The Borgata Winter Open is in its second day today, and as of now I have not heard any rumors of cheating, either in the tournament or upstairs in the Borgata's hotel rooms. Why do I mention the hotel rooms? Well, for those of you who may have forgotten or never heard about, one of the biggest high-tech poker cheating scams ever got busted in one during the Borgata Summer Open Classic last June. It happened in a high-above-the-tournament hotel suite and was allegedly engineered by Steve Forte, the once revered casino cheating consultant who know finds himself charged with enough felonies to make a good poker hand. Steve Forte and his crew set up the suite with cameras in the walls to film players' hole cards in a very high-stakes private Texas hold'em game. The case is still being investigated and is shrouded in mystery as no one, including me, seems to be able to get to the bottom of it. The pervasive rumor is that Forte and his gang were setting up a big similar scam for the tournament itself, perhaps the reason for the hush-hush by New Jersey gaming authorities.
In any event, I haven't heard of anything suspicious going on there, but if you do, please let me know so that I can post it.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Facebook Poker Room!
Facebook has overtaken Myspace as the number one portal in social networking, and to help keep it ahead, Mark Zuckerberg and his people how add Facebook Poker to its network. The Facebook powered poker room, Ujogo, is the result of a study that concluded 30 million adults play free poker for about 3 hours a week, thus it became obvious that Facebook was the perfect portal for poker.
The biggest obstacle in front of them is of course the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), as Facebook is a very popular application in the US, but they appear to have skirted that issue by making the application free. No money is wagered and everyone starts with 1000 points, much like a play money game. Where this is different is that big prizes seem to be on offer for those who make it to the top of the leader board.
Although it is just essentially a play money application, there is no doubt that this will have a big impact on the poker industry. Facebook's own free Texas hold'em poker application is the third most active application on the site after being installed 5.4 million times and has over 370,000 players per day. The more players you refer the more free chips you get. This is in many ways the online version of Pub Poker, a free, points based social poker game which will ultimately bring a lot of new players to the real money tables.
Have some free fun at Facebook!
The biggest obstacle in front of them is of course the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), as Facebook is a very popular application in the US, but they appear to have skirted that issue by making the application free. No money is wagered and everyone starts with 1000 points, much like a play money game. Where this is different is that big prizes seem to be on offer for those who make it to the top of the leader board.
Although it is just essentially a play money application, there is no doubt that this will have a big impact on the poker industry. Facebook's own free Texas hold'em poker application is the third most active application on the site after being installed 5.4 million times and has over 370,000 players per day. The more players you refer the more free chips you get. This is in many ways the online version of Pub Poker, a free, points based social poker game which will ultimately bring a lot of new players to the real money tables.
Have some free fun at Facebook!
Monday, January 28, 2008
French Bank Scam Artist's Trading Scandal makes Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel my kind of guy!
$7.2 billion French Bank Fraud! That's 4.9 million euros. Jerome Kerviel is not only my type of scam artist, but what he did to Societe Generale with his unauthorized trades dwarfs what I did to French Casinos and American casinos into the world of petit! Wow! $7.2 billion! You could build the Bellagio, Venetian and maybe a few other casino megaresorts with that type of cash. I wonder how long he'd been planning that coup against the bank, or if he just started it one day on the spur of a moment and then decided to go with it. In any case, kudos for Mr. Kerviel or I should say Monsieur Kerviel! I should almost put him in my Casino Cheaters Hall of Fame for such a great ripoff but it didn't happen in casinos...Hey, wait a minute...does the French Bank Societe Generale make loans or do any other business with casinos? If it does, then maybe I can put Jerome Kerviel in my Cheaters Hall of Fame!
German Online Ban Assailed by European Union
German Online Gambling Ban Assailed by European Union
It should come as no surprise that the European Union is not pleased with Germany's newly enacted ban on online gambling. The news service Reuters has reported that the EU has decided to take legal action against Germany, and will seek European Commission approval as early as next week. This latest round of legal action by the EU against Germany's discriminatory online-gambling law would result in a final warning prior to advancing to the European Court of Justice.
The EU decision is consistent with its policy to enforce cross-border competition in services and is clearly not the first such action
Duplicate Poker
connected to online gambling. EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has initiated proceedings against nearly a dozen EU countries over discriminatory policies and laws in their gaming or lottery sectors. As European countries fight for state monopoly control of the sector, online gambling has become a battleground issue in the much broader philosophical debate regarding the EU's goals and authority. The ultimate resolution of online-gambling services in the EU may, in many ways, determine whether the EU evolves into an organizational arrangement of trading convenience or the authoritative determinant of trade policy.
The EU's tangle with German online gambling policy is not new. Back in March 2007, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote to a number of German states that had imposed regional bans, giving them a month to revise their laws; the states were undeterred. The Austrian company Bwin was somewhat more successful in legally challenging the regional bans. In May, Bwin regained its Bavarian operating rights outright. In December, German courts ruled that Bwin's license to operate, granted prior to German reunification, was valid in Eastern Germany.
Should the European Commission adopt the decision to pursue legal action against Germany, as expected, it will be applauded by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which represents eight major European online firms and which earlier this month filed a complaint with the European Commission over the new German law.
It should come as no surprise that the European Union is not pleased with Germany's newly enacted ban on online gambling. The news service Reuters has reported that the EU has decided to take legal action against Germany, and will seek European Commission approval as early as next week. This latest round of legal action by the EU against Germany's discriminatory online-gambling law would result in a final warning prior to advancing to the European Court of Justice.
The EU decision is consistent with its policy to enforce cross-border competition in services and is clearly not the first such action
Duplicate Poker
connected to online gambling. EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has initiated proceedings against nearly a dozen EU countries over discriminatory policies and laws in their gaming or lottery sectors. As European countries fight for state monopoly control of the sector, online gambling has become a battleground issue in the much broader philosophical debate regarding the EU's goals and authority. The ultimate resolution of online-gambling services in the EU may, in many ways, determine whether the EU evolves into an organizational arrangement of trading convenience or the authoritative determinant of trade policy.
The EU's tangle with German online gambling policy is not new. Back in March 2007, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote to a number of German states that had imposed regional bans, giving them a month to revise their laws; the states were undeterred. The Austrian company Bwin was somewhat more successful in legally challenging the regional bans. In May, Bwin regained its Bavarian operating rights outright. In December, German courts ruled that Bwin's license to operate, granted prior to German reunification, was valid in Eastern Germany.
Should the European Commission adopt the decision to pursue legal action against Germany, as expected, it will be applauded by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which represents eight major European online firms and which earlier this month filed a complaint with the European Commission over the new German law.
Mohegan Sun has New Poker Room!
Well, almost. Mohegan Sun has poker for the first time in over four years. But there still is no actual Mohegan Sun poker room.
Mohegan Sun used to have a great poker room, but that room closed on Labor Day, 2004, with the announced reason that there wasn't enough interest in poker in New England to support two poker rooms. This left Foxwoods with a monopoly on live casino poker in New England. This also meant that Mohegan Sun's poker room was closed, allegedly due to lack of a player base, during the period that will be remembered for the greatest increase in poker players in the history of the game.
As of October 2007, however, Mohegan Sun has poker once again. Well, again almost. They have PokerPro poker machines. No dealers, no chips, no cash at the table, and no cards. Everything but the play itself is done by a computer – like playing poker on the Internet, only with the opponents all facing each other around a large table that is in essence a large computer screen.
I have posted this month on these PokerPro tables (see past blog entries)
For Mohegan Sun management, they might have the best of both worlds. They have poker tables that generate revenue and that also make the casino an acceptable destination for poker players. But they don't have any poker room dealers, cashiers, chip runners, floor people, or other staff, which may have contributed to the earlier difficulties regarding the room. And of course, no...or lots fewer cheaters.
There still are plans to open a separate, enclosed, poker room. Different people claim different dates. Officially, it will open some time in August, but it might be earlier, later, or never – especially if these automated poker tables generate a decent income.
The 'poker area' is not in a segregated room but on the main floor of the casino, nestled in and among slot machines. There are eight PokerPro tables. These tables can be programmed for any limit of stud or hold'em, including no-limit, with any blind or ante structure desired. They can also be set up for tournaments.
The machines work much like an individual's computer screen at home, but with some significant differences. Players need to create an account with a cashier, which they can easily do at a window near the poker room. Each player has an individual screen before him which displays his individual two cards. They are face down until the player touches the image of the card on the screen, at which point a corner is turned face up revealing the card to the player. A player needs to shield his virtual cards from players on either side to make sure that his hand isn't inadvertently exposed – just as with real cards. This is not hard to do, though it does take a small amount of attention. Here, you have to beware of cheaters.
Each player indicates his betting action and the size of his bet by touching the screen in the appropriate place. It takes a little getting used to but is quite intuitive, especially for the poker player used to playing on the Internet.
There is a large screen in the center of the large table around which the players sit. The large screen displays the community cards. It also shows the virtual chips that have been wagered and displays the pot size, just as in an Internet poker game. The only difference is that the image is significantly larger than the actual size of a standard casino playing card – making it easier for a player with poor vision to read the board.
The game is still raked, and rather significantly, considering that no dealer, cards or chips are provided. Players pay $4.75 per half hour of play. There are no comps given to players. The house figures that the $.25 a half hour less than $5.00 a half (the rate charged at Foxwoods) is essentially the same thing as a $.50/hour comp to players. Though there are usually only no-limit games being spread there, they also offer limit hold'em, most commonly $3/6. There is a rake in those games of 10% with a maximum of $3.50 per hand. For the moment there is no stud.
Overall, it's a good room for anyone who likes no-limit – especially now before the poor players lose their money or the really excellent players find out about it and start to converge on it.
Mohegan Sun used to have a great poker room, but that room closed on Labor Day, 2004, with the announced reason that there wasn't enough interest in poker in New England to support two poker rooms. This left Foxwoods with a monopoly on live casino poker in New England. This also meant that Mohegan Sun's poker room was closed, allegedly due to lack of a player base, during the period that will be remembered for the greatest increase in poker players in the history of the game.
As of October 2007, however, Mohegan Sun has poker once again. Well, again almost. They have PokerPro poker machines. No dealers, no chips, no cash at the table, and no cards. Everything but the play itself is done by a computer – like playing poker on the Internet, only with the opponents all facing each other around a large table that is in essence a large computer screen.
I have posted this month on these PokerPro tables (see past blog entries)
For Mohegan Sun management, they might have the best of both worlds. They have poker tables that generate revenue and that also make the casino an acceptable destination for poker players. But they don't have any poker room dealers, cashiers, chip runners, floor people, or other staff, which may have contributed to the earlier difficulties regarding the room. And of course, no...or lots fewer cheaters.
There still are plans to open a separate, enclosed, poker room. Different people claim different dates. Officially, it will open some time in August, but it might be earlier, later, or never – especially if these automated poker tables generate a decent income.
The 'poker area' is not in a segregated room but on the main floor of the casino, nestled in and among slot machines. There are eight PokerPro tables. These tables can be programmed for any limit of stud or hold'em, including no-limit, with any blind or ante structure desired. They can also be set up for tournaments.
The machines work much like an individual's computer screen at home, but with some significant differences. Players need to create an account with a cashier, which they can easily do at a window near the poker room. Each player has an individual screen before him which displays his individual two cards. They are face down until the player touches the image of the card on the screen, at which point a corner is turned face up revealing the card to the player. A player needs to shield his virtual cards from players on either side to make sure that his hand isn't inadvertently exposed – just as with real cards. This is not hard to do, though it does take a small amount of attention. Here, you have to beware of cheaters.
Each player indicates his betting action and the size of his bet by touching the screen in the appropriate place. It takes a little getting used to but is quite intuitive, especially for the poker player used to playing on the Internet.
There is a large screen in the center of the large table around which the players sit. The large screen displays the community cards. It also shows the virtual chips that have been wagered and displays the pot size, just as in an Internet poker game. The only difference is that the image is significantly larger than the actual size of a standard casino playing card – making it easier for a player with poor vision to read the board.
The game is still raked, and rather significantly, considering that no dealer, cards or chips are provided. Players pay $4.75 per half hour of play. There are no comps given to players. The house figures that the $.25 a half hour less than $5.00 a half (the rate charged at Foxwoods) is essentially the same thing as a $.50/hour comp to players. Though there are usually only no-limit games being spread there, they also offer limit hold'em, most commonly $3/6. There is a rake in those games of 10% with a maximum of $3.50 per hand. For the moment there is no stud.
Overall, it's a good room for anyone who likes no-limit – especially now before the poor players lose their money or the really excellent players find out about it and start to converge on it.
Ultimate Bet Cheating Scam / Phil Hellmuth Using Steroids?
Ultimate Bet Cheating Scam / Phil Hellmuth Using Steroids?
On January 15, 2008, this article appeared on the Pokerati website:
Ultimate Bet pulled into Absolute Cheating Scandal
Phil Hellmuth Denies using steroids.
I just recently made a double-entry post on my blog about poker and steroid and was not at all aware of this Phil Hellmuth situation until I read this today. Does anyone have more information on this? Who spoke out about Phil Hellmuth using steroids?
Anyway, this is what I read on Pokerati, posted by DanM:
Now Ultimate Bet, sister site to Absolute Poker, is under intense scrutiny from the intelligentsia at 2+2, who seem to be looking — and finding — semi-mathematical proof of another “superuser” account. At first it appeared that UB Pro Phil Hellmuth was already speaking out on the matter — but emails supposedly from Hellmuth were quickly discovered to be a hoax. However … that has since led to a real, unofficial response from Phil, shared second-hand from a presumably respectable poster named trambopoline:
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold of him, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that info should be released within the next few weeks.
THE E-MAIL HOAX:
Posted by brsavage on Pocketfives:
As is widely known, the UB software was developed in Canada, the Absolute software was developed in Japan. That being considered, it is unlikely that if cheating happened that it was the same methodology. Adam, I agree that it would be HIGHLY unlikely that Phil would email or call anyone to verify that cheating occurred at UB.
All of this being considered I find it rather suspicious that the accounts in question both won at the percentages they did and then suddenly were deleted.
Further, if the management of AP also found irregularities at UB it creates a terrible conundrum.
If they openly admit that cheating also happened at UB then their business is impacted even more so than what was seen with the AP scandal. If they deny cheating occurred and it is proven that it did indeed happen and UB/AP covered it up....well I personally think it should end their operations, although I suspect some will still blindly give them their business.
I wonder if anyone is remembering Leggggy's warning that UB was aware of people having upwards of 20 accounts to play cash games and yet did nothing to stop it. I feel for the UB reps who are the salt of the earth, as they are all trusted individuals whom I call friends, yet the company that sponsors them continues to have a bad light cast on them.
Posted by LitezOut on Pocketfives:
so drphiljr is FFS or has been duped by PH poser? which is it?
Posted by drphil on Pocketfives:
All of my info is still valid EXCEPT for the email/emails (plural on 2p2, only 1 posted here) I received from some asshole impersonating Phil. However, I now have Phils actual email and I can assure that any new released info is most definitely valid. I dont want anyone to think that because I made that one mistake that my other info can not be trusted either. This is the post i made on 2p2 this morning right after I got off the phone with phil....
More dramabombs: Ive been duped
So the emails I’ve been getting that I thought were Phil Hellmuth (I had good reasons to believe so) turned out to be some playing me like a fiddle, apparently ****ing with me for no good reason. What happened was I gave my email address to Phil while chatting with him at a table and there were hundreds of obvservers watching. I receieved about 8 different emails within the next 5 minutes and I was dumb enough to just assume that the scree nname I thought was Phil was actually phil. I guess the way he talked just seemed the most professional and I was convinced it was him. I kept in touch with this guy all day thinking it was actually Phil. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel right now. I feel like my reputation has been tarnished but I want everyone to know, this was an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t look enough into the info before I got all giddy and posted what I thought was a huge breakthrough.
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold ofhim, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that infoshould be released within the next few weeks. He is going to call me again within the next 1-3 days. That is all I’m going to comment on the issue right now, once again I’m terribly terribly sorry and I hope this does not tarnish my name.
Well, I (Richard Marcus) forgive him, but I still want to know what’s going on with Phil Hellmuth and steroids, if anything. I can’t see to find anything written except that subtitle.
On January 15, 2008, this article appeared on the Pokerati website:
Ultimate Bet pulled into Absolute Cheating Scandal
Phil Hellmuth Denies using steroids.
I just recently made a double-entry post on my blog about poker and steroid and was not at all aware of this Phil Hellmuth situation until I read this today. Does anyone have more information on this? Who spoke out about Phil Hellmuth using steroids?
Anyway, this is what I read on Pokerati, posted by DanM:
Now Ultimate Bet, sister site to Absolute Poker, is under intense scrutiny from the intelligentsia at 2+2, who seem to be looking — and finding — semi-mathematical proof of another “superuser” account. At first it appeared that UB Pro Phil Hellmuth was already speaking out on the matter — but emails supposedly from Hellmuth were quickly discovered to be a hoax. However … that has since led to a real, unofficial response from Phil, shared second-hand from a presumably respectable poster named trambopoline:
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold of him, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that info should be released within the next few weeks.
THE E-MAIL HOAX:
Posted by brsavage on Pocketfives:
As is widely known, the UB software was developed in Canada, the Absolute software was developed in Japan. That being considered, it is unlikely that if cheating happened that it was the same methodology. Adam, I agree that it would be HIGHLY unlikely that Phil would email or call anyone to verify that cheating occurred at UB.
All of this being considered I find it rather suspicious that the accounts in question both won at the percentages they did and then suddenly were deleted.
Further, if the management of AP also found irregularities at UB it creates a terrible conundrum.
If they openly admit that cheating also happened at UB then their business is impacted even more so than what was seen with the AP scandal. If they deny cheating occurred and it is proven that it did indeed happen and UB/AP covered it up....well I personally think it should end their operations, although I suspect some will still blindly give them their business.
I wonder if anyone is remembering Leggggy's warning that UB was aware of people having upwards of 20 accounts to play cash games and yet did nothing to stop it. I feel for the UB reps who are the salt of the earth, as they are all trusted individuals whom I call friends, yet the company that sponsors them continues to have a bad light cast on them.
Posted by LitezOut on Pocketfives:
so drphiljr is FFS or has been duped by PH poser? which is it?
Posted by drphil on Pocketfives:
All of my info is still valid EXCEPT for the email/emails (plural on 2p2, only 1 posted here) I received from some asshole impersonating Phil. However, I now have Phils actual email and I can assure that any new released info is most definitely valid. I dont want anyone to think that because I made that one mistake that my other info can not be trusted either. This is the post i made on 2p2 this morning right after I got off the phone with phil....
More dramabombs: Ive been duped
So the emails I’ve been getting that I thought were Phil Hellmuth (I had good reasons to believe so) turned out to be some playing me like a fiddle, apparently ****ing with me for no good reason. What happened was I gave my email address to Phil while chatting with him at a table and there were hundreds of obvservers watching. I receieved about 8 different emails within the next 5 minutes and I was dumb enough to just assume that the scree nname I thought was Phil was actually phil. I guess the way he talked just seemed the most professional and I was convinced it was him. I kept in touch with this guy all day thinking it was actually Phil. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel right now. I feel like my reputation has been tarnished but I want everyone to know, this was an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t look enough into the info before I got all giddy and posted what I thought was a huge breakthrough.
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold ofhim, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that infoshould be released within the next few weeks. He is going to call me again within the next 1-3 days. That is all I’m going to comment on the issue right now, once again I’m terribly terribly sorry and I hope this does not tarnish my name.
Well, I (Richard Marcus) forgive him, but I still want to know what’s going on with Phil Hellmuth and steroids, if anything. I can’t see to find anything written except that subtitle.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Full Tilt Poker Scam Scandal and Ban, Cheat, Bluff Fires Chris Vaughn (BluffMagCV), Sorel Mizzi (Imper1um)
The Full Tilt Poker Scam that saw Bluff Magazine Fire its editor Chris Vaughn over the cheating scandal was probably the second best poker cheating story of 2007. It was, to my knowledge, the first time ever, that a major figure in the poker media world was implicated in an online poker scam. For more on this scam and its fallout, check the archives in my blog.
Tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth
Tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth
Absolute Poker Scam Scandal, AJ Green, Cheat, Mark Seif, Scott Tom, John Grimard
The Absolute Poker Scam was the best scandal of 2007
The key names in any order you want to attach importance, given in some cases that more than one belong to a single person: Mark Seif, AJ Green, John Grimard and Scott Tom. This was truly the cheating story of the year and if you want to refresh yourself on the details and events, which unravelled last October, surf through the archives on my blog.
The key names in any order you want to attach importance, given in some cases that more than one belong to a single person: Mark Seif, AJ Green, John Grimard and Scott Tom. This was truly the cheating story of the year and if you want to refresh yourself on the details and events, which unravelled last October, surf through the archives on my blog.
Absolute Poker Scam
Absolute Poker Scandal
Is it finally over? I think it is, judging by all I've read up about it. What about the Full Tilt Poker Account Selling Scam and the PokerStars Josh Field "JJ Prodigy" Multi-Accounting Scams? Is the fallout from that finally over too? Probably...But I think more is coming with the brewing of a new scam that will soon be known as the Ultimate Bet Poker Scam. More on that Ultimate Bet scandal later.
Is it finally over? I think it is, judging by all I've read up about it. What about the Full Tilt Poker Account Selling Scam and the PokerStars Josh Field "JJ Prodigy" Multi-Accounting Scams? Is the fallout from that finally over too? Probably...But I think more is coming with the brewing of a new scam that will soon be known as the Ultimate Bet Poker Scam. More on that Ultimate Bet scandal later.
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.
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.
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