Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

There are three things that are important to online players when playing in a poker room on the Internet – that their banking information will not be breached, that the software is secure, and that the website operation is honest.  These are three factors that play a huge part on online gambling industry.  Absence of any of these three would place an online casino in jeopardy.  This bad reputation would resonate to the rest of the online casinos.  If you are an online card player, you probably know the latest scandal in online poker – the Absolute Poker Super-User Account Scandal.

The Facts
 
Apparently, approximately millions of dollars have been stolen from Absolute Poker players in a period of two weeks.  Evidently, a “god account” was being used by an individual who allegedly broke into the security, to peer into the cards of other players and subsequently steal money right from under the players’ noses!  Absolute Poker has gained quite a reputation being the third largest online poker room.  After the news of the scam broke, Joe Norton, the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises, an entity owning 100% in the Absolute Poker, released a letter addressing the scandal where he assured the players that they are doing everything in their power to discover how the breach in their security and their system occurred.

In the letter released by Norton, he revealed that the initial findings pointed toward an AP consultant who used his position to access and manipulate the AP system and the player’s computers in order to, yes, indeed, view the other players’ hole cards.

There are speculations that AJ Green, the former Vice President of Operations of AP is the unnamed consultant.

The Scandal’s Effect to Online Poker

It was estimated that the scandal would have huge negative effect to the online poker industry.  As hard as it was to gain people’s trust, the scandal would have weakened further the players’ faltering trust on online casinos.

There have always been accusations and speculations about rigged gambling rooms.  This is nothing new, but there has never been proof that rigging actually does happen until this scandal.

Ironically, this scandal is viewed as an isolated incident. The number of online players and new members has even escalated although there is a considerable demand for the government to end prohibitions on online gambling and reroute their efforts toward regulating this huge and growing industry.

David Benyamine took down a massive pot yesterday when he stacked both Gus Hansen and Brandon Adams at $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha on Full Tilt Poker.  Here is what happened:

Full Tilt Poker Game #3991315183: Table Pantheon (6 max) - $200/$400 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5:29:00 ET - 2007/10/28
Seat 1: Luck123 ($8,000)
Seat 3: Gus Hansen ($62,587)
Seat 4: David Benyamine ($135,351.50)
Seat 5: Brandon Adams ($48,437)
Seat 6: pokerinvestcouk ($32,996)
Gus Hansen has 5 seconds left to act
Gus Hansen posts the small blind of $200
David Benyamine posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Brandon Adams raises to $1,400
pokerinvestcouk has 15 seconds left to act
pokerinvestcouk calls $1,400
Gus Hansen calls $1,200
David Benyamine calls $1,000
*** FLOP *** [2s 5c 4c]
Gus Hansen has 15 seconds left to act
Gus Hansen bets $5,600
David Benyamine calls $5,600
Brandon Adams has 15 seconds left to act
Brandon Adams raises to $28,000
pokerinvestcouk folds
Gus Hansen has 15 seconds left to act
Gus Hansen calls $22,400
David Benyamine raises to $88,800
Brandon Adams calls $19,037, and is all in
Gus Hansen: ups
Gus Hansen has 15 seconds left to act
Luck123: i dont know him, who do you think he is ?
Gus Hansen calls $33,187, and is all in
David Benyamine shows [Kd 4s Kc 4d]
Brandon Adams shows [5h 7s 3s 6s]
Gus Hansen shows [6h Tc 3h 7d]
Uncalled bet of $27,613 returned to David Benyamine
*** TURN *** [2s 5c 4c] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [2s 5c 4c 5d] [8s]
David Benyamine shows a full house, Fours full of Fives
Gus Hansen shows a straight, Eight high
David Benyamine wins the side pot ($28,300) with a full house, Fours full of Fives
Brandon Adams shows a straight, Eight high
David Benyamine wins the main pot ($146,709) with a full house, Fours full of Fives
Gus Hansen is sitting out
Brandon Adams is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $175,011 Main pot $146,711. Side pot $28,300. | Rake $2
Board: [2s 5c 4c 5d 8s]
Seat 1: Luck123 is sitting out
Seat 3: Gus Hansen (small blind) showed [6h Tc 3h 7d] and lost with a straight, Eight high
Seat 4: David Benyamine (big blind) showed [Kd 4s Kc 4d] and won ($175,009) with a full house, Fours full of Fives
Seat 5: Brandon Adams showed [5h 7s 3s 6s] and lost with a straight, Eight high
Seat 6: pokerinvestcouk (button) folded on the Flop

To see more hands like this, check out FullTiltPoker.com

This clip is from a great show called “The Real Hustle”.  Basically these guys show you how easy it is to scam people.  Here is one that involves poker where a player pretends to be really drunk and annoying, but is really just setting up the hustle:

Ugadabugada has been playing a lot lately in the high stakes games at Full Tilt Poker, and many players are left wondering who Ugadabugada is?  At first people believed it may be Daniel Negreanu, but on January 6th of this year he was caught speaking in Finnish in the chats.  Also, considering Daniel now works for PokerStars, I think they would probably be annoyed if he spent all his time playing at Full Tilt.  This lead many players to believe that the player might be Thomas Wahlroos or Ilari Sahamies.  These were quickly dismissed until some players from the Finnish poker community started to say that the player is Ville Wahlbäck.  So for now, until we hear otherwise, it looks like Ville Wahlbäck is the identity behind the Ugadabugada account over at Full Tilt Poker.

Whoever he is, “Ugadabugada” does not want to reveal his identity and wouldn’t tell Genius28 when asked today.  Anyway, here is the chat if you are interested:

Genius28: who is this
Genius28: im gonna stop playing unless i find out]
Genius28: i dont care who it is ill keep playing
Genius28: just tell me
Dealer: Genius28 is sitting out
Genius28: so?
Ugadabugada: Look
Genius28: look where
Ugadabugada: this is no shared account. I play
10/20 normally
Genius28: whatever
Genius28: lets keep playing
Ugadabugada: Took a shot, everything was just fine
until i played with OMGclayaiken
Genius28: cmon
Genius28: lets play

they start playing again

Genius28: i dont need to hear the bs stories
Ugadabugada: Had to make a big deposit and still
havent got much back
Ugadabugada: and here we are…
Genius28: i know who you are
Ugadabugada: You do?

OMGClayAiken (Phil Galfond) and Ugadabugada were just on the $300/$600NL tables at Full Tilt Poker today.  Galfond got caught bluffing in a massive $80K pot:

Full Tilt Poker Game #3961709191: Table Journey (heads up) - $300/$600 - No Limit Hold’em - 9:41:04 ET - 2007/10/25
Seat 1: OMGClayAiken ($65,598)
Seat 2: Ugadabugada ($71,399)
OMGClayAiken posts the small blind of $300
Ugadabugada posts the big blind of $600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
OMGClayAiken raises to $1,800
Ugadabugada calls $1,200
*** FLOP *** [9c Qs 3d]
Ugadabugada checks
OMGClayAiken bets $3,000
Ugadabugada raises to $9,000
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken calls $6,000
*** TURN *** [9c Qs 3d] [5h]
Ugadabugada has 15 seconds left to act
Ugadabugada bets $14,000
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken has requested TIME
OMGClayAiken calls $14,000
*** RIVER *** [9c Qs 3d 5h] [3c]
Ugadabugada checks
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken bets $15,500
Ugadabugada calls $15,500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OMGClayAiken shows [6c 2c] a pair of Threes
Ugadabugada shows [7h Qh] two pair, Queens and Threes
Ugadabugada wins the pot ($80,599.50) with two pair, Queens and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $80,600 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9c Qs 3d 5h 3c]
Seat 1: OMGClayAiken (small blind) showed [6c 2c] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: Ugadabugada (big blind) showed [7h Qh] and won ($80,599.50) with two pair, Queens and Threes

Gary Hoffman thought he had achieved every slot players’ dream last year while playing the nickel slot machines at the Sandia Resort and Casino on an Indian reservation in New Mexico. He put in his money and appeared to hit the jackpot when the machine said he won nearly $1.6 million.

The nickel slot said he’d won $1,597,244.10. Patrons and casino employees came to congratulate him. He even got a marriage proposal, Hoffman said.

Unfortunately, his celebration was short lived when Hoffman was brought into a room at the casino.  A casino employee “became quite intimidating with me, pointed his finger in my face and said, ‘You didn’t win. We’re not paying you any money. Do you understand what I’m telling you? You’re not getting any money,’” Hoffman said.

The casino claimed a computer malfunction was the reason he appeared to win hit the jackpot.

“I was a winner and I walked out empty handed,” Hoffman said.

Computer Malfunction

A technical report said the slot machine’s computer malfunctioned, and incorrectly made it appear as if Hoffman won more than the machine is able to pay out. The slot machine has a disclaimer that says it pays a maximum of $2,500 and warns that malfunctions void all winnings, said Paul Bardacke, Sandia’s lawyer.

Source: ABC