DAMAGE CONTROL UNDERWAY AT ONLINE POKER ROOM? (Update)

26 October 2007

Absolute Poker pays players, floats theories


With a comprehensive official statement still awaited on its crisis of trust (see previous InfoPowa reports) the staff at Absolute Poker has gone from denial to admission and a furious blizzard of theories on its position, floated on gambling information portals.

As the week ended Absolute Poker players involved in the controversial cheating tournament that started the scandal were reportedly approached by the online poker room and given $500. The portal 4Flush revealed that this was apparently offered as compensation for their private information being revealed in the comprehensive .xls file sent to a player by a "lazy" Absolute Poker staffer, which contains much of the proof of cheating.

That was followed by a series of apparently 'unofficial' disclosures by Absolute Poker spokesmen to portals such as 911 which seemed to float a variety of operational scenarios. Included in the allegations was the astonishing statement that "hacking" by employees at Costa Rican based gambling sites is a not uncommon practice!

"Hacking is an all too common practice among skilled tech employees of Costa Rican online gambling establishments and rarely is it done to be malicious. This employee wanted to prove to us he could do this (see the hole cards)," a Senior Manager of Absolute Poker 'conveyed' to Gambling911.com.

There were also strong denials that Scott Tom, who was tracked by players investigating the debacle, was involved.

"Scott Tom is one of the original founders. He has played on the site but is no longer legally involved," a spokesperson for Absolute Poker told Gambling911.com. "He was also never a CEO of Absolute as some have reported."

The familiar if tenuous argument that a gambling operator makes too much money to be involved in cheating was also flown, a 'representative' of the firm allegedly claiming: "Absolute Poker takes in so much money, why would any of the owners risk damaging such a successful business by cheating?"

And the point was made that Absolute Poker was not having a "run on the bank" as a result of this crisis - on the contrary it is "...business as usual and payouts are not being delayed in the least."

Over at eGaming Today the webmaster posted the following:

"Okay, I just got off the phone with someone who spoke to Russ Hamilton, former owner of UP [Ultimate Poker] .

"Two people will be implicated here, you can probably guess who. One is going to be removed from online poker forever and one is going be removed for a fair amount of time.

"I was asked not to post specifics and that AP's statement is going to be detailed and is going to be released Sunday morning.
"UPDATE: Absolute Scapegoat? Absolute Poker claims rogue programmer framed owner/executive."

With so many tempting tasters, and rumours rife the real, official and final position from Absolute Poker is eagerly anticipated by players and industry media alike.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa