Ah Crap!
Posted by Unknown
Ok, following my good poker buddy's lead, and considering I now feel some sort of civic responsability (;-)), so to speak, here's a quick post about that new Superuser Scandal that's been shocking the online poker universe these past days and weeks. I just figure it must be posted, read and seen by as many people as possible, and thus would benefit from being posted here as well as everywhere else it's been posted.
For the real deal, including links to in-depth investigations led by 2+2ers, click here.
Basically, a summary for those who will not click the above link:
It all started with an Absolute Poker executive getting caught using a superuser account left by dev teams and what not for testing/debugging purposes during development. The guy got nailed mostly by 2+2ers and they're very very thorough investigation of accounts that smelled like Denmark (see link above). Turned out it was in fact that exec guy who was using this superuser account to see everyone's hole cards... Talk about a fscking donk play!
Anyhow, a couple of days ago, a new bomb hit, and this time, Mister Phil "11 WSOP bracelets" Hellmuth, jr. himself is getting splashed by that one. UltimateBet.com (which is ironically enough owned by the same peeps as Absolute... Something definitely smells like Denmark over there... serioulsy!) just got pinned by another thorough investigation led by 2+2ers, and well, if you've been anywhere near the poker universe in the last 12 months or so, you definitely know of Hellmuth's relationship with UB. The guys now looks more than ever like a NASCAR racer, man :D!
Anyway, while this may seem very bad for online poker at first glance - something akin to the corrupted mobsters runnig Vegas back in the day - what I think people should focus on is the fact that, in the span of a couple of months, some major crook(s), all under pretty much the same roof, have been stopped by the people in their very community. There can be no better sign of an healthy community than a self-regulated community, in my humble opinion (no, the irony of this 'self-regulation' concept does not elude me; I know the mafia and its omerta works on the very same principle... That's another piece entirely, though :). The mere fact poker players themselves are credited for the bust, were smart enough, savvy enough, observing enough, and basically, honest enough to go after those corrupted individuals gets me thinking online poker should not be hindered too much by those scandals, nor should people be scared of gambling online. Might I conclude by reminding everyone that the poor schmocks that got hustled on Absolute Poker were all repaid in full... Dunno yet about the UB users though...
And remember, "if you are still quoting rounders, than you ARE the sucker!" :D!
