How Important is the Online Poker Cheat Issue in the Regulation of Online Gaming?

Before the huge online poker cheat scandals broke in 2007, cheating at online poker didn't seem to have much of a bearing on the various debates about whether or not to legalize or regulate online poker. However, with the prevalence of major online poker cheat scams, especially those at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, the issue of cheating online poker seems to be at front and center of all the discussions now. And who is referring to online poker cheating the most? The answer is those who are in support of legalizing it. Two main proponents of legalizing or regulating online gaming, Barney Frank, Alfonse D'Amato and other politicians behind the push to legalize online poker are constantly referring to how modern software technology can continually help reduce the amount of cheating that goes on in online poker, and some say that very soon the type of cheating we have seen online will soon be virtually impossible to duplicate. However, the question in my mind is: what new types of sophisticated high-tech cheating will come along in the next few years? In any event, there appears to be a correlation between improvements to online poker anti-cheating security systems and the chances for imminent legalization of online casinos and poker rooms. Personally, I believe we will see legal online poker and gaming in the US within the next five years, but the going still will be rough!

Tokwiro COO Leggett Issues Memo To UltimateBet Employees About "60 Minutes" Cheat Segment!

As previously reported, the story by CBS News program “60 Minutes” about the online poker cheating scandals at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker will air this Sunday, November 30th. In a blog posted by Nat Arem, who has been close to the investigation, it was revealed that Tokwiro COO Paul Leggett issued a memo to Ultimate Bet employees about the program airing. The memo was forwarded to Arem by an employee at the company.

Although many in the industry do not know what to expect when the segment airs at 7:00pm ET on Sunday night, Leggett does not anticipate a ringing endorsement of Tokwiro-owned rooms Absolute Poker or Ultimate Bet, or the industry in general. He commented, “We have every reason to believe that the 60 Minutes producers are intent on portraying the online poker industry and our companies in a negative light, and we do not expect that the program will be either fair or balanced.”

Tokwiro received a $15 million settlement from former UB owners Excapsa to compensate players who were wronged by the cheating on Ultimate Bet, which was directed by former affiliate program manager and 1994 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Russ Hamilton. The player bases of AP and UB were merged this week to form the CEREUS poker network.

Leggett revealed that Tokwiro officials did not appear on camera, but rather provided the producers of the show with relevant background information and “answered questions on-the-record, but off-camera.” The memo stated that Joseph Tokwiro Norton is the sole owner of Tokwiro. In addition, it noted that the investigation into the cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet by its licensing body, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), revealed “that Tokwiro, as a corporate entity, was not involved in and did not benefit from the cheating.”

On who was behind the scandal on Absolute Poker, Leggett revealed, “Tokwiro agreed not to prosecute the perpetrator in the Absolute Poker cheating, and to protect that individual’s identity, because this was the only way to ensure that the ability to cheat was fully discovered and disabled. Because of this decision, AP could continue operating and begin to reimburse affected players as quickly as possible.”

Leggett added that Hamilton was not an employee of Tokwiro and that the offenders in each of the two cheating incidents did not work together in any way. Despite the fact that both groups were able to see the hole cards of customers who played online, each used a different tool in order to do so. The story that appears on CBS’ website entitled “How Online Gamblers Unmasked Cheaters” explains that the cheating resulted in over $20 million being taken from customers. According to the memo, all affected customers have been reimbursed accordingly. The $15 million that Tokwiro received from Excapsa was used for this purpose.

The memo concludes with a look at the changes at Tokwiro as a result of the two high-profile incidents. The company’s management team was revamped and three new security-related personnel were brought onboard. A new “Security Center” was developed to track abnormalities on the CEREUS network, which was launched on Tuesday morning, the same day as the world found out that the 60 Minutes story would air this week. The additions of a “Whistleblower Policy” and “Poker Security Department” were also highlighted.

A Code of Ethics was instituted at the parent company of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, which “formally prohibits any employee or contractor for any Tokwiro business from playing for money on any Tokwiro site.” Account name changes are also generally not allowed. Finally, Tokwiro “discontinued the policy of ‘greenlighting’ VIP Pro players at cashout.”

Kahnawake Hits UltimateBet With Pretty Fine!

Hopefully, as a beginning of the fight against online poker cheating, Canada`s Kahnawake Gaming Commission has announced the results of its investigation into a cheating scandal that rocked online poker room AbsolutePoker.com and subsequently its sister site UltimateBet.com, AND taken some action.

Following numerous complaints from members of the popular online poker room, the regulator launched its examination in August under the stewardship of Frank Catania Sr, President for Catania Gaming Consultants and the former Director for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. The audit has now finished and revealed that dozens of different screen names were used in connection with the cheating scandal, which could have begun as early as May of 2004.

The Commission’s results specifically named Russell Hamilton, a former World Series of Poker (WSOP) winner that had been associated with UltimateBet's affiliate programme, and cited ‘clear and convincing evidence’ that he could have been involved in siphoning millions of dollars away from players accounts. The regulator further revealed that it had been in contact with the ‘appropriate law enforcement agencies’ regarding prosecuting those involved.

The Commission has also fined the online operator $1.5 million for its failure to implement and enforce measures to prohibit and detect fraudulent activities and ruled that it should start refunding all accounts adversely affected by the cheating before November 3, 2008, under its supervision. The regulator revealed that UltimateBet has, to date, reimbursed around $6.1 million to accounts impacted by the scandal.

UltimateBet has also been directed to remove all persons deemed ‘unsuitable’ by the Commission from any involvement with the company including all levels of operation, ownership and management. Not doing so would see the online operator risk loosing it gaming permit.

Until November 3, UltimateBet must also provide complete details of all day-to-day operations including financial as well as daily gaming records in order to guarantee full disclosure and prevent further improprieties while monies are being refunded.

Poker Cheats Online Stirring More Stew!

Online Poker Cheating Scandal Echoes!
Cheating at online poker may seem surprising, but it's not impossible. NO KIDDING!

Poker, Fraud, UltimateBet, Absolute Poker, Poker Players Alliance have all been contributing to the Online Poker Cheating Pot in various ways, and one former US senator has been very outspoken in his determination to get online poker in the US legalized and regulated, in a grand effort to stop the cheating and scandals revolving around online poker.

The following account has been published by Nigel K at CasinoReports:

Senator Concerned Over Online Poker Cheat Scandals!

The uncovering of two online cheating scandals at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet has not gone unnoticed by former US Senator Alphonse D'Amato. The New York politician who is the current chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has brought the incidents to the attention of the US Senate in an effort to legislate against this new breed of Internet crime. Both poker sites resided in the jurisdiction of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which initially did not permit inspection of these sites in order to present a clean bill of health.

Kahnawake

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) grants gaming licenses to a range of online poker, casino, and sports book websites. A number of these websites are managed and hosted by Mohawk Internet Technologies (MIT), an Internet hosting company located on Kahnawake territory near Quebec. MIT has created a name for itself in the North American casino game hosting market and is currently the most convenient source of online gambling sites for the majority of US citizens.

Poker Players Alliance

Senator D'Amato is particularly sensitive to issues such as cheating of any kind. The fact that the recent scandals occurred on online websites suggests that regulation is required of the Internet media that enables such events to take place. D'Amato's concern is reflected by the fact that while the incidents took place outside US jurisdiction, many US citizens have been affected.

Software flaw

The websites that enabled the cheating to occur had allegedly allowed some of the online poker players to see the cards of other players in the game. The KGC declared their innocence and announced that any players who lost money would be refunded. Additionally, they announced that those employees involved with the scandal had been dismissed. The KGC also stated that the software had been corrected, although the whole incident has left a bitter taste in the mouths of all concerned.

Disappointed

Senator D'Amato expressed concern that no members of the KGC or of the websites in question were charged with criminal action. D'amato released a statement that condemned the online poker cheating scandal and further blamed the KGC for not taking legal action against those concerned.

Regulation, Not Banning

Most significantly, Senator D'Amato used the incident to push for federal regulation of the Internet gambling industry. Falling clearly in line with those calling for regulation, D'Amato is convinced that a ban on online gambling would be counterproductive and unworkable.

Ultimate Bet Poker Cheating Scandal Getting Bigger!

Months passed since UltimateBet acknowledged in March of 2008 that management became aware of cheating allegations in January of 2008. The initial, albeit late, statement indicated that at least one player account was deemed to have abnormally high winning statistics and an unfair advantage at the tables. UB was “determined to complete a full and thorough investigation,” but no one had any idea just how long that would take.

Players waited. And waited. And by the middle of May, patience had worn thin. Posters on forums like PocketFives and 2+2 began making noise and demanding a response from UltimateBet. It became a heated discussion, several members of the media kept the story in the public eye (though no major poker magazines, with the exception of Poker Player Newspaper, would touch it), and players wanted answers. Nat Arem, poker player and key rogue investigator in the Absolute Poker scandal months ago, took to PocketFives with the information he had. “I’ve spoken with the guy who is, basically, leading the investigation at UB. I guarantee that he is working on it … While I can’t tell you a lot of what he’s told me, I can tell you that UB is not ignoring it internally. In fact, the delay in resolution is not at UB itself. They’ve done a very thorough investigation and they’re committing some very significant resources to make sure that it never happens again at AP or UB.”

While Arem is a trusted member of the forum community, the secretive nature of the post did not sit well with players. Although Arem let it be known that new management and ownership of UB would prove trustworthy in the future, it was the many months of delays, lack of correspondence with the public, and lack of player reimbursement information that was unsettling.

Members of the poker community were also putting pressure on UB-sponsored players to take a stand. Annie Duke chose to respond on PocketFives in a long and seemingly heartfelt statement. It was her recent decision to renew a contract with UB and become even more involved with online tournament operations there that drew the most scrutiny, and she responded with openness.

After meeting with UB management in Costa Rica, Duke wrote, “I came away satisfied with both the intent of the management team to deal honestly with the allegations, as well as with the integrity of the management team itself. That is coming from someone who was as skeptical as could be … I know that the management team is eager to make its findings public with the month [May] … Until then, I will continue to promote the UB brand because it is a brand I believe in and love and am deeply emotionally invested in.” With two respected people—Arem and Duke— acknowledging the unresolved issue, players still found it odd that so much time had passed without any word from UB. Forum posters spread the word as loudly as computer keyboards can, and it seemed to work. With threats of more negative publicity, UB finally produced a statement to address the insider cheating scandal on May 29, just one day before the 2008 World Series was set to start.

In the next issue, look for details of the UltimateBet statement about the scandal. Though it was more of a comprehensive release than the statement that “closed” the Absolute Poker mess, it left some questions in the minds of some players. Even so, the management that released the statement clearly hoped to put players’ minds at ease and start the reimbursement process. To be continued…

France´s Online Gaming Commission Devises New Laws To Combat Online Poker Cheats

France has made a wise decision to allow controlled and regulated access to its market by online casino operators, and has come up with model standards to address concerns as the gambling sites slowly are permitted to reach French citizens.

The president of the French National Crime Commission, Alain Bauer, devised a list of important steps to observe as the market is gradually opened. The problems foreseen by opponents of online gambling are covered, with measures included to limit potential damage.

France will create a regulatory agency, responsible for monitoring and licensing applicants for legal online gambling. Servers will need to be accessible to this agency, so that software and records can be audited and monitored for fraud or cheating.

Only online casinos with a history of seven or more years will be allowed to apply.

Full disclosure and transparency will be required of all online gambling sites, including investors and shareholders as well as employees passing background checks.

Player registration would involve submission of a legal form of identification, including a French bank account, and issuing of a distinct PIN for activation and play.

Sharing of information, such as suspicious sports betting patterns, with the government is demanded, as well as regulation similar to that against insider trading to prevent wagering by sources with team or player connections.

A system to detect and block gamblers identified as problem gamblers must be in place.

The steps that France has carefully considered appear to do an excellent job of protecting their citizenry, far better than a ban leaving online gambling to uncontrolled entities. Maybe the United States could take a lesson.

Online Poker And Casino Owners Are Cheats Themselves!

No one should be surprised by this, but a study has come out that confirms our greatest fears...or expectations...that a big chunk of online casino and poker website owners are cheats themselves. Don´t forget, that Party Poker itself was founded by an ex-porno magnate who herself has a dubious history with the law.

One of the myriad of problems caused by the United States' continuing attempts to prohibit online gambling and shut down online casinos is the unintended consequence that remaining online operators tend to be less scrupulous.

A study by Professor Juan Manuel, a Guatemalan expert in business development, has found that 15% of online casino owners have a criminal record. The studt determined this via a random sampling of 119 owners.

By trying to cast all online gambling activity as criminal, the U.S. has encouraged an unsavory element to assume ownership of many online casinos. Men like Calvin Ayre, sporting lengthy histories of legal shenanigans, take advantage of opportunities law-abiding citizens may regretfully decline.

Just as prohibition of alcohol did not prevent drinking, but rather created a class of vicious robber barons, prohibition of online gambling has given great wealth to untrustworthy men.

Regulation would ensure honesty and fairness in play, avoiding unseemly scandals such as the recent cheating discovered at UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker. It would also bring in a huge source of tax revenue, rather than spending millions prosecuting dubious cases.

There is no doubt online gaming is an expanding and growing business. The United States could solve the issues listed above and placate their trade partners, all by simply enacting a reasonable plan for regulation.

Confidence In Online Poker Security Waning Rapidly In Wake Of UltimateBet Hole Card Poker Cheats Scam!

Native policing of gambling in doubt after online cheating hole card scam!

MONTREAL - Confidence in the ability of Mohawk regulators to police lucrative online gambling operations on the Kahnawake reserve has been shaken following the second cheating scandal in less than a year.

UltimateBet.com, which is owned by a company controlled by former Kahnawake grand chief Joe Norton, acknowledged on Thursday that unnamed insiders had altered its poker software to allow them to see opponents' hidden cards.

"The individuals responsible were found to have worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro [Mr. Norton's company] in October 2006," the site said in a statement. "Tokwiro is taking full responsibility for this situation and will immediately begin refunding UltimateBet customers for any losses that were incurred as a result of unfair play."

The company refused to disclose the amount of fraudulent winnings, but poker observers have said it runs into the millions. An analysis of the scandal on the online poker forum twoplustwo.com found that one of the cheaters won more than $600,000 in the space of four months last year. The software glitch was in place for at least 15 months, UltimateBet said.

In January, Absolute Poker, also owned by Tokwiro Enterprises, was fined $500,000 by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission for a similar cheating scam, which was also blamed on rogue employees. The commission, first created in 1996 when Mr. Norton was grand chief, has three members from the community, which is just south of Montreal.

Bobby Mamudi, an industry analyst and managing editor of the London-based Gaming Intelligence Group, said the new cheating incident is another blow to the reputation of Kahnawake's gambling industry. "They definitely do seem to be losing credibility and not doing too much about it," he said. He called the cheating uncovered in Kahnawake "quite unique" in the global online gambling world. Sites taking bets on sporting events have been shut down for failing to have sufficent funds to pay winners. "There's never been something like this to do with poker and this kind of overt cheating," he said.

The federal government considers the 400 or so poker and sports-betting sites operating from Kahnawake to be illegal, but, fearing a confrontation, both the federal and provincial governments have been reluctant to intervene. Last March, however, an aide to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the government was studying ways of shutting down the gambling, possibly by targeting financial transactions with illegal Internet operators.

Murray Marshall, legal counsel to the gaming commission, said that Kahnawake's regulation is among "the tightest in the world" and said similar frauds have occurred in casino gambling and banking. "We would obviously prefer to prevent all possibilities of this kind of thing happening, but no system is infallible," he said.

UltimateBet, one of the most popular online poker sites, identified six player accounts that took part in fraudulent activity. They used 18 different online aliases, including NioNio, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, WhackMe44 and RockStarLA. It said the "security hole" that allowed the fraud has been plugged and all of the individuals associated with the cheating have been permanently banned. It also promised to increase security.

Steven Ware, author of an upcoming book on poker strategy, has followed the UltimateBet controversy closely since players first voiced their suspicions online in January. In an analysis on twoplustwo. com of NioNio's winning hands, he wrote that the odds of someone getting that lucky were "about the same as winning the powerball [lottery] jackpot three days in a row."

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Ware said stricter oversight is needed of the Kahnawake gambling sites.

"Online poker is a billion-dollar-a-year industry, and it's unfathomable that companies in this industry would operate with a total lack of transparency, beyond the reach of the law," he said. "Kahnawake and the online gambling sites that it runs have shown time and time again that they are not willing to keep their games fair or protect the players."

UltimateBet officials declined to be interviewed yesterday. In an e-mailed statement, the company said the "perpetrators" of the fraud left the company "well before the fraudulent activity was uncovered." Asked whether the matter has been referred to the police, the company said only that it is in the hands of the gaming commission.

Is Bodog Safe From Online Poker Cheats?

According to Online Gaming Paper, which reviewed online poker-cheating risks for all the major online poker rooms, Bodog Poker is the safest site to play on. Although I agree that Bodog is certainly one of the safest poker sites and has occupied the top spot on my poker safety rankings list, consistently battling cheats, I would not call it the safest, as the statistics compiled by my web people do not rank Bodog the Number 1 anti-cheating online poker room. However, I feel that the Online Gaming review of Bodog merits consideration as it presents solid information. Read it below:

"We do rarely write an online poker site review, but with the decreasing options of honest poker rooms we have to. There are quite a few online poker rooms these days and contrary to the popular belief, a lot of them still allow US poker players to join their tables. But what has become a trend in the past few months is the worst part - people are getting stung constantly by those poker sites, scandals and accusations of cheating players out of their money are an everyday occurrence when playing online poker. And the U.S. government´s desire to push the online poker sites towards the shady side of the Internet, instead of regulating and overseeing their activities, hasn't helped much either (I certainly agree with that!).

But in our opinion, there is one player on the scene which has remained a very secure and trusted online poker site - the Bodog Poker Room (official website). While other poker sites battle cheaters, bots and payment processors, Bodog Poker Room is standing strong, without any complaints from players being cheated or money disappearing. Although the casino and sportsbook section of the Bodog's array of gambling services are well known, for some reason the poker room has been in a way overlooked in the past by the people enjoying this centuries-old card game. But now, with all the bad news surrounding almost every other online poker site, Bodog Poker is becoming the natural choice for poker players throughout the world.

So what makes this online poker site the best in the industry? First and foremost - the security. In the past security was hardly a factor when evaluating an online poker site - the online poker rooms have just popped up and people were "greenhorns". Everyone wanted to play poker online and almost no one knew much about bots and fake accounts, they just assumed they were playing a though opponent. But with time passing by, people smartened up and pretty much every cheating scandal involving an online poker room has been discovered by the players at that particular poker site, rather than the management coming out on the open and admitting wrongdoings. But Bodog Poker not only guarantees security, they deliver as well. You won't find any cheating scandals with their name in it, and nowadays this means a lot. Security at a poker site should be one of your major concerns, but with Bodog this is unnecessary - focus on your game and don't worry about cheaters."

There is more to this article promoting other points about Bodog, such as sign-up bonuses, etc. Whether or not there is some motive for the touting of Bodog´s security and record against poker cheats, I can´t say, but I decided the facts back up the their statement that Bodog is a very good site against online poker cheating.

Poker Bots Continue Online Cheat Gains

Cheats online continue to threaten online poker with colluding bots.

By themselves, bots are a major threat to online poker. Bot software has been readily available to the public for a long time now, and at very affordable prices. The reason even ordinary bots are a threat to online poker is because it’s not very difficult to code bots that will beat the small games, both limit and no limit. Small games are the lifeblood of the poker economy and the $100 losses at $2-$4 are ultimately what feed the $1,000-$2,000 games at the top. In a normal small stakes game, incompetent players fill many of the seats, and the few good players can make quite a killing in the long run.

But with Bots, the keyword is "short run." They have the capability to be in hundreds of games simultaneously, so they will make that killing much quicker. They will continue to expand and fill seats until someone stops them, or until it’s no longer profitable, which might only be when everyone is playing with bots, the grim outlook I already had two years ago in my book "Dirty Poker." What this means is that the legitimate good players will lose profitable games because the bots are taking too much money from the poorer players, who will be put to ruin and eventually quit playing online poker. Without their money in the games, the entire online poker foundation would collapse.

More threatening still are colluding bots, and even more threatening than that are colluding bots with "artificial intelligence." Bots can communicate with other bots and share hole cards. Say someone writes a colluding bot program and sits it in three seats of a game. The bots share hole cards with each other and instantly adjust their strategies based on the extra knowledge. A well-coded bot of this type would be extremely formidable even to strong players.

If poker sites want to survive and keep their gold mine running into the next decade, they need to tackle the bot problem head on. The adoption of Captcha technology (the distorted image of scrawled letters you type in to prove you're human) to distinguish bots from human players has not been as effective as first thought because "botters" watching over their bots can intercept it. If, for example, someone is playing at three computers with a colluding bot on each computer, they can power the bots to play, and at the same time monitor the action to look out for captchas. It’s a solution for the nickel-and-dime botting at the very bottom, but as soon as there’s meaningful money involved, people will sit there just to type in captchas.

Or hire people to do it. A new corrupt cottage industry of "outsourcing bot cheats" has sprouted up on the Internet. Lots of people in Third World countries are happy to earn ten bucks and hour to sit at home and type in captchas.

It’s going to be extremely difficult to win the war against the all-pervasive invading armies of bots, and poker sites will need to attack the problem much more aggressively if they want to keep their businesses going strong. Ultimately, the online deck of cards is stacked against them. There’s no iron-clad solution. Bots can run remotely so the bot software is entirely undetectable on the client machine. Poker clients would have to ban the use of all sorts of "macroing" and other automated input programs to stop it, but the diehard, and I mean die very hard, botters will always be one step ahead.

Another method botters use to greatly reduce their footprints on the client machines is to run the bot on a separate computer. The bot could simply suggest plays (informed on the hole cards of other bots) on that computer, and a hired person could execute the plays in real time on the client machine. The hired player could respond to chat, enter captchas, and otherwise appear like a completely normal player. This could be done in workshop-style offices on a large scale in places like Eastern Europe where kids can be hired very cheaply. The only recourse the sites would have is the labor-intensive collusion detection available to them. But if the botters collude intelligently and selectively, by not colluding on every hand, they could escape detection for quite a while. Lest you think this is far-fetched, such "bot workshops" have existed in China to play online computer games and sell virtual property.

Unfortunately, as I said at the end of "Dirty Poker" in 2006, online poker may still face extinction if the bots and collusion problems don't go away. Add them to all the other online poker scams we've seen over the last 12 months and you have a sort of "Cuban Online Missile Crisis" in online poker. For the skillful honest online poker players, this is a disappointing reality, but maybe if we saw an organized stance taken against bots and collusion play the same way we see that stance taken to get online gambling legalized in the US, we might, as a united online poker community, find a way to win this war.

Steve Forte Heads List of New Cheats Hall of Fame Inductees!

Steve Forte and 3 other notorious poker and casino cheats have been inducted into the American Roulette Poker and Casino Cheating Hall of Fame. Forte--known first as a busted casino cheat, then as the most sought-after anti-cheating casino consultant and renowned author of game protection tomes, and then again as a busted poker cheat for his role as the mastermind of a multi-million-dollar high-tech poker scam at the Atlantic City Borgata--will at least be the beneficiary of this good news while he waits the final disposition of his legal mess in the Borgata matter!

The other inductees are John Soares, a legendary craps cheat and playboy who loved the high life; Duke Wilson, the infamous and talented roulette mechanic who spearheaded the notorious Classon Pastposting Team's attacks on the world's roulette tables; and Balls Abramowitz, who worked the greatest casino cheating move ever, "The Savannah," with Richard Marcus and Pat Mallery, two fellow cheating Hall-of-Famers. To read their inscriptions, go to the American Roulette Cheaters Hall of Fame page.

Collusion in Poker and Online Poker Cheating--Which is Worse?

Over the past few years, I have been blogging a lot about collusion play by poker cheats. This epidemic of cheating began in the days of games aboard Mississippi paddlewheelers and in Wild West saloons, then naturally found its way into legal brick and mortar cardrooms first in Nevada and then Atlantic City, finally spreading to Europe and the rest of the world as poker caught fire globally. The newest collusion epidemic is of course in online poker.

But in which venue, many people have been asking me, is poker collusion not only endemic but pandemic? In other words, are the collusion attacks worse in brick and mortar cardrooms or online?

Well, believe it or not, the correct answer to this question is not the same as it was a year ago. Back in late 2006, early 2007, online poker cheating began reaching a peak, as we all learned soon afterward by the spate of major scams that erupted last summer. During the same period, regular run of the mill online poker collusion and bot play were also in peak form, running at all-time highs across the online poker world. But suddenly that has been changing. With all the heat generated by the recent insider hole card and account selling scams, along with non-play attacks such as pilfering funds from players' accounts, thousands of everyday poker colluders and bot players have begun hitting the cyber-highway in search of other pursuits. This means that online poker collusion has actually been decreasing sharply the past several months, even to the point where it has fallen behind the old and now renewed number-one collusion scourge: brick and mortar poker rooms.

How wide is this margin? That is difficult to say, at least in terms of assigning numbers and percentages to it. But I will say this, For at least the remainder of 2008 and probably much into 2009, collusion play in online poker will follow a downward trend while its evil brick and mortar counterpart will hold steady.

The good news about brick and mortar collusion play? At least it's holding steady.

Josh Field

Josh Field Poker

I have recently noticed that my blog post about Josh "JJProdigy" Field being banned for life by PokerStars is the most read post in the history of my blog. So for those of you who haven't read it, here it is again below. For those of you who have read it, skip down to my main post today: "Advocates of Online Poker."

Josh Field Poker Cheating:

More online poker scam related issues!

First, just like many of you, PokerStars didn't buy Josh Field's apology for his multiple-accounting gig. Now he's gone from multi-accounts to nada-accounts, at least as far as PokerStars is concerned. He's even booted from their land-based tournaments. Field's next move? I can't say for sure, but you can bet your every last account that he will have one. Here's how it went down:

One of the world's most popular online poker rooms, PokerStars.com, has announced that it has permanently banned a young player from not only using its website but also its land-based tournaments after he was found to be holding multiple accounts, a practice frowned upon by the online gambling community.

The player, 18-year-old Josh Field, is known in the poker room as 'JJProdigy' and had already qualified online to play in PokerStars.com’s Caribbean Adventure lucrative land casino event this Saturday.

Field issued an apology on various well-known online poker forums last week for multi-accounting but management at PokerStars.com took a decision to kick him off the website as well as prevent him from playing in any further live poker events including the Caribbean Adventure.

It is thought that many online poker players from around the world put pressure on PokerStars.com to ban the player once his transgressions became public as a clear indication of the poker fraternity’s 'zero tolerance' attitude towards unscrupulous players and cheats.

PokerStars.com’s Caribbean Adventure is to take place at the Atlantis Casino and Resort in the Bahamas from January 5 to 10 with millions of dollars in cash prizes up for grabs.

T6 POKER SPAT WITH TONY G AND PokerWiki

It started with this from PokerWiki:

T6Poker

Poker sites launched in December 2007 by the company 1oz Group. According to their ads the site will "change the poker business" and the goal is to "become one of the largest poker sites in the world within six months". Freerolls started in December 2007 and cash games are promised from January 1 2008. Still, T6Poker claims to give away prizes totaling €4.4 million in December 2007 and January 2008.
According to an article by Swedish poker profile Ola Brandborn in the Swedish Daily Expressen T6Poker is a suspected ponzi (or pyramid) scheme. The public is offered profit shares (not stocks) of T6Poker which are said to be "limited in supply" and that will "probably be sold out within a month."
Other notable characteristics of T6Poker include:

1. The client is downloaded from an anonymous file sharing site (Rapid Share),
2. The company's Internet domain is registered anonymously,
3. The company (AlistonPrice) can be found on the warning list of the Swedish
Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) but changed its name in
November-December 2007 to 1oz Group.

Now Tony G:

Professional poker player Tony ‘Tony G’ Guoga responded today on his blog to charges, raised on various poker forums, against online poker room T6 Poker. Guoga recently signed a one-year deal to endorse the room.
Questions about the credibility of T6 were first raised by PokerWiki in their article on T6

My announcement yesterday brought comments that need to be resolved. Concerns for the good of internet poker are important, but the facts are important also, and I want to clear up a few things.

I know that Torben Hubertz is behind T6 Poker. When I search, I get the name of the owner of the site so your information is not correct, you can find the same information I did and it’s public record:
I have seen this claim before but this is untrue, the owner of T6 Poker is not hidden. There is an attack on this person by some people in the poker industry. It’s pretty normal and you can find people bashing and poker site shredding in every forum on the internet. I have not had one person say that he or she was scammed by T6 Poker.

I am not involved in T6 Poker – other than being part of the Pro Team. I don’t own any part of the site. When I signed a deal with them it was a professional deal to play for the site for 1 year and I will evaluate everything with time.
From my point of view, I want new sites in the poker market and T6 Poker is currently the biggest spender there is so they are spending money; they really want T6 Poker to be a real site and not any kind of scam.
T6 Poker just redesigned their software and launched the new poker program on January 1st. The comment about their security and safety for players should be addressed by reading about the actual security involved.
I am not a scammer. I believe in new enterprise and the poker market. I will be playing at T6 Poker. I want you to join me there. My bike’s parked outside, if you need a ride, just let me know.

P.S. The linked comment in the previous post goes to Wikia.com. Wikia.com is an ad based site, collecting revenue, and the opinions stated there may not be completely unbiased. The main user/creator of poker.wikia.com is PhillipR. The following is his statement of introduction about poker.wikia.com:

“Hi. I’m part of a team of a few volunteers from 2+2 who are driving this project because we think this has the potential to be a really great resource. That doesn’t mean this is a dictatorship, or even an oligarchy. Consensus and cooperation are essential to Wiki Culture and this community should be no different.”
The statement has merit, but as with all things you read, arm yourself with actual knowledge and keep an open mind.

Now Me:

Well, all this online poker scandaling is getting a little bit much, isn't it?


ADVOCATES FOR ONLINE POKER:

Online poker has many advocates using many venues to decry the absurd policies of the federal government regarding online play; Thursday an eloquent voice was heard in a new setting. Charles Nesson, professor at Harvard's renowned law school, appeared on "The Colbert Report" on the Comedy Central Network.

Political satirist Stephen Colbert had Nesson on to explain his belief that online poker is getting a raw deal from lawmakers. Nesson stated,"...it is my mission to legitimize poker as a teaching tool, a learning tool... Poker is the quintessential American game." He went on to give poker credit as a frontier invention, begun on Mississippi riverboats even as it is played today.

Nesson pointed out that, while playing online is not currently illegal, the transfer of funds by banks or credit card companies to gambling sites is, and further noted that, in his home state of Massachusetts, a bill before the state legislature has a provision to penalize online players with up to two years in jail; not coincidentally, this is Governor Patrick's bill seeking to legalize three land casino licenses in the state.

Nesson also praised poker's value as a device to teach strategy and risk management, and argued poker is unfairly lumped in with games of chance in which house odds make the prospects of long-term winning very dim. Poker, according to the professor, is a game of skill with multi-tiered levels of reasoning. Nesson expressed a desire to teach an open-elective course online featuring poker strategies, from the simplest to the most complex.

When Colbert reacted somewhat skeptically, Nesson made an interesting proposition: invite the Presidential candidates on the show to play poker against the host and each other. Certainly viewers could learn a great deal about the various Democrats and Republicans by how they played their hands. Economics, foreign relations, and political skill could all be demonstrated and seen through the revealing prism of poker. It could be expected that Hillary Clinton would be the one cheating and dealing from the bottom of the deck, given her about-faces over voter issues in Nevada, Michigan, and Florida.

Nesson made an interesting proposition: invite the Presidential candidates on the show to play poker against the host and each other.

Hey, my idea: Make it a freezeout and whoever wins get the first prize of becoming president! No election necessary.