Kevin Mathers — super-moderator at 2+2, valued contributor who likes to call me out on errors here at Pokerati, and Poker News fact-checker extraordinaire — speaks with Shamus about the uber-glamorous life as a poker forum moderator and gives some insight into how 2+2 ticks. Click here for more on the process from one of the most mysterious men in poker this side of Isildur.
To answer a question asked at the beginning of Seebs’ interview, the thread on 2+2 is currently at over 200 posts.
There seems to be a cheating scandal brewing at Pitbull Poker, or at least a group of well-documented incidents that don’t sit well with players, according to an ever-growing thread on 2+2. While they can’t seem to pinpoint what is wrong – not quite a superuser situation – many players are citing the fact that hand histories aren’t easy to examine, they sometimes disappear from the site, and hole cards that sometimes appear randomly.
It’s a bit confusing, but Poker News Daily seems to have broken down the allegations of superuser accounts, stack shaving, odd hand history formats, and software glitches. The latest, as of a few days ago and just before the topic was closed by 2+2, original poster chesterboy wrote the following:
I believe all relevant people and companies have have been identified.
If there was wrongdoing, I believe I should be hearing back from some people that can verify the stories, especially if the sweatshop story has any truth to it.
If there was no wrongdoing, I am now back in productive dialogue with [Network Manager Dave Brenes], and we should be able to verify these things in a somewhat timely manner.
I am sorry things had to get this unpleasant to get an appropriate reaction from pitbull. So far the only verified shortcomings of pitbull are poor communication and slow response times. Kevin, while having a questionable history has not yet been shown to have done anything wrong here. I too do not have a perfect past though it may not show up on the internet so easily. We can’t condemn someone in this case for past wrongdoings.
They have been misleading regarding licenses but this is standard for the industry and not something I intend to pursue if there is no evidence of cheating on the site. I play in a state where poker is banned so it benefits me that some companies are willing to bend the law. Being that they are in Costa Rica it is possible they have not broken any laws.
Anyone have any history with Pitbull? Does anyone even play at Pitbull?
Normally we wouldn’t think much of a thread on 2+2 about some withdrawal problems at a major American-friendly online site. Usually these problems get resolved in a matter of days or maybe weeks, but this time something’s different.
Developing …
We’ll hold off on saying too much until we get more solid information, but basically, checks from PokerStars are “bouncing”, particularly with New York banks. Instant E-checks seems to be the payment processor most notably affected at present. However, it’s not just e-checks … paper checks are proving uncashable, too. Reliable sources tell us that this is not just a little snafu, but that it’s the direct result of DOJ enforcement actions somehow connected to the Federal Court in New York’s Southern District.
This is the same court, of course, that handled Neteller way back when, and more recently came to non-prosecution agreements guilty plea settlements with Anurag Dikshit et al. While the Party Poker dudes are officially in the clear,* is it possible the Feds are now saying, hey, that was fun, and we got a lot of money … let’s try it again with those PokerStars guys!?!
The FBI offers more clarity on who’s agreed to what between Party Poker peeps and the Feds here.
The best I can tell, right now Stars seems to be the target. No confirmation on the fates of Full Tilt and UB payment processing.
UPDATE: Problems at Full Tilt, too. (Thanks, Ken, for the info/link!) And Ultimate Bet.
Regardless, whatever shakes down (pun intended), it raises a lot of questions at an interesting time, considering how much big money gets transfered passed between poker players — particularly in the summer — often on an online site in exchange for casino chips and/or bricks of cash.
Might the value of the Euro have just gone up, at least in the poker economy? Seems plausible if they’re the only ones able to convert online bankrolls into real American WSOP buy-in dollars.
* Cases against (with?) two other Party principals, Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon, are still pending in the same court.
From the PPA:
Hi all,
Texas Gov. Perry is blocking the vote on HB222 (the bill that legalized land-based poker in Texas). Let’s all amp up the pressure!
Contact info:
Phone: (800) 252-9600
Twitter: @GovernorPerryI believe we should hit with calls and Twitters. This was effective at getting us heard in Minn., so let’s try it here. I wrote up some Tweets to Twitter. It takes just seconds to send these out, so let’s all pitch in!
Click here to send Tweet #1: RT @PPApoker: PLZ tell TX @GovernorPerry at (800) 252-9600 to stop blocking a vote on HB 222, a bill that allows poker in Texas. PLS RT!”
Click here to send Tweet #2: “RT @PPApoker: PLZ tell TX @GovernorPerry at (800) 252-9600 that poker is a game of skill that should be legal in Texas. PLS RT.”
Also, if Perry follows you on Twitter, you can send him a direct message:
Click here to send the direct message: “D GovernorPerry: Texas Hold’em is a game of skill that should be legal in Texas. Can you end your HB222 vote block? THX! http://is.gd/uNvv”
I posted this to P5s at http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/7/new-letter-to-congress-please-send-4240404 and http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/8/texas-poker-legalization-people-living-in-texas-plz-read-4204172 . If you get a chance, please consider posting a message of encouragement there to get others to pitch in. After all, 2+2 responded to this by giving me a warning; P5s responded by stickying my thread for the day (I didn’t ask them to).
Thanks!
Rich
OK, I wonder how long I can think these are hysterical funny-not-stupid … so far so good. Another fine poker-themed movie made on XtraNormal.com, called Damn You Two Plus Two:
(probably not audio-SFW)
(Hmm, no wonder why the Focus on the Family types don’t like poker people.)
More make-your-own-movies from the “brilliant” minds at 2+2 here and here.
There’s a lot of political to-do over use of the term “illegal” in connection to online poker — whether that be in proposed legislation or general internet chit-chat. “Playing poker online is not illegal at all!” say the die-hards. “All the UIGEA made illegal was the transfer of funds blah blah blah!” Fair enough, but bottom line is that it’s easier to get weed in this country than it is to get your money off of Full Tilt … interpret as you see fit.
One Pokerati reader writes in with the latest on his difficulty getting $4,500 from Full Tilt into his American pockets:
Update:After a month of getting the run around trying to make a check withdrawal ftp finally told me they could not and that their problems with the check processor persist. They told me to use the cash pick up option and that through moneygram, i could pick up my money at an authorized agent. I checked and there several in town so I sent a withdrawal request. I was told that once processed the money would be available in one to three business days. It showed as processing for a week and the ftp told me that the transaction was declined. I now have no means to get money out. I put in for a 50 dollar deposit to see if they would take my money and sure enough they did. I have a lot of cash in there and no way to get it out. Suggestion? Any similar stories? Arent you best friends with ftp pros. How can they work this way?
Damn, not good. As referenced in a comment to your previous post, there have been some 2+2 discussions about similar difficulties:
FTP checks thread
Why are there 65,000 people currently playing on FTP when we CANT get paid???
… so your situation clearly isn’t isolated. I personally have some Full Tilt cash supposedly waiting for me at MoneyGram — just haven’t picked it up because non-electronic banking is a pain in the ass and I’ve been “running good” at the live tables and bills aren’t due for a while — will try to cash out this week to see what happens.
As to all the Full Tilt pros being my best friends … absolutely, we are tight-tight and have partied all night long. And yet for some reason they all seem to have changed their phone numbers without telling me. I don’t get it!
What’s going on tonight at the WSOP:
The $1,500 NL Holdem final table just completed and it was down to a Woo and a Wood for the bracelet (w00t!). David Woo from Atlanta, GA defeated Matt Wood from Whitby, Ontario, Canada to win just over $630,000 and a coveted bracelet. Wood has the consolation of taking home almost $390,000 US back to the Great White North. Woo was bolstered when he knocked out the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (Thom Werthmann and Curtis Early) with 6 left on the same hand, when he flopped the nut straight against top two pair and an open ended straight draw.
Other tournament action on the next page:
On March 6, UltimateBet acknowledged that at least one player exhibited an abnormal winning rate on its site. They noted that a third-party audit was in the works, and a complete and thorough investigation was promised.
A few interesting tidbits:
1. UB admitted that it was made aware of the allegations on January 12. They didn’t begin a formal investigation until March 6. It is now May 15, and not a peep has been heard from UB.
2. There are similarities between the UB scandal and the Absolute Poker scandal that stink of more than coincidence.
3. UB has not responded to inquiries on the subject.
A poster on 2+2 broke down the details of the scandal thus far. And Nat Arem posted on PocketFives that he has information that he simply cannot release (???) but assures the public that UB is working on the issue.
Not good enough. It has been too long. UB made the same mistakes as AP – taking too long to admit the problem, resolve it, and communicate with players about it. It is just unacceptable, and I, for one, will continue to publicize the scandal and recommend that players stay far away from Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. (This opinion does not necessarily reflect that of Pokerati.)
Some of you have been wondering, why no new episodes of Beyond the Table? Tom, Karridy, and I have been wondering the same thing. It’s been a good run, and with drinks in the air, three guys who clearly love/hate the sounds of their own voices are calling it podcast quits.
Back when we started, our show about poker but not really about poker stood out as revolutionary in a sea of lame poker interviewcasts with questionable audio quality. Soon after iPod sales were booming as more and more of the world got hooked on downloading poker audio with funny intros and Angry Julie cameos. But Tom couldn’t handle the celebrity and Karridy developed a crack addiction lives got busy and producers for Beyond the Table fared about as well as drummers for Spinal Tap. The show hired Shamus at a fraction of a Cambodian farmer’s wage to pump up our numbers — did he ever get his T-shirt? — but with a new generation of poker podcasts getting better and stronger (Lou Kreiger, Gary Wise, 2+2, Pocket Fives, Ante Up, Poker Road, et al) old-school payola wasn’t enough to save us from going out on the podcast bubble.
Listen below to a heretofore unpublished episode (recorded on 2-27, my dream flop) as your favorite semi-amateur yammerers phone it in for the last and final-ish time:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Thanks for listening via RSS, iTunes, play-in-popup, and direct download … we already miss ourselves.
You can still prank call Karridy on the Beyond the Table listener line at 888-820-8091.
