Are Online Poker Sites Purposely Cheating Their Players?

According to a MajorWager interview with Jay Lakin of Pokersourceonline.com, the answer is no, but you can´t be surprised that lots of people in and around the online poker world are questioning whether or not the poker sites are cheats themselves.

Here is Hartley Henderson´s account of his interview with Jay Lakin.

"The other day I received an invitation to conduct an interview with Jay Lakin from Pokersourceonline.com, a very large poker affiliate site. My first inclination was to decline the invitation since my articles generally don't focus on poker. But as a result of many incidents occurring with online poker of late (including the scandals at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet), I decided to take Mr. Lakin up on his offer. After all, Jay is very close with all the poker sites and knows the ins and outs of the industry as well as anyone online. There were no restrictions on my line of questioning.

My first question to Jay concerned the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals. For anyone who isn't familiar with the incidents, both sites were found to have "super users" that were able to see the hole cards of other players. The case was brought to light last year when a player in one of Absolute Poker's large buy-in tournaments suspected that another player at the table was playing unusually and he believed he was somehow cheating. Absolute Poker sent the player a list with every hand that was played at the table along with information on the observers. After examining each hand it was clear that the winner was indeed cheating. The cheater was a former manager at the site who had the ability to see the hole cards of other players and played accordingly, easily winning the tournament. For their part Absolute Poker did a full investigation and subsequently refunded the entry fee for all the players in the tournament. Recently the same thing happened at Ultimate Bet, which like Absolute Poker operates from Kahnawake.

The obvious question regarding the scandal was, why it was allowed to occur in the first place? Why do these super users exist? I asked Jay. What possible reason is there for a site to have the ability to see hole cards?

"It had to do with the early testing stages of the site," Jay answered. "Supervisor accounts existed in the early days so that owners could see the hole cards to test the software. Seeing the hole cards would tell if the software was operating correctly." According to Jay, the idea was that the supervisor accounts were to be deleted once the site went live, but two of the supervisor accounts were kept by mistake. Unfortunately a couple of seedy managers who still had access to the supervisor accounts after leaving the company decided to use it to cheat others. "What they did is no different than someone going to a bank and sticking a gun in a teller's face" Jay said. Lakin says he knows the owners of both sites well, however, and is certain that the supervisor accounts were not left open on purpose. Lakin also noted that Absolute Poker made full restitution to players, and then added some security features to their software to try and stop any similar recurrence. One such feature was a block on any account from changing a screen name. Apparently this was a common technique to try and block one's identity from others. "Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are probably the safest sites to play at right now," Lakin commented.

Asked what could be done to ensure incidents like that never occur again or that collusion doesn't occur in Poker, Lakin said it was impossible. "If people are determined to cheat they will find a way. People can create virtual accounts, they can make up IP addresses, use Proxy servers, etc. The companies try to stop the cheating, but if someone is savvy enough they can get around it," Lakin stated. Jay suggested that sites are always looking to catch suspicious play and have people watching 24/7 for tell-tale signs. The poker operators also have very sophisticated technology running algorithms, tracking IP addresses, looking for transfers between players, etc. But Lakin suggested the only real way to catch cheaters is for the players to step up to the plate when they see something fishy going on, as happened with the Absolute Poker incident. "If someone raises a concern, the sites take it seriously," Jay commented. "Otherwise, people will spread the word and players will go to other sites." Jay's biggest disappointment with the whole incident is the fact that the cheaters are still walking free in the streets of Costa Rica.

My next question to Jay concerned the sites themselves and whether he thought that they tampered with the software to ensure bad beats in the lower dollar games as many have contended. The belief here is that while software is run by a random number generator, the RNG can be set in such a way that it only gives random numbers within a range on the turn and river for certain games in an attempt to affect the outcome. The reasoning behind this is that it would provide incentive for the fish to keep playing believing they are good players. Note, while I never believed personally in the theory, the question has been raised on various poker forums. In Jay's opinion, the whole notion that poker sites are purposely cheating players is ludicrous. "As long as poker rooms are making money on the rake there is no need to cheat," Jay commented. While he has a bit more hesitation about online casinos where the house makes money on players losing, Jay thinks it would be insane for a poker site to cut its own throat by cheating players when the site has no vested interest in which players win. Jay believes the bad beats that occur frequently in low dollar games and tournaments are a result of players playing too many hands and poor play in general. Whenever someone loses with pocket aces to 3-5 suited in a real game it's the luck of the draw. When someone loses with the same hand online it's because the fix is in. According to one poker site, it has a staff member whose main job is to respond to complaints that the site is rigged. The staff member has to explain that more hands are played online than in real games, as well as other facts that explain bad beats. Jay also believes that these lower staked hands feature people who graduate from the free games and the .net sites. "I tell people all the time," Jay said, "playing at .net sites will only worsen your game. If you want to improve you have to play for real money."

For my next line of questioning I turned to the issue of the Poker Player's Alliance and the Frank and Wexler bills. My two main questions were: 1) how pokersourceonline.com is affiliated with the PPA and 2) what he feels about PPA's seeming desire to sell sports betting down the river to achieve the legalization of poker. Jay said that he is not affiliated with PPA and personally believes that all online gambling should be legal, but he fully understands PPA's desire to want to disassociate itself from other forms of gambling. "Wexler's bill couldn't be clearer," Jay said. "It wants to legalize skill games online and the differentiation is whether one is playing against another player or against the house." Jay doesn't buy the argument that sports betting is still player vs. player (even though, in theory, the sportsbooks balance their action based on how players bet either side.) He also isn't convinced that sites like Betfair or Matchbook is skill simply because one player sets the line and another takes it. Jay's feeling is that as long as they stick to their guns of trying to legalize the skill game of poker, PPA has a shot. If PPA were to venture off track they could lose the battle. In Jay's mind the UIGEA carved out exemptions for horse racing and lotteries which are clearly based only on luck. Therefore the belief is that if a law can make exemptions for games of luck it must provide exemptions for games of skill. "The fact that the same faces are at the final tables of every poker event negates the propensity of luck like that you would find in picking a lottery ticket," Jay commented. Nevertheless, Jay also feels that if poker is legalized eventually courts will rule that all gambling must be legalized. "If someone goes to a liquor store they aren't told that vodka is legal but you can't buy the gin. It makes no sense." In the meantime, PPA has over a million members and is right now looking out solely for the interests of poker, and if that means that it has the appearance of selling out sports betting, so be it. For his part, Jay makes it clear that his site is just an affiliate site and not associated with PPA. Pokersourceonline does post news articles on all gambling and often features ones from MajorWager. Their forum, devoted to poker, has over 130,000 members.

During the discussion of the the UIGEA and the PPA an interesting side discussion took place regarding the law about promotion of gambling. The Feds seem to want to outlaw promotion of gambling, as can be seen by the cases launched by the DOJ against Google, Yahoo, Esquire and The Sporting News, yet every televised poker event features all the stars in Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker gear. "Why do you think that is?" Jay Lakin asked me. For my part I assumed it had to do with the fact the players wore shirts that had .net on it, but anyone with half a brain can see through that. After all the .net site is just window dressing for the real .com site where anyone can play for real money. Full Tilt and Poker Stars aren't paying these celebrities hundreds of thousands of dollars and paying tournament fees to promote an "information site." But Jay also wanted to point out that all the poker magazines feature ads for online gambling and are never approached by the DOJ for compensation or told to cease advertising poker immediately. All the magazines operate in the U.S. "Bluff magazine has a big building in Atlanta," Jay said "And Card Player has a huge office in Las Vegas. They all run poker ads, but the difference between them and The Sporting News is that poker ads represented a tiny percentage of the advertising for The Sporting News. For Bluff and Card Player it's everything." Consequently Jay is certain that when managers for The Sporting News met they decided it wasn't worth their while to try and fight the DOJ on this. $7.2 million was a small price to pay to get the Department of Justice off their backs and the loss of revenue from online gambling ads was negligable. Bluff and Card Player magazine, on the other hand, are able to operate strictly due to poker ads. Consequently if they were to agree to drop poker advertising for their magazines they may as well fold (pardon the pun). Similarly, with players like Phil Ivey, Allan Cunningham and Chris Ferguson, the advertising gear they wear gives them a reason to play in all these tournaments. They are American citizens and have the right to wear what they want. Jay is convinced that the reason the magazines and players were not approached by the DOJ and told to cease advertising gambling ads as The Sporting News was told to do is that the players, realizing their future earnings could be at stake, and the magazines, realizing their existence is on the line, would take the Department of Justice to court. And the last thing the DOJ wants is to test the law in the courts. Until now the law has never really been tested and the government is fearful that perhaps if the case does go to the courts, the judges will rule that the law is a violation of free speech. If that happens it would open up the floodgates to advertising in the U.S. for online gambling along with other vices the government really would rather not see advertised stateside. So the easiest way for the DOJ to accomplish their goal is to go only after companies it knows won't challenge them in the court of law. It is noteworthy that poker is often testing the reach of the law and thus far has not been touched. The World Poker Tour has a site called clubwpt.com where people can subscribe to the site for a $20 a month fee, and in turn they can play poker tournaments against each other for prizes like free entry fees to real WPT tournaments and every night they have $1,000 tournaments for members. The site makes it clear that "it's not gambling" because people don't actually have money in their account, but really there is no difference in paying a fee to play in a tournament at Full Tilt Poker or paying a fee to play in a tournament at clubwpt. The World Poker Tour also has a site that offers gambling but not to American players. It should be noted that Mega$ports was forced to declare bankruptcy for hosting an online gambling site that only catered to customers in Australia.

Lastly, I questioned Jay Lakin about the Party Poker billion dollar offer to settle with the Department of Justice. I couldn't fathom why a company would pay a billion dollars for such a minor thing as the option of stepping foot again in the United States. "When you're rich it's not a minor thing," Jay replied. "The ability to go to the United States without fear of prosecution probably isn't worth a billion dollars to you or me, but to someone worth at least $7 billion it very well may be." As well, Jay is certain that the Party Poker owners are still concerned about the long reach of the Department of Justice; after all, Gary Kaplan and Stephen Lawrence were extradited from foreign countries to face prosecution in the United States. Lakin agreed there could be other extenuating circumstances, such as a sweet deal for Party Gaming if and when online gambling becomes legal in the United States, but he's not sure that's the main impetus. Asked why Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker seem to be getting off unscathed by the DOJ, Lakin points out that both places are located offshore. Poker Stars is in the Isle of Man, and unlike the owners of Party Poker, the owners of Poker Stars likely couldn't care less if they step foot in the U.S. again. Moreover, only Party Poker was incorporated and needs to answer to shareholders and the regulatory body where they are incorporated. The owners and management of Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker only have to answer to themselves.

Asked it he had a preference in the upcoming U.S. election, Lakin (like everyone in the gaming industry I have put the question to) stated he wants to see a Democrat win. "When you look at the UIGEA and similar bills it's always the Republicans behind [them]. And all bills that counter the UIGEA are being put forth by Democrats." When I mentioned that Barak Obama is a well known poker player, Lakin responded, "I don't know if that matters. I'm sure George Bush and John McCain play poker as well. But it's not about playing poker, it's about the superiority of telling you that they believe what's better for you than you do."

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.

Poker Humor At It´s Best!

With all the cheating scandals and dark clouds hanging over the online poker world these days, of which I´ve been blogging about, I think it´s high time for a bit of poker humor--online poker humor of course!

So please read this little tale and enjoy a laugh before you go back to your favorite online poker room and risk getting scammed, cheated, defrauded, bilked or even worse!

POKER THIEVES NAB 273 QUADRILLION CHIPS!!!

On the Internet, no one knows your dog plays poker, but PokerBlokes.net, a popular online poker site, was robbed of 273 quadrillion chips in a daring heist over the weekend. Investigators are describing it as the largest theft of play money in history.

According to a police report, two men showed up at PokerBlokes headquarters on Saturday morning, posing as florists. One man distracted an employee while the other man set a large potted plant in the lobby. The pot was large enough to hide a wireless router attached to a car battery. The men spent the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday downloading chips. The theft was discovered on Monday morning when players couldn't access the play money in their accounts.

"Right now we think it was an inside job," said Detective Daniel Waterson. "The men knew exactly where to put the plant for maximum bandwidth." Investigators have been studying employee records for possible leads.

Blake "Bloke" Dodge, the site's owner, told reporters he may be forced to shut down if the chips aren't recovered quickly. "Gaming rules require us to keep enough reserves in our vault to cover payouts. The criminals took 1,387% of all the chips currently in players' accounts." Dodge said he has filed for a two month waiver "so our software can generate enough chips to replenish our reserves."

Even if regulators approve the waiver, PokerBlokes might still collapse due to hyperinflation. "Our play money will be worthless if we don't recover those chips," Dodge admitted. "Also, many of our players have lost faith in our security. They're taking their winnings to other poker sites. The exodus is bleeding us dry."

Dodge believes the chips will end up on the black market. "It's a lucrative business," he said. "You can buy Monopoly money, EverQuest experience points, and poker chips for pennies on the dollar if you know where to look." Dodge fears the profits will be used to support Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.

Police are warning auction sites and online casinos to watch for anyone trying to sell or launder chips. "I'd be suspicious if someone wanted to convert, say, 50 trillion PokerBlokes chips into 25 million chips at any of the tables I guard," said Greg Wilson, a respected poker security expert. "Contact a local law enforcement agency if someone offers you a billion poker chips at an unbelievably cheap price."

PokerBlokes is offering a trillion-chip reward "for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators."

New Blackjack Card Marking Cheat Scam!

Here´s a new and very effective version of the old "Spill The Drink Card Marking Scam."

The scam has a player sitting on a blackjack game with the dealer dealing the first card. The player receiving the card in first position sees the card is an Ace and proceeds to spill a drink on the card. The card is quickly changed out by the table games staff and replaced with a new Ace. Little does the staff realize but the cards were in play for almost an entire shift. The player involved in the unknown scam will simply look for the bright white edge of the new Ace when the deck is presented after the new shuffle for the cut. He will cut one card in front of the Ace and have a double digit edge over the house when he receives the Ace.

This scam is very easy to pull off. If you take several decks of used cards and place a new Ace of Diamonds into the mix, the newer white border easily stands out and presents the perfect cut and steer target.

Latest Blackjack Dealer Card Reader Cheat Scam!

Is it possible for a cheating blackjack dealer to work with a partner by signaling out certain card values without typical flashing techniques? There is one clever way to do it:

Have you ever observed the reader device on a blackjack table? It´s the little red, black or green plastic bracket that the dealer slides his cards into to determine whether or not he has blackjack when his up card is either a ten or ace. This reader device, which is installed on blackjack tables to both save time and protect the casino from cheating dealers looking to signal the value of their hole card to cohorts, is often overlooked when casino bosses are trying to spot cheating blackjack dealers.

It is not commonly known that if a ten value card is placed in the reader device horizontally instead of vertically, you will see the index value if the hole card is a ten point card. Now that the dealer has obtained the value, it is as simple as a prearranged signal to the agent on the game. Advanced knowledge of the hole card
NOT being a ten-value card can also be employed as well. Also factor in that most dealers often place their hand on top of the card covering all or most of the card as it is placed in the reader device.

Look at the photos below showing a typical game where the dealer has a Queen as the up card. As shown below the dealer should place the hole card in the reader device vertically. Unless an Ace is the hole card you will not see any symbol and/or index in the optic viewer. When you place the ten point value card in the reader device horizontally, parts of the index of any ten value card will show within the optic. All of the opportunities now present themselves for a dealer/partner scam.

The up card is shown incorrectly being placed in the reader device. An example of the hole card that the dealer sees in the optic is also shown. The King of Hearts is our hole card.

UltimateBet Signs Two Major Poker Pros In Wake Of Cheats Scandal!

Just like Absolute Poker before it, UltimateBet has figured out the best way to sweep the latest major online poker scandal under the rug--sign top of the line "clean" poker pros to join its team to distract attention from the cheating issues. It seems that this now common solution goes hand in hand with online gaming commissions´ lack of meting out any serious punishment to the cheats caught rigging online poker. An article by Gary Trask, who appropriately calls UltimateBet´s actions "damage control," gives the details.

UltimateBet signs two major poker pros in wake of cheating scandal

Call it damage control. Call it good P.R. Or simply call it a case of good timing.

Whatever the case, UltimateBet's signing of two high-profile poker pros -- Eric "Rizen" Lynch and Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy -- in the immediate aftermath of a troublesome cheating scandal had a stirring affect on the poker community, prompting the popular pros to try and immediately defuse any questions about a lack of ethics.

"I realize that this decision is not without controversy and assure everyone that it is a decision I did not take lightly," Lynch wrote Wednesday on his blog at www.rizenpoker.com, just one day after his partnership with UB was announced. "The most important reason for me personally (I cannot speak for the other pros) is that I believe in my relationship with Ultimate Bet that their management is committed to creating the premier place to play poker online. I believe that the new management 'gets it' and that my input and feedback will be listened to and used to improve the site."

Meanwhile, Josephy added on the Poker Fives poker forums: "I have always enjoyed playing at UltimateBet. The interface and the structure are 2nd to none. It is my belief that management is committed to doing the right things on a going forward basis. Thus, I have decided to support them. I will do all I can to ensure the players really like the improved UB."
Last week, UltimateBet's owner, Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, admitted that its security had been breached by former employees and accounts with access to opponents' hole cards were used to cheat in high-stakes games.

The company announced that "certain player accounts did in fact have an unfair advantage" and that "the individuals responsible were found to have worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006." In addition, Tokwiro said that it eliminated the "software hole" that allowed hole cards to be seen and was going to institute new procedures to "prevent, detect and investigate unfair play and fraud."

Lynch went on to say in his blog that he saw no "red flags" as he researched whether or not he wanted to be associated with UB.

"I obviously cannot reveal the details of conversations that I've had with people both internal and external to the company, but I can say that I did more detailed research on this decision than I have any other business related decision in my life," Lynch wrote.

"I talked with and interviewed people both in and out of the company (the people I used outside of the company were contacts that deal with that management team on a regular basis for various reason whose opinions I both highly respect and believed to be unbiased) and not a single word I heard raised a red flag to me."

"If I had ANY doubts in my mind that going forward that the management team at Ultimate Bet did not have security as a top priority and that they had the ability to execute those security improvements in the future we wouldn't be having this conversation because I would not have signed with them."

In 2007, Lynch cashed five times at the World Series of Poker and made two final tables, winning over $163,000. His online successes are well documented. Last December, he finished first in Event #5 of UltimateBet's Online Championship (UBOC), securing $57,875. On May 1, Lynch won $10,400 after capturing UltimateBet's $40,000 Guaranteed Sniper tournament.

"We're extremely impressed with Rizen's talent both at the online poker tables and at land-based tournaments," said Annie Duke, UltimateBet's Cardroom Consultant, of Lynch, who also announced on his blog that a "significant portion" of his proceeds from Ultimate Bet would go to charity. "But we're most impressed with the integrity and strong values he shares with Josephy."

Josephy, a WSOP Bracelet winner and New York native, joined UB's list of Star Players just one week before Lynch and took his place at the online poker room alongside other pros like Shawn Rice, Scott Ian, Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon and Gary "Debo34" DeBernardi. Josephy won his bracelet at the 2005 WSOP, Event #8. His most lucrative win, however, came in September of 2006 at the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic, where a second place finish earned him nearly half a million dollars.

"A Star Player is one who has an undisputed high level of skill, lots of integrity, and is well respected in the world of online poker," Duke added. "One look at his impressive record reveals that JohnnyBax epitomizes a Star Player and is the perfect addition to our roster of respected and talented poker players."

James Bond Poker Cheats Caught in Cyprus Casinos!

A new tiny-hidden-camera scam has been busted in Cyprus, no doubt targeting poker variant games that now appear regulary in casinos across the world. Back in 2005, we saw the "Three Card Poker Gang" caught with their mini-cameras in their sleeves in London after bagging more than a half million bucks in profits. Now we have a Russian gang going down for the same gig in Cyprus, and more and more I´m seeing Eastern Europeans at the forefront of high-tech-gadget casino cheating. Remember, it was a group of Hungarians who put down the famous Ritz roulette scam back in 2004 with laser scanners embedded in cell phones. Just like the Russians took over the fraudulent credit card business, they´re taking over the casino cheating business!

The headline in the Cyprian Famagusta Gazette read:

"James Bond" mafia ring caught Cheating in Cyprus!"

Four Russians appeared in court in occupied northern Cyprus accused of trying to swindle thousands of pounds from casinos by using "James Bond-style equipment" to try and beat the casinos.

The men, dubbed "The James Bond Mafia" by local press, cheated casinos by using pin-hole cameras hidden in cigarette packets, tiny microphones and even a van equipped with "enough surveillance gadgetry to conduct a full scale CIA operation".

Satellites, shortwave radio, internet and other cutting-edge devices never seen in Cyprus were discovered in the van, which was stationed outside the casino in a car park.

The officer leading the investigation told the Famagusta Gazette that after they found two suitcases of high tech gadgets in the Russian men’s hotel suite he knew they were dealing with highly skilled criminals.

The target of the gang was the popular "Viva Casino" in Kyrenia, where the Russians carried out their operations for over a week, before raising the suspicions of the casino detectives – who in turn, carried out their own surveillance on the Russians.

According to allegations, the Russians had perfected a fine-tuned system and had been moving from casino to casino in the occupied areas. The Viva Casino reported the men had taken over US$18,000 from them last week in "winnings".

If found guilty, the gang could face up to 10 years in prison

Followup To My Article On Poker And Steroids Cheating

Last month I wrote an article about doping in the online poker world. Today I found this followup article on the PokerVerdict website written by Hugo Martin. As he says about my article, I found his to be pretty interesting as well, and worthy of putting on this blog. So please read it and let me know what you think...and don´t forget that this article was written before UltimateBet admitted to the huge online poker scam on its site.

Pills, Thrills and Bad Beats
Doping and Poker, the Future of Tournaments?
By Hugo Martin 30 May 2008

A recent article in Gambling Online magazine by Richard Marcus focused on using pharmaceutical drugs in order to enhance one’s poker game.

The article was interesting and maybe a touch hysterical, claiming that this was the dawn of “poker steroids” and seemed more concerned about players taking drugs like Modafinil and Adderall when they played online.

Whilst I agree that there is an issue about the use of these drugs in big buy-in live events, getting worked up about some kid taking these pills while they multi-table online seems a bit pointless. As I have written somewhere else, online poker is the Wild Wild West, anything goes baby!

You only have to look at recent online cheating and ghosting scandals to know that there is plenty of monkey business going on. The ZeeJustin multi-accounting and Sorel Mizzi ghosting fiascos were probably just the tip of the iceberg on those fronts, let alone the superuser debacles at UltimateBet and Absolute Poker.

Basically, when you’re playing online you have no clue what your opponents are up to. Who cares if they’re taking recreational or prescription drugs that help their game? You’re playing because you want action, and maybe the only action you can get is online with some nutter who is doped up to the eyeballs who also happens to be asking his roommate, and other various buddies who have dropped round for a couple of beers, how he should play this next hand.

Capiche? When playing internet poker, remember rule number one, Caveat Emptor.

Playing live, though, is a whole ‘nother ball game. I shall specifically address tournaments as these days poker is considered a sport, especially the big buy-in events such as the WSOP, EPT and WPT main events.

Modafinil and Adderall are primarily prescribed for ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. In other words they help you pay attention, and stay awake. Modafinil has been used by the military to aid the performance of pilots and soldiers in combat situations.

Mike Matusow is on record talking about various medications he has used and how different combinations have helped him maintain focus during long tournaments. Diagnosed with bi-polar disorder (also known as manic depression) Matusow has been frank about how having his prescriptions changed have helped or hindered his game.

From an interview with InsidePoker magazine he gave in 2006 Matusow talks about the reason he went out 64th after having a very healthy chip stack in a big tournament in Atlantic City,

“I was fucked up on the wrong medicine my doctor gave me and it had me suicidal at the table.”

Another player who has benefited from popping pills is retired poker pro Paul Phillips. According to Wikipedia Phillips claimed that Modafinil and other drugs aided his concentration in big tournaments which led to him winning over $2 million, including a WPT title, during his time as a professional poker player. The drugs had been prescribed to him for treatment of ADHD.

Obviously these two players had serious medical issues and therefore legitimate reasons to be taking these drugs. Performance enhancement at the poker table was a happy side-effect. Will loads of poker players decide that they suffer from ADHD or suddenly decide that they have always been bi-polar, but just never realized it before, just so that they can get the “right” prescriptions? Maybe Mike the Mouth will find a new line in selling his meds.

At the moment there are no rules regarding drug use in poker, but if there are going to be rules implemented where do we draw the line? We all know players who suddenly find a bit of confidence after one or two drinks, should that be allowed? Or what about the players who loosen up too much after a couple of drinks? Nobody is complaining about them.

What about illegal drugs? Cocaine, marijuana and so on. I suspect half of the Amazon room at the Rio would have to be ejected if that was the case. How fair or unfair is it? Taking the example of the two players above those are cases where both players were already skillful at a high (no pun intended) level.

Giving an already good player more of edge by being able to perform longer mentally and at a more concentrated level than normal certainly sounds disadvantageous to the rest of us mere mortals. According to Richard Marcus in Gambling Online, Modafinil,

“not only helps in gathering knowledge with a sharp, observational outlook, but also in applying intellect without normal taxation”

I can already hear mass-clicking on Google trying to look up where they can get a hold of some of this Modafinil. “Applying intellect without taxation”, you mean you won’t even have to try? Sounds good doesn’t it?

Marcus goes onto write that it may be possible that the drug can also help wipe out tilt, enabling a player to see beyond the immediate result and instead focus on the big picture. Wow, I know a lot of players who would like that.

Is it possible for tournament poker to become like cycling or athletics? Where if you are not taking anything you are the odd one out and in fact have given yourself almost no shot at winning? Poker players and shrewd gamblers are always looking for an edge so this sort of scenario could well end up being a reality. After all, if you’re as good as Phil Ivey then maybe the only way to beat him is to give yourself that little bit more mental muscle.

But, let’s not forget the luck factor. Fortunately poker, and especially tournaments, as we all know, has a large element of chance built into it so in a way it doesn’t matter if some ice cream opposite you is loaded up on “brain steroids”, he is still not immune to bad beats just like the rest of us.

Also, it has to be said, that pretty much every really good player has actually worked very hard on their game, logging in hours and hours, online or live, of hand after hand. No amount of Adderall or Modafinil can be a substitute for experience.

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.

UltimateBet Online Poker Cheat Scam Comes Clean With Tokwiro Enterprises Admission!

Here we go again! I said it two and half years ago, that hole cards were being exposed in online poker games, and nearly everyone in the poker community called me crazy. But now Tokwiro Enterprises, owner of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, has had to come out of the closet and admit that its second prized online poker site
was devastatingly compromised, after its first, Absolute Poker, suffered the same blow from the same peeking-at-hole-cards scam.

The headlines blared: Close Former Employees Had Access to Opponents' Holecards for 21 Months

Tokwiro Enterprises, the company that owns both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, today released a statement confirming that cheating had gone on at UltimateBet by people who, according to the release, “worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006.”

The player or players behind the 18 screen names that were identified as being corrupted have not been named. Tokwiro will refund players their losses once the investigation is complete. The usernames that were used to cheat are: NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen.

The cheating was able to take place because the perpetrators had access to what Tokwiro is calling an “unauthorized software code” that allowed the cheaters to see their opponents’ holecards. The cheating took place from March 7, 2006 to Dec. 3, 2007, and it’s not known how much money the cheater(s) illicitly won.

As soon as the cheating was suspected, Tokwiro said it contacted the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), the most used online poker regulatory commission, to start the investigation. Tokwiro is mandated to contact KGC if any suspicious activety might be taking place.

This is the second cheating incident to hit the company since it purchased Absolute
Poker and UltimateBet. The first occurred when it was discovered that several players at Absolute Poker also had access to software that allowed them to see opponents’ hole cards.

The entire press release, which provided a timeline of the incident, follows:

MONTREAL, CANADA (MAY 29, 2008) --- Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG ("Tokwiro"), proprietors of UltimateBet.com ("UltimateBet"), one of the world's largest online card rooms, today announced the results of its lengthy investigation into allegations of unfair play, which was triggered by concerns about an account named 'NioNio'. Tokwiro has worked diligently in cooperation with its regulatory body, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission ("KGC"), and with independent third-party experts to conduct a thorough investigation that included a comprehensive review of hand histories and game data, thorough analyses of software and network security, and audits of its security practices and procedures.

The investigation has concluded that certain player accounts did in fact have an unfair advantage, and that these accounts targeted the highest limit games on the site. The individuals responsible were found to have worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006. 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 fraudulent activity was enabled by unauthorized software code that allowed the
perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The existence of this
vulnerability was unknown to Tokwiro until February 2008 and existed prior to
UltimateBet's acquisition by Tokwiro in October 2006. Our investigation has confirmed that the code was part of a legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators. Gaming Associates, independent auditors hired by the KGC, have confirmed that the software code that provided the unfair advantage has been permanently removed.

Throughout the investigation of this incident, Tokwiro's consistent priorities have been:

To permanently remove the ability to engage in unfair play.
To complete its investigation and come to a full understanding of what occurred.
To refund the affected customers.
To implement measures that prevents future incidents.

The Company said, "We would like to thank our customers for their patience, loyalty and support, as well as for their understanding that we are doing everything we can to correct this situation. The staff and management of UltimateBet are fully committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our players, and we want to assure customers of our unwavering resolve to monitor site security with every resource at our disposal."

Investigation Timeline

These are the key events in the course of the incident.

January 2008: UltimateBet is alerted to suspicions of unfair play on the part of the
account "NioNio". Within 24 hours, UltimateBet contacts the KGC to provide formal notice that UltimateBet has initiated an investigation of the incident.

UltimateBet subsequently forwarded a copy of all related data to the KGC.
January 2008: The "NioNio" account and related accounts are suspended pending further investigation.

February 2008: Preliminary findings indicate abnormally high winning statistics for the suspect accounts. After discussions with the KGC, UltimateBet engages third-party gaming experts to assist with the analysis.

February 2008: Investigators confirm that the suspect accounts are associated with
individuals who had worked for UltimateBet under the previous ownership.
February 2008: UltimateBet discovers the unauthorized code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The code was part of a legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators of the fraud.

February 2008: UltimateBet immediately removes the unauthorized code and works with the KGC and with third-party auditors to verify that the security hole has been eliminated.

March 2008: Six player accounts are confirmed to have participated in this scheme. No accounts were deleted at any point, although some account names were changed multiple times. The following account names are known to have been used in the fraudulent activity: NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen.

May 2008: The investigation confirms that the fraudulent activity took place from March 7, 2006 to December 3, 2007.

May 2008: Gaming Associates certifies that the software code that enabled unfair play was removed from UltimateBet servers in February of 2008.

May 2008: Customers affected by this incident are identified, and plans for corrective action are reviewed with the KGC.

Corrective Actions Taken:

The following actions have been taken or are currently underway as a direct result of this investigation:

The security hole identified in UltimateBet's investigation has been permanently
eliminated.

UltimateBet is establishing a state-of-the-art software Security Center that
consolidates and greatly enhances existing security capabilities. The first release of the new Security Center focuses solely on the immediate detection of abnormal winnings. Gaming mathematicians, poker professionals, and security software developers have all contributed to the specifications for the new Security Center.

UltimateBet customers are no longer permitted to change account names unless they have suffered abuse in chat rooms. Requests for changes must be supported by proof of abuse and must be approved by the Chief Compliance Officer. In addition to its existing security department, UltimateBet has established a new specialized Poker Security team of professionals dedicated to fraud prevention.

The refund process will begin immediately. The accounts associated with fraudulent
activity did not use an unfair advantage in all play sessions. Regardless, UltimateBet is refunding all losses to these accounts.

Accounts related to the fraudulent activity have been disabled, and the individuals
associated with those accounts permanently banned from the site. UltimateBet has worked closely and transparently with its governing body, the KGC and its designated expert auditors, to determine exactly what happened, how it happened, and who was involved, and has taken action to prevent any possibility of this situation
recurring.

Tokwiro is pursuing its legal options in regard to this incident.

WHEN WILL IT END???