Many people log on to Absolute Poker to play the much-loved game, making it a very popular website. As recently as September, participants of the site were becoming suspicious that “superuser” accounts might exist within Absolute Poker. A “superuser” account would make it possible for a player to view the hole cards of each opponent.
As these theories were bred, poker players using this site began to complain via email and chat rooms. A patron, known as Marco, was playing poker at this site when he became skeptical during a tournament. His complaint led to more complaints, and was the origin of investigations pertaining to Absolute Poker’s security systems.
During this suspicious poker tournament, a player named Potripper had an extremely lucky and thriving game (maybe too lucky?). For twenty straight minutes of the game, Potripper never folded before the flop. This seemed odd to Marco, so he sent an email to Absolute Poker requesting an XLS file to view the hand history.
Upon viewing the file, Marco learned that it not only included the hand history of the hole cards at each tale, but also IP addresses, email addresses, and other user information of people who were observing the table. The hand history showed that at the beginning of Potripper’s game, he had folded twice in a row. Ironic enough, observer number 363 appeared and Potripper skated through the next twenty minutes of the game without ever folding once before the flop. Could observer 363 have been utilizing a “superuser” account to show Potripper everyone’s hole cards?
Absolute Poker denies any knowledge of activity from “superuser” accounts, but Kahnawake Gaming Commission stepped in to audit the site and its security systems. Observer 363 was revealed as Scott Tom, who was a member of Team Absolute Poker over a year ago. The site said, “To the best of our knowledge, information, and belief,” Mr. Tom “has not had any access to any of Absolute Poker’s systems, databases or information.” Also, Absolute Poker’s independent audit concluded it impossible to breach the security systems and view hole cards.
Could the details in this story be that of chance or scandal? The Kahnawake Gaming Commission will conduct their investigations fairly and will “act on findings and not allegations alone.”
Personally, I find the circumstances of these events suspect and doubt that mere chance is to blame. With only a portion of the facts currently known, odds are pretty good that Absolute Poker’s team member, Scott Tom appearance as an observer was more than coincidental and related to Potripper’s change in luck. If this scam would have happened in Las Vegas, both Mr. Tom and Potripper would be sharing a nice jail cell. Why shouldn’t they suffer the same consequences as land based cheaters?
What about the Kahnawake Gaming Commission? They have been virtually ineffective in regulating and monitoring their members. If they do not thoroughly investigate this situation and make their report available to the public, I would advise everyone to boycott not only Absolute Poker but all Kahnawake member gaming sites.
By Victoria Maro
