Was Online Poker Cheat Sorel Mizzi Cheated Out of $500,000 in Live Poker Home Game?

This would surprise me, as it is seldom that a supposed master cheat falls victim to any cheat scam within the realm of his own cheat expertise. However, I have heard that Sorel Mizzi, the online poker whiz who's been accused multiple times of multi-accounting and other poker online cheat scams and who's admitted to the former, was victim to a high class poker card-marking team posing as a group of European high-rollers to the tune of half a million bucks! Supposedly this happened in London, and in a top-shelf hotel room (reminscent of the Steve Forte poker scam at the Atlantic City Borgata).

If this actually happened to Mizzi, should we give him a pass on the latest online poker cheat accusations leveled at him? If you've missed it, he was accused only last week of several more online poker cheat violations concerning the rigging of multi-table tournaments, some of which revolve around what he's already admitted to: multiaccounting.

You know, maybe we can look at Mizzi as a victim gone bad, something like the main character on the TV series "Breaking Bad" who becomes a drug dealer after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in the aim of leaving his family financially stable when he's gone.

Or maybe we can't...Of course we can't! Whether or not Mizzi was cheated out of five hundred grand or not, he is still a cheating piece of...!

New Idea: Online Poker CHEATING ONLY Site!

Do you get it?...Okay, you're not sure...it's exactly like it sounds. Why not start up a brand-new online poker site using whatever software network and have only one requirement for online poker players to play on the site: they MUST cheat. Am I being facetious? Well...not really. I mean with all the cheating and all the cheating again and all the cheating again and again, why not start up a new online poker cheating site that levels the field so all online poker cheats can compete against each other and cheat each other out of their online poker money. I guess this sounds like a good satire film, something like "Thanks For Smoking," in which the cigarette industry is defended for putting out such a necessary product. To me it seems that cheating poker online has also become necessary to some degree.

"Thanks For Cheating." Good name for a satire film as well, but it's really the same with online poker. It seems nowadays that everyone is cheating or scheming to cheat, whether it be through collusion, bots, hacking, or just plain-out conning and stealing funds out of player accounts. So then imagine if we had an online poker cheating room where players would have to cheat or be banned from the site. Then the only online poker cheat scams we'd have on that site would be players being banned for not cheating, which would of course constitute cheating on that particular online poker site.

You know what...I think I want to do this...I mean seriously! Why not start the richardmarcuscheatroom.com or richardmarcusonlinepokercheatroom.com...or maybe some of you could come up with a better name for my online poker cheat room. In fact, maybe some of you would like to invest in this online poker-cheat cheating venture? Or better yet...maybe someone out there wants to start this up on his own and simply use my name for the site (of course paying me for that privelege!)

I think this could really work. Of course we would probably have to set up the online poker cheat site with separate tables for collusion, bot-play, hacking hole-card play, etc...But wait a minute! We wouldn't have to do that! Why not just make every table an online poker cheat free-for-all!

If anyone out there is taking this post seriously, then do contact me at once!!!

Mizzi Responds To New Online Poker Cheat Allegations

Already condemned online poker cheat Sorel Mizzi this time says he's innocent and that the recent possible online-poker-cheating-intent conversations he had with Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein were tied to threats that Mizzi himself received online.

On August 20, 2010, "waxonchris" posted to the MTT Community forum on TwoPlusTwo.com a lengthy chat transcript between Sorel Mizzi and Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein, which generated a bunch of cheating speculation involving Mizzi once again. Mizzi states that these transcripts are nothing more than a melange of conversations between himself, Weinstein and other online poker players that took place during a whole year. He went on to say that in December of 2009 he was threatened and extorted by someone demanding money against a threat he would release the very same transcripts. Mizzi claims he did not succumb to the blackmail.

Mizzi's words:

"I am saying this to clear the names of the people mentioned in the conversation and because there are actually people I know and respect who are curious about whether or not this conversation did in fact take place."

My take: I wouldn't trust Mizzi or anything he says as far as I could throw him or it!

Sorel Mizzi (Imper1um) Allegedly Involved in Another Online Poker Cheating Scandal!

Source: Poker News Daily

Recent activity across several of the online poker forums are once again indicating that noted online/live poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and potential accomplices may have been involved in an attempt to rig multi-table tournaments.

Threads appeared on the TwoPlusTwo forum on two occasions over the weekend, with one being squelched by the moderators and a second taking on life and quickly zooming up to 537 posts. Another form of the thread came to life on the PocketFives forum over the weekend (and following the closing of the original thread on 2+2) and has blitzed its way to 282 posts. In both instances, the transcript of an IM chat between Mizzi and an alleged co-conspirator are the main topic of discussion.

This is one thing that the different threads have in common: an undated AIM or MSN Messenger chat transcript allegedly between Mizzi and another top online poker player/backer, Steve “thorladen” Weinstein. In a rambling discussion allegedly between the two, Mizzi and Weinstein discuss their issues with players who are in “makeup,” or owe money from backing arrangements. The conversation then allegedly has Mizzi making assertions to Weinstein about how to violate many of the terms and conditions of online sites using a common business tool.

Mizzi proposes to Weinstein the use of remote PC access programs, such as GoToMyPC.com, PCNow.com, or Laplink, to access computers in different locations. These programs allow a person from one location to be able to use another computer – using the accessed computer’s IP address – from a different location. Mizzi notes to Weinstein in the alleged conversation that usage of such programs “revolutionizes teaching/ghosting in poker (and) can also be used for multiaccounting.” Weinstein comments (verbatim) that “while im certainly interested in whatever u thinking, if u want me in, but obv I have to know woh knows cuz I cant get busted… I have alot of maoney online.”

As the alleged conversation continues, Mizzi goes on to name players who would be willing to take part in the suggested plot. Named by Mizzi as potential co-conspirators are such players as “cdbr” (FTOPS champion Chris Dombrowski) and “Intervention” (Aditya Agarwal). Mizzi goes on to allegedly comment to Weinstein the full context of the plan after discussing who could be involved.

“Now there’s more than 1 way we can profit from this program obv,” Mizzi allegedly says in the IM. “The most obvious is just watching and taking over for your stakes when they’re deep in a tournament. The beauty of it is ur not logging in from another IP, all you’re doing is controlling their mouse and keyboard and they can take it over again right away with the click of a mouse.” Mizzi allegedly also proposes a scheme where, “Hypothetically, imagine if 20+ PC’s were set up in various locations or in the same location but with various IP’s and different people could login to any of them at any given time?”

Although the alleged IM in question is undated, many on the forums have deduced that the time frame may have gone back as far as 18 months ago. At that time, Mizzi had been fleeced by cardsharps with a marked deck in Monte Carlo, leaving his bankroll decimated. It can be likely concluded, as many have done, that the alleged IM between Mizzi and Weinstein was to curry Weinstein’s backing for the escapade.

What has been remarkable about the discussions on the forums is the reaction from those potentially named in the discussion. Weinstein, under his “thorladen” handle on the PocketFives forum, simply states, “I have not engaged in this activity with Sorel. I would not engage in this activity ever. I am voluntarily cooperating completely with Full Tilt in an investigation of these alleged activities.”

Agarwal says in the same thread, “I wasn’t gonna post but general consensus among my frnds is tht I shud. Neither me or chris hv had any knowledge or been involved in any of the activities mentioned in the chat log, as everyone knows it was around the time period sorel was hving money issues, both me and chris hving cleared our MU voluntarily left sorel and went to vivek/yev and hv been with them since.”

Mizzi has made a statement regarding the subject on the TwoPlusTwo forums in an attempt to clear up the situation. “The conversation in question contains bits and pieces of information from several conversations I’ve had with Thorladen and others over the course of about a year,” Mizzi writes in his lengthy post. “It was quite a while ago, but if I had to guess I would say the conversations occurred from 2008 to 2009 while I was sponsored by Betfair.” Mizzi is now a Titan Poker pro.

Mizzi states that, in late 2009, he was contacted by a potential extortionist who was “threatening to release what he had fabricated if I didn’t send him money online. I chose to completely ignore the threats.” Mizzi also clears Dombrowski and Agarwal by writing, “As far as Chris and Adi go, they were my horses about 2 years ago and neither of them have ever been involved in any shady activity that I know of. They are both good guys and both very trustworthy/loyal, so much so that I allowed both of them to calculate their own makeup.”

Mizzi also stands up to the continued attacks on his character by writing, “I strongly dislike coming on internet forums to read unfair, untrue, libelous BS judgments about my character. The only people who have the right to attack my character are the ones who know me well personally and I don’t think anyone who’s posted thus far does. I don’t blame them. As soon as anyone posts anything to defend me they get verbally attacked and accused of “sticking up for a cheater.”

He finishes his post on TwoPlusTwo by saying, “There are serious things that I’d like to address in a subsequent thread that I’ve been thinking about posting for a long time. I’m not sure whether or not I’ll post it because I truly don’t owe anyone here explanations about anything I do. But I’ll give it some serious thought.” Poker News Daily attempted to contact Mizzi, who is in Cyprus for the Full Tilt Poker Merit Poker Classic. At this time, Mizzi has not returned any request for comment.

Wherever the truth is in the most recent hubbub regarding Mizzi, his track record in the online poker world has been a turbulent one. He has served multiple suspensions for various violations of the terms and conditions of the top poker rooms, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and continuously has to defend himself from the “cheater” tag. It is also apparent that Mizzi has an extreme poker talent; the Canadian has over $3.2 million in live tournament earnings since his first venture into the arena in 2006.

Connecticut Lawyer From Famed Jurist Family Busted For Cheating Casino!

Of course it happened at Foxwoods Casino, the world's #1 casino cheat haven, albeit at the MGM Grand part of the giant casino complex. And, believe it or not, it wasn't the typical bet-capping incident that amateur casino cheats fancy doing so much. The famous lawyer, identified as Walter Bansley IV (we have had suffix IIIs as casino cheats but this is the first time I am hearing of a IV!), has been charged with pinching (removing a losing bet from the layout) a $100 losing chip off a craps table before the dealer could rake it off the layout. No way is Bansley IV a professional or even moonlighting casino cheat. He probably just got pissed off losing or was drunk enough to do what he did.

So how is Bansley IV famous? That's because his father, Walter Bansley III (no casino-cheat arrests as far as I know...LOL) was the US Marine lawyer portraed by Tom Cruise in the film "A few good men." I bet Jack Nicholson, who played Cruise's adversary in the film, had a good laugh hearing about this!

Bansley IV was also charged with refusing to show proper identification and refusing to leave the casino floor when confronted by casino security.

Delaware Park Casino Busts Blackjack Cheat on 7 Felony Charges!

It sounds a lot worse than it is, but Clifton Shaw, a thirty-one year old New Jersey native, was arrested for both capping and pinching bets(removing chips from a losing bet before the dealer can take them). Shaw's cheat moves only involved red $5 chips but things got more interesting when Delaware state police found two fake driver's licenses and a half-dozen counterfeit $20 bills, the latter much more serious than any of the casino-cheat charges, especially if there was an intent to distribute. In any case, Shaw was sent to the Young Correctional Facility after he could not post the $33,000 bond set by a district court judge.

Like its sister state of Pennsylvania, Delaware just recently allowed its casinos to put in table games, and they are seeing the same type of cheating, mostly capping bets at the blackjack tables. Those caught so far appear to be amateurs. I am sure that some professional teams are working both states and managing to get off their moves without taking much heat.

My take: Delaware casinos will continue to get victimized by cheats for the next few years to come...at least.

Is Rival Gaming Software Helping Along Online Poker and Casino Cheats?

Since Rival Gaming hit the online poker and casino industry with its software, claiming its innovativeness and anti-cheat benefits to online poker and casino players, we have seen a labyrinth of its online casinos opening and closing and a host of players complaining on poker and casino blogs about Rival Gaming. However, Sloto’ Cash Casino, the first casino to use Rival Gaming software and one of the first to welcome players from the US, seems to be escaping the barrage of doubt levelled at the online gaming software company. I am hearing online gamblers attest to Sloto’ Cash Casino's excellent standing for anti-cheat safety, player friendliness, fairness in play and quick cashouts.

The overall criticism aimed at Rival Gaming Casinos has mainly centered around player dissatisfaction and cheating, as well as non- or slow-payment of winnings, difficult terms and conditions with bonuses and other complaints about the lobby and overall presentation of casinos using the software. Several Rival Gaming online casinos have closed the past few months.

But why not Sloto’ Cash Casino? Well, this beats me, although I have read bloggers talk about the ownership of this particular online casino that supposedly has a very low rate of cheating. Sloto’ Cash is owned privately and run privately and has different rules than the other casinos using Rival Gaming software do. Rival Gaming owns almost all the other casinos using its software, which seems to be the difference. In other words, have a problem with one Rival Gaming Casino, have a problem with all Rival Gaming Casinos...except Sloto’ Cash because it has its own independent management.

My take: It is what it is. I am not promoting Sloto´ Cash Casino but it does seem okay. They do offer solid promotions and bonuses and there is a fine spectrum of games to play. However, as far as the other Rival Gaming casinos go, avoid them like the plague! I know it is hard to make sense of why only one of their casinos is trustworthy but that has been the history, so let's keep believing it...until...or if it changes!

Who At Your Brick and Mortar Poker Table is NOT Cheating?

Maybe you think I should be asking this question about your online poker table, but, believe it or not, cheating on your local casino's live poker tables is getting way out of hand. Between the collusion play in cash games, softplay and chip-dumping in tournaments, and card-switching in both, you really have to wonder who is NOT cheating these days. To narrow this down a bit, let's take a look at the smaller stakes poker tables in both cash games and tournaments. There the cheating is lots more common than you might think. More card-switchers are working these games simply because they know less attention is paid to them by poker room personnel. As difficult as proficient card-switching at poker tables may be, the derring-do of low-stakes card-switching cheats surprises even me.

On the low-stakes tournament side I am seeing lots of scams revolving around collusion and chip dumping, especially holding out chips from one tournament-level and re-introducing them in a higher one. Many casino poker rooms are still allowing players to choose their tables and seat numbers, a practice that breeds collusion, chip-dumping and soft-playing.

So with all this dirty dealing and playing...who at the poker table is NOT cheating? Well, sorry, I don't have the answer to that one, but I do have the answer to this one: Who at the table has NEVER cheated in a brick and mortar poker game? If collusion and softplaying are to be considered cheating, then the answer is probably "no one."

Canadian Provinces Treadding Tricky Online Poker Cheat-Waters by Regulating Online Poker!

Canada online poker cheating is a real risk!

source: CBS News Canada

Online gambling experts are warning provinces to brace themselves for hackers, cheats and criminal gangs that target gaming sites. The warning comes after British Columbia launched its online gambling site, a venture that was marred by a series of glitches. The province, the first to launch an internet casino operation, abruptly shut down operations mid-July, just hours after the launch, due to "load issues."

BC Lottery Corporation had more unanticipated technical glitches Thursday, but after hours of delays, they were up and running again early Friday morning. The site offers players blackjack, video poker and slots among other games.

B.C.'s website offers blackjack, video poker and slots, among other games.
As a result, BCLC continues to investigate the cause of what it calls "data crossover" that allowed users unauthorized access to 134 player accounts.

"BCLC's investigative report will hopefully be made public as to what went wrong," said criminologist John McMullan of St. Mary's University in Halifax. "I'd like to know what were the performance issues that were related to the vulnerabilities surrounding the software related to this launch."

BCLC spokesperson Seamus Gordon insisted that currently in B.C. officials have "no evidence that there was technical sabotage or hacking" aimed at the provincial site. "This was a server defect," Gordon said of the lottery's recent problems.

New to online gambling

McMullan and other gambling watchdogs fear governments new to the online gambling business stand to be ripped off by criminal gangs that are far more technologically savvy and advanced.

While B.C. is currently the only province with an online casino site, Quebec and Ontario have plans for online gambling, and Nova Scotia has expressed interest in the possibility. "I think it's a risk," McMullan said. "Provincial government should not think they are going to some way or the other create a crime-free site. To be honest, they're going to have the same kinds of issues (as existing private sites). "They are going to have to protect their players, they are going to have good technologies and good skilled security people who are able to detect these sorts of problems and filter them out before they happen," he added.

"It is a gamble ... It is a gamble in many ways, I think."

McMullan and Aunshul Rege, of the school of criminal justice at Rutgers University in New Jersey, have published a study in the Journal of Gambling Issues detailing how criminals collude, cheat and use sophisticated computer plots to shut down gaming sites altogether.

"Attacks have occurred quite frequently in all kinds of jurisdictions," McMullan said, citing several cases where cyber criminals have commandeered hundreds of computers to launch "D-DOS attacks" (Distributed Denial of Service) against gambling sites. The attack basically herds all of these computers and directs a whole bunch of requests at the site, so the site actually crawls to a stop or is taken down because it can't manage all of the requests that are coming at it. It's to show a great deal of awe to the gambling provider and then to extort ransom monies from them. Or, D-DOS attacks can be much more subtle, used as it were to sabotage or to slow down sites to gradually make that site uncompetitive."

Cheaters are well-versed

McMullan has also documented scores of cases where cheaters have used special software, readily available online, to help them play, and calculate odds against unsuspecting competitors at online gambling sites.

"They use the technology usually on autopilot to play as a stand-in for them," said McMullan, explaining there's millions to be made with the computer-assisted programs. There are all kinds of packages out there that claim to be able to allow you to play against other players, to read and understand and compete against all kinds of hands and plays that might appear at a poker table, and it gives them an advantage because they have factored all that information into an artificial intelligence program."

BCLC notes that its website PlayNow.com does not include any games where players play directly against other players, which eliminates the risk of collaboration. Cheats and online criminals are the heart of a recent scandal at one of the world's biggest online gambling sites, PokerStars.com. The company recently paid players close to $2 million US after finding a band of players from China were going online and colluding to fix games of Texas hold 'em poker.

"The allegation is that several players were playing together kind of as a team, which is against the rules," said Aaron Todd, a reporter with the online industry publication Casino City News. "Obviously, if you know what other players in the game are holding, or if you're able to manipulate who's got chip stacks, you have a tremendous advantage in these tournaments," he added. "We simply know they were in China, but we don't really know [more], outside of what their usernames were."

Todd praised PokerStars for reviewing its player data, tracing the problem and refunding the millions to players. He said there's a lesson in these kinds of cheating cases for jurisdictions looking to launch government-run online sites.

"I think that government regulation on the whole would be good because you'd then be able to go after people taking these actions," said Todd, noting that private sites are powerless to prosecute cheaters who are often anonymous and untouchable given they are offshore.

In order to play on the B.C. casino site, a person must be 19 or older and a resident of the province. Todd, like others, still fear governments, who are in the business of running traditional casinos and conventional card games, don't have the technical expertise and savvy to keep ahead of sophisticated rings of international cyber criminals.

PokerStars Responds To Chinese Collusion Ring Scandal

Source: Poker News Daily

Earlier this week, Poker News Daily reported on the allegations of a cheating scandal on the site regarding its “Double or Nothing” (DoN) sit and gos. At the time, the world’s largest site had not responded to Poker News Daily’s requests to answer some questions on the issue. After the story was posted, however, PokerStars quickly answered our questions via
e-mail.

In the original story, we mentioned a thread on the popular poker forum Two Plus Two that addressed the issue in excellent depth. A player using the name “Jane0123” stated that their account had been closed due to alleged collusion (through the use of the “whipsaw” technique) with a ring of players from China in the month of January. The thread went on to detail how, over a tw0-month span earlier this summer, PokerStars handled the case and how some players were upset over the situation.

Late Wednesday evening, a member of the Game Security team by the name of “Jackson” answered six questions posed by Poker News Daily regarding the ongoing issue. While the spokesperson did not answer how long the ring had been in operation, Jackson reported that PokerStars first discovered the activity of the ring soon after the reports in the original January Two Plus Two thread (a supplemental condensed version of the case was started in July) began. “PokerStars discovered the illicit activity in early February 2010,” Jackson stated in the e-mail. “Whilst conducting our review during this period, accounts associated with this situation were closed.”

The Two Plus Two thread stated that the ring colluded on the higher level DoN sit and gos, but PokerStars says they found evidence that the cheating went on over a much larger scale. “The cheaters were active across many stakes, some as low as our $10 and $20 DoNs,” the PokerStars spokesman reported. “However, the vast majority of the collusion occurred at both the $50 and $100 levels” (Writer’s note: These are the largest DoNs offered by PokerStars).

What was important to many involved in the situation – how many players were involved with the ring, how much money was taken, and what restitution has been made to affected players – was reported in detail by the PokerStars spokesman as possible. When it came to the issue of the number of players involved in the collusion ring, PokerStars says, “Overall, PokerStars closed 38 accounts in this case.” This is a lower number than the Two Plus Two thread states (46). Additionally, PokerStars did not provide any information as to the player identities.

The compensation issue for players affected does line up with the 2+2 report. PokerStars spokesman Jackson states, “The colluders net profit was $494,000, and despite this, PokerStars has paid a total of $2,100,000 in compensation.” Although not exact, these numbers are close to those stated by posters on the forum; however, no actual numbers of players who earned compensation – or how much – was discussed by PokerStars.

The most critical issue of game security is something that PokerStars feels they have now adequately addressed. “We agree that we have room for improvement in relation to collusion detection, and alongside our internal discussions about this particular individual case, we are also very actively discussing various techniques to improve our performance here,” Jackson stated in the e-mail. “We have various ideas about how we can improve our prevention and detection methods, but we’re always open to listening to feedback from players on the site.”

To combat the possibilities of further problems with the games, “PokerStars has introduced a new security function to prevent players from certain countries from playing in the same Double or Nothing events together,” Jackson reported. “This restriction will ensure that only one player from each of several countries (those countries involved in this restriction were not given) will be able to play in these events.” The PokerStars spokesman goes on to say, “We continue to monitor the games for collusion and we do feel that they are now adequately secure, otherwise we wouldn’t offer them. The investigation of the accounts involved, as well compensation to players, have since been finalized.”

Singapore Casino Roulette Cheat Gets Two Years in the Brig!

The so-called Tanzanian tourist who cheated the Marina Bay Sands roulette tables for more than a hundred grand has (up to now) also won first-prize at a Singapore prison: two years free room and board there.

It is still not clear if the roulette pastposter, named Kipuyo Lemburis Israel, is a professional casino cheat or simply a tourist who noticed how bad the Singaporean casino staff was and just took a couple of HUGE shots at them.

The thirty-five-year-old had been arrested with $125,000 in cash, most of it taken off the Marina Bay's roulette tables. His two-year sentence is the harshest yet handed out to casino cheats in Singapore...and there have been lots of them!

Senior District Judge See Kee Oon said as he passed sentence on the Tanzanian casino cheat, "I was of the view that substantial imprisonment terms were warranted in view of the gravity and scale of the cheating involved." He was irked by the premeditation and repetitveness of Israel's cheat moves.

All the casino's losses except for $4 have apparently been recovered.

My take: Was the $4 cab-fare to get out of town...or off the peninsula?

Two More Blackjack Cheats Nabbed in Pennsylvania Casino

The barely post-virgin Pennsylvania casinos continue their fight against the waves of casino and poker cheats descending on their tables. Thus far I can't say who is winning the casino-cheating war, though the state's casinos are managing to bust some of the low-level blackjack cheats, most of whom are simple bet-cappers, adding onto their original bets when they have a hand standing a very strong chance of winning, such as a hard twenty against a 7 dealer up-card.

The latest cheat incidents happened at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino near Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The two bet-cappers have been identified as Tjandra M. Wijono, 56, and Le Rain, 32, both of Scranton. Each was adding-on red $5 chips to their bets, not cheating the house out of any significant money. For their efforts they were both charged with fraud and cheating by deception.

My take: I am waiting to hear of the first real professional casino cheat (or cheats) to be caught in Pennsylvania. That may take awhile.

UB COO Paul Leggett Responds...Again...To UltimateBet Online Poker Cheating Scandal

The cheat-stained online poker site uas called UltimateBet.com up until the giant poker scam surfaced and settled. Ever since it has been called simply UB or UB.com. In any case, here is UB COO Leggett's latest on the execution and settlement of the biggest online poker cheat scandal ever, stressing, of course, that the inside cheats are gone forever.

"Our PR team collected some lingering questions regarding the cheating incidents that occurred a few years ago and I am posting today to try and answer them. A lot of people asked questions that were similar and specifically asked if any individuals who were involved in the cheating still have any involvement with our business.

I wanted to start off by confirming that no individual who has been linked to any cheating works for Tokwiro or any of its subsidiaries. None of these individuals have an ownership stake in our company or any company that we have debt obligations with.

I would also like to share some background information in order to provide a complete answer.

Tokwiro acquired the UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker businesses from different owners. Tokwiro is currently still servicing debt from purchasing these two businesses.

Both investigations identified different individuals as the main perpetrators of the cheating. The cheating on Ultimatebet is not linked to that which occurred on Absolutepoker. Tokwiro was audited by the Gaming Commission to ensure these individuals had no forward involvement in the business or beneficial ownership, not just in Tokwiro but also in the two companies Tokwiro has debt obligations with.

When I took the COO position with Tokwiro, the AbsolutePoker investigation had recently finished and the UltimateBet one was just around the corner. Amongst other things, the result of the AbsolutePoker investigation required Tokwiro to demonstrate to the Gaming Commission, and their auditors, that a list of certain individuals were no longer working for the business and that they had no ownership of any kind. The list of individuals included all names that were associated with the cheating in any way or form and also anyone who was identified as hindering the investigation.

The entire AbsolutePoker cheating incident and its aftermath was very offensive to anyone who is aware of it. However, it was my job to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward. Some of the questions I received accused me of lying about the investigation and trying to cover it up but I have never done anything of the sort. I openly admit that I have quoted from the investigative reports that were given to me, which included a full confession and demonstration of how the cheating was done. I was not directly involved in the investigation of the AbsolutePoker incident and it’s difficult for me to know or prove what exactly happened, but I thought it was important for us to answer questions at that time, ensuring that the refunds were completed correctly and reassuring the poker community that no offensive individuals had any involvement with our company moving forward.

I was very involved with the UltimateBet investigation as the cheating was discovered about 2 weeks after I became COO. Some people still have questions about who was involved with the cheating and additional questions about our relationship with the Excapsa Group of companies. In 2006, Excapsa sold the UltimateBet brand, software and business to Tokwiro. Tokwiro was not aware of the underlying cheating scandal that was taking place at that time on the UltimateBet platform.

After months of investigations by Gaming Associates and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), the KGC named Russ Hamilton as the main perpetrator of the cheating. Some people have a hard time believing that Russ was the only person involved in the cheating. The truth is that all of the data facts pointed to him. The cheating was occurring from places where Russ lived and worked, the money was being moved through accounts he controlled himself or through people who reported directly to him or his close friends. The accounts and usernames were created/adjusted by people who worked directly for him, etc. It is definitely possible that Russ had other accomplices who might have helped him with the actual cheating but we have no physical evidence of it. We have continued to try to find the truth about who built the software and who else from Excapsa might have known about the cheating. We can make educated guesses but without testimony or physical evidence it is impossible for us to prove the involvement of others.

I also received several questions about Excapsa and the settlement that happened between them and Tokwiro. The Excapsa Group is the group of companies that operated UltimateBet prior to selling it to Tokwiro. The UltimateBet business and assets were transferred to Tokwiro through a company called “Blast Off”. It seems there is a lot of confusion about this but basically the Excapsa Group transferred all of the assets to Blast Off and then sold Blast Off to Tokwiro. Tokwiro is a Sole Proprietorship of Joseph Norton’s and he is the sole owner of both Tokwiro and Blast Off. When we issued a demand letter to the Excapsa Group relating to this fraud, we ended up negotiating a $15,000,000.00 USD settlement. At the time of the negotiation, we believed this number exceeded the amount of the money that was stolen from players. However, we then learned of more accounts that were involved in the cheating and the number increased significantly to almost $23million. Unfortunately, the complicated settlement (Excapsa is still currently in liquidation which made it very difficult to get approval for a settlement) was so far along and stopping this in its tracks to start all over again would have been too time consuming, so we made the decision to accept the $15million and take the rest on the chin in order to get players their money back in its entirety immediately. As a part of the settlement, Russ Hamilton’s shares had to be cancelled and he could no longer receive benefit from the business. Hamilton’s shares were held in Trusts and all of these shares were cancelled.

Nobody that worked for Tokwiro was involved in the cheating in any way; so nobody from within Tokwiro was fired. We were able to see Hamilton’s shares cancelled and we have also cut all ties from the old UltimateBet software and all relationships with the initial founders of UltimateBet were completely severed.

I hope this helps answer some of the outstanding questions that some people in the community wanted to hear us respond to."

My take: Well, it sounds as good as it reads. What does it mean? Probably that UB.com is now as safe as any other online poker room. What does that mean? I don't know...and I am not LOL!

Swedish Casinos Used Extensively to Launder Money

Source: The Local

The four Swedish state-run casinos in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Sundsvall reported a total of 161 cases of suspected money-laundering in the first six months of 2010, new figures from the Gaming Board for Sweden show.

Casino Cosmopol in Malmö reported the highest incidence of suspected money-laundering, relative to visitor numbers, with 45 cases of money laundering during the first half of 2010, according to the figures compiled on request by the Siren news agency.

Casino Cosmopol Sundsvall had the lowest, with eight cases, and according to the casino chain's CEO, Per Jaldung, the difference is due to the make up of a casino's clientèle. "Sundsvall is typically a calmer casino where the middle age is also higher," he said.

Stockholm topped the statistics with 10 suspected cases of money laundering, followed by Gothenburg with 5. According to David Engstrand at the Gaming Board the figures have remained largely unchanged since 2009.
"There were 172 cases reported in the first six months of 2009, so they remain at a roughly consistent level," Engstrand told The Local.

Engstrand explained the figures cover the number of reports from Casino Cosmopol casinos to the Swedish Finance Police (FiPo) and it they who then decide whether to pursue the cases. The statistics also detail incidents of cheating and forgery, public order, and voluntary bans over the period.

While Stockholm and Gothenburg lead the statistics in all categories they are also the busiest casinos with an average of 33,600 and 27,500 guests per month respectively. Malmö averaged around 20,000, while Sundsvall welcomed around 15,000 per month.

Canadian Casino and Poker Cheats...Beware!

If you are planning a casino-cheating or poker-cheating trip in Canada, be careful! That is because the Canadian government has just passed several new laws amending the definition and punishment of gambling and casino crimes. In short, the Canadians want to punish poker and casino cheats with stiffer sentences for cheating their casinos and poker rooms.

This sudden change in legislation obviously is connected to the recent cheating scams that have hit Canadian casinos the past several years, including, of course, the international Tran Organization mini-baccarat scam that victimized Casino Rama among others in Canada. Basically, any gaming conviction could carry a penalty of five years in prison.

What about punishing online casino and poker cheating in Canada? That is still murky, and it seems that the government's attention there is to punish online sites that cheat the players through UltimateBet and Absolute Poker-type cheating scams, in which insiders manipulate software to cheat legitimate players.

Canada's Biggest Casino Hit With Another Mini-Baccarat Scam...This Time By Korean Card-Switchers!

The Casino Rama in Ontario was one of the biggest victims of the Vietnamese Tran Organization's false-shuffle mini-baccarat scam (search blog for details). Now it has been hit again by a Korean casino-cheat team with six members...and for big money! According to Canadian casino-crime investigators, Jae Gook Kim, 30, Tae Sik Kim, 55, Sam Yeung Kim, 45, John Yoon Lee, 47, and Seung Chui Cho, 22, all of Seoul, Korea, and Un Gi Kim, 37, of Toronto, bilked Casino Rama out of more than $200,000 by switching cards on the midi-baccarat game, which is a modified version of mini-baccarat. The cheating took place the first two days of August.

The casino cops obtained search warrants of the cheat organization's hotel rooms and seized fifteen grand. The rest of their cheat-winnings were not found. Perhaps the cheats sent the money back to Korea or blew it legitimately gambling somewhere else...who knows? In any event, all six were charged with cheating at gambling and possession of property worth more than $5,000 obtained in a criminal enterprise. They are being held pending a bail hearing.

My take: First of all, I don't know why casinos bothered putting in midi-baccarat tables. Unlike MINI-baccarat, players get to touch the first two cards of each hand, making the casinos vulnerable to card-switching.

As far as this Korean casino-cheat team goes, they were probably good but probably as well a bit too greedy. Two hundred grand is a big number over two days, even in high-action baccarat pits. I'm assuming that after the casino lost the ton of money to the Korean cheats, at some point they began zooming in their surveillance cameras and caught the switches. I wonder why it took "$200,000 long" to finally realize what was going on.

Also note that Korean casino-cheat teams and gangs are becoming much more prevalent the past few years, both in brick and mortar and online casinos. Just a few weeks ago, a huge Korean online poker cheating ring was busted for hacking into source codes of several online poker rooms.

Cake Poker Comes Under Online Poker Cheat Scrutiny!

The latest in the online poker cheating vine, which continues to tangle up like a massive spider web of cheating, is that Cake Poker network’s security system is flawed and that there are risks such as those encountered at the CEREUS poker network, which is the system used at UltimateBet.com and Absolute Poker.

According to online poker cheat insiders, Cake’s servers are not nearly as secure as they would have liked you to believe. Flaws in their security have made it susceptible for third parties to steal personal data transmitted between the players and the Cake poker room. Inasmuch any sensitive player account information could have been compromised during transmission. This security breach allowed user names and passwords to be stolen by data thieves...and supposedly opened the door for hole cards to be compromised the way they were at UltimateBet, in the online poker cheat scam of the century.

Cake poker room manager Lee Jones issued this statement on the latest online poker cheats scandal: “Our development team replicated the described scenario and confirmed that a vulnerability exists. We take this very seriously and have mobilized a team of senior engineers to address the problem. In short, we are adding an SSL layer to secure all communication between our servers and the client software. We’ve got everybody who can possibly help on this and will get the development and testing jobs completed as soon as humanly possible.

All this comes just months after Mr. Jones declared that Cake Poker had stronger encryption codes than the CEREUS poker network.

My take: Here we go again!

Low-Level Blackjack Cheats Continue Their Assault on Pennsylvania's New Casinos

Of course this is to be expected in any new casino area, but Pennsylvania, whose casinos opened up table games two weeks ago, is really getting hit by the riffraff of casino cheats. This is a far cry from the huge sums of money that cheats are siphoning off the new casinos in Singapore.

We've already heard about the bet-cappers and about the guy who ran away from the cage as he was about to be nabbed for passing $100 counterfeit chips of very poor quality. Now we're seeing the bet-pinchers, the guys who try to pinch back their losing chips before the dealer can sweep them into the table rack. Over the weekend, a twenty-eight year-old man named Thomas Albright bet $15, three red $5 chips on a hand of blackjack. He lost the hand and then attempted to remove one of the $5 chips from his bet, thus trying to save $5 on the hand. The dealer caught him on his first attempt, and naturally, like all rookie casinos do, the pit supervisor ran right to the videotape. Surveillance confirmed the pinch-action, then security read Albright the riot act...but with a twist. Instead of being barred permanently from the casino, he was ordered not to return for thirty days.

My take: Why didn't Albright try to pinch back two $5 chips instead of one...or why not the whole $15 bet? LOL

Is Slow-Rolling in Poker Tournaments a Form of Cheating?

Slow-rolling is the art...or the disgrace...of taking your sweet time to reveal your hand at showdown after the river, especially when you have the nuts winning hand. Note that I am not talking about slow-rolling during the betting rounds when players take their time deciding what to do, whether or not they have the nuts and whether or not it is on the river. I am strictly speaking of players who have raised or bet and been called at the end and now must show their hands. Slow-rolling players take their sweet time turning over their cards. And of course it is quite annoying when you're waiting with bated breath to see if you won or lost the pot.

So, is there any real advantage to slow-rolling in tournament play? Actually there is. Say that the tournament is near the end and there are 15 or so players on the two remaining tables battling to make it to the final table. The person doing the slow-rolling is buying time or stalling, hoping that during his slow-rolling a player at the other table busts out. This in effect gives him an advantage, however slight it may be, of reaching the final table. If it happens at the key moment when the 10th player is eliminated, slow-rolling can actually push the slow-roller to the final table.

Is this cheating? No it is not. It is unclassy, unethical and perhaps dispicable, but it is also just another form of angle-shooting that cannot be considered poker cheating.

How 'bout slow-rolling in online poker tournaments?...Please, gimme a break!

Casino Employee Indicted in $168,000 Wisconsin Casino Cheat Scam!

Milwaukee resident and casino worker Deandre Russell was indicted along with eight friends/cohorts in perhaps the biggest Wisconsin casino scam to date: a $168,000 jackpot scam at the Potawatomi Casino...that's right...you heard me right, the Potowatomi casino...must be one of those reservation boonie joints. And they got hit with federal racketeering charges for their troubles.

Apparently the indicting grand jury saw enough evidence that Russell engineered a scheme by which his friends would win jackpots ranging from ten to fifty grand on the Pick-Eight Bingo game (who the f--- would play Pick-Eight Bingo anyway unless they were scamming jackpots!). What puzzles me about all this is that the seven fixed jackpots occurred in 2005 and 2006. Why did it take the authorities so long to obtain an indictment?...okay, it's the boonies so we'll give 'em a pass. But in spite of that, I would've thought that the Statute of Limitations would have run out after such a lapse of time...unless casino cheating on Wisconsin reservations is like murder and has no statute of limitations LOL.

My take: Well, even though it was a rinky-dink scam in a rinky-dink casino, it somehow managed to bag some big booty. A hundred and sixty-eight grand is a lot of money to take out of a Wisconsin casino--no matter how long it takes!

Poker Bot Cheat Scandal at PokerStars Widens!

Lots of wisened online poker players talking about cheating have said that poker pots are not really an effective way to make money playing poker online. I have always disagreed. And now some of these poker cheat wiseguys agree with me, saying that the poker-bot cheat scam at PokerStars has already netted more than $60,000 in cheat profits.

A group of players on PokerStars have observed and reported striking similarities between ten online poker player accounts. Things noted as similar are players concurrently changing stakes back and forth in the online poker sites' micro-stakes tables as well as logging on and off and back on at the same time, all the while making the same bets and plays.

The player ‘Malloc” on the TwoPlusTwo poker forum and the PokerTableRatiings site examined in depth the consistencies of the ten ‘players’ and reported these accounts to PokerStars:

7emenov bakabar, craizer, mvra, nakseon, kozzin, demidou, koldan, Daergy
and feidmanis

PokerStars looked into these accounts and confirmed that their play seemed like bot play. More convincing is that none of these accounts lost over a period of time. PokerStars is investigating to find more accounts related to this poker bot cheating-ring and they may decide to redistribute some of the funds in each of the suspected bot-accounts to real players who played against the bots.

My Take: I think this poker-bot cheating scandal will widen even more! Stay tuned.

Pennsylvania Casino Hit With Counterfeit $100 Chips!

Like what happens in all new casino areas, Pennsylvania is getting rocked by casino cheats. However, I am surprised that one of the state's casinos got hit with a counterfeit-chips scam so quickly, although it doesn't seem to be a major one. In any case, an unidentified man in his 50s or 60s managed to pass 19 fake $100 chips that he apparently manufactured himself in the most crude of ways. It happened at te Mount Airy casino in Paradise Township during its first weeked of operation.

The man simply altered lower denomination chips and made them look like $100 chips. I don't know which chips he altered or what color they were, but it seems unbelievable to me that he was able to pass them off on table games. He did not, however, succeed in cashing them out at the cage, so I assume he cashed out several hundred dollars' worth of legitimate chips he obtained at the tables by buying in with the counterfeit chips.

He did try to cash in five of the fake $100 chips and was ripe to be busted, but the inexperience of the surveillance and security staffs let him get away as he was approached by casino personnel.

My take: Well, maybe Pennsylvania ought to consider RFID technology for its chips...or mabye better train its casino personnel.

Annie Duke Testifies on Online Poker Cheating at House Internet Gambling Hearing

And she got into it with one of the nation's biggest anti-online-gaming regulation reps, Spencer Bachus of Alabama. Bachus does not want online gaming legalized or regulated in the US, not even online poker. He doesn't want to hear any of that rap that poker is a game of skill and therefore not a gambling game.

When it came to online poker cheating, Bachus immediately brought up Duke’s affiliation with Ultimate Bet in an almost accusatory way, using the soiled site’s cheating scandal as a reason why online gambling, including online poker, is bad for the public in every way and must never be permitted in the United States. Duke, however, stood up to Bachus's challenge and even reversed the tables by saying that since there was no regulation of online poker to oversee UltimateBet and every other online gambling site, the huge poker cheating scam was able to proliferate to the degree that it did. Had there been regulation, Duke pointed out, the cheat scam would have been harder to pull off...and its aftermath could have been managed and controlled much better.

Hooray for Annie Duke!

How Easy is it for Dealers to Pull off False Shuffle Casino Cheat Scams?

Anyone who follows the news of brick and mortar casino cheating surely knows of the proliferation of false shuffle scams that have been victimizing casino baccarat and blackjack tables the past several years. Heck, I knew about false-shuffle scams thirty years ago when I performed one as a mini-baccarat dealer at the Four Queens casino in downtown Las Vegas. But most of these scams have been going down on baccarat tables in Macau, even though the most notorious false shuffle cheating scam happened in the United States and Canada, engulfing dozens of casinos whose dealers were recruited by the Vietnamese card-cheating syndicate known as the Tran Organization. To read about the mechanics of a false shuffle scam click here.
So...how easy is it for casino dealers to perform a false-shuffle? It is very easy, which is one of the primary reasons why casino cheat groups look to recruit these dealers for the scams. In fact, an average dealer can learn to false shuffle a deck in a single day. Then with a week or two of practice he can be made ready to perform the task on his table in the casino. Of course it takes more to do it than the physical skills. A dealer has to want to cheat his casino (risking his job and prosecution)and have the balls to do it.

Can Surveillance pick up on a dealer false-shuffling?

Usually they can while reviewing the tapes. But they need corroborating evidence to make a case against a dealer and his or her cheating partners at the table. There has to be a conspiracy charge to prove that the dealer was false-shuffling with the aim that players at the table would win by having advance knowledge of how the false-shuffled cards would come out of the shoe.