User:SmartGuy/Sandbox

Tokwiro Enterprises is a private company that owns two online poker cardrooms, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet.

Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker is one of the world's ten largest online poker cardrooms. Established in 2003, it is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

Absolute Poker Cheating Timeline

Mid June 2007 – A backend access tool called “Servman” that wrote hand histories to the page before hands were completed. The reason Servman, Could see hole cards was due to a code change made by AP programmers in mid-June 2007 http://www.natarem.com/?s=potripper&submit=Search

“According to this post, (below) Scott Tom or someone using Scott Tom’s email address was looking for beta testers for the AP 8.0 software in the June timeframe. Also, another person told me that he started using AP 8.0 beta on June 15th, 2007.

“He had sat at a table roughly 5-6 months ago, where a guy claimed to be Scott Tom, and wanted him to test the new Absolute Poker 8.0 software. This guy seemed to know a lot about him (Scott) email, location, first name, deposit history, and even put $300 in my friends account to prove he was from Absolute Poker (by credit adjustment, not deposit/transfer). He also emailed him the new software from this email address: stom@fiducix.com. Just to make sure my friend contacted AP support to see if this guy was legit. This is the email he received back”

Thank you for contacting us.

We contacted our promotions department and they informed us that steamroller belongs to the Absolute Poker Staff. For this reason, what he offered you is in legit.

Aaron Team Absolute ~ Customer Support Support@AbsolutePoker.Com

9-12-07 – Absolute Poker holds $1,000 buy in tournament, POTRIPPER takes first place and $30,00. CrazyMarco, Marco Johnson takes second place. http://www.natarem.com/?s=potripper&submit=Search http://www.bluffmagazine.com/thepokerdb/tournament.asp?tid=423139

9-17-07 – First Comment By Absolute Poker about Cheating http://www.pokeraffiliateprograms.com/forums/general-poker-affiliate-discussion/11817-official-absolute-poker-super-user-thread.html

“We have yet to find any evidence of wrong doing. Our game client only receives data regarding the individuals hand and no other players hole cards, except in the event of a showdown. We have researched their play exhaustively and have found no proof that they had any knowledge of other player’s hole cards. So far we have no evidence that substantiates claims that any of the players were involved in chip dumping, or any other improper activity.”

9-20-07 – New York Times writer Steven Levitt writes About Absolute Poker http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/how-not-to-cheat/ “Playing at the very highest stakes games, they allegedly played every hand as if they knew every card that the other players had. They folded hands at the end that no normal player would fold, and they raised with hands that were winners but would seem like losers if you didn’t know the opponents’ cards. They won money at a rate that was about 100 times faster than a good player could reasonably expect to win. Their play was so anomalous that, within a few days, they were discovered. What did they do next? Apparently, they played some more, now playing worse than anyone has ever played in the history of poker — in other words, trying to lose some of the money back so things didn’t look so suspicious. 9-21-07 – Absolute Poker “Whistle-Blower” Email sent to CrazyMarco http://www.natarem.com/?s=potripper&submit=Search

“CrazyMarco, a well-known online tourney player, played in a 1K AP tournament on 9/12/07. In the following days, Marco emailed to AP support and asked for a hand history so he could review play at the final table. He wanted to follow up because of the possibility that he was cheated. On Friday Sept 21st, AP sent Marco a huge excel file (10 mb and a full 65,536 rows, the excel limit for most versions being used currently). He didn’t think much of it and it was too scrambled and complicated to analyze, so he put it on the backburner for the time being.” 9-21-07 – DanDruff, Todd Wittelles, Poker Pro Lists more names of AP cheaters

“I haven't seen mentioned yet that SUPERCARDM55 was the recipient of 55k of GRAYCAT's money in an obvious heads-up chip dump session on August 30th. So it appears ROMNALDO was used to take DOUBLEDRAG's money, and SUPERCARDM55 was used to take GRAYCAT's money. There must be other accounts used for STEAMROLLER, POTRIPPER, and whoever else. Find out who SUPERCARDM55 and ROMNALDO belong to, and we have our answer as to who the guilty parties really are.”

9-22-07 - Security Flaw at Absolute Poker News Started on 2p2 http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=12188759

“One thing stood out above all others. On the last round of betting (after all the cards had been dealt out), the suspicious accounts always raised or folded - they never simply called a bet. While some players with aggressive playing styles will often raise or fold, it is unheard of to *never* call. "The only time it makes any sense to never call in these spots is if you know if you are ahead or behind-- in other words, if you know your opponent's hole cards," said OnlinePro1. "These maniacs made the right decision in these spots dozens of times in a row.”

“His stats in this thing are something like 85/60, and what I left out is an absolutely perfect check/fold (inc first to act) vs bet pattern. Just like DD, he never showed down a worse hand. What you make out of that is up to you.”

9-23-07 – Posted by Josem, a Highly Respected Member of the Online Community Here's an explanation of one of the screenshots that should be accessible to people not familiar with PokerTracker stats.

Player: Doubledrag

The above image is a screenshot from the online poker tracking tool, PokerTracker.

The Game Level column - Shows that these statistics are from no limit texas holdem, where the big blind was $30, and some hands where the big blind was $20. While it isn't clearly visible here, these hands were from 6-max games - where there were a limit of six players per table.

The Vol. Put $ In The Pot (VPIP) - is a statistic that shows a percentage of how many times a player voluntarily put money into the pot (ie, how often they bet with their hand). By way of comparison, the top players have a VPIP of around 20%-25% or so in these games. Anything above 30% is considered to be very loose. Anything above 40% is considered to be maniacal. Anything above 90% is crazy. Normally, a player who bets 90% of their hands goes bust very quickly, since their hands are on average much weaker than their opponents' hands.

The next important statistic is the BB/100 hands - This shows the number of big blinds the player wins on average every 100 hands. In this example, over the 201 hands, they won on average 482.99 big blinds every 100 hands. By way of comparison, the very best players in the world might be able to win around 8-10BB/100.

The next important statistic is the "River AF." - This is a calculation of how aggressive a player is on the river - it is the number of times the player bets or raises, divided by the number of times the player calls. The higher the number, the more aggressive they are. By way of comparison, my "River AF" when I play is 1.9.On the last round of betting, when all the cards are dealt, one hand is always going to be better than the other player's

The players who are cheating always managed to make the right decision at the end. If the opponent's hand was worse, the cheaters would bet or raise - and this is what causes the "River AF" to be so high. If the cheaters' hand was worse, the cheaters would either fold, or sometimes make a big bluff.

Not once did the cheaters call - Because if you know what your opponents' cards are, you would never need to call. The 'River AF' for the $30 NL game is not infinite because there will have been times when the cheater's opponent bet all-in with a worse hand, and the cheater can only call.

10-12-07 - Official Absolute Poker Response To Player Fraud Allegations http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=12478109

As a matter of Company policy, Absolute Poker never divulges personal information about our players nor do we make public any hand information that did not go to a showdown, ever. As a result, we are limited in terms of the level of information that we can provide for public review. (Later found out to be part of a legal agreement to not release the name of the cheater in order to find out how it was done.)

The result of our investigation is that we found no evidence that any of Absolute Poker’s redundant and varying levels of game client security were compromised. We have determined with reasonable certainty that it is impossible for any player or employee to see hole cards as was alleged.

We examined screen shots from Poker Tracker Software that displayed an “infinite” river aggression factor for one of the player accounts at issue. We were very concerned by this anomaly. We reviewed each and every hand that this player played during the relevant time period and determined that while the play was extremely aggressive, particularly on the river, there were several instances where the player merely called on the river. Thus, the allegation that the player accounts at issue “never called on the river, they either raised or folded” are also without merit.

With respect to the allegation of chip dumping, we have determined that chip dumping by at least one of the accounts at issue, did in fact, take place.

A ‘super-user’ account does not exist in our software. Absolute Poker was created by poker players who value security and fair play. The back-end of the Absolute Poker software prevents the possibility of any such feature. Our game client only receives data regarding an individual’s hand and no other player hole cards are ever visible – by anyone – except in the event of a showdown.

10-17-07 – KGC to Investigate Absolute Poker & Gaming Associates Introduced http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12548190 http://www.kahnawake.com/gamingcommission http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=7229673 – Associated Press Picks Up story

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) announced today an audit into the current and historic activities of Absolute Poker and interaction with its gaming and financial systems. As a KGC license holder Absolute Poker is obliged to adhere to the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. Absolute Poker has agreed to fully cooperate with the KGC. This week allegations of impropriety have been bought to the attention of the Kahnawáke Gaming Commission.

We have appointed experts to conduct a thorough audit of all circumstances, provide findings and recommendations to the Commission.The Commission has instructed Gaming Associates to conduct the audit and report to the Commission. Gaming Associates is acknowledged world wide as an expert interactive gaming test and audits.

10-17-07 – Nat Arem Links Email and IP addresses to Scott Tom http://www.natarem.com/2007/10/17/absolute-poker-cheating-scandal/

The email address was hosted by Kahnawake but actually belongs to Absolute Poker. That email is scott@rivieraltd.com using an IP address connecting from Costa Rica. Adanthar, A 2p2 moderator found that the IP address was used by a 2+2 account with the login name scotttom. A few other sources who do not want to be named told me that Scott Tom was associated with that IP address. Adanthar posted his findings on 2+2 and revealed that he’d connected the somewhat mysterious IP address to an actual person. Also, other sources that do not want to be named confirmed that the IP address was a residential cable modem tied specifically to the Tom family.” 10-17-07 – 2nd Article from NY Times about Absolute Cheating Scandal http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/the-absolute-poker-cheating-scandal-blown-wide-open/

“They traced the observer’s IP address and account name to the same set of servers that host Absolute Poker, and also, apparently, to a particular individual named Scott Tom, who seems to be a part-owner of Absolute Poker!

10-17-07 – DanDruff asks Absolute Poker Some Questions Over The Phone

I asked Roger to answer the following questions for me: 1) How do they explain the "perfect" play of POTRIPPER and the other accused cheaters, if there is no superuser involved? 2) What is the story with account 363? 3) What were the IP addresses of GRAYCAT, STEAMROLLER, DOUBLEDRAG, and POTRIPPER? Did they match their listed geographic locations? Were any in Costa Rica? 4) Where were SUPERCARDM55 and REYMNALDO (chip dump recipients) located? Did they cash out? Are they from Costa Rica? 5) What is the relationship between the 4 suspected cheaters and those accounts they dumped to? 6) Have you spoken on the phone to GRAYCAT, STEAMROLLER, POTRIPPER, and DOUBLEDRAG? What did they say? How did they explain the chip dumping? Did they admit to playing on those accounts? Roger took notes on all of my questions. He promised to get answers for me later today, at about 3:00pm PDT

10-18-07 – Absolute Poker Calls DanDruff Back http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12554163

At about 4pm PDT, Roger called. He said that Paul the PR Manager will be handling this matter from this point forward. Paul was to call me "soon". An hour later, Paul called me. The conversation revealed little and was disappointing. In a nutshell, I was told that the third party company had just started its investigation, so therefore he's not allowed to tell me anything. I expressed my concerns that the "independent third party audit" isn't as independent as they're making it out to be, given the company's relationship with the Kawanhawke Gaming Commission. He tried to assure me that it will indeed be completely independent and unbiased 10-18-07 – Another article about possible security breach and the KGC audit http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/2898/possible-absolute-poker-security-breach-investigated

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has hired an independent auditor to investigate claims that Absolute Poker's security system was breached during a $1,000 buy-in tournament held last month. Absolute Poker approached Gaming Associates to conduct the audit. However, according to Gaming Associates, it will work directly with KGC, the poker site's regulating body, to perform "an audit into the current and historic activities of Absolute Poker and interaction with its gaming and financial systems."

10-18-07 - Post by CWIK Linking Scott Tom to steamroller from AP email sent http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=110060&st=440&p=2201691&#entry2201691

10-19-07 – Email from Absolute Poker to a player on AP http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12537406&page=0&vc=1

Absolute Poker has identified an internal security breach that compromised our systems for a limited period of time. All players affected by the security breach will be identified during the audit process that has been initiated and all funds, including interest, will be returned. Absolute Poker would like to apologize for the recent events and is committed to diligently working with outside security firms, auditing firms, the extended poker community and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission to ensure the situation is entirely resolved. A comprehensive statement will be forthcoming shortly providing more details of the situation. 10-19-07 – Absolute Poker Admits Security Breach and They “Know” The Cheater http://www.gambling911.com/Absolute-Poker-101907.html http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/2902/absolute-poker-confirms-security-breach

An official from the company admitted the breach and that Absolute had only uncovered who the culprit was Thursday afternoon. No management personnel were involved in this incident, the company official relayed. The person in question knew the internal system at Absolute Poker intimately.

10-19-07 – MSNBC Story about Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/

“The cheater, was an employee of AbsolutePoker.com who hacked the system to show that it could be done,” said a spokesman for the company, who spoke with msnbc.com on condition of anonymity. “This is literally a geek trying to prove to senior management that they were wrong and he took it too far,” he said. With help from other players, they traced the IP address of an observer at Potripper’s table to Costa Rica and determined that the account was an internal Absolute Poker account developed during beta testing. They also cross-referenced an e-mail address used by the observer and found that it apparently belonged to Scott Tom, who they identified as either a past or current official at Absolute Poker. Absolute Poker told Pocket Fives that 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.”

10-19-07 – ABC News Story About Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3752500

What he (Marco Johnson) received instead was a document that included the hand histories of everyone involved in the tournament, their e-mail addresses and the IP address of their computers. That information, either mistakenly sent by a company employee, or intentionally leaked by a whistleblower, seemed to confirm suspicions of cheating.Nat Arem traced the IP address of the observer back to AP. Further sleuthing seems to link that IP address to a part-owner of the company, Scott Tom, and the Potripper account to a former director of operations at AbsolutePoker named AJ Green. Frank Catania, a former gaming commissioner in New Jersey who helped the Kahnawake Gaming establish its regulations, said under commission rules AbsolutePoker could lose its license and individuals could be turned over to Canadian authorities.

10-21-07 –Absolute Poker Statement by Joe Norton http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/10/absolute-kahnawake-norton-issues-statement.htm http://www.gambling911.com/Absolute-Poker-102107B.html http://pokeronamac.com/news/absolute-poker-releases-a-statement/

“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. AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely explanation on this matter. The integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP. We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others and was immediately terminated. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported.

10-23-07 – Absolute Poker, Scott Tom, in Plane Crash, May Have Stole Millions http://www.point-spreads.com/poker/102207-absolute-poker-super-user-scams-7-million.html http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=12622726com/poker/102207-absolute-poker-super-user-scams-7-million.html

On September 3rd, 2007 a small jet plane caught on fire before taking off on the runway at San Jose Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica. The two passengers on the private jet were Scott Tom and his pregnant wife. The plane's destination was Colombia and the rumored cargo on the plane was $2-3M in cash. Officials at Absolute Poker confirmed to Point-Spreads.com that Tom was on the jet, however, deny any money was onboard. While living in Costa Rica, AJ Green, real last name may be different, bought a house in Escazu outright with cash.

10-24-07 – Absolute Poker Issues Another Statement http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=12650247

“AP was the victim of a breach of security in which a high-ranking consultant to the site devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems and access third-party computers and accounts to view the hole cards of other customers during play and without their knowledge, resulting in unfair play. Thus far, the Company’s preliminary findings are as follows: 1. The perpetrator of the scheme was immediately terminated upon discovery and the case was turned over to the KGC. 2. AP has fully corrected the problem that allowed its system to be unfairly manipulated and is working to enhance its existing safeguards. 3. Since the initiation of the internal investigation, the databases have been locked down to ensure the integrity of the auditors’ inquiry. 4. The scope of the audit will not be limited to a certain time period. 5. The suspected period of time of the security breach has been identified. This period is recent and confined to a relatively brief period. The actual dates will be publicly released upon confirmation by the third party auditor. 6. A thorough review of the game play has begun to identify all of the adversely affected players. 7. AP is committed to refunding 100% of the losses incurred by its affected customers. AP has begun the process of reimbursing its customers, and will continue to do so as quickly as possible until all customers are refunded in full. 8. Even after completion of this audit, AP intends to continue working with third party auditors and security firms to ensure that the highest level of game integrity is upheld. 9. AP is instituting strict guidelines to restrict its employees, consultants and contractors and members of their households from playing for money on its sites.

10-25-07 - Marco Johnson Interview on Card Player TV http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/3-strategy/28955 Marco Johnson - I was basically the one that took second place to the, uh, quote unquote superuser, even though that’s not actually the right term for it. But uh, yeah I took second to him (POTRIPPER), he was watching me (pointing to Jared Hamby) when I took second. I didn’t think much of it, Guy won every single hand against me Heads Up. One of my friends called me after I lost and he was also watching me, and said “Hey you just got cheated, there’s no way that guy could do that, You know based on all the hands that just happened.

“I didn’t think much of it, I was like alright whatever, I lost not really a big deal. About a week later Some friends of mine come to me and go oh now it is certain on 2p2 poker forum there are Threads, that you know people are cheating on Absolute Poker and they have been stealing from Tournaments and Cash Games. So I was like alright, I may as well send them an email, can’t do any harm, and see what they say about the tournament. So I send them an e-mail and get no response. I wait for like a week and send Absolute Poker a really childish email like oh, I got cheated on your site. Why haven’t you responded to this? What’s going on with your management? Please send me some info, what’s the deal?

“Like the next day, they (Absolute Poker) send me this file that just has everyone’s hand histories, their IP addresses, their email addresses. All their hands exposed before any action took place. Once I got that file, Again I didn’t really know what the file was. I’m not, I don’t know, I had the file on my computer for like two

“N 82 50 24 something on pocketfives. This was the first time I had ever talked to him before. I mean the guy handled it really well and he had nothing to gain from this and took lots of time to figure it all out. Returned essentially One Million dollars back to the online community which is a lot of money. We gave them the file and it all started unraveling, huge web of people involved.” 10-30-07 – Mark Seif , Absolute Poker Professional Player, Responds to Cheating http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kuY6r-R0SY

Mark had made comments while playing poker online, stating that he didn’t think there was evidence of hole-card viewing after watching the POTRIPPER tournament. At 1:27 in the video, He admits that AP is allowing a third party auditor to come investigate. He also talks about knowing A.J. Green and admits that Hand Histories were deleted by Absolute Poker.

11-22-07 - Absolute Poker Active & Ongoing Investigation Statement From KGC http://www.absolutedetectives.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/KahnawakeStatement20071122

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission's investigation into the Absolute Poker situation is active and on-going. The Commission's agents, Gaming Associates, are in the process of finalizing its audit of AP's operations and will be submitting a report to the Commission of its findings. The Commission will review this report and decide the appropriate course of action. To avoid the possibility of jeopardizing its investigation, the Commission will not comment on this matter until such time as it has reached a decision. The Commission expects to receive a final copy of the audit report by December 7, 2007.

1-8-08 –Suspected Cheating at Ultimatebet and NioNio First Mentioned on 2p2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=99247

“Around 9/4 (around the time the AP scandal broke), he just mysteriously stopped playing on Nionio. The account actually no longer exists (we don't know when it ended but nionio would have had to email UB for the account to no longer exist--if you try typing it into ultimate buddy, his name doesn't come up). He never gave any money back, he just didn't play on that name anymore and the account was closed. To me that's the most suspicious thing of all. It would take seventy five days for a response from UB.”

1-11-08 – KGC Fines Absolute Poker, releases Findings on AP cheating. http://www.kahnawake.com/gamingcommission/KGC-AP-0111.pdf

The Commission has identified the person(s) responsible for the impugned activities and has directed that AP take action to have these person(s) removed from playing any role in AP 'mind and management' and/or operations, and to provide proof, acceptable to the Commission, that this has been done. The names are: GRAYCAT, PAYUP, STEAMROLLER, POTRIPPER, XXCASHMONEYXX also known as SUPERCARD M55, DOUBLEDRAG, RONFALDOXXB also known as ROMNALDO

That the person(s) associated with AP's operations deleted certain gaming logs and records. That there is no evidence to indicate that the impugned activities were authorized or sanctioned by AP as a corporate entity- either through its Board of Directors or its principal ownership. There is no evidence that the impugned activities benefited, or were intended to benefit, AP as a corporate entity.

1-11-08 – Absolute Poker Responds to KGC Fine/Findings http://www.absolutedetectives.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/AbsoluteStatement20080111 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=5353529&postcount=83

Most importantly, we are pleased, after these many months, that Absolute Poker can finally put behind it a most distressing and regrettable experience for the company. The Company also regrets the inadvertent deletion of certain gaming logs and records during the course of the investigation, although AP is relieved that these deletions did not, according to the KGC, ‘prevent the Commission from obtaining sufficient information. While AP is paying a severe penalty for the fraud perpetrated upon the Company and its customers, we are gratified that we can now close the book on this sordid affair

UltimateBet

Founded in 2001, UltimateBet is one of the ten largest online poker cardrooms.

Once a year, UltimateBet hosts a live tournament, the Aruba Poker Classic, which was a World Poker Tour event for the first four seasons of the show. In 2005, Freddy Deeb won the event, claiming the $1,000,000 prize. Prior winners were Eric Brenes in 2004, Erick Lindgren in 2003, and Juha Helppi in 2002. The tournament in 2008 is a $5,000 buy in event with a guaranteed $1 million top prize.

Spokespeople for UltimateBet include professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke.

Like other online poker rooms, UltimateBet also offers a .net play-money-only cardroom.

UltimateBet offers Texas hold 'em, Omaha high and high low, seven card stud high and high low, Pineapple and Triple Draw A-5 and 2-7 Lowball. Mixed games tables are also offered (HO, HOSE, HORSE) and Roshambo.

Prior to the passage of the SAFE Port Act, the software parent company of the cardroom, Excapsa Software was traded on the London Stock Exchange as XCP.L. In October 2006, the company announced it was selling its assets to a private company and moving to delist itself from the stock exchange. The legality of the deal was immediately questioned due to the fact that most of the payment would take place after the act became law.

Cheating scandal

UltimateBet had a cheating scandal similar in nature to that of Absolute Poker. In May 2008, it released a statement about the scandal. The company stated that cheating took place from March 2006 to December 2007. The company claimed the cheating was perpetrated by employees of the former owners, Excapsa Software. According to the company, the fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information of other players to the perpetrators during play. UltimateBet stated it had removed the cheating software as of February 2008 and began issuing refunds to affected players.

CEREUS Network

In July 2008, Absolute Poker and Ultimatebet announced a merger between the two sites to form a new poker network called CEREUS Poker.

External links

• Absolute Poker official site
• UltimateBet official site