Catching Up to Speed

Shamanalix commented on my last post that I was more interesting and fascinating then the shill I had become in my most recent posts and challenged me to do better then that. Point taken, but when you mention things like Tiffany Michelle's breasts and UB Cheating Scandal your blog traffic does increase quite a bit.

I should backtrack a bit. I've played very little poker in the last two months. I was on vacation from July 4th to the 13th and had plans to play quite a bit of poker during that time. I had planned on getting back into the online grind in camaraderie with my friends out in Vegas kicking it back Vegas style and to play some live poker too. Of course, the closure of my underground cardrooms, after the much storied raids at the end of May/beginning of June put a damper on that.

The beginning of my vacation started with Snake5970 and his two brothers trip reports from Vegas. Rich, aka Silo2436, one of my live league mates got into Vegas on July 1st, got off the plane went to Caesar's with Snake5970 and proceeded to build a huge stack in one of the Deep Stack series there. I was texted Silo updates from Snake5970 who had hit the rail early (a pattern that became all to familiar with Snake on this Vegas trip). Silo made a horrible play per Snake, when he shoved 88 with a monster stack and ran into a bigger stack donking out with a small cash. Snake told me he gave his brother an earful in the Sportsbook about that move.

The youngest P brother (who I have never met) rolled into Vegas from New Jersey on July 2nd. He only stayed 5 days. That nite the guys went to Lawrey's Prime Rib and then to see Danny Gans at the Mirage. Silo and Snake did make a couple of last stab attempts at a WSOP Main Event seat but when they were told to come back later on the nite of day 1C to see if there were seats for a last chance satellite for day 1D, they both gave up and decided to focus on cash games. Snake told me more then once he didn't like the way Harrah's handled certain things.

On the 3rd of July my dad called me to tell me that my dad's estranged wife aka my stepmonster had passed away after her second battle with cancer. We knew the end was coming quick and my dad had actually spent the last few days down at the hospital with her, and other family members and he was with her when she passed. Fourth of July was my first day off. I met my mom up at her part-time job of Barnes in Noble in Saratoga, bought some reading materials and we had dinner at Pizzeria Uno after running some errands to Lowe's and JC Penney's. Saturday I went down to BFF Kim's mom's house for a barbecue in honor of nephew Conner's birthday. As usual the conversation was entertaining and hysterical. Sunday I woke up and felt fine and did stuff around the house contemplating a live poker club appearance on the galaxy far far away. By mid afternoon I had to take a nap, by that night I was feeling funky in my tummy and had the chills on and off thru the nite. By Monday Morning stuff was pouring out of me an I had a funeral to attend. I took some stuff to calm my intestinal issues paid my respects to my step aunt and step grandma and came home in lieu of going too the post funeral get-together.

I went downt to Westport, CT on Thursday July 11th to visit my sister for the day with my dad. I was still not feeling good. Stuff is still coming out of me and I don't really feel like eating or running around. Four and a half days this is going on. My mom thinks food poisoning and lactose intolerance are both at play. I buy a bottle of Acidophilous Pro biotic pills for intestinal health. I already own Lactose enzyme pills. Friday I was feeling bleck in the morning but met my mom at TGIF's for lunch. Finally, by Saturday I feel like a human and I actually have time and feel comfortable enough to sit at the pool for a day. The rest of the weekend I catch up on stuff I couldn't do when I didn't feel good.

In the meantime Silo had already flown home to Upstate NY and Snake5970 was playing his last day of poker in Vegas in cash games at various poker rooms up and down the strip. Literally, the two of them did a Las Vegas tour of poker rooms from the Flamingo to Planet Hollywood, to TI, Mirage, MGM, Caesar's, Venetian, Excalibur and I'm sure a few others I forgot. Other brother Chris didn't play any poker but did play some other negative EV games. When Snake caught me up on some non poker stuff, I was extremely jealous of the details of their fine meals at the Palm and Lawrey's Prime Rib. Had I felt better I probably would have been flipping Snake the bird from my end of the cell phone. Instead, I probably said a few things.

Anyway, very very little poker for me on that vacation just a little online. I did gamble a little on horses cashing on a Breeder's cup race at Delmar. I also conjured up the idea that a trip to TROCK was in order for the deep stack turbo challenge at the tail end of the Continental Poker Championships and Snake5970 was to be my partner in crime.

To be continued .....

A cure for the poker uglies

Had enough of Ultimate Theft's superuser account scandal.? Need a cure for the "I cant get my money out of my online poker account blues?"

Check out Melted Felt for their take on all the poker uglies of the recent weeks:

Kahnawake Loses Grip On Poker Corruption

That 2 Timing B*tch Gave Me A Rash

UB Lastest: Support for Hamilton Floods In.

UB Press Release, Security To Be Enhanced With A 'Computer'

Absolute Poker Announce New Head Of Security

2+2er Pwns the Indian Chief

For those of you following the UB/AP Superuser Cheating Scandals, the name Cornell Fiji will ring familiar as one of the key 2+2 members who brought the scandal to light. Apparently he has been threatened with libel/slander by the "Chief" So he posted this "retraction" on 2+2 titled:

My retraction of certain statements made about UltimateBet and Joe Norton

Then he singlehandedly lists how redonkulous the tribes/chiefs case is against him by listing known instances where the tribe has been implicated or being investigated for:

Drug Trafficking
Gun Smuggling
SMUGGLING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
TOBACCO SMUGGLING:
TAX HAVENS AND TAX FRAUD

Read thru his post check out his links and duly note that many of the online poker rooms we play on are "regulated" by Kahnawake Gaming Commission which really means squawdoosh as far as I'm concerned.

Ultimate Bet Cheating Scandal/Tiffany Michelle fall from grace

Here is the link to a google page listing the key points/ facts/red herrings/tips/info etc. found so far. It is a summary for those not wishing to wade thru pages and pages of material. The threads on 2+2 are getting bogged down with crosstalk and bickering.

Here is the 2+2 thread created 7/13/08 by Nat Arem to summarize the original locked thread in all its glory. Please note this thread is now at 139 pages and counting.

Nat Arem was threatened (with what or from whom that's for Nat to share with the authorities if there are authorities who even care about this) and has pulled back from actively posting on the thread. As far as I know no one else has been threatened or admitted to it in the thread.

This puzzle, mystery, enigma of the ownership of UB past present future seems like a Dan Brown mystery ala The DaVinci Code. What is the saying follow the money trail....


Edit: Here is an excellent leadoff post on Pocket5's by Brsavage who used to play extensively at UB. Click here to read his thoughts on old UB/new UB.

I also find it interesting that the vast majority of poker bloggers other than myself and sprstoner have not even mentioned it. Guess everyone is too busy playing MTT's or doesn't think it effects them. Lucko does mention it but links to Sprstoner's post. My guess is that is because most of us stick to Full Tilt, Pokerstars and Bodog. But I suggest everyone get familiar with what is going down because it could happen elsewhere. If one site could have administrator access superuser accounts all sites could have them. It has been proven that the programming code can be done to actually see hole cards. Of course I hope the majority of the "trusted" sites have controls in place that prevents owners, insiders, employees from benefiting from such a program. It remains to be seen, was UB solely created to defraud the masses who play there or just the highrollers?

Poor Tiffany Michele, did the pressure get too much for her at the end? If you've read Dr Pauly during the WSOP you will note he makes frequent mentions of the agents swarming like flies on shit in and outside the Amazon room. I myself wondered why someone as fairly high profile as Tiffany would sport Ultimate Bet patches/logos considering all the bad press UB has been garnering lately. But here is a young lady involved in a tug of war... a former boyfriend in someone with close ties to Ultimate Bet in Hollywood Dave (aka Hollywood douche on some threads), employment by PokerNews (owned by Tony G) and whose entry into the Main Event was paid for by Tony G and Jeffrey Lisandro. If you followed Pauly you would know that the G had a stable of horses in the WSOP. Here are the key posts in the Tiffany Michelle drama bomb unfolding now:

First Dr Pauly's excellent post The battle for Tiffany Michelle's breasts. Scroll Down to 2008 WSOP Day 45: Main Event Day 6, post for July 14, 2008.

Next Check out PokerNews Statement here on how really really disappointed they are in Ms. Michelle.

Finally here is a couple of other threads on the battle for the Tata's/Tiffany:
2+2 here and here
and NeverWinPoker thread here (warning content on NWP may not be suitable for minors!!)

More to follow on the Ultimate Bet case as it unfolds. For those of you who dont realize how big this is, 60 minutes is going to be doing a piece on it and Gary Wise of WiseHandPoker and Espn.com is involved.

UltimateBet Cheating Scandal "Cliffnotes"

Follow the trail.....

Information now spans three forums: 2+2, Pocket5's and a few tidbits on Neverwin.

It appears that Russ Hamilton, WSOP Main Event winner, golf hustler, former/(current?) owner of UltimateBet can be directly tied to/owned three of the superuser accounts.

Nat Arem who was directly involved in breaking the Absolute Poker Scandal out is once again guiding the way. Nat should be commended for his diligence. You can check out Nat's blog here.

Ultimate Bet SuperUser Cheating Scandal Round II

"New" managagement blaming old management? Several known pros such as Rizen and Bax sign with the new UltimateBet. Rizen unsigns with the new UltimateBet.

And now this bombshell from an alleged UB insider/whistleblower who may or may not be blackmailing UB based on a recent radio interview conducted with well known female pro connected to the home of super-user accounts. Start with the Pocket 5's thread here. From there you can link to the PokerRoad interview.

I first stumbled upon the "leak" on Pocket 5's. The thread title references to Freddy Deeb who was at one time a UB sponsered pro.

http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/7/Freddy-Deeb-_2600_amp_3B00_-_2600_quot_3B00_new_2600_quot_3B00_-UB-management-involved-in-superuser-scandal_3F00_-3058073

Which led me to 2+2. At one point the 2+2 thread was brought down by the Malmuths so they could edit out personal information that Brainwashedodo had posted.

Start here. then go here. Pack a lunch if you must at over 100 pages long and growing you will need time to wade thru this all.

For a cliff notes version of the last 24 hours of the UB SuperUser Account Cheating Scandal which may or may not make 60 minutes:

NoLimitLeagues post (#197) now part of a locked thread:

Summary of what has happened in the last 24 hours, related to UB SuperUsers:

- Someone with a 2p2 username of brainwashdodo and no posts, claiming to be a current UB employee who worked closely in the investigation of NioNio and other superusers made this post on June 28th:

Quote:
I came to post today with the claim of no less than the so called "nionio" was manufactured by the current management of the company.

Tomorrow or the day after, you will receive an extensive report from both KGC and UB/AP, on how the company was the victim the wrongdoing of the previous management, very similar to Annie’s statements.

I only wanted to come out now, just to say a few words before these new founding’s and the additional refund process begins. Also to give you a hint how the company “found” the “additional accounts and data surrounding the unfair play”. I helped them. My posts will soon to follow these upcoming statements, please stand by, and I see you guys in a few days.
-The report from UB was delayed, and he made it clear he didn’t want to leak the inside info until after the statement from UB. In the meantime he gives us a teaser by showing us a screenshot of NioNio’s account but doesn’t explain. 2p2ers figure out that UB wiped this info clean and the new info is a play money account that someone probably set up as a joke. However, I don’t think brainwashdodo realized this, as he was trying to trace the IP address of the NioNio play money account.

-The statement from UB finally came out yesterday and stated they found 14 more superusers: Crackcorn55, GrabBag123, gravitation, Bgroup, H_Curtis, Twenty 1, WacoManiac, Broke_In_L_A, ShaqTack, BlueBerry101, 55WasHere, Xnomas, dannyboy55, Indy05. The truth is 2p2ers found these superusers and reported them to UB and UB is finally admitting it. They also admit it was going on since before the new ownership took over, the claim it started in 2005.

-Soon after this release, brainwashdodo made 2 very long posts showing Transaction Audits for PhilHelmuth, kid55 (Freddy Deeb), and –Fred- (no one knows who this is, a third party said they talked to Freddy, and Freddy says this is an account used by mgmt.)

-His 2 posts also contain 4 links to screenshots of an admin site used by UB employees. He shows the account info for kid55, mamamiya, buckskin, and ShaqTack

-As I’m looking at ShaqTack’s screenshot I see that he had 5 different usernames and that 3 of them were on UB’s list (ShaqTack, slimpikins2, and broke_in_l_a) 2 of them were not on the list. (whakme and HolyMucker) I post a question asking why they aren’t on the list, within 5 minutes UB adds those 2 names to the list. More proof that UB is only admitting to the superusers that we find. It is also proof that the screenshots are real. It is also proof that brainwashdodo is really a UB employee.


-People start looking into the screenshots. Here is what we found in the screenshots:
-ShaqTack had 5 diff usernames and was closed on Feb 7th. (Acct disabled. Do not re-open. Any inquiries please forward to Paul/Nolan. Email sent Tkt# 8322074. VGonzalez/sec) Here is the actual confiscation, it looks like they confiscated $0.35 (Select Acct to Adjust:#, Select Adj Type: Withdrawl, Select Reason for Adj: FRAUD CONFISCATED. Adj Amt: 0.35 Notes: Balance was confiscated as per Nolan B. VGonzalez/sec) He never played a sng or tourn, his career rake was $4343.50 and blackjack wins of $453. Deposit Limit was LEVEL 3. His email was given GameSetMatch123@something.com; the name used was Dan Francis from Franklin AR, birthdate of 3-27-1957. No phone number listed but his address was. I can’t find any info on this person, most likely all fake info. There is a Daniel Francis pro from Australia, but very, very unlikely it is the same person. The account was created on 12-20-2005.

-kid55 screenshot showed that brainwashdodo blocks out his UB username b4 he posts the screenshots, ShaqTack’s screenshot was cropped differently and didn’t show who he was Logged In as. It shows that the name on the acct is Kassem Deeb, gives his address, phone, dob, email, and initial IP address. Kassem is Freddy’s real name. I later find out that it is common knowledge that kid55 is Freddy Deeb’s main account on UB. It was created on June 1st 2003. His deposit and transfer limit is HIGH ROLLER. Never played a sng, tourney fees of $184 and rake revenue of $37,825.57. Played some BJ and broke even I think. He did 143 deposits for $2,314,335 and 138 withdrawls for $3,701,016, but claims to be a losing player on UB. Many people speculate this is because of transfers and payments for his sponsorship deal, makes sense to me. The ONLY thing suspicious on Freddy’s account is an amazing piece of information. On Feb 6th, 2007, 1 day before they suspended ShaqTack’s account, they suspended Freddy’s account (Acct disabled. Do not re-open. Any inquiries please forward to Paul/Nolen. SAraya/ub sec, Tkt #8313668.) As you can see, both accounts were closed with the exact same message, word for word. It is also noted that 3 of the superuser accts have ‘55’ in them.

-bucksin screenshot shows the acct was created on feb 11th, 2003 by Lyle A. Berman, from Minnetonka, MN. Gives his address, phone, DOB, email, and initial IP address. His deposit and transfer limit are HIGH ROLLER. He has 3 deposits for $4,400 and 29 withdrawls for $555,000. Paid $51,692 in rake, $561 in sng fees, and $114.50 in tourney fees. It shows his acct is active with a cash balance and it shows that he was refunded $54,520 from the NioNio investigation. It also shows that someone typed “ty Paul, we trust you” in the comments about the refund. Some people have taken this to mean that the message is from Lyle. It sure looks like Lyle isn’t involved and in fact was ripped off by the superusers. One more interesting note from this screenshot is brainwashdodo had some other windows open, one has the info blacked out, one is cut off and you can only make out the first three letters, Dea. The other window says 6/1/2008 (I think he may have taken these screenshots a month ago) and it lists 5 names and no other info, Brits Man, -Fred-, Jack, buckskin, Fishtank.

-mamamiya screenshot shows the acct was created on July 15th, 2006 I think, very blurry. The account name is hanan a deeb, this is most likely a relative of Freddy’s or an alias of his, no one has confirmed this, but some evidence linking him to this name has been found on the internet and is in one of these threads. The address is the same as the address on kid55’s acct. The phone # is similar but slightly different, DOB appears to be 1972, the email address is kdeeb####@something.com. No referrer. Deposit and Transfer Limit are HIGH ROLLER. About 26k in rake, 97 deposits for 197k, 43 withdrawls for 166k. On July 17th, 2006 in the Admin Comments it says: “one of Freddie Deeb’s accts.” There are a couple of windows open on the right hand side, one of them shows a date of 3/1/xxxx and the letters REA and Dea cut off. It appears he took this screenshot on March 1st, 2008. Someone reports that most people had multiple accts back in the day and that it was not frowned upon.

-People also started investigating the transaction audits, since brainwashdodo decided not to connect any of the dots for us. It showed that Phil, Freddy, Lyle, and Russ Hamilton were doing a lot of big transfers between each other.

-Most importantly the info in these transaction histories showed that -Fred- made a transaction to ShaqTack for $10,000.

-It also showed that -Fred- had transactions with all the people mentioned above and many more. Here is an incomplete list of names that –Fred- transferred to: crosdsr, sluppy, wbchampion, HeadKase01, CUCA, peanuto, Jack, TRIPAS2003, buzz32, Devilfish (this one seems obv, lol), jumpshot, The bigchief, txfatman, -russh-, August17, KrazyKanuck, bad bowler, MrJones707, B_Affil_Test2, thunderkeller, VonSmak, whoisthisguy, Poppychullo, slug2, bmw750li, keneiniger, Treetopss, H B, morganraiders, bigmomw, shah 2007. I am not accusing any of these names on this list of any wrong doing. Just stating a fact.

- "-Fred-", which seems to be nothing more than a station for distributing funds, with Russ Hamilton and perhaps others reimbursing it. econ does some more investigating:

Quote:
The -Fred- account is highly suspicious. The transaction history provided covers over a year (April 1, 2006-May 20, 2007). During this time, the user played a total of three single-table sessions on two different days. Meanwhile, $2,803,148 was transferred through the account (in absolute value). However, the net of all of the transfers was -$30,600 (I threw the transactions into excel). You may have noticed that there are many transfers involving either russ hamilton or russh that happen right around one or more transfers of equal value and opposite sign to other players. Why wouldn't Russ just transfer the money himself? The same is true to a lesser extent of player peanuto.
-It also showed kid55 having an amazing stretch of 13-27 minute ring game sessions where he had an outrageous winrate. But it also shows a few losing sessions too. Overall I believe that there is evidence that shows kid55 is a losing player on UB.

-The PhilHelmuth Transaction Audit doesn’t show much. It shows him getting beat pretty bad at a few ring games, shows he plays a lot of black jack tourneys, and a few sngs. It also showed that he was refunded $880 from the NioNio scandal. And it shows a bunch of transfers with the above mentioned accounts.

I’m sure I forgot a lot or screwed up some of the info. Flame away.
/end NoLimit's post



Now ask yourself: Why is anyone still playing on Ultimate Bet?

Goat and Dog "arrested" in Alabama

But were they read their Miranda rights?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25576560/>1=43001


The goat was arrested for assault on a Mercedes Benz and resisting arrest I would imagine when it refused to come down off the Benz.

Times must be tough when police officers in Alabama also serve as Animal Control.

Dumb & Dumber - Running of the Bulls

It's that time again.

I don't know about you but I actually cheer for the bulls.

Full Tilt Poker's FTOPS IX & PokerStars WCOOP Announced

They're Back!!!

Seems like its just one big online tournament series after the other. FTOPS VIII wrapped in May then it was onto the MSOP on Full Tilt. And now Full Tilt has announced the 9th edition of its FTOPS online series beginning August 6th at 9PM and running thru August 17th. Once again they have split starting times up between the Euro-friendly 2PM EST and US Friendly (except if you are caught in a traffic jam on the San Diego Freeway during rush hour of your evening commute home) 9 PM EST.

The full schedule is here!!!

And of course no one can out-do the Grandaddy of on-line tourneys Pokerstars' WCOOP. 33 events over many disciplines (but alas no Chinese Poker or pai gow!). WCOOP begins Friday September 5th and runs thru Sunday September 21st. The WCOOP events start at the ridiculous for the US times of 2:30PM EST and 4:30PM EST.

Full schedule here!!!

Satellites starting soon for all events on both sites.

And in the live arena Turning Stone has added a new tournament series called the Continental Poker Championships July 19th thru the 28th. You can check out the qualifiers and tournaments here. Right after that the 6th annual Empire State Holdem Championships begins August 15th thru the 25th. Complete Schedule here. Satellites for the main event are already running and are on Sundays at 2 PM. Word on the 2+2 forum from the TROCK TD is that there will also be another new multi-day series around Thanksgiving time with some surprises in store as far as new events and structure.

Blogger Skillz - Limit Omaha 8

Little disappointed that I couldn't take it down. Normally my preferred form of Omaha Hi Lo is Pot-Limit and I rarely dabble in any form of limit poker. So, I am very happy with my results. I was very short going into heads-up but drew almost even twice only to have my draws brick out on me. That of course started an upward climb again. But that is the nature of Omaha Hi/Lo. I didn't even earn one bounty but that's okay. I'm a make love not war kind of girl. Kum bay yah and all that!!!

I got off to a good start early and tried to focus on playing quality starting hands. Early on I was bitching to myself because I was holding hands filled with bandits and mucking them preflop and they seemed to be hitting.

Thanks to my PLO8 tourney cash last week (6th of 167) and my limit O8 cash tonite my FTP bankroll is looking plusher. I was down to under $5 on Full Tilt two weeks ago but tripled that up in like twenty minutes sitting at a .05/.10 PL Omaha 8 ring game table to give me a few bucks to play with.

Congrats to PinkyStinky whoever she may be.