POKER PLAYERS ALLIANCE:

Our interview with John Pappas - Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance is finished and I will be posting it either on Wednesday or Friday. There are a few things I need to clarify first.

INTEGRITY:

The following statement is my own. I do not speak for Ryan, Matt, or any of the other LaB crew members.

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I wasn’t really quite sure if I wanted to keep on pushing this issue. I risk alienating various sections of the online poker community and it could cost me work or sponsorship in the future. However there are things inside of me that prevents the silence. Little things like, honor….self respect… integrity. Unlike the so called news sites and rag magazines who seem to cater to their advertisers, I refuse to bow down. And if I happen to burn some bridges I have yet to cross, then I will simply take another path.

This is directed at all poker media, those who call themselves journalists, and those who pretend to run news sites. Why are you not covering the recent acknowledgment by Ultimate Bet in regards to cheating?? Is it because you don’t want to piss off your advertisers or risk your precious affiliate deals? Because when I visit some of your sites or read some of the magazines, the biggest ads are those of Absolute and UB.

The following is a letter issued by Ultimate Bet and sent to 2+2 on March 6th;

ULTIMATEBET INTERIM STATEMENT

Contact: Press@ultimatebet.com

Montreal, Canada (March 6, 2008) – UltimateBet (UB), one of the ten largest online poker cardrooms, today issued the following interim statement with respect to allegations of unfair play on its site.

“On January 12, 2008, UltimateBet was alerted to allegations that a player with the online handle “NioNio” exhibited abnormally high winning statistics and was accused of having an unfair advantage during play. These allegations were made both directly to UltimateBet by concerned players and the KGC, and indirectly through several web forums. The allegations also included reports of suspicious activity concerning the deletion of the NioNio account and other accounts that may have been related to this scheme.

“We immediately launched an extensive inquiry involving an independent third-party expert to review hundreds of thousands of hand histories, all of which were promptly locked down and made available to this expert. The initial findings of our third-party expert confirm that the NioNio account’s winning statistics were indeed abnormal, and we have expanded the investigation to look into whether an unfair advantage existed, how such a scheme might have been perpetrated, and whether additional accounts beyond those of NioNio were involved.

“UltimateBet is in regular communications and contact with its regulatory authority, The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), and will continue to cooperate fully with that body.

“UltimateBet is determined to complete a full and thorough investigation. We pride ourselves on providing a safe, secure playing environment for our customers. The investigation has proven to be extremely complex and, therefore, has been more extensive and taken much longer than initially expected. We continue to aggressively pursue the matter and will communicate the findings of our full investigation to our regulatory authority and to our customer base as soon as practicable.”

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Today is now March 17th and yet you have to dig to find this story. Google ultimate bet cheating confirmed or ultimate bet cheating. There is not a single major poker site on that list. Not any of the so called news sites and most certainly not any of the magazines.

You have to wonder why UB would issue a statement to 2+2. Is it because UB felt like they wanted to keep this as quiet as possible and by reaching out, they cover their ass? Maybe UB learned a little from the Absolute Poker cheating scandal and felt that keeping quiet and denying for weeks on end would be worse than just making a statement. So they send a note over to 2+2. A site in which the average everyday poker player does not frequent… Those that do visit, already know about the UB problem. How about dropping a press release through the wire so EVERYONE will see it?

The one answer I get more often than any other is the one about not adding fuel to the online poker fire. Nobody wants to bring attention because they are afraid to give those trying to limit our freedom the chance to say “you see… this is why online poker should be banned”. That’s a great attitude to take. I am sure it would work in other areas of life too. Like lets not report on or condemn terrorism because we may give the enemy ideas.

Let me break it to you… Poker has not been banned. Unless I understand it wrong, the UIEGA did not create any new laws, it only asks to enforce the old law. The old law says nothing about poker. It makes specific references to everything BUT poker. Yet there are those out there with an agenda who seem to think otherwise. Only it’s this agenda that will create the new laws. And then you will really see what its like to have poker truly regulated. You will beg for these glory days to return. I fear any new law or carve out is only going to create more problems. How do you think they plan to stop you from playing poker online? Right now it’s only a tad more difficult via banking transactions. (I have no problems funding online accounts) The only way I can see them being able to stop you from playing online is by requiring states with specific laws to regulate the flow of internet traffic. The means banning certain sites or locations from you to visit.

Censorship. Just imagine that for a second.

In the meantime all I ask from the poker media is they DO THEIR DAMN JOB. Either you are a blogger or a journalist. There is no inbetween. If you are a journalist than you must seek out the truth and tell it. Poker is the only sport, hobby, game, in which those tasked with covering it do more sweeping under the rug than they do actual reporting. Places like Poker News need to step up or put up a disclaimer stating “there are no real journalists here… just glorified bloggers.” Because right now they call themselves the “independent online poker authority”. Independent of what? Better yet maybe they should change the name to www.selectivePokerNews.com

I am not asking that we have the same kind of coverage ALL OTHER forms of entertainment or media get. I don’t care to know about who cheats on their wife or who has a drug problem. I don’t care to know about poker authors who have some weird, twisted, and possibly deviant sexual behaviors. I just want a poker media that will look out for the common player and use their abilities to weed out and expose those who continue to destroy the game (online and off) and it’s communities. You know… a little investigative reporting. Real news. That sort of thing.

Look, I understand that advertisements can make or break a publication. It is the advertisers that pay salaries. It’s the advertisers that help keep little sites like LaB afloat. But I would let LaB die a miserable horrible death first before I to pander to any ad revenue. My self respect and sense of integrity prevents me from kissing ass. Should Titan Poker or any other LaB advertiser ever get caught up in a scandal, I would take the ad down, refund any money paid, and bad mouth them until kingdom come.

I have called for a boycott of UB and Absolute in the past without any interest from the poker media or bloggers AT ALL. They had no problem making a big stink over the Bill Frist Coke ad though. People were PISSED about that. I saw more sites mention the coke boycott (and headlines) than I did the recent UB letter. What does that tell you? psst… If you look closely .. there are no coke ads on any poker sites. Maybe it’s time to start boycotting the news sites.
If the media or the PPA won’t ensure the integrity of the game…. guess who’s job it then becomes….. YOURS….. OURS…. I can’t do it alone. It’s up to the players to demand accountability. Email your favorite “news” site and tell them you want the truth. Ask them to investigate the scandals and to find out why 2 sites sites owned by the same people have been caught doing the exact same thing. Ask them to follow the trails or you will no longer visit them. If you see a poker site with an ad for Absolute or UB… ask them to take it down. Or maybe you think they deserve another chance to cheat us? And for the love of the game! STOP PLAYING ON THOSE SITES!

If the only penalty these sites face for cheating its customers is a fine that is at best, a fraction of what was stolen, what motivation do they have to prevent it in the future? Absolute Poker’s bottom line doesn’t seem to have been effected at all by the scandal. I still say it is because the majority of poker players really have no idea it happened. Who is going to make sure it doesn’t happen again and if it does, we know about it?

Sure 60 minutes is going to do a story and even though I expect some online bashing I am very glad to see it. I guess it takes real journalists to do the real news. I just wish the poker media would have stepped up. This should have been handled internally. I hope those who swept it under the rug now regret not covering it themselves. The same people who said “shh… they might hear” allowed the whole world in on the dirty little secret. Great job guys!

Before I end this I want to say (if it’s not already clear) that I am beyond frustrated with the online poker community. I am really starting to question my position in it. Do I want to continue to be a part of a whole that seems to care more about some crazy Las Vegas professional poker playing hooker than they do about what the non-playing public thinks of the game they love? Does gossip really trump truth?

You know, maybe I am asking or expecting way too much. Maybe there just isn’t anyone in poker right now qualified enough to take on the job of real journalism. It does appear the only people writing about poker on the internet are the pro players hired to write various articles and those who wanted to be poker players but were not good enough. Or are there any writers out there who took at least a journalism 101 class?

- Frank

note: these statements don’t apply to to Poker Road, Lou Krieger, Gary Carson, Jennifer Newell, Shamus of Hard Boiled Poker, Iggy, and a couple other people I can’t think of off the top of my head. Anyone who has tried to keep these various issues in the public eye.

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