Tokwiro Enterprises

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tokwiro Enterprises is a private company that owns two online poker cardrooms, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker is one of the world's ten largest online poker cardrooms. Established in 2003, it is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

[edit] 2007 security breach

In September 2007, Absolute Poker began defending itself following accusations made by members of several Internet forums that the online poker room has a "superuser" account which allows one player to read the hole cards of another during a game.[4] By October, widespread Internet allegations of cheating led to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission beginning an investigation.[5][6]

Although allegations had been made about several accounts, one of the most remarkable pieces of evidence was a complete history of a tournament in which a player called "POTRIPPER" played. This history was far more complete than normal, including all hidden hole cards for all players. It was sent out, perhaps by accident, when a player complained about suspicious play. Reviewing the data, well-known mathematician and gaming expert Michael Shackleford said:

Hand after hand POTRIPPER’s play is consistent with that of a player who had knowledge of every player’s hole cards. The majority of hands show POTRIPPER bluffing at just the right times when his opponents were weak. Yet, when he was hopelessly outmatched, even with good cards, he laid them down.[7]

On October 19, an unofficial source within Absolute Poker claimed that an employee had hacked the system to "prove a point".[8] On October 21, Absolute released an official statement:

...it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. [...] We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined.[9]

In November 2007, Absolute issued an interim statement claiming the employee cheating had taken place over a period of forty days and that the cardroom was refunding $1.6 million to affected players.[10] The Kahnawake Gaming Commission issued its report on the incident in January 2008. Among other consequences, Absolute Poker was fined $500,000.[11]

The Quebec provincial police opened an investigation into the matter that is ongoing.[12]

[edit] UltimateBet

Founded in 2001, UltimateBet is one of the ten largest online poker cardrooms.

Once a year, UltimateBet hosts a live tournament, the Aruba Poker Classic, which was a World Poker Tour event for the first four seasons of the show. In 2005, Freddy Deeb won the event, claiming the $1,000,000 prize. Prior winners were Eric Brenes in 2004, Erick Lindgren in 2003, and Juha Helppi in 2002. The tournament in 2008 is a $5,000 buy in event with a guaranteed $1 million top prize.

Spokespeople for UltimateBet include professional poker players Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Dave "Devil Fish" Ulliott, Antonio Esfandiari, and actress Jennifer Tilly.

Like other online poker rooms, UltimateBet also offers a .net play-money-only cardroom.

UltimateBet offers Texas hold 'em, Omaha high and high low, seven card stud high and high low, Pineapple and Triple Draw A-5 and 2-7 Lowball. Mixed games tables are also offered (HO, HOSE, HORSE) and Roshambo.

Prior to the passage of the SAFE Port Act, the software parent company of the cardroom, Excapsa Software was traded on the London Stock Exchange as XCP.L. In October 2006, the company announced it was selling its assets to a private company and moving to delist itself from the stock exchange.[13] The legality of the deal was immediately questioned due to the fact that most of the payment would take place after the act became law.[14]

[edit] Cheating scandal

UltimateBet had a cheating scandal similar in nature to that of Absolute Poker.[15] In May 2008, it released a statement about the scandal. The company stated that cheating took place from March 2006 to December 2007. The company claimed the cheating was perpetrated by employees of the former owners, Excapsa Software.[16] According to the company, the fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information of other players to the perpetrators during play. UltimateBet stated it had removed the cheating software as of February 2008 and began issuing refunds to affected players.[17]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ AbsolutePoker.com: Privacy Policy
  2. ^ UltimateBet.com: Who is UB?
  3. ^ Pokerworks.com: Joe Norton AKA Absolute Poker?
  4. ^ Bluff Europe: Absolute Poker in 'Superuser' Controversy
  5. ^ Associated Press: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Starts Probe into AbsolutePoker.com
  6. ^ eGaming Review: Absolute engulfed in cheating scandal
  7. ^ Wizard of Odds: Absolute Poker Investigation
  8. ^ MSNBC: Online Poker Cheating Blamed on an Employee
  9. ^ Pokernews.com: Absolute Poker - Consultant Cited in Latest Statement
  10. ^ AllIn Magazine: Absolute Poker Issues Interim Statement On Security Breach
  11. ^ Kahnawake Gambling Commission: In the Matter of Absolute Poker PDF file
  12. ^ ABCNEWS.com: Online Poker Players Expose Alleged Fraud
  13. ^ Bloomberg: Excapsa to Sell Assets, Scrap Listing on U.S. Gaming Crackdown
  14. ^ The Times: Deferred portion of £130m Excapsa sale raises questions
  15. ^ Public Still Awaiting Answers in UltimateBet Cheating Scandal
  16. ^ ULTIMATEBET ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING UNFAIR PLAY
  17. ^ Pokernews.com: Online Site UltimateBet Issues Statement Regarding Unfair Play

[edit] External links

Languages