Absolute Cheating - Poker Room in Trouble
There have been a lot of heated discussions in the online poker forums lately about supposed cheating going on at Absolute Poker. The poker room has confirmed that there was indeed a security breach at least once, but speculation continues as to who was actually behind the cheating incidence, and if it has happened or is happening repeatedly.
The Potripper Scandal
The most obvious case of cheating was when the alias "Potripper" won the largest money-guaranteed tournament at Absolute Poker. He played every single hand flawlessly, knew exactly when he was ahead or behind - even with bottom pair or just high card, and folded only hands pre-flop when an opponent was holding a high pair. It was just as if he could see his opponents' hole cards and as it turns out - he could.
The second-place finisher Marco Johnson ordered the hand history from the final table and by mistake (?) he received a document with the hand history for the entire tournament, including every player's hole cards and lots of other interesting information. When he decided to share the document with fellow players in a popular poker forum, the truth of the cheating scandal became increasingly obvious.
The tournament hand history has been converted to video and is available at YouTube. It clearly shows that something fishy is going on. Unless Potripper possesses some supernatural poker skills, he can definitely see his opponents' cards somehow.
Employees Involved
As if the cheating incident wasn't enough, some evidence indicates that the IP's and email addresses used by the cheating account were linked to Absolute Poker. Someone on the inside was either playing as "Potripper" or assisting him with the hole card information.
The first statement from Absolute Poker was a complete denial of any wrong-doings, but as the evidence mounted, the poker room issued a second statement which confirmed that "a former employee" had gained access to the security system and conducted the cheating. Potripper was disqualified and the prize pool redistributed. The late and half-hearted admittance from Absolute Poker was hardly enough to satisfy the furious players at the site, however.
Poker Pro Accused
In an earlier incident, Absolute Poker's sponsored poker pro Mark Seif was accused of cheating in a somewhat similar situation, but in a cash game. According to the accusation, Seif was on a losing streak and obviously tilted, when he stopped and said "one second punk" in the chat. He returned after a minute or two, and after saying "now I'm ready to take you down," he suddenly started playing perfect poker. He even folded out of turn at one time when his opponent was holding a full house.
It's quite obvious that something is not entirely right at Absolute Poker, and although more evidence is needed to reach a definite conclusion, players are starting to avoid Absolute Poker like the plague.
