Poker Stars Admits To eCheck Frozen Funds!

In a series of emails sent out to customers Monday, online poker's biggest room, Poker Stars, admitted that its Instant eCheck processor had funds frozen over the past week. The company would not elaborate any further. The news first broke Friday that the US Attorney out of New York had acted to shut the processor down, though it was not immediately clear at that time if any indictments were handed down or if monies were actually confiscated.

An email like the one appearing below was sent out to a number of customers:

Dear xxxxxxx,

Following our previous communication, we regret to inform you that our check provider's bank account remains frozen, the funds are not accessible, and it's not known when the funds will be released. The provider's legal team and the Poker Players Association (PPA) are working on this matter.

In order to make the funds available to you without further delay, we have credited your PokerStars account with the outstanding check amount (details below) from our own funds. We have also credited your account with an additional 10% bonus as a good will gesture for the disruption this matter has caused.

Transaction ID:248xxxx
Amount:$xxx.00
Check #:925xxx
Mailed date:1-Jun-09

If you wish to resubmit your cashout request, you can do so from our Cashier by selecting the check option (your new check will be issued on a different account and can be deposited as normal) or wire transfer (only available for amounts greater than [$2,500]).

Once again, please accept our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.

Best Regards,

PokerStars Payments Department

The problem was isolated only to Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. Absolute Poker and its sister site, UltimateBet.com were still accepting eCheck deposits and paying out via their eCheck platform.

Online Poker Network Rocked By Cheat Scandals Now Shining!

Two Giant Poker Cheat Sites Making Their Way Back To a Non-Online Poker Cheats World!

UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, however ungodly a combination they may be due to their respective online poker cheat scandals, are now powered by the Cereus Online Poker Network and have moved into the number 6 position this week, stunning Everest Poker. Just last month Cereus was just barely fighting off Microgaming's poker network in order to secure the number 7 spot.

This week, Cereus owns a comfortable 400 average real cash player lead over Microgaming (at number 8). They were averaging just over 150 more real cash players than Everest. And even more remarkably, Cereus could end up in the top 5 as the online poker network gains significant ground on powerhouse, OnGame. Cereus was a mere 350 average real cash players behind OnGame this week.

At least some of the increased traffic for Cereus could be attributed to UltimateBet spokeswoman, Annie Duke, appearing on this season's Celebrity Apprentice. Paul Leggett, CEO of the Cereus Group, revealed that a "major increase in traffic" had occurred as a result of Ms. Duke's appearance on the show.

Gambling911.com's stats support that notion.

Senior Editor of that site, Payton O'Brien: "The final two weeks of the Celebrity Apprentice provided Gambling911 with monster traffic numbers, all people searching for Annie Duke and the Celebrity Apprentice, along with some betting odds inquiries."

It should be noted that few of the online gambling websites were offering Celebrity Apprentice betting odds during the second half of the show following some leaks and unusual betting patterns at the start of the season, most of which eventually came to fruition.

Over the past year and a half the Cereus Group has had to overcome major obstacles, including a high profile "cheating scandal" that found its way onto a segment of 60 Minutes.

Leggett has said that he is committed to ensuring UltimateBet and Absolute Poker's integrity from hereon in and that any "bad apples" that may have contributed to the compromise of their previous software platform are no longer associated with the company.

Online Poker Cheat Concern

Is PokerStars' Online Billionth Milestone Poker Hand Promotion A Cheat?

I received an interesting e-mail today putting into question PokerStars' hugely successful promotion, which has been distributing loads of cash to some lucky players. In fact, it appears that the writer thinks it might be a form of online poker cheating. Here's his letter:

Richard,

I was hoping you could help me with a question I have about Pokerstars Billionth Milestone Hand Promotion. I don't know if you're familiar with this particular event
so I'll explain the best I can. Several months ago Pokerstars gave away close to $400,000 in prizes whenever a specific hand was dealt, in this case it was every millionth hand dealt until the 25 billionth hand was reached, there were 150 of these hands.

The catch was that you could only win if the hand was dealt to you while you were playing in a cash game not in a MTT ( multi-table tournament ), sit-n-go or free money game. So it seems very strange that every one of these "special" hands was dealt in a cash/ring game. You would think if the deal was random that at least a few of these milestone hands would have been dealt in a MTT or sit-in-go.

I'm sure I'm missing something I just can't figure out what it is. Thank You for any help and I really enjoy your site! (Is it that only cash-game hands count in the accumulation of hands?)

Who out there wants to tell me what he's missing? Or who out there wants to tell me what might be going on that most of us don't know.

Accused Online Poker Cheat Claims Innocence

Phil Tom "vehemently" denies 911 reports

Allegations in reports carried by online gambling information portal Gambling 911 that he was the subject of a sealed indictment in the United States have been "vehemently" denied by Phil Tom, father and alleged investor in Absolute Poker.com, which is widely believed to have been founded by his son Scott. Tom spoke directly to online poker information site Poker Daily News regarding rumors that he had been indicted in connection with the hole card cheating scandal at Absolute
Poker, indignantly denying involvement and saying: "I don’t know what I’d be indicted
for! How do they know what’s in the supposed indictment? It’s sealed!" He went on to threaten legal action, claiming that the reports represented "unfounded falsehoods." Tom is a portfolio manager by profession and he asserted that the negative publicity was neither warranted or welcome: "I’ve already had three phone calls today from people I know wanting to know if I’m okay. This rumor is getting out to people and I’m a portfolio manager. This isn’t good for business," he told a Poker Daily
News staffer.

My take on this? Well, I wouldn't stake my last dollar on either his innocence or anyone else´s whose name has come up in an online poker cheating scandal!