[ISN] Net sleuths spot poker site cheat code

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:27:16 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/24/ultimatebet_cheating_allegations/

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
The Register 
24th September 2008

The former operator of a popular online poker site faces a $75m claim 
after internet sleuths presented evidence that for more than three years 
it offered rigged games that allowed cheaters to win hands at 
astronomically unlikely odds.

According to a special report published last week on msnbc.com, scammers 
were able to manipulate the software running UltimateBet.com, one of the 
top 10 online poker sites. The unauthorized software code allowed 
certain players to see the hole cards of their opponents, according to 
the report, which cited a report from Tokwiro Enterprises, a company 
that claims ownership of UltimateBet.

The scam was unearthed by some of the players who got burned. They 
noticed that certain players in the highest-stakes games were winning at 
a rate that seemed to defy statistical odds. Two of the players, who 
went by the handles "trambopoline" and "dlpnyc21," eventually closed in 
on a particular account as a prime suspect. Using the screen name 
"NioNio," the player netted $300,000 in profit in just 3,000 hands. They 
later discovered that NioNio had won 13 of the 14 sessions recorded on 
MyPokerIntel.com, a website that tracks high-stakes online tournaments.

Australian poker player Michael Josem compared the results to 870 other 
accounts with 2,500 or more hands recorded and calculated that NioNio's 
win rate was less likely than winning a one-in-a-million lottery four 
days in a row.

[...]


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Received on Wed Sep 24 2008 - 22:27:16 PDT

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