Texas Holdem Poker Blog

October 30, 2007

Online playing observations...

I've been playing a lot of texas holdem poker tournaments over the past few weeks online.... it is both frustrating, AND rewarding, if you can follow that twisted line of logic! ;-)

I should know better than to play the $5 tournaments, since the buffoonery there is over the top! Where else would you get called by someone for ALL their chips with bottom pair? Sadly, online poker seems to CONTINUSLY reward these idiots by giving them their set on the river!

I've probably made the money about 40% of the time, which serves to allow continued play, but the frustration level of making the right move, only to get rivered, gets REALLY OLD!

I'll probably continue to play until this current bankroll finally gives out, but boy, its damn frustrating!

Posted by fatbill at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2007

Recent play online...

I decided that if I was going to play online, I needed to deposit enought money so that I could last out a few tournaments, instead of the small amounts that I had been playing with. Normally, I only had $25 or so a month to diddle around with, and played mainly $5 tournaments and sit-n-gos.

As you can imagine, those are mainly fish fests, and even thought I was playing for fun, it got pretty frustrating playing like that. So I figured with a little extra bank to play with, I could step up and see if the $10 and $20 events were any better. They are not! LOL

Same ole playing styles that you see on TV.... mindless aggression with mediocre hands. Problem being... they tend to suck out on the river TIME after TIME. It's almost comical.... that is if I weren't on the recieving end of that so many times....

Case in point... I have Pocket A's under the gun. I bet out 4X, figuring I'd get some action, but not much with the way the table had been playing. Guy on the button goes over the top of me another 5X... I think for a minute, knowing this guy has been REALLY loose all game, and decide to push him. I move all in!

I get an unexpected call from him! MORE unexpected, is that he has KQo!

Flop comes K K K ..... unbelieveable how online play seems to reward these idiots.... ;-)

Posted by fatbill at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

Absolute Poker Official Statement

This is the most up to date statement that the Ownership of Absolute Poker has published. I post this so that readers can form their own opinion....

"Dear AP Player:

I am the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker.

As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of AP’s commitment to player security. I am sure that this letter will not address all of the questions and concerns you may have, nor will it extinguish the heated discussion surrounding this issue. At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue.

We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred – some of which are accurate, and some that are not.

Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation.

What We Know and Actions We Have Taken

AP was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response forwarded players’ hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged world-wide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests, and information security.

Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized. We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense.

We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole.

Next Steps

We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrong-doing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated. We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually.

The specific allegations of unlawful activity are being investigated both by AP and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced.

Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for AP to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution.

With my full sincerity, I thank you, and I promise to keep you updated as we bring this situation to a close.

Sincerely,

Joe Norton "

Posted by fatbill at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2007

Absolute Poker issues...

There has been a LOT of discussion on the many poker boards of late regarding some 'issues' that AP has/had. I can not pretend to know what is going on over there, NOR do I wish to speculate about who is at fault.

If you want a pretty consise summary of what is going on at AP, I recommend that you read this Blog Entry by Justin....

I AM concerned about promoting them in light of what is going on, and what I have read about the situation. In light of that, I have decided that it is in both MY AND my reader's best interest to reduce their exposure on my websites until the situation clears up some....

I have re-initiated my support for BODOG however, as they have re-emerged as BODOG LIFE, following their recent domain issues. They are once again stable and running well....

Posted by fatbill at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2007

Poker Stars Bloggers Event

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2676833

Posted by fatbill at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)