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At TwoRags.com, we're committed to providing accurate information to the
poker community. If you see entries or information that you believe to be in
error, please email us.
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Possibly too level-headed
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Still Absolutely rigged
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By Adanthar
on 09/21/2007
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read Adanthar's complete blog
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In what seems to be the final word - because they're definitely not doing anything else so far, and it's been over a week - Absolute is on the record as saying there's been no wrongdoing and they've unlocked the accounts involved. Understand this: unless they are mouth-breathingly retarded or completely insane, they didn't actually do that. Instead, they've decided to sweep this under the rug and quietly sit on the accounts while publicly denying the entire story ever happened. In the meantime, the story's been picked up all over the poker world and even on the Freakonomics blog (who knew that Steven Levitt worked for a poker site? Certainly not me...but one hopes Absolute is quietly emailing him for his number.)
In the meantime, credit goes to Adam Junglen and myself for coming up with a solution to the whodunit:
[23:09] Adam Junglen: man
[23:09] Adam Junglen: imagine multi-accounting super users
[23:09] Adam Junglen: that'd be fun
[23:09] Adam Junglen: lol
[23:09] Adanthar: the software is clearly 1 table max
[23:09] Adam Junglen: Come on
[23:09] Adanthar: and actually come to think about it
[23:09] Adam Junglen: a little humor in there
[23:09] Adanthar: it cant be software
[23:09] Adanthar: it has to be some kind of program with a login
[23:10] Adanthar: otherwise they'd just run 2 copies and multiaccount
[23:10] Adanthar: nah you seriously gave me the idea just now heh
[23:10] Adanthar: dude
[23:10] Adanthar: you just showed conclusively its an inside job
[23:10] Adanthar: omfg
[23:11] Adam Junglen: As long as you give me the credit and make it sound as t hough it was a coherent thought
[23:11] Adam Junglen: I sure did
[23:11] Adanthar: yeah I'm gonna post it right now
[23:11] Adam Junglen: make sure to point out that I'm so brilliant I did it without realizing
If you read the BBV thread (and seen the hand history of Potripper's FT I went over), it's pretty obvious that the superuser is using some kind of aid that has to be pointed at a specific table, because the only hand where Potripper clearly doesn't cheat is exactly the first hand when he gets moved to the FT. In addition, none of the superaccounts ever played > 1 table at a time. But wait - why wouldn't they just make a second copy of the software, if it was a standalone program, and monitor multiple tables? Because they couldn't - they only had the one login/password combination and doubtless didn't want to, or couldn't, log in from multiple PC's at a time.
Game, set, match. The reason AP is trying to bury this is because a superuser program with an outside login - something that should never exist and should certainly not be publicly revealed if it does - somehow got out into the wild, or, more likely, a disgruntled security guy pulled off the steal of the decade. Of course, they now have no choice but to try to bury it; otherwise, their entire site has a high chance of going under (screw the people who lost half a million dollars; they aren't important.) This will even probably work, since none of us have a high desire to let Focus on the Family run any more misinformed 'online poker really is rigged' hit pieces and will probably let them get away with it.
And thus, another ridiculous chapter in the history of e-commerce/online poker/people who shouldn't be trusted to run an ice cream store comes to a close...except for one thing. Some people, even a few high stakes players, still apparently want to play at AP since it's such a soft game now that the better informed regulars have all left (lol). To them, I offer this 2+2 post of mine:
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On one level, it may make sense for Absolute to do this, but on that same level, it makes zero sense for HS players to ever deposit a dollar there again.
You may think that since the games are going to be softer in the near future, you'd want to go back and give them a shot. Well, there's two problems with this:
1)You're relying on Absolute to be stonewalling while fixing their mistakes internally. What happens if they're simply dumb and the hacker is still out there, or if it's an inside job [editor's note - oops!] and he's just taking some poker lessons before trying again?
2)It's hard to play perfect poker at the best of times. Now you're gonna have to wonder whether an unknown can see your cards whenever he raises you off your missed overcards twice in a row. You think you're gonna be playing optimally vs. him for the next hour? How about in the big MTT's, where timex already panicked enough to make a thread about it once? Hell, that guy could've really been cheating and decided to tank the tournament to deflect suspicion. You'll never know. Have fun working out your new, updated EV, cause I'm not gonna be the one sticking up for you and compiling a body of evidence after Absolute quite clearly admitted they're not going to act publicly.
My prediction is that no high stakes player that is aware of this scandal is ever going to play optimally at Absolute for a very long time, and it's going to send your EV straight through the floor even without the benefit of any hacking. GP and a few others might prove me wrong over the long run, or they might not. Remember that in the long run, it only takes one giant hole card cammed pot to wipe out a couple of weeks' worth of rungood.
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Let's hope that every other site is very quietly taking notes. It's too late for Absolute to do anything to retain a good chunk of its high stakes playerbase, but if you're somebody else with hole card cams...for the love of God, delete the functionality and never access it again. Better yet, hire me as your crisis PR guy; I promise you I'd do a better job than anybody at AP.
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