Poker Blog

Joe Sebok Steps up and gets burned

If anyone knows anything about online poker, they are aware of the Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker scandals. Unfortunately, due to his choices in recent days, people in the poker community also know Joe Sebok. Sebok is an Ultimate Bet Poker Pro. In recent days, FatalError a former friend called him out for blackmailing him to get him to stop talking about Ulitmate Bet. In an effort to clear the air, Sebok signed up for and posted to the 2+2 forum.
In his apology it became clear that the aforementioned former friend and Joe were close enough to know personal details about each other. This information, and the fact that Joe Sebok took the time, and responsibility for his exceptionally poor choice in words, leads to the understanding that his intentions were not to blackmail. His original choice of wording, taken out of context and full understanding of the situation, easily leads a person to the thought the man is or intended to blackmail his previous buddy. As such, the 2+2 thread was relentless in conversation with him.
Through the course of more than 250 posts, Joe Sebok fielded what questions he was able to. Unfortunately those were few and even further between. His best answer was that Paul could answer the plethora of questions. Most of the posters agreed and jumped all over the idea. Many stating that it is Paul’s silence in the forum, and others like it, that lead to a continued distrust of Ultimate Bet and their representatives. Ike – a 2+2 moderator – assured Joe that if he could identify what manner Paul would respond to questions from active and selective participants on the forum, he would facilitate it. Now, after all that has been done at Ultimate Bet, will the voice of knowledge take the offer and face the music with an open mind and offer free information? Many speculate that even with solid ground and protection from the masses, Paul Leggett, will continue to hide from the hard questions

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Former World Series of Poker Champion and Ultimate Bet Consultant Banned From MGM Casinos

MGM has gained a lot of respect throughout the poker community by banning Russ Hamilton, former World Series of Poker Main Event champion and consultant for the infamous Ultimate Bet poker room. Last week, Russ came into the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas to play a few hands. Needless to say, a few players who were at his table recognized Hamilton and let the world know that he was in fact a cheater who scammed several members of Ultimate Bet Poker between May 2004 and January 2008. These dealings led to a refund of over $22 million with Hamilton being responsible for $6.1 million.

MGM Grand decided that it would be in the best interest of their customers to ban Russ from their establishments. This isn’t the first supposed ban that he has faced. Rumors have stated that Harrah’s has put him on their list of guests who are not welcome at their establishments. The decision has been well received by the poker community.

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The latest in a string of fraud cases has brought attention to growing security concerns within the online poker community. A large group of Chinese players were found by online company Pokerstars to be colluding with one another while playing in its Double or Nothing Sit and Go tournaments. By engaging in “softplay” with fellow members during high-stakes games, the group as a whole was able to stay in tournaments longer and drastically affect the equity of other players. Over the course of just a few months this tactic, as estimated by online players, netted the group upwards of $750,000 in profit and is known to have victimized at least 25,000 players. Pokerstars is in the midst of compensating those affected by the plot after having concluded its own investigation. As of July of this year the company has refunded cheated customers “$2.1 mil…and has pledged to step up security” (Goldberg, Adrien. “Can the world of online poker chase out the cheats?” BBC Article on cheaters).

With Pokerstars, and many other companies like it, continuing to expand, security issues like these are on the rise. Pokerstars is quoted as saying that this case, “has highlighted the need for us to improve our proactive systems” (Goldberg), yet with the overwhelming amount of complaints filed on potential fraud and the increasing use of methods that are not easily detected by security software, companies are more often in the position of picking up the pieces retroactively. And while accusations of cheating are often less difficult to investigate online poker versus for live events, companies frequently do not practice transparency in their policing methods or in their policies for determining compensation, leaving many players in the dark as to when, and for how much, they’ve been cheated online.

Pokerstars’ policy for managing complaints appears to be that a player who reports suspected cheaters will receive a full account of the findings of the company’s investigation and, should the suspects be found guilty of fraud, the original reporter will receive full compensation for games presented as well as others connected to the investigation. Those involved with cheating will have their accounts frozen, with their earnings confiscated and used to refund rival players. Players affected that were not involved in the original investigation, however, do not receive a full description of the case and, while compensated, cannot be certain to what extent their return captures the amount of losses suffered. The potential for discrepancies are great as players not only encounter financial losses during individual games but also, with the longer a pattern of fraud goes unnoticed, possible negative affects upon their potential earnings through stacking time and resources against unfair odds and having their records towards earning titles altered by losses.

While most online poker games remain safe for players, this most recent large-scale act of collusion, paired with vague policing methods, points to a clear need for improved security for any gaming company hoping to keep their customers.

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Bob Heick Photo Then

Bob Heick Photo recent years

Turns out the Cereus/Ultimate Bet/Absolute Ultimate Bet Poker scandal keeps getting more interesting (and worse) as time goes by. The latest information suggests there is a link between Ultimate Bet and racists, and that link is Bob Heick. Bob Heick, a former employee of Ultimate Bet, was married to the former Fraud Manager of Ultimate Bet, Carolyn Heick. Carolyn Heick was in charge when the internal cheating took place. The security technology tool in place at the time of the scandal should have easily uncovered the multiple accounts originating from a few specific locations/computers but was overlooked by Carolyn. There have been some rumors regarding her alleged involvement in the scandal. The evidence is mainly circumstantial but suggests she knew about the cheating and could have easily been involved. In addition to the questions surrounding her professional life, there are now some additional questions about her personal choices. Carolyn Heick was married to Bob Heick. Bob used to work for Ultimate Bet but is best known for his work as founder of the white supremacist group, American Front. American Front was a white-power skinhead organization started in the mid 1980s in San Francisco, California in the 1980’s. Bob left the group and moved to Portland with Carolyn around 1990 and the two lived there for several years. During his time there, it’s said that he tried to organize and was apparently one of the many who trekked to Idaho in support of Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge. There are no reports as to whether Carolyn accompanied him but she certainly knew of her husband’s history and interests. Rumor has it the two are no longer together but it still brings her judgment into question yet again. And what does it say about the judgment of those hiring at UB??? According to some, UB has never had any African American Pros on their roster. If this is true, it could bring an entirely different scandal, not to mention lawsuit, to light.

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