AP Visit: I'm going to Costa Rica

[Josem]

it seems to me that Absolute Poker is going to be around in some form or another in the future. there are clearly players who are not aware of this situation.


given that, it would seem infinitely better to have an open and honest absolute poker.

[TheMuppet]

Nat taking a trip to CR, is going to facilitate this how exactly?

Again he has NO ACCESS TO ANY FACTUAL INFORMATION.

So how exactly do we (the poker players) benefit from this? He can do nothing, he can uncover nothing, and he will be able to verify nothing.

This only helps AP. They are the only once who can gain anything from this (credibility).

They have done nothing but stall, lie and cover up. What on earth make you think that is about to change?

I hope this entire endeavor is a level or a sick joke.

[todd1007]

The only reason that AP wants you to is specifically to regain the trust of the 2+2 community. Like ElD said before, in the grand scheme of things, this whole scandal is only going to be a hiccup in the long term proffitability of AP. In two years 95% of the AP players will not even be aware what actually happened. But, since you are going, here is how I would approach trip.

PREP YOURSELF
-of course have your litany of indepth questions ready.
-see if security at stars, party, or ladbrokes will inform you what thier total security protocol is for normal operations, and protocol is for a situation such as what has transpired at AP. I am sure that this has happened in some fashion before the AP scandal.

BRING A RECORDING DEVICE
-record all your conversations
-field each important question to more than just one person. make multiple persons answer each question indepthy so that any discrepancies can be picked out.
-try to cover all bases on the first day so that the second day can be spent on follow up questions.

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

-use your recordings of the day to formulate your follow up questions.
-confer with others to develop the best/most informative questions.
-try to keep your prejudices/suspicions to yourself. dont tip AP off to what concerns you. Keep them guessing

REMEMBER, YOU ARE NOT A TRAINED INVESTIGATOR

even though you are smart and technically gifted, any trained investigator with security experience will probably conduct a more throrough questioning, so try not to second guess yourself.

THIS WHOLE TRIP IS STRICTLY A BUSINESS DECISION FOR AP

Remember that the whole goal for AP on your trip is to win back as many 2+2 customers as possible, so whatever costs they incur, they are probably going to recoup those expenses in less than one month, so insist on Dom, Cristal is for tards.

[cyc]

[ QUOTE ]
Nat taking a trip to CR, is going to facilitate this how exactly?

Again he has NO ACCESS TO ANY FACTUAL INFORMATION.

So how exactly do we (the poker players) benefit from this? He can do nothing, he can uncover nothing, and he will be able to verify nothing.

This only helps AP. They are the only once who can gain anything from this (credibility).

They have done nothing but stall, lie and cover up. What on earth make you think that is about to change?


[/ QUOTE ]

[MARK R]

I have not read all the replies in the thread so some of this may have already been said.

The thing nat found out without access to AP is outstanding so I think him actaully being able to access AP he should find a lot more info.

The things you may be able to check.
1. Get a list of all HH where an account ID < 2000 was viewing the table.
2. Get a list of HH where account ID < 2000 has been playing at the table.
3. I can understand how this could have happended without a HOLE CARD account. eg sniffing all the data getting sent to the ip addresses of the people on the table. We need to get confirmation that the data is somehow encrypted.
4. Can AP software get a screen shot of our computers and can this be viewd real time.

Thats all I can think of at the moment if there is anything else I will put it in this thread.

Mark,

[FoxInTheHenHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
Nat taking a trip to CR, is going to facilitate this how exactly?

Again he has NO ACCESS TO ANY FACTUAL INFORMATION.

So how exactly do we (the poker players) benefit from this? He can do nothing, he can uncover nothing, and he will be able to verify nothing.

This only helps AP. They are the only once who can gain anything from this (credibility).

They have done nothing but stall, lie and cover up. What on earth make you think that is about to change?

I hope this entire endeavor is a level or a sick joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

Criticism noted, and noted and noted. We get the message - you're against it. Thanks for dropping by.

[dlk9s]

While I realize that this will anger the "burn AP to the ground" crowd, has anybody stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, not EVERYBODY at AP (or online poker rooms, in general) is an unethical, dishonest, criminal? Isn't it quite possible that many of the higher-ups in the company were fooled just as badly as AP customers by POTRIPPER and friends and that they are simply guilty of being blind?

I'm not saying that the big shots at AP aren't covering things up, as they very well may be, but it is frustrating to me that people automatically assume that everyone who is involved in the operation of an online poker room (especially one that is not PokerStars) is a crook.

I completely understand the opinion that AP is just inviting Nat down as a sort of publicity stunt so that they can feed him the information that they want to be made public. But with very, very few exceptions, nobody here knows who exactly it was who extended the invitation to Nat. While it could very well be someone who simply wants to get Nat to report that AP is doing everything correctly from here on out, it realistically could also be someone who honestly had no knowledge of the cheating, was not involved in the initial denials, and legitimately wants to get everything cleaned up, even if it means that AP looks even worse in the short run.

Again, I'm not saying that AP isn't just trying to pull the rug over everyone's eyes, but I also think it's silly to automatically assume that everyone who works for an online gambling company that is not based in the U.S. is an unethical savage.

Alternatively, Nat could be part of a rogue splinter group at AP that enlisted the cheaters, outed them, and "investigated" the improprieties to earn the trust of the poker community, all to get the executives fired so that they could install their own regime.

[dergitarrist]

From what I've read on here I get the impression that Nat makes enough money not to be biased by a fee from Absolute.

Anyone seeing him on the Absolute side must be out of their minds. Remember, he was one of the main characters uncovering this and won't forget about his findings through a chat with AP-Staff.

[Phil153]

dlks9s,

I don't believe management is necessarily bad, but they denied him access to the accounts. Game set match.

[rbman]

i think asking "hard" questions face to face with AP would be a good way to see if there really is a true desire on AP's part to "do the right thing". putting them on the spot with no time to spin the story could be very telling