Absolute Poker Scandal: An Inside Job

[ikestoys]

woot woot

[albedoa]

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Absolute's email is a big step in the right direction, me thinks.

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A very tiny step. Remember that they tried to dampen this issue with a blanket denial while facing already damning evidence and probably would have been able to get away with it if it weren't for the hand history leak.

[PartyGirlUK]

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I just received this email from Absolute, which contains (new?) information about a voluntary self-audit:

Dear Corey,

Absolute Poker Management wishes to inform the poker community of the following information in response to the most recent claims posted over the past 48 hours on the 2+2 and Pocket Fives forums wherein again it is alleged that some person or persons breached Absolute Poker’s redundant and varying levels of game client security. As was stated in Absolute Poker’s Official Response released on Friday October 12, 2007, Absolute Poker conducted an extensive investigation in response to the claims it was made aware of and received. The results of that investigation indicated that to the best of Absolute Poker’s knowledge, information and belief there was no security breach. Specifically, Absolute Poker’s internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards.

Based on the most recent claims that Absolute Poker has been made aware of and at the request of some of our players and business partners, Absolute Poker has agreed to retain a widely acclaimed independent third party auditor, Gaming Associates, to conduct an independent audit of Absolute Poker’s security systems. Specifically, Absolute Poker has requested that Gaming Associates conduct a thorough and extensive review of Absolute Poker’s practices and security systems to determine whether it is possible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards thereby gaining an unfair advantage. (http://www.gamingassociates.com)

Absolute Poker has agreed to fully cooperate with Gaming Associates and its investigative team and to provide the above with unfettered access to all systems, protocols and databases at Absolute Poker worldwide. Absolute Poker has also agreed to allow Gaming Associate’s final report to be made available to Pocket Fives and Bluff Media for their review.

With respect to the claims that Scott Tom, a former Member of Team Absolute Poker, is in anyway involved in wrong-doing, Absolute Poker has requested a formal investigation into that matter as well. Mr. Tom has not been involved with Absolute Poker for over a year and to the best of our knowledge, information and belief has not had access to any of Absolute Poker’s systems, databases or information.

Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable which may procure to it as a result of any unlawful and injurious actions taken by any individuals who may have falsified any information, documents, files, or have by other means attempted to disparage and/or harm Absolute Poker, its Players, its current or former management, employees, business partners or affiliates.

Absolute Poker shall bear all expenses related to such investigation and is eager to learn about Gaming Associate’s findings. Absolute Poker highly values and intends to protect its players, shareholders, business partners, and affiliates.

Absolute Poker Management

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I'll help Gaming Associates if AP/GA is willing.

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Does anyone know how legit these auditors are?

If they are legit, this is an extremely welcome move. The auditors should be given access to *everything* they request. Specifically I would like them to be able to determine who has used the super accounts throughout their existence, and which of these times it was used for cheating. There are allegations relating back a couple of years, which in light of recent information, need to be given serious consideration.

[0evg0]

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I just received this email from Absolute, which contains (new?) information about a voluntary self-audit:

Dear Corey,

Absolute Poker Management wishes to inform the poker community of the following information in response to the most recent claims posted over the past 48 hours on the 2+2 and Pocket Fives forums wherein again it is alleged that some person or persons breached Absolute Poker’s redundant and varying levels of game client security. As was stated in Absolute Poker’s Official Response released on Friday October 12, 2007, Absolute Poker conducted an extensive investigation in response to the claims it was made aware of and received. The results of that investigation indicated that to the best of Absolute Poker’s knowledge, information and belief there was no security breach. Specifically, Absolute Poker’s internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards.

Based on the most recent claims that Absolute Poker has been made aware of and at the request of some of our players and business partners, Absolute Poker has agreed to retain a widely acclaimed independent third party auditor, Gaming Associates, to conduct an independent audit of Absolute Poker’s security systems. Specifically, Absolute Poker has requested that Gaming Associates conduct a thorough and extensive review of Absolute Poker’s practices and security systems to determine whether it is possible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards thereby gaining an unfair advantage. (http://www.gamingassociates.com)

Absolute Poker has agreed to fully cooperate with Gaming Associates and its investigative team and to provide the above with unfettered access to all systems, protocols and databases at Absolute Poker worldwide. Absolute Poker has also agreed to allow Gaming Associate’s final report to be made available to Pocket Fives and Bluff Media for their review.

With respect to the claims that Scott Tom, a former Member of Team Absolute Poker, is in anyway involved in wrong-doing, Absolute Poker has requested a formal investigation into that matter as well. Mr. Tom has not been involved with Absolute Poker for over a year and to the best of our knowledge, information and belief has not had access to any of Absolute Poker’s systems, databases or information.

Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable which may procure to it as a result of any unlawful and injurious actions taken by any individuals who may have falsified any information, documents, files, or have by other means attempted to disparage and/or harm Absolute Poker, its Players, its current or former management, employees, business partners or affiliates.

Absolute Poker shall bear all expenses related to such investigation and is eager to learn about Gaming Associate’s findings. Absolute Poker highly values and intends to protect its players, shareholders, business partners, and affiliates.

Absolute Poker Management

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WOOOOW

[Dudd]

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Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable which may procure to it as a result of any unlawful and injurious actions...

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Does this make sense? I mean, grammatically?

edit: I mean, 'procure' is a transitive verb, and I don't know wtf 'equitable' is doing in there in that form.

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Yeah, I looked up equitable to see if there was some noun form of the word I was unaware of, and no, it's just an adjective like I thought. It makes no sense whatsoever, and what remedies can you take outside the law anyways, order a hit on someone?

[Fuzzwah]

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Specifically, Absolute Poker’s internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards.

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Except, of course, for the logging system that generated the xls file that was sent to marco.

[Equal]

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Absolute's email is a big step in the right direction, me thinks.

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Seems like a "did not have sexual relations with that woman" response to me.

[Dan Druff]

"Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable which may procure to it as a result of any unlawful and injurious actions taken by any individuals who may have falsified any information, documents, files, or have by other means attempted to disparage and/or harm Absolute Poker, its Players, its current or former management, employees, business partners or affiliates."

Disturbing paragraph there at the end.

The above is a threat meant to scare people away from getting involved in this.

They're basically saying that they'll sue you if you harm their reputation at all. Even worse is the phrase, "Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equitable", which seems to imply that they are reserving the right to find other ways to punish you if they can't sue you. That's what I presume the "equitable" part refers to. This might mean that they are now reserving the right to freeze your AP account and steal your funds if they determine you have "damaged" their oh-so-clean rep.

Wow.

BTW, don't worry about lawsuits. They are not a legal company as far as the United States is concerned, nor are they located in the U.S. They would be unable to commence a successful lawsuit against anyone.

[GaryTheGoat]

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Absolute Poker reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies whether in law or equity which may inure to it as a result of any unlawful or injurious actions...

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Does this make sense? I mean, grammatically?

edit: I mean, 'procure' is a transitive verb, and I don't know wtf 'equitable' is doing in there in that form.

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A quick shot...out of context.

gg

[imabigdeal]

if AP is so willing to do this i think they are pretty confident, for one reason or another, that the auditors will "find" nothing