Asian Poker Tour Ambassador JC Tran Wins PartyPoker Premier League III
December 2, 2008 (London, UK) – Asian Poker Tour Ambassador JC Tran is the PartyPoker.com Premier League III champion after taking down the most formidable final table in the event's history! Tran, widely regarded as one of the finest and consistent tournament professionals on the circuit, scooped the $300,000 first prize in the elite tournament organized by Matchroom Sport that saw 12 of the world’s finest players battle it out for a $1.25 million prize pool! The buy-in was $75,000, with $350,000 added by PartyPoker.com.
"This is brilliant and I am so happy," said Tran. "I have been feeling good all week and it is amazing to win this event. Until this week I had never played in Europe before -- I really couldn't ask for more! Perhaps I should move here! I would like to thank everybody who has made my trip to London such a wonderful experience."
Tran, who also represents PKR at poker tournaments, has a close knit group of friends with whom he travels on the poker circuit, and they were all there to watch him triumph in a spectacular and masterful fashion at the deep-stacked final table. World-class pros Nam Le and Quinn Do, two fellow Asian Poker Tour ambassadors, and David 'Chino' Rheem, were there for their friend cheering him on every step of the way.
Tran reached the final table as chip leader, as the favorite to win with www.partybets.com, and the overall league winner after fantastic displays that saw him pick up three first places and two second places in the heats. It wasn't all plain sailing though as Tony G fought hard and also provided a spectacular domineering performance to finish runner-up.
At the start of the heads-up, Tony G had the advantage and held 1,150,000 to JC Tran's 780,000. It looked like it was going to be Tony's day until a key hand turned everything on its head. Pre-flop, a super confident Tony G raised to 75K with 8s 6s and Tran called with 10h 8c. After the flop came 10d Qh 6d Tony led out with 95K, which was called quickly by Tran. The turn brought a Qs and Tony bet 110K that prompted JC to raise it up to 260K. Tony folded and JC gained the chip lead and there was no going back. With the blinds at 20K/40K, Tran limped in with 9c 7d and Tony checked with Ks 8d. The flop came 5d 7h 6h and Tony G checked raised all-in only to be called by JC. Tony needed a king, four or nine to double-up and take a formidable chip lead. The turn came Js and a 2s on the river gave Tran victory. "I brought my best game but it just wasn't good enough," said Tony G, who played some spectacular poker on a final table that exhibited huge skill and class.
The action at the start of the final table certainly didn't take long to get going and it was the fifth hand of the night that swung the balance of power. Unsurprisingly, Tom 'Durrr' Dwan was at the centre of the action, just like he had been all week. Tony G raised pre-flop with 10s 9h and was re-raised another 21,000 by Durrr with Qc 4c. Tony G called and the flop came down 4d Jc 10c. Durrr bet 43K and Tony moved all-in. Tom's super-aggressive play had been a factor all week throughout the heats and Tony G had put a massive marker down. Dwan called with a flush draw and the turn was a 3h with a Kh on the river. Tony G doubled up to 434K and with chips the 'mouth from down under' started getting under the skin of his opponents as the verbals escalated. It looked like after a third place in season two that Tony G was the man to beat and that he might take the Premier League title he desperately seeks.
Even though Tom Dwan was short stacked, 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate was the first to exit. Eastgate had impressed all week and went to the final table second in chips. Most observers predicted that it would be a battle between the Dane and JC Tran for the title. Eastgate ran into Tran's pocket aces when his Ks 9s was no match on the final board of Js Kd 5d Jd Ac. The World Champion had raised pre-flop and when Tran flat called with his aces -- it enticed Eastgate to move all-in on the flop and hang himself. Out in fifth was Roland de Wolfe, who failed to improve on his second place finish in season two after reaching the final table through the heads-up play-offs. Roland’s Kd Ks was crushed by Juha Helppi’s Ad Qc when an ace came on the flop. As all of this was unfolding, Tony G continued to talk, with commentators Jesse May and Phil Hellmuth convinced that he was winning the psychological battle. It even seemed at certain points that he might be getting under the skin of the super cool Tran.
Tom Dwan’s Premier League debut had received rave reviews all week but he finally bit the dust in fourth place. It was none other than Tony G who sent him on his way when “Durrr” found his 8h 6s up against Tony G’s Jc 8d. The flop came down 7s 8c 5h. Dwan failed to hit the open-ended straight draw and one of the most feared players of PartyPoker.com Premier League III was on his way. Tony G was in fine form singing “If you’re happy and you know it” and telling his rivals to get on their bikes. He was the chip leader and table captain and had more than double the stack of JC Tran. Finland’s Juha Helppi, winner of the inaugural PartyPoker.com Premier League was next to go in third place when his As 10d ran into Tony G’s Ad Qc and a queen came on the flop.
A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: "JC Tran's performance was truly outstanding and there is no doubt at all that he is one cool cat and that he deserved to win. The standard of play all week from all the players involved was really something to remember."
Eddie Hearn, Director of Matchroom Sport said: "The PartyPoker.com Premier League III lived up to all expectations and then some. Newcomers Eastgate, Dwan and Obrestad played some simply stunning poker that will be watched over and over again and JC Tran's performance was pure genius from beginning to end. This series has completely raised the bar for televised poker and we are already planning the next installment!"
JC Tran, from Sacramento, California, is of Vietnamese origin and recently signed a deal to become an ambassador for the Asian Poker Tour. He went to the final table as chip leader and league winner with 450,000. Second in chips was 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate with 390,000. Season one winner Juha Helppi was third with 340,000. Sitting in joint fourth place at the start of the final table was Tom 'Durrr' Dwan and Tony G, both with 260,000. The short stack was Roland de Wolfe with 230,000. The deep stacked final table started with blinds at 2,000 – 4,000.
Tran, Eastgate, Helppi, and Dwan all qualified automatically for the final table from their positions in the league table. Dwan and Tony G both finished with 26 points but 'Durrr' got the automatic spot based on his superior league record. Roland de Wolfe beat Annette Obrestad 2-0 in the first heads-up play-off to secure his seat at the grand finale, while Tony G beat Vicky Coren 2-0 to fix his place. Both De Wolfe and Tony G made the final table in season two with De Wolfe eventually finishing runner-up to champion Andy Black and Tony G finishing third.
PartyPoker.com Premier League III has not been so kind to Phil Hellmuth, who still holds the record of winning four heats in the Premier League but was unable to replicate the form that led him to dominate season one. He narrowly missed out on a place in the final eight but took part in a heads-up with JC Tran in the heats that people are already labeling a classic. Also relegated were defending champion Andy Black, Nenad Medic and David 'Devilfish' Ulliott. The final heats were particularly difficult for De Wolfe and Coren, who both had to play tight and hope other players busted themselves to secure enough points to finish in the final eight.
ABOUT THE ASIAN POKER TOUR (APT)
The Asian Poker Tour (APT) is Asia's biggest and original poker tour. The Tour was acquired by AsianLogic (AIM:ALOG) in early 2008 and has held two successful events: one in the Philippines and the other in Macau. The APT plans to hold at least four major events in 2009 where each tournament is set to attract live players as well as Internet players who will qualify via online satellites. For more information, log on to the official web site at www.asianpt.com.
ABOUT ASIANLOGIC (ALOG)
AsianLogic (AIM: ALOG) is a leading online and land-based gaming company focused on the Asia-Pacific markets. Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, it operates several online casino and online poker brands and is engaged in the development, operations and marketing of peer-to-peer gaming, Asian-themed games, and sports betting. The Company also owns the Asian Poker Tour, a premier live poker tournament.
The Company also maintains a corporate advisory team specialising in the gaming sector which is an active investor in gaming-related businesses as well as providing consultancy and analytical services. It enjoys strong commercial relationships with leading gaming providers including Playtech and LVS.
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Friday, December 05, 2008
Aussie Millions Schedule Released
December 4, 2008 (InfoPowa News) - The next major poker tournament down under -- the Aussie Millions -- will run from January 4 - 26, 2009, according to a statement from the organizers.
Following a 2008 championship in which records were broken seemingly every day, the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship will deliver a new set of historic firsts. The 2009 Aussie Millions will feature 18 different championship events in almost every variation of poker.
Readers can find the full schedule at http://www.aussiemillions.com/schedule.
The 23-day extravaganza will unfold at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, and is annually the Southern Hemisphere's richest gaming tournament, ranked fifth in the world by prize-money.
In all, the 2009 Aussie Millions will feature various events where players can choose from an impressive line-up of cash tournaments including the Pre-Championship Satellites (4-8 January), H.O.R.S.E (2-day event), Feature Event No Limit Hold 'em with a Bounty player on each table, the $100,000 No Limit Hold 'em Challenge -- and, the one everyone wants to win: the coveted $10,500 (AU) NLHE 'Main Event'.
"If you've dreamed of becoming an Aussie Millions Champion, this is the year to enter," says Crown's Chief Operating Officer for Gaming Richard Longhurst. "With 18 opportunities to win, more events than ever before, and FSN television coverage of the 'Main Event', the Aussie Millions stage has never been brighter."
Sunday 18 January 2009 is the first of three start days for the most anticipated event of the championship, the Aussie Millions No Limit Holdem 'Main Event'. Filmed and developed into an eight-part television series by FSN for an international audience of over 100 million, and featuring a guaranteed first prize of AU $2 million, the Final Table is set to be played out on Saturday 24 January 2009.
In January 2008, a total of 780 entrants competed in the No Limit Holdem 'Main Event' with a prize pool of $7.8 million and first prize of AU $1.65 million; it was won by 21-year-old Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow, who will return in January to defend the title.
Visiting poker professionals include 2005 World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem, 2007 Aussie Millions Champion Gus Hansen, Team Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey, former Finnish model Patrick Antonius, 2000 World Series of Poker Champion Chris 'Jesus" Ferguson, World Poker Tour co-commentator Mike Sexton, international poker star Kenna 'Cowboy' James, Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari, Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak, and Hollywood stars Jennifer Tilly, Michael Vartan, and Shannon Elizabeth.
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Aussie Millions
Crown Casino
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December 4, 2008 (InfoPowa News) - The next major poker tournament down under -- the Aussie Millions -- will run from January 4 - 26, 2009, according to a statement from the organizers.
Following a 2008 championship in which records were broken seemingly every day, the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship will deliver a new set of historic firsts. The 2009 Aussie Millions will feature 18 different championship events in almost every variation of poker.
Readers can find the full schedule at http://www.aussiemillions.com/schedule.
The 23-day extravaganza will unfold at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, and is annually the Southern Hemisphere's richest gaming tournament, ranked fifth in the world by prize-money.
In all, the 2009 Aussie Millions will feature various events where players can choose from an impressive line-up of cash tournaments including the Pre-Championship Satellites (4-8 January), H.O.R.S.E (2-day event), Feature Event No Limit Hold 'em with a Bounty player on each table, the $100,000 No Limit Hold 'em Challenge -- and, the one everyone wants to win: the coveted $10,500 (AU) NLHE 'Main Event'.
"If you've dreamed of becoming an Aussie Millions Champion, this is the year to enter," says Crown's Chief Operating Officer for Gaming Richard Longhurst. "With 18 opportunities to win, more events than ever before, and FSN television coverage of the 'Main Event', the Aussie Millions stage has never been brighter."
Sunday 18 January 2009 is the first of three start days for the most anticipated event of the championship, the Aussie Millions No Limit Holdem 'Main Event'. Filmed and developed into an eight-part television series by FSN for an international audience of over 100 million, and featuring a guaranteed first prize of AU $2 million, the Final Table is set to be played out on Saturday 24 January 2009.
In January 2008, a total of 780 entrants competed in the No Limit Holdem 'Main Event' with a prize pool of $7.8 million and first prize of AU $1.65 million; it was won by 21-year-old Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow, who will return in January to defend the title.
Visiting poker professionals include 2005 World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem, 2007 Aussie Millions Champion Gus Hansen, Team Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey, former Finnish model Patrick Antonius, 2000 World Series of Poker Champion Chris 'Jesus" Ferguson, World Poker Tour co-commentator Mike Sexton, international poker star Kenna 'Cowboy' James, Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari, Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak, and Hollywood stars Jennifer Tilly, Michael Vartan, and Shannon Elizabeth.
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Tuesday, December 02, 2008
60 Minutes Investigates Online Poker Scandals, by Dan Cypra - Poker News Daily - 30th November 2008
Airing as the first feature on CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday night was an investigation into the online poker scandals that rocked Ultimate Bet and its sister site, Absolute Poker. Both rooms are owned by Tokwiro Enterprises. Correspondent Steve Kroft traveled to several countries as part of the story, which ultimately claimed that internet gambling was illegal in the United States.
The news program opened up its show by discussing when the poker boom began, which it stated was the moment that Chris Moneymaker defeated Sam Farha in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, taking home $2.5 million and proving that, in poker, amateurs can compete toe to toe with resident pros. Also at that final table were 1995 WSOP Main Event champion Dan Harrington and bracelet winners Jason Lester and Amir Vahedi. 60 Minutes cameras showed footage of the 2008 World Series of Poker.
The story then focused on online poker in particular. Kroft stated, “We should tell you that this $18 billion industry is illegal in the United States, but the ban is almost impossible to enforce since the internet sites and the computers that randomly deal the cards and keep track of the bets are located offshore, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement.” In a 2004 article, gambling law expert I. Nelson Rose commented on the legality of online poker: “It depends mostly on where you live. It depends also on how the game is being run. And, in the real world, it depends on whether anyone is going to do anything about it.” A 2005 Ipsos-Reid study claimed that 15 million Americans played poker online for real money.
The news program then turned to an interview with Todd Witteles, who is better known online as “Dan Druff.” Witteles was one of the main figures involved in unearthing the scandal on Absolute Poker. On the super user account “Graycat,” Witteles commented, “He was playing in a style that was sure to lose, but he was killing the game day after day.” David Paredes, a victim of cheating by the NioNio account on Ultimate Bet, told Kroft, “I’m probably down somewhere in the range of $70,000 to [NioNio]. There were a number of players who lost more than me, in the range of $250,000, $90,000, $70,000, and $210,000.”
Serge Ravitch, who goes by “adanthar” in the online poker world, inserted questionable hands into PokerTracker, a popular database program, and told 60 Minutes, “When the other person was bluffing, he would always go all in. When the other person had some kind of made hand, he would always fold.” Players can now relive some of POTRIPPER’s play in several videos posted on YouTube that use the hand replayer of poker training site PokerXFactor.
Russ Hamilton won $1 million by taking down the 1994 WSOP Main Event. In that tournament, he defeated Hugh Vincent heads-up and, 10 years later, masterminded a $20 million cheating scandal on Ultimate Bet. Hamilton was publicly named in a report distributed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), the licensing agency for many of the world’s online poker rooms. 60 Minutes claimed that the Kahnawakes “register and service more than 60% of the world’s internet gaming activity.” Its servers are housed in a converted mattress factory on its reservation located just outside of Montreal, Canada.
Joe Tokwiro Norton, according to a memo distributed by Ultimate Bet as well as CBS News, is the owner of Tokwiro and its two online poker rooms. However, Norton is also a former Grand Chief of the Kahnawakes. When Kroft asked current Kahnawake Grand Chief Michael Delisle why the KGC did not suspend the licenses of either Tokwiro room, he responded, “They were afraid that if the rug was pulled out from under them, the players wouldn’t be paid.” Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were fined a combined $2 million. Players have since been compensated for their losses.
According to an accompanying article that was featured in the Washington Post newspaper on Sunday, “Until he issued a news release in October 2007, even some of the most powerful members of his tribe had no idea Norton owned the poker sites.” Delisle told the Post, “I was as surprised as anyone else.”
The ending to the 60 Minutes story questioned why Hamilton and the five other unnamed accomplices in the Ultimate Bet scandal have not had any charges filed against them. Delisle commented, “We’re willing to work with anyone who wants to bring these people to justice. I believe that anyone else, named or not, will be brought to justice if they can be found.”
Hamilton, according to footage shown 60 Minutes, resides at the Tournament Players Club in Las Vegas. The news program aired a clip of Kroft allegedly calling his home and leaving a message for Hamilton. However, the call was not returned. The story then ended with Witteles speculating that other cheating that is less “greedy and blatant” may be transpiring on other rooms besides Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.
We’ll have reaction to the program from around the industry for you on Poker News Daily. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News
Airing as the first feature on CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday night was an investigation into the online poker scandals that rocked Ultimate Bet and its sister site, Absolute Poker. Both rooms are owned by Tokwiro Enterprises. Correspondent Steve Kroft traveled to several countries as part of the story, which ultimately claimed that internet gambling was illegal in the United States.
The news program opened up its show by discussing when the poker boom began, which it stated was the moment that Chris Moneymaker defeated Sam Farha in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, taking home $2.5 million and proving that, in poker, amateurs can compete toe to toe with resident pros. Also at that final table were 1995 WSOP Main Event champion Dan Harrington and bracelet winners Jason Lester and Amir Vahedi. 60 Minutes cameras showed footage of the 2008 World Series of Poker.
The story then focused on online poker in particular. Kroft stated, “We should tell you that this $18 billion industry is illegal in the United States, but the ban is almost impossible to enforce since the internet sites and the computers that randomly deal the cards and keep track of the bets are located offshore, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement.” In a 2004 article, gambling law expert I. Nelson Rose commented on the legality of online poker: “It depends mostly on where you live. It depends also on how the game is being run. And, in the real world, it depends on whether anyone is going to do anything about it.” A 2005 Ipsos-Reid study claimed that 15 million Americans played poker online for real money.
The news program then turned to an interview with Todd Witteles, who is better known online as “Dan Druff.” Witteles was one of the main figures involved in unearthing the scandal on Absolute Poker. On the super user account “Graycat,” Witteles commented, “He was playing in a style that was sure to lose, but he was killing the game day after day.” David Paredes, a victim of cheating by the NioNio account on Ultimate Bet, told Kroft, “I’m probably down somewhere in the range of $70,000 to [NioNio]. There were a number of players who lost more than me, in the range of $250,000, $90,000, $70,000, and $210,000.”
Serge Ravitch, who goes by “adanthar” in the online poker world, inserted questionable hands into PokerTracker, a popular database program, and told 60 Minutes, “When the other person was bluffing, he would always go all in. When the other person had some kind of made hand, he would always fold.” Players can now relive some of POTRIPPER’s play in several videos posted on YouTube that use the hand replayer of poker training site PokerXFactor.
Russ Hamilton won $1 million by taking down the 1994 WSOP Main Event. In that tournament, he defeated Hugh Vincent heads-up and, 10 years later, masterminded a $20 million cheating scandal on Ultimate Bet. Hamilton was publicly named in a report distributed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), the licensing agency for many of the world’s online poker rooms. 60 Minutes claimed that the Kahnawakes “register and service more than 60% of the world’s internet gaming activity.” Its servers are housed in a converted mattress factory on its reservation located just outside of Montreal, Canada.
Joe Tokwiro Norton, according to a memo distributed by Ultimate Bet as well as CBS News, is the owner of Tokwiro and its two online poker rooms. However, Norton is also a former Grand Chief of the Kahnawakes. When Kroft asked current Kahnawake Grand Chief Michael Delisle why the KGC did not suspend the licenses of either Tokwiro room, he responded, “They were afraid that if the rug was pulled out from under them, the players wouldn’t be paid.” Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were fined a combined $2 million. Players have since been compensated for their losses.
According to an accompanying article that was featured in the Washington Post newspaper on Sunday, “Until he issued a news release in October 2007, even some of the most powerful members of his tribe had no idea Norton owned the poker sites.” Delisle told the Post, “I was as surprised as anyone else.”
The ending to the 60 Minutes story questioned why Hamilton and the five other unnamed accomplices in the Ultimate Bet scandal have not had any charges filed against them. Delisle commented, “We’re willing to work with anyone who wants to bring these people to justice. I believe that anyone else, named or not, will be brought to justice if they can be found.”
Hamilton, according to footage shown 60 Minutes, resides at the Tournament Players Club in Las Vegas. The news program aired a clip of Kroft allegedly calling his home and leaving a message for Hamilton. However, the call was not returned. The story then ended with Witteles speculating that other cheating that is less “greedy and blatant” may be transpiring on other rooms besides Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.
We’ll have reaction to the program from around the industry for you on Poker News Daily. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News
60 Minutes "Could Have Been Worse" - 1st December 2008
Early consensus of online poker players on the poker message boards seems to be that the widely publicised CBS 60 Minutes television program Sunday did not make the industry look as bad as it could have done. Despite having rather confused perceptions on the "illegality" of the game in the United States, and some negative statements from player "Dan Druf", the program proved to be generally accurate on the cheating scandals at UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, most opined.
The introduction did not bode well, leading in with the comment:
"In the wild, wild west, when a poker player was caught cheating it was a capital offense, with the punishment quickly dispensed right across the card table. But today if you're caught cheating in the popular and lucrative world of Internet poker, you may get away scot-free.
"At least that seems to be what is happening in the biggest scandal in the history of online gambling. A small group of people managed to cheat players out of more than $20 million.
"And it would have gone undetected if it hadn't been for the players themselves, who used the Internet to root out the corruption. As a joint investigation by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post reveals, it raises new questions about the integrity and security of the shadowy and highly profitable industry that operates outside U.S. law."
Presenter Steve Kroft went on to trace the point at which online poker started to make the headlines; when Chris Moneymaker -- the hitherto unknown Internet player with the news-friendly name -- won the World Series of Poker in 2003. His win inspired many more to try the online environment, which snowballed into a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of thousands of players across the world participating.
"These people could be playing from anywhere in the world. They could be here in the United States. They could be, you know, in India. They could be in South Africa," Australian computer security expert Michael Josem told Kroft, who went on controversially to assert that " ... this $18 billion industry is illegal in the U.S., but the ban is almost impossible to enforce since the Internet sites and the computers that randomly deal the cards and keep track of the bets are located offshore, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement." He added that there is " ... almost no official regulation, enforcement, or supervision", presumably referring to the United States exclusively.
Kroft interviewed players involved in unmasking the AB and UB cheating scandals, fleshing out the program with the details of the cheating scams that are now well known to everyone involved in the industry. Players "fleeced" by the cheaters recounted how their suspicions were aroused and how much they lost in games against the cheaters over a period of time.
David Paredes, a Harvard grad who has made enough money playing poker to pay off his law school loan and live in an expensive New York apartment, got fleeced by a player called "Nio Nio." Asked how much he lost, Paredes told Kroft, "I'm probably down somewhere in the range of $70,000 to that particular player."
Paredes says there were other players who lost higher sums. "In the range of $250,000, $90,000, $70,000, $210,000."
Serge Ravitch, another lawyer-turned-poker pro, began using a software program called "Poker Tracker" to review thousands of old hands, he told Kroft. "What I saw did not make any sense. This account was simply winning too much money for the type of game that he was playing. And he was doing it by never having the worst hand. When the other person was bluffing, he would always go all in. When the other person had some kind of made hand, he would always fold."
It was almost as if the player knew what everyone's cards were, recalls Ravitch, recounting that the Internet poker forums, chat rooms, and blogs were soon buzzing with reports about suspect players. And when Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet failed to respond to complaints, the online poker community undertook its own investigation.
The most likely explanation seemed to be that someone had access to an administrative or security account at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet that would permit them to see all of the cards in the game as they were being played.
"Somebody with access to a server, a computer server that would give that information to them in real time?" Kroft asked. "Yes," Ravitch replied.
"So either a really good hacker or somebody on the inside?" Kroft asked. "Exactly," Ravitch replied.
Kroft went on to detail how the player-detectives were lucky enough to obtain the hand histories of one cheater using the handle "Potripper" at Absolute Poker. It was inadvertently sent as a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet containing 65,000 lines of data detailing the games played by the cheater, and it enabled a detailed analysis by the players.
Michael Josem told Kroft that the players were able to recreate some of the hands, as the cheater would have seen them, and turn them into a video that he posted online, along with a statistical analysis of the cheater's win rate. He goes on to explain the graphic and its proof of cheating, telling Kroft: "We did the mathematical analysis to find that they were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean, which is approximately equivalent to winning a one-in-a-million jackpot six consecutive times. Now, this sort of stuff just doesn't happen in the real world."
But more importantly, the Excel spreadsheet also listed the user account and the IP address of the suspected cheater, which the sleuths traced to the computer modem of an Absolute Poker employee.
The company, which is headquartered in a shopping mall in Costa Rica, was finally forced to acknowledge that a former employee had cracked its software code and cheated online players by looking at their cards, 60 Minutes reported. And what really made the victims angry was that Absolute Poker cut a deal with the cheater to protect his identity, in exchange for a full confession of how he did it, Kroft commented.
This gave the program the opportunity to introduce and describe the Kahnawake Gaming Commission on the Mohawk reservation a short drive from Montreal in Canada. As the licensing and hosting jurisdiction, the Commission was the best hope of redress for the cheated players.
Grand Chief Mike Delisle was interviewed and emphasized that his tribe were not Canadians, but members of the Haudenosaunee Five Nation Confederacy with sovereign rights in their 35,000 acre reservation. "We're Mohawk Kahnawake people. We're not Canadian," Delisle asserted in explaining why his tribe is involved in online gambling as a lucrative income stream for the community.
Kroft says the tribe now registers and services more than 60 percent of the world's Internet gaming activity from a highly protected but nondescript building that used to be a mattress factory. 60 Minutes drove by the former factory with The Washington Post's Gil Gaul, who worked on the story with 60 Minutes, in the program.
The operation is overseen by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, whose three commissioners meet in secret, 60 Minutes reveals. The commission is independent of tribal leaders, including Chief Delisle, and its investigation of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet is alleged in the program to have been neither transparent nor particularly aggressive.
This is the cue for the program to mention the owner of AB and UB parent group Tokwiro Enterprises, Joe Tokwiro Norton. He is described as " ... a former grand chief of the Kahnawakes, who helped establish the gaming commission that cleared him of any wrongdoing in the scandal."
In an interview with present chief Delisle, Kroft recalls the $2 million in fines levied on the two poker sites by the KGC as a consequence of the cheating scandals, but notes that they remain in operation.
"Here you had a gaming commission. It was originally set up by Joe Norton. And his two companies come before the board and they get a slap on the wrist," Kroft remarked to Delisle.
"Well, I don't think it's a slap on the wrist," Delisle replied. "We are comfortable in saying that through the gaming commission, they have done the investigation, saying that he didn't have a part in the cheating scandal."
Asked why the commission didn't suspend Norton's license, Delisle says, "Well, they were afraid that if that happened and the rug was pulled out from under them, so to speak, that the players wouldn't be paid."
Regrettably, neither the KGC nor Norton would participate in the 60 Minutes program, although it reveals that in a statement the two bodies claimed they were victimized by insiders and former employees and accepted blame for overlooking the security problems with the software.
The only clarity in the investigation was provided by Frank Catania, a former director of New Jersey's Gaming Enforcement Division, who was hired by the tribe to look into the cheating that the players themselves helped expose.
Catania was emphatic in crediting the players with uncovering the scandals: "We owe it to the players themselves for finding this out," he said. Catania found that the scam at Ultimate Bet went on for four years, and says the mastermind appears to have been a former giant in the world of poker.
Asked if he knows who did the cheating, Catania said, "Well, the one name has already been released by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. That's a fellow by the name of Russ Hamilton."
Hamilton is described as a former poker champion. In 1994, he won $1 million and his weight in silver for winning the main event at the World Series of Poker.
According to the gaming commission, Hamilton and five still-unnamed conspirators used multiple screen names and accounts to cheat online players out of more than $20 million, Catania told Kroft. And so far they seem to be getting away with it, Kroft concludes. "Because of jurisdictional issues, no criminal charges have been filed, and no one even seems to be conducting a criminal investigation," he commented to Chief Delisle.
"We're willing to work in collaboration with anyone who wants to bring these people to justice," Delisle responded.
"In this case, you have somebody who you know was cheating. It's like the person's gotten away with it," Kroft probed.
"I believe that anyone else, named or not, will be brought to justice," Delisle says. "If they can be found. That's really the defining factor."
However, 60 Minutes claims it had no trouble locating Hamilton at his home in a security gated golf community in Vegas. The producers left a message for the former champ, but the call was not returned, and that seems to have been the program's sole attempt to interview the only man so far named in the scandals.
It was disappointing that 60 Minutes did not pursue Hamilton with more vigor, having allegedly spent four months investigating the issue in collaboration with The Washington Post. And the lack of criminal action against Hamilton and the claimed five other -- still unidentified -- accomplices remains a source of dissatisfaction and distrust in the player community despite the claims that protection was given in return for information that enabled the company to discover how the cheating took place and who was responsible.
The refusal to be interviewed in the program by Norton and the KGC has also evoked some negative comment in the poker forums.
Finally the omission of important recent developments in the cheating story has also been noted -- some days before the 60 Minutes program was screened, Excapsa, the former owner and software provider for AB and UB settled with Tokwiro associate Blast Off Limited to the tune of $15 million. Excapsa is in process of liquidation. (Credit: InfoPowa News)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News
Early consensus of online poker players on the poker message boards seems to be that the widely publicised CBS 60 Minutes television program Sunday did not make the industry look as bad as it could have done. Despite having rather confused perceptions on the "illegality" of the game in the United States, and some negative statements from player "Dan Druf", the program proved to be generally accurate on the cheating scandals at UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, most opined.
The introduction did not bode well, leading in with the comment:
"In the wild, wild west, when a poker player was caught cheating it was a capital offense, with the punishment quickly dispensed right across the card table. But today if you're caught cheating in the popular and lucrative world of Internet poker, you may get away scot-free.
"At least that seems to be what is happening in the biggest scandal in the history of online gambling. A small group of people managed to cheat players out of more than $20 million.
"And it would have gone undetected if it hadn't been for the players themselves, who used the Internet to root out the corruption. As a joint investigation by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post reveals, it raises new questions about the integrity and security of the shadowy and highly profitable industry that operates outside U.S. law."
Presenter Steve Kroft went on to trace the point at which online poker started to make the headlines; when Chris Moneymaker -- the hitherto unknown Internet player with the news-friendly name -- won the World Series of Poker in 2003. His win inspired many more to try the online environment, which snowballed into a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of thousands of players across the world participating.
"These people could be playing from anywhere in the world. They could be here in the United States. They could be, you know, in India. They could be in South Africa," Australian computer security expert Michael Josem told Kroft, who went on controversially to assert that " ... this $18 billion industry is illegal in the U.S., but the ban is almost impossible to enforce since the Internet sites and the computers that randomly deal the cards and keep track of the bets are located offshore, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement." He added that there is " ... almost no official regulation, enforcement, or supervision", presumably referring to the United States exclusively.
Kroft interviewed players involved in unmasking the AB and UB cheating scandals, fleshing out the program with the details of the cheating scams that are now well known to everyone involved in the industry. Players "fleeced" by the cheaters recounted how their suspicions were aroused and how much they lost in games against the cheaters over a period of time.
David Paredes, a Harvard grad who has made enough money playing poker to pay off his law school loan and live in an expensive New York apartment, got fleeced by a player called "Nio Nio." Asked how much he lost, Paredes told Kroft, "I'm probably down somewhere in the range of $70,000 to that particular player."
Paredes says there were other players who lost higher sums. "In the range of $250,000, $90,000, $70,000, $210,000."
Serge Ravitch, another lawyer-turned-poker pro, began using a software program called "Poker Tracker" to review thousands of old hands, he told Kroft. "What I saw did not make any sense. This account was simply winning too much money for the type of game that he was playing. And he was doing it by never having the worst hand. When the other person was bluffing, he would always go all in. When the other person had some kind of made hand, he would always fold."
It was almost as if the player knew what everyone's cards were, recalls Ravitch, recounting that the Internet poker forums, chat rooms, and blogs were soon buzzing with reports about suspect players. And when Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet failed to respond to complaints, the online poker community undertook its own investigation.
The most likely explanation seemed to be that someone had access to an administrative or security account at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet that would permit them to see all of the cards in the game as they were being played.
"Somebody with access to a server, a computer server that would give that information to them in real time?" Kroft asked. "Yes," Ravitch replied.
"So either a really good hacker or somebody on the inside?" Kroft asked. "Exactly," Ravitch replied.
Kroft went on to detail how the player-detectives were lucky enough to obtain the hand histories of one cheater using the handle "Potripper" at Absolute Poker. It was inadvertently sent as a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet containing 65,000 lines of data detailing the games played by the cheater, and it enabled a detailed analysis by the players.
Michael Josem told Kroft that the players were able to recreate some of the hands, as the cheater would have seen them, and turn them into a video that he posted online, along with a statistical analysis of the cheater's win rate. He goes on to explain the graphic and its proof of cheating, telling Kroft: "We did the mathematical analysis to find that they were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean, which is approximately equivalent to winning a one-in-a-million jackpot six consecutive times. Now, this sort of stuff just doesn't happen in the real world."
But more importantly, the Excel spreadsheet also listed the user account and the IP address of the suspected cheater, which the sleuths traced to the computer modem of an Absolute Poker employee.
The company, which is headquartered in a shopping mall in Costa Rica, was finally forced to acknowledge that a former employee had cracked its software code and cheated online players by looking at their cards, 60 Minutes reported. And what really made the victims angry was that Absolute Poker cut a deal with the cheater to protect his identity, in exchange for a full confession of how he did it, Kroft commented.
This gave the program the opportunity to introduce and describe the Kahnawake Gaming Commission on the Mohawk reservation a short drive from Montreal in Canada. As the licensing and hosting jurisdiction, the Commission was the best hope of redress for the cheated players.
Grand Chief Mike Delisle was interviewed and emphasized that his tribe were not Canadians, but members of the Haudenosaunee Five Nation Confederacy with sovereign rights in their 35,000 acre reservation. "We're Mohawk Kahnawake people. We're not Canadian," Delisle asserted in explaining why his tribe is involved in online gambling as a lucrative income stream for the community.
Kroft says the tribe now registers and services more than 60 percent of the world's Internet gaming activity from a highly protected but nondescript building that used to be a mattress factory. 60 Minutes drove by the former factory with The Washington Post's Gil Gaul, who worked on the story with 60 Minutes, in the program.
The operation is overseen by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, whose three commissioners meet in secret, 60 Minutes reveals. The commission is independent of tribal leaders, including Chief Delisle, and its investigation of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet is alleged in the program to have been neither transparent nor particularly aggressive.
This is the cue for the program to mention the owner of AB and UB parent group Tokwiro Enterprises, Joe Tokwiro Norton. He is described as " ... a former grand chief of the Kahnawakes, who helped establish the gaming commission that cleared him of any wrongdoing in the scandal."
In an interview with present chief Delisle, Kroft recalls the $2 million in fines levied on the two poker sites by the KGC as a consequence of the cheating scandals, but notes that they remain in operation.
"Here you had a gaming commission. It was originally set up by Joe Norton. And his two companies come before the board and they get a slap on the wrist," Kroft remarked to Delisle.
"Well, I don't think it's a slap on the wrist," Delisle replied. "We are comfortable in saying that through the gaming commission, they have done the investigation, saying that he didn't have a part in the cheating scandal."
Asked why the commission didn't suspend Norton's license, Delisle says, "Well, they were afraid that if that happened and the rug was pulled out from under them, so to speak, that the players wouldn't be paid."
Regrettably, neither the KGC nor Norton would participate in the 60 Minutes program, although it reveals that in a statement the two bodies claimed they were victimized by insiders and former employees and accepted blame for overlooking the security problems with the software.
The only clarity in the investigation was provided by Frank Catania, a former director of New Jersey's Gaming Enforcement Division, who was hired by the tribe to look into the cheating that the players themselves helped expose.
Catania was emphatic in crediting the players with uncovering the scandals: "We owe it to the players themselves for finding this out," he said. Catania found that the scam at Ultimate Bet went on for four years, and says the mastermind appears to have been a former giant in the world of poker.
Asked if he knows who did the cheating, Catania said, "Well, the one name has already been released by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. That's a fellow by the name of Russ Hamilton."
Hamilton is described as a former poker champion. In 1994, he won $1 million and his weight in silver for winning the main event at the World Series of Poker.
According to the gaming commission, Hamilton and five still-unnamed conspirators used multiple screen names and accounts to cheat online players out of more than $20 million, Catania told Kroft. And so far they seem to be getting away with it, Kroft concludes. "Because of jurisdictional issues, no criminal charges have been filed, and no one even seems to be conducting a criminal investigation," he commented to Chief Delisle.
"We're willing to work in collaboration with anyone who wants to bring these people to justice," Delisle responded.
"In this case, you have somebody who you know was cheating. It's like the person's gotten away with it," Kroft probed.
"I believe that anyone else, named or not, will be brought to justice," Delisle says. "If they can be found. That's really the defining factor."
However, 60 Minutes claims it had no trouble locating Hamilton at his home in a security gated golf community in Vegas. The producers left a message for the former champ, but the call was not returned, and that seems to have been the program's sole attempt to interview the only man so far named in the scandals.
It was disappointing that 60 Minutes did not pursue Hamilton with more vigor, having allegedly spent four months investigating the issue in collaboration with The Washington Post. And the lack of criminal action against Hamilton and the claimed five other -- still unidentified -- accomplices remains a source of dissatisfaction and distrust in the player community despite the claims that protection was given in return for information that enabled the company to discover how the cheating took place and who was responsible.
The refusal to be interviewed in the program by Norton and the KGC has also evoked some negative comment in the poker forums.
Finally the omission of important recent developments in the cheating story has also been noted -- some days before the 60 Minutes program was screened, Excapsa, the former owner and software provider for AB and UB settled with Tokwiro associate Blast Off Limited to the tune of $15 million. Excapsa is in process of liquidation. (Credit: InfoPowa News)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News
Monday, December 01, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Take on the best! - PKR
Play this week's 'APT Pro' $10,000 GTD Bounty and take on four of the world's hottest players.
Bracelet winner, WPT title holder and Bluff-ESPN #1 ranked player in the world, JC Tran. 2008 WSOP Main Event final tablist David 'Chino' Rheem. WPT title holder and winner of the APPT High Rollers Event Nam Le. 2008 LA Poker Classic runner up Quinn Do. Between them they have almost $20m in lifetime tournament winnings - they'll all be there, and you get to play them.
The action kicks off this Thursday at 20:00 GMT. Buy-in is just $20 with a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000. What's more, felt any one of our superstar bounties or win the tourney and you'll get a $250 seat for any one of our 'APT Manila Weekly Final' tournaments. See you there.
Media Man Australia Profiles
PKR Poker
PKR Casino News
Poker News
Play this week's 'APT Pro' $10,000 GTD Bounty and take on four of the world's hottest players.
Bracelet winner, WPT title holder and Bluff-ESPN #1 ranked player in the world, JC Tran. 2008 WSOP Main Event final tablist David 'Chino' Rheem. WPT title holder and winner of the APPT High Rollers Event Nam Le. 2008 LA Poker Classic runner up Quinn Do. Between them they have almost $20m in lifetime tournament winnings - they'll all be there, and you get to play them.
The action kicks off this Thursday at 20:00 GMT. Buy-in is just $20 with a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000. What's more, felt any one of our superstar bounties or win the tourney and you'll get a $250 seat for any one of our 'APT Manila Weekly Final' tournaments. See you there.
Media Man Australia Profiles
PKR Poker
PKR Casino News
Poker News
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