beginning August 14 and that some $800 000 was wrongfully won by the still unidentified company consultant, who was summarily dismissed - a point reiterated in the current report. Absolute Poker reimbursed players with twice that amount - $1.6 million - the progress report claims.

The company earlier revealed that the flaw allegedly exploited by the "consultant" to cheat Absolute Poker tournament players came about through a software upgrade, and that the breach has since been identified and sealed.

"The breach was exploitable only by an authorised AP person that manipulated the internal reporting software, together with the AP gaming software," the report states. "The security breach was not, therefore, the result of an external action, and no individual outside AP could exploit the breach."

The report goes on to claim that allegations of a super account are unfounded, and that that there is no capability on any Absolute account to see the hole cards of other players. But it does not explain how the cheat was able to achieve such impossible winning results.

The cheater/s used accounts with the handles Potripper, Graycat, Steamroller, Doubledrag, Payup, Supercard 55 and Romnaldo, Absolute Poker claims.

All hand histories of play were retained and are being thoroughly analysed by Gaming Associates, commissioned by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which licenses Absolute to audit the entire system. Absolute gives an assurance that any other prejudiced players who come to notice in the audit will be compensated.

The statement ends with an apology and the assurance that the site is safe and that the investigations will be reported in an open and forthright manner.

What the report does not disclose is the name of the perpetrator of the incident, arguably the worst cheating scandal in the short history of Internet poker. Nor does it reveal if his/her location is known, or whether a fraud complaint has been made to police authorities in Quebec or whether such a course of action is planned.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa