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Re: Absolute (3)
Mark Seif, Absolute respond with call for investigation

by , Oct 17, 2007 | 7:51 pm

Comments (10)

As feces continue to fly about the fan, Absolute Poker has agreed to a third-party investigation by a supposedly independent agency, Gaming Associates.

Mark Seif, a former attorney with a stake in AP has taken on the role as spokesperson on his “blog” at Bluff, and a few days ago announced that Absolute was conducting its own audit in an attempt to reassure players that there was nothing to fear:

Specifically, Absolute Poker’s internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards.

See, right there, we know that’s not true. Because obviously the computer randomizing/dealing the cards knows … which is how they can send hand histories to each individual player. C’mon, AP … try again. While personally I may be reserving judgment until at least a little more evidence comes out, it ain’t looking pretty. The phrases being uttered (and not) by Absolute Poker remind me of the Catholic Church denying child sex abuse in the mid-’90s. Not to put online poker on par with priestly pedophilia, but as is often the case in “damage control” amid scandal, attempts to cover-up, redirect, and deny may work for a little bit, but can prove costly in the long run. As to corporate CYA, the general public has become quite adept at seeing through that sorta doublespeak, and poker players will eventually take their addiction dollars elsewhere! [/soapbox]

I wonder if anyone playing (or observing) on Absolute has had their chat privileges suspended or blocked for providing warnings to players. That would be really interesting to know.


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10 Comments to “Re: Absolute (3)
Mark Seif, Absolute respond with call for investigation”


  1. BrendanEff     says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 11:58pm

    I’d be surprised if anyone was chat-banned. They don’t monitor chat unless someone reports something, as far as I know. Who’s gonna report on these people? The only ones I see getting banned possibly are the ones who rail Mark Seif. Some nasty stuff said tonight, while he was playing the 100K Guarantee at AP. As I write this, he is at the final table.


  2. DanM     says:
    October 18th, 2007 at 1:20am

    Not sure that Seif deserves a ton of abuse — I can’t imagine as a minority owner he would be actively involved in whatever may have gone down. But if he wants to save his name, he may want to consider responding to commenters on his “blog” … or even get a little personal and real. I mean this has got to be a trying situation for him … would like to know a little more about what he knows and what he’s thinking, that’s all.

    We’ll give him a little bit of time, sure, to sort through it all himself. But he should be asking himself what he will be saying about this matter five years from now.

    Also find it interesting that Brett Jungblut is one of the guys really calling him out on all this. He’s seen at least one online site go bad before.


  3. DanM     says:
    October 18th, 2007 at 1:22am

    And remember how Absolute handled the guy who hacked Pauly’s site?


  4. The Fat Guy » Blog Archive » Online Poker is SO Rigged     says:
    October 18th, 2007 at 9:01am

    […] DanM at Pokerati has mucho more for you. […]


  5. Drizztdj     says:
    October 18th, 2007 at 9:49am

    Have you read this yet?

    http://www.natarem.com/?p=158


  6. DanM     says:
    October 18th, 2007 at 12:09pm

    Yeah, I think that’s the best summary out there … or at least the one I read that started to convince me this was more than conspiracy theory. Am starting to lose track of what’s all out there now …


  7. California Jen     says:
    October 19th, 2007 at 12:03am

    Pocket Fives is reporting that Absolute is ready to acknowledge the cheating and possibly refund players who were cheated.

    http://www.pocketfives.com/18B87A4F-0F8E-4BB7-A3B8-5729C725E0FA.aspx


  8. California Jen     says:
    October 19th, 2007 at 12:12am

    Mark Seif has also posted a new blog with his personal feelings on the subject – no official AP Management statement this time.

    http://www.bluffmagazine.com/blog/blogdetail.asp?aid=80&bcatid=4


  9. DanM     says:
    October 19th, 2007 at 1:41am

    good for mark. i heard something similar about the forthcoming admission of guilt. but i’ve also heard the owners plan to move to panama and change their names. no joke! (but no reliable confirmation, either.)


  10. DanM     says:
    October 20th, 2007 at 5:52am

    just read seif’s post, and i gotta say it is great. that’s all we wanted, and he makes some good points without speaking like hired legal defense.

    you can tell he hopes it isn’t true, but as all poker players know, hoping is seldom a reliable strategy.

    (now if only bluff would learn that true blogs allow you to link to an individual posr … so when people stumble upon this years from now they could actually find what he was saying.)