New Software Flaws at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet!

Here we go again! If we haven't heard enough already about huge online poker cheat scams plaguing Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, this oughta wet your appetite some more. I'm not saying that we're soon gonna see a scam of the likes of those that have already hit these two sites, but we may be seeing something cheatwise that is brewing.

This article from recentpoker.com hits the online poker cheating alert button!

Article:

The management at Cereus online poker network owners Tokwiro Enterprises must have groaned in dismay just before the weekend as news broke that a new software flaw had been uncovered at the network, comprised of the AbsolutePoker and UltimateBet websites.

The two online poker sites have historically been the setting for online poker’s biggest cheating scandals which cost Tokwiro millions of dollars in licensing jurisdiction fines and player compensation, and more on painstakingly rebuilding badly dented reputations.

The current issue was exposed by the information portal Poker Table Ratings and apparently has the potential to result in the possibility of a cheater ‘seizing’ control of a player’s account and seeing his or her hole cards. PTR immediately went to press to warn players, at the same time passing on its information to Tokwiro. The portal additionally issued a “security alert” advising players not to play at AP/UB on grounds that Cereus was using XOR encryption rather than the poker industry standard SSL protocol for all network transmissions.

One notable difference in how the issue is being handled has become immediately apparent; gone is the past approach of denial, secrecy and procrastination. In its place, Paul Leggett as chief operating officer for Tokwiro immediately took the issue on board and started blogging.

This was what he had to say:

“One hour ago, I learned about an article posted today on Poker Table Ratings (PTR) regarding an issue with the local encryption that we use on the Cereus Poker Network. For those of you not familiar with the issue, PTR was able to crack our local encryption method. I wanted to blog to make sure our players and the poker community know how seriously we take this issue. I would like to start by reminding everyone that someone would have to have the technical capabilities to crack the encryption method we currently use and they would also have to hack into your local network in order to gain access to sensitive [player gaming] data. We are currently working on implementing a new encryption method and we expect to have it live in a matter of hours.”

Leggett went on to comment that the revelations were embarrassing inasmuch as internal IT staff had not caught the flaw and neither had “the countless audits we’ve been through this year and last year.” He assured readers that the company has spent a significant amount of money on all types of security since the AB and UB debacles, and has plans to invest in new security resources and third parties to test these to ensure that players are protected by the best security that money can buy.

Leggett publicly thanked Poker Table Ratings for exposing the encryption flaw. “We will continue to update you on this issue but we will not rest until it is fixed and as I stated earlier, we plan to have this issue resolved within a matter of hours.”

A software update was issued a few hours later, and the firm promised the release of a more advanced solution using the Open SSL protocol, scheduled to be available in one week. Leggett also immediately alerted the Cereus licensing jurisdiction – the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

Leggett was immediately challenged by one poster who claimed: “It is completely untrue that someone would have to have local network access to take advantage of this, and that assertion is flat out wrong. Someone working for UB’s ISP could intercept ALL traffic coming into UB’s servers and use this exploit. The [gaming] data is vulnerable at EVERY hop between the user’s PC and the server. Your response is also unacceptable, by not immediately shutting down ALL games, you are allowing this vulnerability to persist on LIVE games while you fix it.”

Respected poker journo B.J. Nemath took a calmer view, noting that computer security takes many forms, and there are many different points of potential vulnerability. “This exploit is completely different than the one allegedly used by Russ Hamilton [in the previous scandal] to see his opponent’s hole cards from anywhere in the world,” Nemath opined. “Notice that in this exploit, you can only see hole cards for players on a locally-accessible network — in this test, the guy can only see his own hole cards. That’s because your opponents’ hole cards aren’t transmitted to your computer until the hand reaches showdown. “But if you knew where your opponent lived, and had someone parked down the street “sniffing” his wireless network, that person could call you on his cellphone and tell you your opponents hole cards at the start of each and every hand. “I’m not trying to lessen this issue - it’s a very big deal, and this security hole needs to be fixed ASAP. This seems to be a simple fix (with a short-term patch in less than 24 hours and a long-term fix coming in a week).”

It seems the AB/UB history will never be laid completely to rest; just last week the former editor of Poker News, Haley Hintze, published on her blog extensive findings and insider information on the historic scandals.
She continues to investigate the issues on suspicions of cover ups at the time, suggesting that Russ Hamilton may have been a scapegoat whilst others went free and unidentified.

Casino Street-Cheat Scams Running Amok in Asia!

Asia has a long history of casino-related street cheating scams but it seems now that as more and more Asian countries opt for legalized casino gambling, more Asian crime gangs are coming out of the woodwork to cheat foreign gamblers even before they get the chance to enter casinos. Here's one of the latest Asian casino-cheat street scams that is plaguing Vietnam.

Source: thanhniennews.com

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested four Filipinos from a group who allegedly invited foreigners in Vietnam to join card games and cheated them out of thousands of dollars each time. Three members of the group, Aserdin Cadion Eduardo, 44, Pineda Sevilla Regina, 31 and Elizag Jovito Corpuz, 31 were caught on May 3 in District 1 when they were escorting a Japanese victim to his hotel, asking him to get a further 100,000 Yen (US$1,058) to continue playing. The Japanese, Wakita Kiyohiko, 43, had lost $73 to the game by then.

Investigators found that Eduardo had met Kiyohiko on the street and brought him to a rented home on Nguyen Thuong Hien Street in Binh Thanh District, ostensibly to help translate a letter from a relative in Japan, a trick deployed frequently by the gang. Eduardo, also known as Alex, introduced himself as a card dealer at a casino and offered to teach Kiyohiko how to play.

The group leader Gaspar Gaudenecio JR. Mariano, also known as Gado, and other Filipinos were called to the house to play with him. Gado pretended to lose at first and then they cheated Kiyohiko to win $73, police said.
Gado has managed to evade the police thus far.

Police caught another member Estreuta M. Debelem, 40, when searching the rented house in Binh Thanh District. The gang’s victims were brought to the house every time. Four packs of cards were seized, with a laptop and 300 chips of different denominations including $10, $1,000 and $10,000.
Investigators suspect the group has 6-8 members.

They also found that there were several similar groups from the Philippines operating such scams since 2008, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. A special investigation was started on April 16 after foreign consulates in HCMC reported that their citizens had lost a lot of money after being cheated at card games. Most of the victims were Japanese and South Korean men.

The detained Filipinos told the police they entered Vietnam as tourists, stayed for a couple of months to “earn” money and returned home. Each member has earned around $20,000 since 2008, Tuoi Tre reported on May 3.
They also ran similar operations in Cambodia and Thailand, cheating foreigners from the US, Europe or other Asian countries, the group members confessed. Police are looking for all Filipinos involved in the scam. Two Vietnamese citizens involved in the operation have been summoned by the police but their identities have not been revealed yet.

English-Only Anti-Cheating Rule Causing Problems For Canadian Casinos

If you're a brick and mortar poker player, especially in the UK, you know about the "English-Only" rule that is strictly enforced in British casinos. Although it is also enforced in all US poker rooms, this rule stating that players at the table may only converse in the English language is less adhered to in the US. The reason for the rule is plain and simple: allowing players to communicate verbally only in the world's most common language makes it more difficult for collusion players and other cheaters speaking foreign languages to advance their poker cheat scams via communication.

In Canada, however, many see this rule as unfair. Although English is the dominant language in Canada, French has equal official status and is spoken by the natives of the country's largest province, Quebec. French-Canadian citizens playing poker at casinos in chiefly English-speaking provinces feel they are being discrimnated against when told they may not speak French at their poker tables. They certainly have a point when you consider that French is an official language of Canada. As far as the casinos in Quebec go, I am not sure of each one's policy but I believe both languages are permitted at the poker table. In any case, I think there are generally enough bilingual (English and French) poker players in Canada to recognize any cheat-conversation going on in either language.

The Canadian government will probably have to get involved in this if the problem continues to disturb casino poker games. I am told that some casinos will open up French-only tables upon request, which to me seems like a pretty fair consideration on the casinos' part. In the meantime:

"Defense de tricher!"

It means "cheating prohibited!"

Can Poker Cheats and Casino Cheats Succeed Better Than Honest Players Outside the Poker World?

Great question...but the answer is easy. Many ex-poker and casino cheats do exactly that, and I'm not just talking about cheats who retire to go on to careers consulting to poker rooms and casinos in the areas of table game protection and anti-cheating. I'm talking about ex-cheats moving into fields that have nothing to do with casinos and poker.

One profession where ex-casino and poker cheats fare quite well is that of practicing law, often big-time law such as Wall Street class-action suits and big-business mergers. Why is this? I think it's because that thrill of pulling the wool over someone's eyes exists in big-time lawyering just like it is when cheating casinos and poker tables. Case in point is a friend and ex-casino cheat partner of mine who was involved in winning a seven-figure settlement for his client who was injured due to negligence--in all places, a casino! LOL but it is true. I cannot mention this person's name but can assure you that in the courtroom his "claim" was as effective as when he was claiming a pastposted bet I slipped in on a roulette layout.

I guess this avenue of success after a life of casino and poker cheating comes from the fact that people who do cheat in casinos and in poker games are, whether you like it or not, more intelligent than the average honest person or gambler. Please don't get pissed at me for saying this but it is true. In no way am I saying that ex-cheats have better chances for success in honest fields than anyone else, only that strong mental acuity sometimes leads to wanting to win via the shortcut. In fact, there may be some form of character defect that leads a person down the path of cheating at poker and blackjact. In my case, it started as degenerate gambling and evolved into cheating when I realized there was no other way of "earning" money in casinos except for counting cards in blackjack and other advantage-play tactics. But I never had the patience for any of those...could be my own character defect...

Negreanu Calls Poker Players Wearing Sunglasses Cheats!

Once again, poker pro Daniel Negreanu is running off with his mouth and saying stupid things. His latest is that poker players who wear sunglasses at the table are cheating. Gimme a break! Since all poker players have the right to wear glasses, then how can the ones that opt to do so be considered cheats? Just a few weeks ago, Negreanu mouthed off about how Major League Baseball is ridiculous. I criticized him for talking about everything he considers cheating and a scam while refusing to tell the world that his and everyone else's appearance on the GSN Poker TV show "High Stakes Poker" is the biggest cheat scam of all-time. Of course Negreanu will never say a thing about that.

Negreanu’s outburst about sunglasses at the poker table is related to his latest TV show (from which he of course receives more hype and TV money) "The Big Game," which happens to ban sunglasses at the poker game on the set. The truth is that this move is nothing more than a stunt to make the public believe that the show is real and won't put up with cheating at poker. I just wish the public would wise up to all this bullshit.

Negreanu's words: “One thing I love about our show, is that FINALLY there is a rule in place where you can't hide like a chicken behind sunglasses! I swear: every TV producer should ban sunglasses entirely from any televised event. They are so bad for poker on so many levels.”

He adds that there are lots of other reason why sunglasses should be banned at all brick and mortar poker tables, even offering his aid to petition to have them banned. When asked why he would speak out so openly against sunglasses, Negreanu answered, “I won't get into that.”
Sure, Danny.

Then he drags UltimateBet cheat Russ Hamilton into it, saying, “Let's just say that guys like Russ Hamilton would oppose such a ban. I'm not making this up, it's just a fact. Banning sunglasses helps to protect the integrity of the game against cheating. For that reason alone, they should be completely outlawed from poker. No other sport or organization would allow competitors a device that makes it easier for them to get away with cheating.“

Maybe Negreanu's next advice will be that wearing sunglasses while playing poker online is cheating too! LOL

So Who's Really the Best Poker Cheat Out There?

Is it Doyle Brunson? Is it Phil Hellmuth? Is it Men "The Master" Nguyen? Could it possibly be Barry Greenstein...with a face like that? How about Scotty Nguyen? Or any other Nguyen, or for that matter, Tran?

Or is it Russ Hamilton?...Wait a minute! Let's keep this discussion limited to brick and mortar poker cheats! It would be impossible to crown the best poker cheat online; there are simply too many of them, and what makes that tougher is that the vast majority of them are well-hidden and remain unknown.

But wait another minute! Does that mean that Russ Hamilton is not or never was a brick and mortar poker cheat? Of course not. In fact, he most likely is or was, but I doubt he was the best.

The best nuts and bolts poker cheat in the last fifty years was probably Russ Georgiev, but he died recently, so unless his ghost is out there cheating, he's no longer around. So that brings me to two possibilites: Men Nguyen or anyone else out there we haven't yet heard about. I am going to of course choose the poker cheat we haven't yet heard about as the best, simply because the truly best poker cheat out there would remain unknown by definition. But for those cheats who have been caught or who haven't been but have cheating reputations, I am going to say the best around is Men "The Master" Nguyen. Why Men? Well, it's not because of any physical poker-cheat skills. As far as I know he's never been caught with solid evidence against him proving cheating. But in modern poker cheating the best cheats are the ones who organize poker cheat teams that operate over a long period of time without getting busted. Men Nguyen, more than any other major poker cheat, seems to have accomplished this. He has also allegedly engineered many tournament cheat-rings specializing in holding out chips and adding them back to their players' stacks at opportune moments.

Most professional brick and mortar poker cheat teams are of Russian or Vietnamese origin. Don't get me wrong: the Russians are about as good as it gets when it comes to organized brick and mortar poker cheating. But Men Nguyen's team is even better. Don't forget that Men has to operate at the same time he is a celebrity, and due to his reputation he is always under the watchful eyes of those who know or suspect he's a cheat. The Russian head-honcho cheats basically operate under the radar. Men, in spite of his celebrity and notoriety, has allegedly very sufficiently run one of the world's best brick and mortar poker-collusion teams for nearly three decades...and he's taken a helluva lot of heat! But he still has never been "caught."

Congratulations Men, you're the best poker cheat of 'em all...allegedly   

Macau Business Magazine Article on Richard Marcus' Cheating Career!

I was recently interviewed by Macau Business Magazine, one of the most important financial and casino industry magazines in Asia. The topic of the feature article is the widespread cheating that is going on in Macau, which you might know has become the biggest legalized casino-gambling area in the world, surpassing even Las Vegas. A large part of the article covers my cheating career. In all, it is a very well-written and informative piece. Read it here.

More Heavy Evidence In Absolute Poker Online Cheating Scandal!

It's been more than two years since the giant online poker cheat scams surfaced at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, but new evidence keep coming in! Haley Hintze, a former reporter/writer for pokernews.com who covered the scandals, has recently blogged that Scott Tom, Absolute Poker co-founder, was more than just a small cog within the "ferris wheel" online poker cheat scam. She says he was directly involved in using superuser accounts on Absolute Poker.

Here is what she said.

My Take: Shit, I knew Tom was up to his eyeballs in it, and probably so did you, but nevertheless, Hintze has done a good job laying out the dirt.

US Casinos More Worried About Cheating On Player Loyalty Cards Than At The Tables and Slots!

More and more high-tech casino cheats are getting into the art of cheating the Player Loyalty Cards that casinos use to suck money out of gamblers by offering time-incentives for their action, based both on the amount of their bets and their accumulated time spent gambling. The most common rewards coming off these loyalty cards are free rooms and meals (forget it, guys, no hookers on the house! LOL). The high-tech cheats, often dealers and other people working inside the casino, manipulate the information contained on the loyalty cards to obtain rewards that their cohort players can sell to people looking for discounts on rooms and meals. For instance, a person buying chips at a table or using his players´ card at slot machines for $1,000 can get rewards for a player buying in for $10,000--if someone enters that false information into the player loyalty card data base. Their average bet and time playing can also be falsely entered. All this leads to more points and more rewards, which eventually turn into cash that the casino loses.

Casinos in the US are fighting this casino cheat scam by creating algorithms that identify fraudulent playing activity. One way of spotting this is when that activity deviates significantly from normal play. They can then compare players visual play taken from surveillance video and compare it with the information entered into the player loyalty card data base. If it doesn't jibe, then they know someone's been whacking the system.

Some casinos are using an information systems consulting company called Synectics to help integrate multiple systems into one big automated red-flag operative.

“One of the fundamentals is that there are too many cameras and too many dispersed systems and it’s difficult to sift through all that benign data to find out what’s worth looking at,” John Katnic, chief operating officer and vice president of Synectics has said. “This is a means of dealing with escalating security data and what to look at and the way to look at it and what’s outside the trend.”

My take: well, I don't really give a crap about casinos catching player-loyalty-card cheats. In fact, better they focus their attention on them than on guys looking to cheat casinos the old-fashioned way--on the tables!

Casino and Poker Cheating Alert!

Poker and Casino Cheats: Get your asses to Singapore! But don't get caught!

Today, April 27, Singapore's second giant casino opened. It's the Sands Marina Bay Casino, and like the first giant casino that opened in Singapore, Sentosa's Resort World Casino, it will be extremely ripe for those heapin' cheatin' pickin's. The Resort World Casino has been getting the shit kicked out of it by professional cheat teams that have descended on it from all over the world. Only one of these teams has been busted to date, due to a foolishness that really surprised me. That particular French/Spanish team was guilty of continuing to work the casino when they knew they had heat from payoffs on previous cheat moves.

Like its sister casino, the Sands Marina Bay is completely staffed with inexperienced people and with a surveillance department that will be relying completely on its video cameras. No one up in the eye-in-the-sky has a clue to spot moves on their own, which means that the good cheat teams will just beat them up on the casino floor and the eye will never be called into play, except when the amateur cheats do their stupid rank moves and the rats snitch them out.

How long will these two casino candy stores stay sweet for cheats? At least a year...enjoy it while you can!