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ESPN.com Inside Deal w/ Mark Seif

Seif breaks his silence regarding AP/UB scandals

Comments (20)
by , Sep 8, 2009 | 10:13 am

Mark breaks his silence to briefly discuss the Absolute Poker/UB Scandals (about 13:00 into the show):

Mark also discusses the scandal on ESPN.com’s Poker Edge podcast (starting at around 11:00), also available on Itunes.


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  • http://pokerati.com/?author=117 California Jen

    Glad Mark is open to talking about the scandals, but he really isn’t saying anything we haven’t heard before.

  • Kevin Mathers

    True, but maybe something bigger is on the horizon.

  • DanM
  • Haley

    I see the “consultant” line remains firmly embedded into the story. No….

  • Kevin Mathers

    Dan, he hadn’t talked since the Raw Vegas interview. On the podcast interview, he mentions how he was interviewed on camera, but the video turned into just him talking about the situation.

  • Kevin Mathers

    Is it a coincidence that this all ties in with Phil Hellmuth and Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles appearing on the same TV table tonight?

  • Haley

    And by the way, did Mark really say “six weeks” when talking about the length of time the cheating went on at AP, or did I mishear that?

  • Kevin Mathers

    I believe he said someone had access for 6 weeks at AP, or something similar.

  • Haley

    That makes sense only if talking about the aforementioned “consultant” (Grimard) specifically, since the overall cheating went on much longer. Definitely several half-truths by him in that piece.

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    I spoke to Mark about the AP scandal when he became the spokesperson for FallenHeroesLA.org

    If I thought he had anything to do with the scandal I would not allow him to be part of my organization. I could not afford to have Deputy Sheriff’s supporting a cheat.

    I am TRULY confident Mark has told the truth as to what he knows about the AP scandal and I think after two years some still desire to beat a dead issue regarding AP.

    They told us who did it and they reimbursed everyone with interest. Unfortunately the perp was not brought to justice criminally because of jurisdiction peoblems.

  • Haley

    LOL at you, Scott. I never said Mark was a cheater or participated in the scandal. I do think he’s using some judicious doublespeak in that interview to soften up/obscure a couple of key points, as lawyers are wont to do. His AP pact is up in November, I believe, and he’s likely beginning some image rehabilitation. Or maybe you didn’t know that.

    I like Mark personally but I have no plans on hugging his nuts. As for AP, no one has ever been officially named in the AP scandal, and Mark’s use of the phrase “six weeks” in this ESPN thing actually brings up new questions. The official AP releases on the matter began with outright lies and only later came around to dropping in a few truthful items, after they’d backed themselves into an inescapable mess.

  • Kevin Mathers

    Watching it again, it’s the relevant part of the response to Andrew Feldman’s first question:

    “Well, I think the KGC, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, did a really good job in investigating this matter. They determined that it was one high-ranking consultant for a period of about six weeks who abused his power to get into our back-end software and was able to manipulate our systems, that have quite a few safeguards in place to prevent that kind of stuff. But, he was able to manipulate the system in order to see the real hand, the real-time hands. And, obviously when there’s a lot of money at stake, people… there’s going to be some bad apples that are going to try and take advantage of it, and that’s what happened.”

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    Who named A.J. Green and the other dope then? I know Mark’s contract is up in November! If he was worried about it, I don’t think he would be discussing anything that might get in the way of a renewal, if thats what he is going to do.

    What happened was bad, but I think the UB scandal was a whole lot worse. Why does everyone always continually attack Mark? He has articulately spoke his mind about the issue.

    Have you heard Hellmuth speak or be continually asked at every interview about UB? How about Annie? I know she has made a few comments but neither of them have had to take the constant questions as Mark has.

    Mark flew to Bristol to do the show with Andrew and Bernard. I suspect he knew all along this would be a topic of discussion and agreed to do yet ANOTHER interview regarding this. Do you think Hellmuth or Annie would of? How about Russ Hamilton?

    It’s odd the same people who write to get on-line Poker legalized continue to bring up the AP issue to keep it fresh in the Politicians minds.

  • Haley

    LOL again. It wasn’t Mark. I’m sure Kev can point you in the direction of a couple of 2+2 compendium threads.

    Mark has had to face more questions than Phil and Annie for two reasons: (1) The AP scandal broke first; and (2) Mark made himself look incredibly bad in losing a video confrontation to Todd Witteles on the matter, back in late ’07 or whenever. I didn’t even know it was possible to lose an argument to Druff until Mark pulled it off.

    And…:

    “It’s odd the same people who write to get on-line Poker legalized continue to bring up the AP issue to keep it fresh in the Politicians minds.”

    Nice red herring. That’s exactly the attitude that the thieves want you to have, that you’d better not expose them because it’d be bad for online poker. I’m more of the mindset that we should try to get the vermin out of the business, whatever the cost, because whatever is left will be much more amenable for eventual regulation. The crooks have wrapped themselves behind the banner of online poker since the outset of these scandals, and it’s sad to see how many people have fallen for that line of extended bullshit.

  • Kevin Mathers

    The interviews Mark Seif had in Bristol were the first he’s made about the AP scandal since the Raw Vegas interview. The intro to the Inside Deal show, he mentioned he’d rather talk about Absolute than getting AA cracked twice at WPT final tables, or the Professional Poker Tour.

    Hellmuth’s said his share of stupid things (pots shipped the wrong way online a hundred times), and Duke has rambled her way through interviews trying to explain the situation. Allegedly, the KGC will release more information regarding Ultimate Bet (re: releasing the superuser list) before the Aruba Classic. Of course, there were rumors that this would be out before last year’s Aruba Classic, this year’s WSOP, etc. etc.

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    Wow Haley…LOL at you too.If you want to talk about thieves I think I have a little more expertise in that field.

    There is a saying, “Money is the Root of all Evil”! It happens everyday in the World. As usual someone more intelligent than I finds something to expose the thief and then i investigate and do my best to put a stop to them and have a part in putting this person away for a long time.

    There is no investigative entity in the AP/UB scandals and if another should occur the thieves are aware of this.

    You may have more information regarding the “extended bullshit” in the on-line community then I do because of your daily work with Poker News and being a lot closer to the Industry than me.

    However I think I may be a lot closer to Mark and the friendship we have developed over the past 4 years was built not only for our love of Poker and the compassion we have for others, but Trust of each other. So I throw my support behind him as you would any GOOD friend you had.

    I believe in Integrity and honesty, I have tried to be the best at what I do for 23 years. Never lied in a report or in court and have saved lives in more ways then you can imagine Haley. I am proud of that and I can look in the mirror every morning and see someone who is not a phoney, fake, cheat or thief and has given the best each and every day of his life. So when I throw my support behind someone you can be sure I have done my homework and I am pretty confident.

    I respect your opinions immensely but I sense a bit of anger in your replies and I am not sure if it’s because you do not like On-Line Poker or if you truly want it to succeed.

    I am not happy this happened because I am a firm believer Brick and Mortar Casino’s, who put on these big tournaments need the on-line sites as much as the players do, maybe more.

    AP tried to remedy the situation. It may not be the best but they could of dragged it on for a very long time and hoped it went away, but they did not.

  • Haley

    I’d love online poker to succeed, Scott. It’s very dear to me. But, if it only succeeds with crooks and thieves and cowards running the show, it can rot. Media also has the responsibility to hold itself to a higher standard and it’s hilarious how woefully short the poker media is in that regard.

    You also seem intent on misreading me into some statement that I thought Mark Seif was a cheat. I’ve never said that and I don’t believe that. I don’t know if you persist in this because you can’t separate yourself from your own agenda, but that implication is simply not true.

    What Mark has done, however, is to maximize his personal revenues to the detriment of the full truth coming out in the matter, the same way that Hellmuth et. al. have done over at UB. Mark teased the industry for almost two years that he was “for real” going to talk about the AP matter, and then he finally did this thing for ESPN and it was an empty little turd. Whoopie-shit that he flew to Bristol to do it. It’s nothing but poorly executed spin.

    Now, Mark can do whatever he wants to further his own business — in fact, I’d expect most people to do that — but he doesn’t deserve a free pass and glowing praise for spewing such empty crap. That whole thing is a giant shuck. It wasn’t a “consultant” and the use of “six weeks” is an inappropriate bit of misdirection, and it’s highly likely that the choice of terms used there was specifically agreed to by AP bosses. The “six weeks” thing I intend to elaborate further upon on my own, elsewhere.

    As I pointed out in my comment in another thread, “no one talks” business agreements to shield criminal behavior are generally null and void in “Western law” societies — they have no standing and cannot be enforced. Business Law 101 stuff. So let’s see what happens if and whenever Mark leaves or is dropped as AP’s face and he doesn’t have a revenue stream as an endorser coming in, and the need to improve his own image comes to the fore.

  • Haley

    By the way, Scott:

    “It’s odd the same people who write to get on-line Poker legalized continue to bring up the AP issue to keep it fresh in the Politicians minds.”

    If you believe that, it seems you should then be asking Mark why he allowed the AP issue to be brought up, not trying to scold others for talking about Mark’s appearance.

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    My own Agenda? What are you referring to? Fallen Heroes?

    Fallen Heroes brought Mark and I together but as I stated we have developed a friendship and a trust.

    I do not discuss the AP thing with mark at all. We did when it broke and I asked him the questions I needed to and since, there has been no need for me to discuss any further.

    I will tell you this about how I feel about on-line Poker. I have issues with it. I have played on line for milk money and watched incredible things happen. Sure strange things happen live and people say it’s because there are so many more hands dealt on line. I say BS….

    We B&M players need on line as I have said before. If regulated is it going to get better? Who will be the governing body and who will have jurisdiction over those who cheat and steal?

    The Europeans surely do not want the USA in control and vice a versa.

    “It’s odd the same people who write to get on-line Poker legalized continue to bring up the AP issue to keep it fresh in the Politicians minds.”

    I was talking about the AP thing here. Sure it was bad but I believe the UB issue to be far far worse and am curious as to why they merged. That would be a good investigative story to find the truth about.

    Thanks Haley for the debate and the I never thought you believed Mark was a cheat, I just wanted to explain to you I believed he had nothing to do with the AP scandal and why.

    Does he know more? I do not know, I never asked him. Everyone protect’s there best interest in anything or at least they should.

  • http://wisehandpoker.com scott diamond

    Another SDcheme where thieves try to get away with taking what is not theirs. where do these people come from? No morals were taught to them by their PARENTS?

    I copied this from another site

    Planet Hollywood Casino Workers Land in Jail for Poker Scheme

    September 10, 2009

    Last month four Las Vegas casino workers were accused of forging documents and stealing money from the Planet Hollywood Casino. The employees worked in the poker room as dealers and supervisors and were accused of creating false documents for jackpot winnings and splitting the money amongst themselves.

    Local police have stated that the four employees worked together to cheat money out of the casino by using a paper trail. The State Gaming Control Board stated that several times in August the employees claimed jackpots for high hands that were never won. The employees forged the signatures of false players and took home money in the thousands.

    The four workers were arrested by the Gaming Control Board who was tipped off by another worker who felt like something was going on. The four conspirators now face several charges including conspiracy, forgery and theft.

    The four employees had opportunity to take the money as poker rooms are not as heavily surveillance as the main gaming floor. Not to mention the employees were in a place of power being supervisors and dealers. If the other employee of the casino had not tipped off the authorities the four would most likely have continued their scheme, taking more money from the casino in the process.