Ultimate Bet cheating scandal

Jump to: navigation, search

A number of accounts have been cheating on Ultimate Bet. UB have confirmed this, stating that "unauthorized code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play" and that the cheating began in January 2005, "long before Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG acquired UltimateBet from the previous ownership".

Connections have been made between former UB owner Russ Hamilton and the cheating accounts. At least one poster at the 2+2 forums has been threatened while trying to investigate the cheating.


Contents

[edit] Timeline

January 2008

High stakes No Limit Hold'em players at Ultimate Bet become suspicious of the play and win rates of several players on the site. 2+2 posters trambopoline and dlpnyc21 noticed that they had both lost significant sums of money to the player NioNio[1].
After trambopoline and dlpnyc21 has shown without reasonable doubt that NioNio was cheating, 2+2 forum members start searching MyPokerIntel and their hand histories and find the following suspicious accounts, all playing the same 60/40 aggressive style as NioNio: Flatbroke33, iLike2win, monizzzle, nionio, nopaddles, nymobser, nvtease, sleeplesss, stoned2nite, utakeit2, and whackme44[2]. All these accounts stopped playing around September 07, 2007 when the Absolute Poker scandal broke.

March 2008

First statement from Ultimate Bet[3] saying that NioNio's winning statistics were indeed abnormal and that an investigation is ongoing.

May 2008

May 30: Second statement from Ultimate Bet[4]. Here are some of the highlights:
  • "The investigation has concluded that certain player accounts did in fact have an unfair advantage"
  • "The individuals responsible were found to have worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006"
  • "The fraudulent activity was enabled by unauthorized software code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play"
  • "The existence of this vulnerability was unknown to Tokwiro until February 2008 and existed prior to UltimateBet's acquisition by Tokwiro in October 2006"
  • "The following account names are known to have been used in the fraudulent activity: NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen"
  • "The refund process will begin immediately. The accounts associated with fraudulent activity did not use an unfair advantage in all play sessions. Regardless, UltimateBet is refunding all losses to these accounts"

June 2008

June 5: Ultimate Bet informs that they have "continued to investigate additional accounts and data surrounding the unfair play" and that the investigation is expected to be conluded by June 30[5].
June 29: 2+2 poster brainwashdodo posts a claim that NioNio was manufactured by the current management of the company[6]. He adds that "Tomorrow or the day after, you will receive an extensive report from both KGC and UB/AP, on how the company was the victim the wrongdoing of the previous management, very similar to Annie’s statements.". "Annie's statements" refers to a PokerNews interview[7].

July 2008

July 8: A bit later than promised, Ultimate Bet release a new statement[8]. Highlights:
  • "The additional usernames include: Crackcorn55, WhakMe, GrabBag123, gravitation, Bgroup, H_Curtis, Twenty 1, WacoManiac, Broke_In_L_A, ShaqTack, BlueBerry101, HolyMucker, 55WasHere, Xnomas, dannyboy55, Indy05, SlimPikins2. The same perpetrators we had previously identified controlled all of these usernames; there are no new perpetrators involved, only new usernames."
  • "We have also confirmed that the cheating dates back further then we initially believed. We can now confirm that the cheating began in January 2005, long before Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG acquired UltimateBet from the previous ownership."
July 8: brainwashdodo posts transaction histories for the accounts PhilHellmuth, kid55 (Freddie Deeb) and -Fred-[9][10]. His posts also have links to screenshots of an admin site used by UB employees. They show account info for kid55, mamamiya, buckskin, and ShaqTack. People start investigating the transfer histories and find (among other things) that:
  • -Fred- made a transaction to ShaqTack (one of the cheating accounts) for $10,000.
  • Accounts RussHamilton and –russh- seems to be funding other accounts through the –Fred- account.
  • The –Fred- account appears to be an account primarily used to transfer funds to an assortment of players.
July 8: The screenshot of ShaqTack showed that 5 different names had been used for this account. According to 2+2 poster NoLimitLeagues, two of them (whakme and HolyMucker) were not originally on the UB list but added right after he posted a question about them[11]. This would prove that the screenshots are real and that brainwashdodo is really an UB employee.
July 9-10: 2+2 poster trambopoline claims that the original name/e-mail on the nionio account was Haim Bajayo/isrelly@aol.com and that this person was also registered on the account H B. He also says that Haim Bajayo is the brother of Eli Bajayo, a somewhat known poker player that lives in San Jose, Costa Rica[12].
July 12: The address found on accounts nvtease/NoPaddles/sleeplesss is discovered to be property owned by Russ Hamilton[13]. Previous owner of the property was Travis Makar. The name on the sleeplesss account was Lauren Makar.
July 14: 2+2 poster N 82 50 24 is threatened and decides that he is "done with this"[14].
July 17: Barry Greenstein writes in a post on 2+2: "I talked to someone who has gotten transfers from sleepless when they asked for money from Russ". This is more proof that Russ either was in control of the sleeplesss account or that he knows who was[15].
July 19: A new user at 2+2, thannytoes, claims to be Lisa, a former prop manager at Ultimate Bet. She writes that she answered to Russ Hamilton and Mansour Matloubi and copies an e-mail to Mansour from february 2005 where she demands that UB takes action against the cheaters at the site. She got the answer that she was paranoid[16].
July 20: Lisa (thannytoes) makes a new post in the same thread: "This is Lisa. I'd like to reply to these postings and clarify what I wrote, but because of immediate concerns, I am choosing not to.".
July 22: PPA release a statement where they "urge these companies and their regulating authority, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, to provide a full and transparent accounting of these breaches of the public trust to help lift the black cloud that has been placed over the industry"[17].
July 23: Kahnawake Gaming Commission releases an official statement[18]. Some highlights:
  • "The KGC's investigation into the Ultimate Bet matter has yielded a number of key findings which, within the next several days, will enable the KGC to issue its decision on the appropriate steps to be taken."
  • "It should be stressed that the KGC's primary concern throughout both matters was to ensure that affected players were fully reimbursed and that corrective measures were implemented to prevent against any further incidents of cheating. Both of these objectives have been accomplished"
July 25: Tokwiro concludes Ultimate Bet investigation[19]. Some highlights:
  • "Tokwiro has identified a total of 19 accounts and 88 associated usernames that were involved in the cheating"
  • "The same perpetrators that were previously identified controlled all of these usernames. There are no new perpetrators involved, only new usernames"
  • "The investigation revealed that the perpetrators logged into the client software, using an account that had the ability to view hole cards. The ability of a specific account to view hole cards was enabled by illicit software that was placed on the UltimateBet servers prior to October 2006, which was before Tokwiro acquired the business."
  • Paul Leggett, Tokwiro CEO: "With respect to refunds to the affected players, we are continuing our analysis in order to determine the refund amounts. We will move forward with another round of refunds in the weeks ahead."

[edit] Evidence

[edit] Superusers statistics

From Cornell Fiji's summary[2].

Screen name Win rate (PTbb/100) Number of hands Last date played The account now
Flatbroke33 65.5 3753 August 11 Deleted or name changed
iLike2win 37.34 5545 June 22 Deleted or name changed
Nionio 57.3 8100 September 4 Name changed to nymobser
Nopaddles 89.6 1508 August 31 Name changed to sleeplesss
Nymobser 46.7 899 September 26 Now deleted or name changed. Was active when first mentioned in HSNL thread[1], but closed within 24 hours of being identified.
Monizzle 38.51 2265 November 20 Deleted or name changed.
Sleeplesss 98.87 1561 September 22 Now deleted or name changed. Was active when first mentioned in HSNL thread[1], but closed within 24 hours of being identified.
stoned2nite 129.2 777 June 30 Deleted or name changed.
Utakeit2 45.41 8046 August 29 Deleted or name changed.
Whackme44 47.73 946 August 20 Deleted or name changed.

[edit] Admin screenshots

Here is (some of) the info from the screen shots posted by brainwashdodo. From the cliff notes by NoLimitLeagues[20].

ShaqTack

  • Five different usernames: ShaqTack, slimpikins2, broke_in_l_a, whakme and HolyMucker
  • Account created on Dec 20th, 2005.
  • Account closed on Feb 7th. "Acct disabled. Do not re-open. Any inquiries please forward to Paul/Nolan. Email sent Tkt# 8322074. VGonzalez/sec"
  • Career rake was $4343.50 and blackjack wins $453.
  • Deposit Limit was LEVEL 3.
  • E-mail was GameSetMatch123@something.com
  • Name was Dan Francis

kid55

  • Name is Kassem Deeb (i.e. Freddy Deeb). This was common knowledge.
  • Account created on June 1st, 2003.
  • Account suspended on Feb 6th, 2007. "Acct disabled. Do not re-open. Any inquiries please forward to Paul/Nolen. SAraya/ub sec, Tkt #8313668"
  • Tourney fees of $184 and rake revenue of $37,825.57.
  • 143 deposits for $2,314,335 and 138 withdrawls for $3,701,016.
  • Transfer limit HIGH ROLLER.

bucksin

  • Name Lyle A. Berman from Minnetonka, MN.
  • Account created Feb 11th, 2003.
  • Account active.
  • 3 deposits for $4,400 and 29 withdrawls for $555,000.
  • Paid $51,692 in rake, $561 in sng fees, and $114.50 in tourney fees
  • Was refunded $54,520 from the NioNio investigation
  • Transfer limit HIGH ROLLER.

mamamiya

  • Name is Hanan a Deeb.
  • Account created July 15th, 2006.
  • Same address as on kid55 account.
  • 97 deposits for $197,000, 43 withdrawls for $166,000.
  • About $26,000 paid in rake.
  • On July 17th, 2006 in the Admin Comments it says: “one of Freddie Deeb’s accts.”

[edit] Who's who?

[edit] Russ Hamilton

1994 WSOP ME winner and previous owner of Ultimate Bet. His address was on the super user accounts nvtease, sleeplesss and NoPaddles.

[edit] Mansour Matloubi

Previous owner of Ultimate Bet. Lisa's message[16] indicates that he could have known about and/or been involved in the cheating.

[edit] Houston Curtis

Part of the "old manangement" team at Ultimate Bet. Suspected owner of super user account H_Curtis.

[edit] Unanswered questions

[edit] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 First long thread at 2+2, starting with the NioNio stats
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Summary of UB scandal by 2+2 poster Cornell Fiji
  3. ↑ First statement from Ultimate Bet, March 8, 2008.
  4. ↑ Second statement from Ultimate Bet, May 30, 2008
  5. ↑ Third statement from Ultimate Bet
  6. ↑ First post by brainwashdodo on June 29th
  7. ↑ Annie Duke talks about the UB scandal, June 27, 2008
  8. ↑ Fourth statement from Ultimate Bet, July 8, 2008.
  9. ↑ Transaction histories for the accounts PhilHellmuth and kid55
  10. ↑ Transaction history for the account -Fred-
  11. ↑ Proof that screenshots from brainwashdodo are real
  12. ↑ trambopoline about Haim Bajayo and the nionio account
  13. ↑ Ownership history for address on nvtease/NoPaddles/sleeplesss accounts
  14. ↑ N 82 50 24 has been threatened
  15. ↑ Barry Greenstein confirms the link between Russ H. and the sleeplesss account
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Message from Lisa who claims to be a former UB prop manager
  17. ↑ PPA statement
  18. ↑ KGC official statement at PokerNews
  19. ↑ Tokwiro concludes its investigation into unfair play on UltimateBet
  20. ↑ Cliff notes by NoLimitLeagues, July 9, 2008
Retrieved from "http://www.pokia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Bet_cheating_scandal"
Personal tools