I know I shouldn’t celebrate yet another poker related scandal, but with minimal information, this one is definitely a favorite … six Buddhist monks have resigned over a scandalous video showing some high priests playing high-stakes poker (and drinking and smoking) when they were supposed to be honoring a dead leader. Awesome. Supposedly it was a 13-hour binge … and we all know what the rules of poker discipline say about leaving a good game.

The New York Times says it was for $875,000. (And the New Zealand Herald puts the stakes at NZ $1.1 million.) Holy craps, that’s a big roll. However, we know the mainstream press has a habit of making errors when talking poker. If they are talking 875k South Korean Won, however, the currency converts to more monk-like stakes … about $900.

Exciting nonetheless, especially for holy men who have taken a vow of celibacy.

The scandal-plagued Cereus Network, home of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, took another hit on Thursday regarding their encryption procedures. Poker Table Ratings issued a “security alert” advising players not to play at AP/UB as they revealed a major security flaw as Cereus was using XOR encryption rather than the poker industry standard SSL protocol for all network transmissions.

An example of what PTR found is in the video below:

Cereus COO Paul Leggett issued a response shortly after the PTR report came out Thursday evening and posted a status update just a few minutes ago stating that they’ve issued an update to their software earlier Friday and are working with PTR on the new encryption and the eventual release of a more advanced solution using the Open SSL protocol, scheduled to be available in one week.

One of the main complaints about those affected by the UB superuser scandal is that players have not been able to see their hand histories against the list of 100+ superusers. From Joe Sebok’s blog:

Whew, crazy couple of days. Thanks everyone for all the support. You guys are amazing and I can’t thank you enough for the love. For the skeptical, I just ask that you give the situation some more time…

Now, let’s get to the release of the hand histories. It’s a two-part process and here is the rundown:

First off, UB is currently working to catch up on all past historical requests, so be aware of that if you already have a request in. In truth though, it can’t hurt to send another email request just to lock it up. You can do so at pokersecurity@ultimatebet.com. Please include all pertinent information in your email: your name, address, and your user name.

Now, once your request has been processed you should expect a summary version of the information first. It’ll be a spreadsheet that details every hand you specifically played against each of the identified 117 cheating accounts. This will be a complete record of all those hands so that you can go through and verify the refund amounts yourselves. This will act as a summary as we want to get something out to you while the actual detailed hand histories are processed, which obviously takes longer.

Some hand histories will go out quickly, as they won’t contain as many hands as others. Some players have played a ridiculous amount of hands however and that will take a longer amount of time to process. Again, this is the reason for the first, summary hand breakdown of the information, as that gets something in your hands that you can begin checking sooner.

Please be a little patient with getting this information out and back to you once you have requested it. I know you have all been waiting for quite a while, but this kind of project takes some time to run through.

Thanks to the KGC and UB for making this all happen. I am impressed to say the least.

Didn’t really see this one coming, but Joe Sebok explained in great detail why he made the decision to join the UltimateBet team. His latest blog post on PokerRoad starts with his skepticism about joining UB when he was asked on previous occasions, and it ends with the reasons he not only agreed to be a sponsored player but a consultant for the company in charge of media and operations.

The stipulation for joining the team came with wanting to ensure that the company moves forward – away from the scandal – in a positive direction and maintains a spotlessly clean reputation and record. Feeling responsible to the poker community that is part of PokerRoad, he wanted to be sure that he will represent a company that he believes in and one that the poker world can again trust. And to show that UB is willing to be as open as possible, the company has agreed to let Sebok’s first priority be the release of all hand histories associated with the scandal and the names of those paired with those accounts. Though KGC wanted no part of releasing the names of Russ Hamilton’s 31 co-conspirators, UB seems to have changed its mind on the subject.

Sebok wrote:

The first order of business with my position at Ub has been to help aid in the release of not only ALL of the hand histories from the super-user scandal, but also the accounts that were used to perpetuate the scandal itself and the actual physical names of those individuals who we believe to have been directly involved in disparate ways with the actual cheating. As most of you know, two-thirds of this has now been accomplished. Please take this as a first step in showing that things will be different at UltimateBet moving forward. I commend Paul and the management team over at Ub for being open to this release and making it happen at my insistence . They deserve all the credit in the world today in taking these first steps in ensuring that this case gets closed, and closed correctly.

As soon as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission released its final decision in the UltimateBet cheating scandal, the questions started hitting. Most of them concerned the secrecy around the list of 31 names said to be associated with Russ Hamilton. A discussion with Chuck Barnett, member of the Board of Supervisors of Mohawk Internet Technologies, provided his reasons for not releasing that list of names.

Mr. Barnett first told me that implicating Hamilton in the scandal was not a problem, as it was “very clear” that he was directly connected and responsible for the crimes being alleged. The names of the 31 individuals associated were another story, he says. The Commission had lengthy discussions regarding the release of those names and ultimately consulted their legal team and law enforcement officials.

On the legal front, they deemed it a civil liability issue, as the suspects are directly linked to Hamilton or the 117 accounts listed BUT there is the possibility that they had no knowledge of the scheme. If they were accused and found to be completely oblivious to or innocent of the crimes, there would be liability in falsely accusing them. There is also some question as to each person’s level of culpability, which can’t be known until they are questioned by the proper authorities. And per law enforcement, naming the individuals would impede a criminal investigation, as anyone named may be able to flee the country, hide, etc. With all things considered, the KGC made the decision to withhold the names.

When asked about the law enforcement agencies involved, Mr. Barnett wouldn’t say much. Legally, all he said he could say was all information from the KGC investigation was turned over to “law enforcement,” which had expressed a distinct interest in pursuing the case. He could not say, however, whether those were Canadian or U.S. authorities, only that there were discussions with “regional and national” agencies.

If/when indictments are handed down or prosecutions are made, or if some other permission is given by law enforcement, the KGC will make public the names – and be happy to do it. Until then, based on overwhelming advice, the list will remain a mystery.

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.

On Sunday night’s Ultimate Poker Show at Rounders Radio, hosts Annie Duke and Mark “PokerH0” Kroon interviewed their UB teammate Phil Hellmuth on a variety of topics, and took a call that led to his first public statement on the hand that was awarded to him in error.

Hellmuth discusses hand that was awarded to him in error

You can listen to the entire show at the Rounders Radio site here.