The UltimateBet Scandal Trickle… Trickle… Trickle of Information Continues
It’s been five and and a half years since the first credible allegations of insider cheating at sister Cereus Network online poker sites UltimateBet and Absolute Poker began to emerge, and information connected to those scandals keeps on coming out. The latest source of information: Longtime Russ Hamilton computer guy Travis Makar, who has slowly trickled out random insider bits of info connected to Hamilton’s control of numerous UB accounts that were later connected to the cheating.
Makar lives these days in Las Vegas, and has slowly been sifting through what he claims to be a considerable but unsorted stash of information connected to the UltimateBet cheating, which he’s be sending in dribs and drabs to Bryan Micon, these days the sole proprietor of DonkDown.com. (Note: Donkdown Country is about as NSFW as a site as a site can be without carrying a “You Must be 18 to Enter” gateway; come to think of it, DD ought to have one of those. In any event, you’ve been warned.)
Makar’s info tends to be wide-ranging and spotty, sometiimes relevant and interesting, sometimes not. I’ve spoken with Makar on multiple occasions myself, and while I’m not actively participating in this latest spurting of info, I am on the informal distribution list, meaning that Micon or Makar lets me know when there’s new stuff coming out.
It’s all a bit weird, and in a certain way, a very real example of too little, too late. Recent examples of information dumped include photos of Russ Hamilton with one of his mistresses, a one-time Playboy model named Baby Norman; logs of AOL account logons and passwords associated with “dummy” accounts used in the cheating; a code dump for the so-called “God Mode” program used in the UB cheating by Hamilton and others; snippets from conversations with UB execs that Makar helped Hamilton secretly record; pictures of the home-grown computer network assembly Makar created to help Hamilton evade UltimateBet’s internal “ieSnare” detection; and even logs of account transfers and hand histories featuring the infamous “NioNio” account, one of the most infamous cheating accounts in the UB scandal.
It all sounds interesting and important, but in actuality some of it is and some of it isn’t; it’s hard to know what’s relevant and worthwhile until it can be examined in the greater context of everything else that happened at UB. One of the greatest questions that can be posed — and which I’m going to refrain from opining on for now — is why Makar waited so long to release this information. That doesn’t mean I don’t have my own thoughts on it.
We’ll serve up here today another one of these information fragments, an e-mail exchange between Hamilton and other UB execs that Micon published at DonkDown but didn’t get around to reformatting so it could actually be read. It’s an interesting enough exchange that I’m going to reproduce it here in whole (even with its redundancies), then toss in a few observations at the bottom. With full credit to Makar and Micon/Donkdown, here’s an interesting exchange:
O K — lets make it 11:30 Tomorrow—the call in number is 877-656-1321 Code 1001
Russ
—– Original Message —–
From: Greg Pierson
To: Russ Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007
3:08 PM Subject: RE: Wed AM
I’m having trouble rescheduling for 9. For tomorrow (Wed 5/30) I can make any of the following times work . 10:30 to 11:30, or 3:30 to as late as you want
——————————————————————————
From: Russ Hamilton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 2:48 PM
To: Greg Pierson Subject:
Re: Wed AM
You tell me when or if you want the call—Ill arrange it.
Russ
—– Original Message —–
From: Greg Pierson
To: Russ Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007
:20 PM Subject: Wed AM
Wed AM is booked. I am in the process of trying to contact several people – including someone that is flying in from out of town – to reschedule an 8AM to 11AM meeting that has been on the calendar for several weeks. I’ll give you a call this afternoon.
In the future, a little more notice or at least some scheduling options would be helpful.
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From: Russ Hamilton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:17 PM
To: Greg Pierson
Cc: Sandy Millar; Jim Ryan; mansour
Subject: Fw: snare and blocking player, negative press
Guys, Havent heard from Greg yet–so I dont know if we are having this call tomorrow—-if not—-I wont try and get involved again—let it run its course–
Russ
—– Original Message —–
From: Carolyn Heick
To: Russ Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007
10:02 AM Subject: FW: snare and blocking player, negative pressFound while I was searching Pocket 5s again.
C
—————————————————————————-
From: Carolyn Heick
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 7:20 PM
To: Carolyn Heick; ‘Brent’; ‘[email protected]’; ‘Adrian Alfaro’
Cc: John Ethan
Subject: RE: snare and blocking player, negative press
There is another problem found here. TheWacoKidd.
http://www.pocketfives.com/91507F4F-983D-4305-911B-DA62B73181B0.aspx
I also saw from running reports that PearlJammed is being blocked with evidence on him. This guy has been with us for YEARS and is a well respected player. (player with us since 2003) I believe there was a report of an imposter, but they have blocked in snare the wrong account. (The real guy is being blocked)
http://www.pocketfives.com/04B193F0-E40D-4628-897D-61C6C0B2E4AA.aspx
http://www.pocketfives.com/05D115F9-8B81-4616-B160-F2D55CAC05F1.aspx
Re(2): PearlJammed scammer by PearlJammer on 5/18/2007 23:20
It wasn’t me… they’re all over the place… UB’s told me it’s taken care of several times now but it never has been. Nothing else I can do. Only names I know of are PearlJammed with an i, and PearlJammer… don’t know if that has i or not as I’m “-ed”, not “-er” on UB. I don’t know how people fall for this. It’s such a generic message and of course I’m not randomly asking for transfers from whomever.
I have reactivated the real PearlJammed acct in Snare. (It was also the one affecting waco) The fraudulent acct was disabled properly in admin but f’d up in Snare. (outside of blocking the real guy) The evidence was set as 1-1, credit card fraud. We need to use the correct coding. We are not the only ones that use Snare. Therefore, this could result in incorrect information given to other sites. A jerk is not the same as disputing a deposit. Please make sure that all that place evidence on Snare is made aware. You may also wish to hold a retraining with Kristin at iOvation. I corrected this as well.
C
—————————————————————————-
From: Carolyn Heick Sent:
Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:29 AM
To: ‘Brent’; [email protected]; ‘Adrian Alfaro’
Cc: John Ethan
Subject: snare and blocking player, negative press
Importance: High
Hi guys, I stumbled across this thread on Pocket 5s. (Adrian, if you do not already, it would be a good idea to surf this forum. There are many players there that will post issues with UB that we can address quicker than support many times) AJ, Tommy used to check this site daily and assist players posting as UB Tommy. The players loved having a rep available to help when support wasn’t.
You may wish to look into having someone knowledgeable in UB and poker in general take this over.
http://www.pocketfives.com/A573C6B4-9644-4540-9473-7CF4B644DC2C.aspx
Before the merger, Gustavo Badilla and his Cardroom Management team would handle Snare blocked accounts, and determine if the block should stand or if an exception should be made; thus allowing the account back in. I am not sure who now is doing this, but they may need some additional training based on the above thread. If they were unsure, they escalated the case to me for a second opinion.
Player Imper1um has had his account since 2006-07-27. He deposits via NT for about $2,000 to $2,500 a pop. He is mainly a blackjack player. (Losing I may add) He is blocked in Snare due to an association with a Las Vegas from Home chargeback account. When this happens the following should be looked at.
1.. What kind of customer is this?
2.. Is he new? Is there good history or bad?
3.. How did he deposit, and how does he withdraw?
4.. What does he play? Is there chip dumping involved?
5.. How often does he log in with the blocked device?
This customer shows zero signs of being bad. He deposits with a guaranteed method. No chargeback can be issued. He plays blackjack, no chip dumping. He has been with UB for almost a year; the chance that he is fraudulent dwindles over time. His Snare stats show he is not logging in from the ‘bad’ computer. When researching in Snare, we should not only look at why he is being blocked, but the likelihood of the problem computer affecting us via this player.
Looking at his past logins, we can see that the bad computer is not being used. Further, the device in question should be looked at to see how often this player uses it. This will tell us if it is his main computer, or if he only used it a few times, it is likely a friend or minor association.
The less a computer is used, the more likely the same problem will occur on our sites diminish. He logged in from this computer once. It is not his main computer, most likely he logged in from a friends computer almost a year ago.
Based on all the above, I see no reason to freeze this players account, with $3384 in it. He has committed no crime, and we have no right to keep his money.
I have placed an exception so that he may log in, but I believe someone from support needs to verbally reach out to him given the poor email support he has received. This is not a player we want chased from the site. As you can see from the thread, he is a well respected player in the community and it leaves a very bad taste in their mouths to see someone they respect have funds frozen.
Please lets make sure that if there are significant funds in a players account they are escalated up for evaluation. I am still available for second opinions whenever needed. Please use my expertise on Snare and the UB players. I strongly suggest having a core group of people that familiarize themselves with the intricacies of snare. It is a very powerful fraud fighting tool when used properly. Snare is not a “one rule” tool. All of the above must be taken into consideration when determining if a player is fraudulent or not. We all know some unscrupulous assholes, doesn’t mean we are unscrupulous assholes as well. Same holds true for our players.
C
No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.3/824 –
Release Date: 5/29/2007 1:01 PM
O K — lets make it 11:30 Tomorrow—the call in number is 877-656-1321 Code 1001
Russ
—– Original Message —–
From: Greg Pierson
To: Russ Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 3:08 PM
Subject: RE: Wed AMI?m having trouble rescheduling for 9.
For tomorrow (Wed 5/30) I can make any of the following times work ? 10:30 to 11:30, or 3:30 to as late as you want
——————————————————————————–
From: Russ Hamilton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 2:48 PM
To: Greg Pierson
Subject: Re: Wed AMYou tell me when or if you want the call—Ill arrange it.
Russ
—– Original Message —–
From: Greg Pierson
To: Russ Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 2:20 PM
Subject: Wed AM
Wed AM is booked. I am in the process of trying to contact several people ? including someone that is flying in from out of town ? to reschedule an 8AM to 11AM meeting that has been on the calendar for several weeks. I’ll give you a call this afternoon.
In the future, a little more notice or at least some scheduling options would be helpful.
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Now some notes on all of the above:
- Carolyn Heick was a middle-level manager at UB who was there from the site’s very early days. Her primary job was the management and operation of UB’s “ieSnare” tool (which was very effective in saving UB and other sites using the software millions in credit-card fraud. Heick’s other duties included online and e-mail support, as UB’s “Emma”, and she would also be tasked with assist in player-to-player transfers or the changing of account screen names as ordered by Hamilton, Mansour (“Shah”), Annie Duke, or others.
- Heick was duly named among the more than two dozen people (including many fakes) listed in the KGC’s sham report on the cheating, and e-mails exist wherein she was ordered by Hamilton to change screen names on accounts that were later linked to the cheating, but there is no evidence that Heick was anything other than a hardworking insider who was tarnished by Hamilton’s antics. You can actually see that Heick cared about the players by reading that e-mail. That’s not an attitude one would expect from someone who was involved in cheating those same players.
- When UB was sold to AP, the security and ieSnare operations also moved over, hence the e-mail from Heick to several AP people, including “AJ” (yep, that’s AJ Green, a/k/a Allan Grimard), Brent Beckley, AP online security guy Adrian Alfaro, and “John Ethan” — which was the in-house pseudonym of another of the AP SAE frat boys. (Wanna guess which one?) It was all in the same timeframe as the cheating allegations themselves becoming public.
- It’s kind of funny to see “Imper1um” (Sorel Mizzi) cited as a paragon of virtue after the repeated stories about Mizzi’s own multi-accounting and account sharing came to light in later years.
- It’s also funny and instructive to see the genuine concern Heick showed over the burgeoning cheating allegations while cheater Russ Hamilton was instructing other UB execs to “let it run its course”. Umm, yeah.
- “UB Tommy” refers to Tommy Percell, another mid-level UB manager who was also involved in customer-service issues for the site.
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