Absolute Poker Warning

acenuts · Sep 20,2007, 06:40 PM

Hey all,

I'm new to this forum, but i've been reading 2+2 for years.

I just thought I warn everyone about the possible cheating going on a Absolute Poker. Before I post the link, I want to clarify I am not an "online poker is rigged" conspiracy theorist. I believe online poker is 99% ligitimate, and I play on Stars, FTP and UB. The claims also come from very reputable posters and higher stakes winning players.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...0&fpart=1&vc=1

This is an isolated incident on Absolute.

Although it's not 100% proof, after reading the hand histories and poker tracker stats, i'm becoming more convinced.

BBC Z · Sep 20,2007, 06:55 PM

It was bound to happen at some point.

It'll be interesting to see what happens and if it marks the end of on-line poker as we know it. At some point in the system, you have to trust a stranger. That just doesn't scale when this much money is at stake in an unregulated industry.

STR82ACE · Sep 20,2007, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBC Z

It was bound to happen at some point.

It'll be interesting to see what happens and if it marks the end of on-line poker as we know it. At some point in the system, you have to trust a stranger.

I can see the beginning of the end for it personally. The "trust factor" is completely shot to hell now. Be interesting to see how they are going to respond to this and what actions they are going to invoke because of it.

Monteroy · Sep 20,2007, 07:06 PM

Well, even if true I doubt it will collapse the system (except damaging Absolute). In fact it may be what is needed to strengthen the system. The bot situation/fallout on Full Tilt is another example of this in action.

Also, ironically whether true or not this pretty much shows why the "online poker is rigged" believers truly do not get it in the sense that if and when something odd happens there is a very good chance people will notice and will have the tools to offer some fairly powerful evidence. Same happened with bots on Full Tilt.

Given the process and aftermath that is taking place at Absolute now, what it pretty much ironically proves is online poker is not rigged (again speaking about major/medium size sites).

BigChrisEl · Sep 20,2007, 07:06 PM

More info can be found here:

http://news.parttimepoker.com/2007/0...bsolute-poker/

acenuts · Sep 20,2007, 07:16 PM

I hope this doesn't make mainstream media. This just adds more fuel to the fire for those in the US who are in favor of the anti-online gambling legislation. We first had the multi-accounting situation, then the ftp bots and now this.... all within the last three months... it's making me sick...

BBC Z · Sep 20,2007, 07:18 PM

http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...-issue-11.html

If absolute won't even respect Brian from casinomeister, it's time to cashout and stay as far away as possible until this is adequately resolved.

STR82ACE · Sep 20,2007, 07:38 PM

Hmmmmmmm, interesting to note that this all started with AP's last upgrade.

Methinks there maybe some internal security concerns being raised at AP right about now.

BBC Z · Sep 20,2007, 07:44 PM

My completely wild theory and IT background makes me wonder if they're getting access to the hand histories as the are being written (either in memory or to some form of temp space) on the server.. It would explain why they're not able to predict flop cards but have an infinte river aggression (the only street where they are guarenteed to win)..

If Abs writes all the hands that players hold first, before action takes place, then they read that..

fdart17 · Sep 20,2007, 08:58 PM

hrmm this is really scary :\
I hope none of this is going on at any other sites..

Monteroy · Sep 20,2007, 10:29 PM

I agree these are serious matters, but frankly it probably will be better for the long term health of the industry that these happen, as the awareness of problems and the pressure on poker rooms to prevent these things from happening is what is needed to make essentially a self regulating industry trustworthy.

Again, one of the biggest resources all of these sites have are their player base for detecting when something is not right. I am not talking about a guy whining because he got 3 outed twice in a $1 sit and go and screams the site is rigged against him (which greatly fails the common sense test). More the patterns of behavior in others that an adequate hand history sample can prove.

Only once have I reported what really seemed like very very strange betting in a sit and go between two people on Stars. The large chip guy between them would always fold to a min river bet even when that bet was 5% of the pot. I reported it and indeed Pokerstars looked into it, determined they were colluding and redistributed the prizes accordingly and prevented them from joining the same events ever again.

That's why a lot of these things will get caught - other players will notice them. Certainly not all cheating, but a chunk of it and the pressure has to be put on the sites to act accordingly.

Stars is pretty good about that. Full Tilt confiscated a ton of money from bots and redistributed it to other players who played against the bots. Hopefully Absolute will look into their situation and be open about the outcomes as well.

In the end it is up to the customer to decide how important these issues are to them and play at the sites that meet their needs in that regard.

I do not believe the doom and gloom end of the world believers which pop up with every issue (Neteller booting people, the US laws, etc). Too much money is at stake for it all to be casually destroyed, the sites will fight hard for that not to happen and frankly most poker players will play still regardless. Even government regulation would not completely solve the problem - certainly equivalent abuses occur all the time in heavily regulated industries as well.

The emotion will cool down and hopefully we will see some constructive and proactive progress made by the major sites to endure confidence in the games they provide.

fdart17 · Sep 20,2007, 11:01 PM

Hopefully, because online poker owns.
Imagine if in 1 month, online poker cheating was everywhere, and people would be unable to play.. that would change alot of lives :O

Rockwood · Sep 21,2007, 02:24 AM

These accounts are idiots!

If they could see hole cards don't be playing the high stakes cash games.
Why get rich quick overnight, and become redflagged when you play 193 hands and your already making 6 figures!

Take your time boys, play the lower limits be stealth in fact get a group together and be stealth together! Just lay low and play the small stakes!

But regardless, this is wrong in every way. And you know what that means?

Absolutepoker will put these guys on the payroll and they will be the new faces for the security team. As with any true hacker....ie. 17 year old iPhone Hacker

STR82ACE · Sep 21,2007, 06:01 AM

What concerns me most of this whole situation is AP's lack of cooperation and investigation. I have yet to see anything from them except to say they have found nothing out of sorts. However, even faced with PokerTracker data against these against, showing that SOMETHING is not right, they are refusing to admit there's a problem.

AP better get their act together and resolve this. I can predict that anyone with $$ in AP is going to bail just as quickly as they can.

BigChrisEl · Sep 21,2007, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STR82ACE

What concerns me most of this whole situation is AP's lack of cooperation and investigation. I have yet to see anything from them except to say they have found nothing out of sorts. However, even faced with PokerTracker data against these against, showing that SOMETHING is not right, they are refusing to admit there's a problem.

AP better get their act together and resolve this. I can predict that anyone with $$ in AP is going to bail just as quickly as they can.

Did you read the link I posted AJ as there are other links in there with AP's replies?

If some one is doing this I think it would have to be done on the server, I don't think some one could hack their client to see the hole cards of others, but if they had some kind of access to the server then they could, muck like BBC Z pointed out.