If you are in-tune with ongoings in the online poker world, you have probably heard of the Absolute Poker Super-User Account Scandal.
Supposedly, what happened is that a player that is rumoured to be tied to Absolute Poker (possibly former or current CEO/Owner) played in a tourney and had access, either directly or indirectly (through another person), to all the whole cards of all participants. Another tournament player, suspected odd patterns in this person’s play and contacted Absolute Poker questioning the integrity of the tourney and the player’s actions. In turn, Absolute Poker responded by denying any “phony” business and sent a file to the complaining player that “mistakenly” included all IP addresses, email addresses, player usernames, and hand histories of the tourney, including ALL whole cards for each player. Not suspecting much, the player didn’t question the situation, but mentioned it to a friend who examined the file. After detailed analysis of poker hands and trends, some very “fishy” play was evident.
As a result, Absolute Poker is now facing scrutiny and allegations of cheating their players…or at least allowing certain users with “Super-User” accounts to have access to privileged advantageous whole card views. The hand histories and tendencies of the players in the tourney, especially that of POTRIPPER (the person accused of cheating) is now under intense investigation. Absolute Poker has finally responded on the 2+2 forums with a statement denying any cheating within their poker room or network or poker rooms and is “willingly” participating in a review by a third-party company to examine the security of the site. The bad publicity has seen the poker room numbers sky-rocket in the last week and has actually turned into an increase of players on the site.
Now my take on the scandal…
I believe that this whole ordeal is a HOAX. I think a number of players who lost money at the site or have had some issues with support have concocted the scandal to damage the integrity of Absolute Poker. At first, I was leading to believe the information as it came together – because the evidence seemed to paint a pretty guilty picture. However, after watching a video on You-Tube by PokerXFactor showing all the hands in a re-construction of the tourney play showing all whole cards, I have completely changed my mind.
There is simply no way a player (especially one with ties to Absolute Poker employment), is stupid enough to CHEAT IN SUCH AN OBVIOUS WAY! I mean, POTRIPPER played just about EVERY HAND…rarely folded…raised with nothing when other players had poor hands or poor flops just about every time…and folded in situations where he/she was leading over other pocket cards. It was just TOO OBVIOUS that cheating was occurring, in other words, no attempts were made to cover up the play at all. This seems more fishy than the actual allegations!
I think this situation will end up in court and the accusers will be in some serious legal trouble if accusations go unproven or evidence appears that the whole scandal is indeed a hoax. Absolute Poker has very little to gain by allowing this to happen, but much to lose in the long run – just very improbable that this “Super-User” scandal is real. But then again, I have been wrong before!
Either way, Big Fish Poker Club will continue to promote Absolute Poker until proven guilty, because we believe in just that motto!
Filed under: Poker News | Tagged: Absolute Poker, entertainment, money, online gambling, online poker, poker, poker bonus, Poker News, POTRIPPER, scandal, scandals, Super-User | 3 Comments »
