Monday, January 28, 2008

Absolute Outcry

The Absolute Poker cheating scandal is awful.

It's bad for U.S. legalization prospects, for those who got cheated and for the reputation of the online game among the general public. (See Lou Krieger's recent and previous posts for more information.)

I'm all for boycotting Absolute Poker, and it pisses me off that people who should know better are still playing there.

Why would anyone ever consider playing at a site where there was so much evidence of cheating by high-ranking officials within the company who used multiple handles to win major tournaments? Why would you feel like your money is safe in a site that got a slap on the wrist by its shady regulatory body, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission? How can poker players be at all confident that this won't happen again?

People vote with their pocketbooks. Players still at Absolute are sending a message that they condone cheating. They won't get any sympathy from me if they lose all their money. Come on. This is probably the worst scandal in online poker's history, and Absolute hasn't to my knowledge shown a dropoff in players.

That said, I don't think a formal blog-organized boycott to generate media coverage and spark regulation will have the desired results.

Bringing broad attention to the matter (think ESPN and the TV news magazine shows) is more likely to result in calls for stricter government bans against online poker than in regulation. When people fearful of gambling hear about cheating, they won't be inclined to support legitimizing our game. It will only strengthen their resolve against it.

So please make an individual choice to never play at Absolute Poker ever again. A widespread outrage built on personal responsibility, ethics and education will get better results than calling attention to Internet poker's black eye.

4 comments:

Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...

Agreed on all counts. People should just stop playing there, period. Who on earth are these fawkfaces who keep putting their money on the line there, that's what I want to know. I wanna get them across from me at the 2-4 6max tables, with their obvious decision-making prowess.

Unknown said...

I've even thought about pulling my money on UB because they're owned by the same company? I like playing at UB though so what do you think about that? I'll never play at Absolute again.

CC said...

I agree 1000% with this

Goldankauf said...

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hey there, a question......
can you please link to my blog?
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www.handypokergame.com
please take the words
"handy poker" if its possible for you, i did link to you already......hmm i know im not so strong but maybee you support a project like that?
best regards, and good hands in future !