For those who haven't been following this story very much, the Annie Duke/UB superusers thread is blowing up right this moment in NVG

An insider sent something to Nat Arem that shows the name on one of the superuser accounts.
In addition it lists the address.

Russ Hamilton happens to be the listed owner of the property despite not being the name on the account.

When I get the chance I'll do some cliffsnotes, but this deserves a read from everyone in the zoo imo.

Thread found here.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...60#post5074560

Can a mod edit the title so it's a capital B in UB please?

Please update here when you do the cliffnotes. ty.

pretty good read over there. everyone should check it out

read lots of those threads but cant keep up, full cliff notes are needed

also does russ hamilton have a stake in ub?

I'm a mod in that forum and have almost zero chance of catching up in that thread.
Arrrgh.

Cliff notes: Stay far far away from UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker

Real Cliff notes, pretty interesting: Post #1292

Here's the super short version for people.

---UB "identifies" a second round of superusers that they missed the first time around. Of course it took 2+2ers to catch the second batch just like the first batch.

---an insider named brainwashdodo posts account shots of freddy deeb and lyle bermans account pages from the administrative software inside UB. he'd been promising to deliver some goods once UB made their second round of announcements on superusers.

--- he also posts transaction histories for hellmuth and Freddy Deeb's kid55 account as well as for an account called -Fred-.

--- the -Fred- account turns out to be the interesting one because among the many high limit players and big name players that -Fred- transfers money to is a superuser name

--- The -Fred- account shows a pattern of always being reimbursed quickly by either Russ Hamilton or russh accounts. This leads to wide speculation that the scandal could involve Russ Hamilton, a founder/early owner of the company. But we don't know exactly what we are seeing still. -Fred- appears to be some filter account for management getting money to people. This is important because it appears to be mostly VIPs getting money from it so all of these people were approved by someone high up at some point.

--- speculation goes a bit overboard that -Fred- could be Freddy Deeb. Unfounded. There is also a Fred David involved in early UB days. Maybe this account is named for him but again we arent sure.

--- slowly some details are released that show one of the superusers is an HB who is a Haim Bajayo out of New York. Turns out he has a brother named Eli who is a .... SURPRISE- poker player based out of San Jose, Costa Rica. Costa Rica is where UB and AP have their offices.

---random noise....

--- HUGE DRAMABOMB. earlier tonight Nat Arem got information from another inside source that the name on one of the superuser accounts is a Lauren B Makar. That account also came with an address for a residence in Las Vegas. Turns out that Russ and Carolyn Hamilton own that property now. They've owned it during the time period in which a user name has changed on the account. This is a second Russ Hamilton tie in. And while it doesn't make him guilty- it's sure coincidental at least that he owns the property listed on a superuser account

--- Rebecca Makar is a poker player based out of Las Vegas. She is married to Woody Moore. Travis Makar appears to be Lauren's husband and perhaps a son of Rebecca. (unconfirmed at this point). He owns a computer business in Vegas. In the last couple hours someone has come into the thread saying they think they maybe can link him to the original coding of UB- but that is all speculative at this point. On her profile Rebecca Makar lists Russ Hamilton as one of her most respected poker players.


That's kind of where it stands at this point and is very bare bones.

while this is interesting stuff, i never really understand at this point. i mean, everyone already knows these guys are shady as ****.

The interesting part at this point is the connection to people currently living in the United States. In the AP scandal there was nobody to connect to like that.

So are they saying Hellmuth is involved also? His name was mentioned, what's up with that?

Thanks apefish.

The more things that point to Russ Hamilton, the bigger chance of getting US authorities involved. He should be very scared now.

Of course in the end it may be bad for online poker since someone is bound to take any negative story and run with it.

Yup.

Ditto.

lol

All the people telling all the time that online poker is rigger - were right?

Wouldn't it make sense casinos to release some players stats (that can't be used for opponent modeling) for all players to everyone? This will make such super user schemes much more complex to implement.

Guys-

It should be pretty obvious to most, but I'll say it anyways. If you have money on UB (or AP for that matter), you should probably get it out ASAP as now there is direct evidence indicting the likely owner(s). Just a heads-up. This company probably won't be standing for much longer.

Tbh I have just created a neteller account to withdraw my money from UB. I sent them all the documents they asked for upgrading my account, but they say it'll take a few days to do it.

Can I already withdraw my money from UB, or I have to wait for the upgrade of my neteller account ? It's not very clear to me

Sorry for parasitizing the topic.

ty apefish

Wow, that story is moving fast. The great Barry Greenstein has weighed in.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=134

My favorite bit: "I also don't suspect Phil Hellmuth of any cheating, but he is sometimes oblivious to things that are going on around him and he can be duped by dishonest people."

Edited to add:

For those asking for a cliffs notes version of what's going on:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=142

My interpretation of the Hellmuth screen shot is that brainwashdodo was establishing his bona fides by posting some prominent names; Lyle Berman and Freddy Deeb being the other big names posted.

The Hellmuth info actually reveals that Hellmuth got a small refund from the superuser refunds.
Freddy Deeb got a larger one.

There seemed to be nothing suspicious about Hellmuth's shot.

Freddy Deeb's is a bit more interesting. While there is little tying him specifically to a superuser or to the -Fred- account other than he got money from it (as did many high roller/vip players that certainly weren't involved), his Kid55 account was closed down one day before they shut down I believe Shaqtank (superuser who got money from -Fred-).
The administrative notes on it read something like "don't reopen".
I have the screen shots somewhere but am too lazy to look at them right now.

It's the timing on the shutdown and that note that seem interesting to people.
I can't disagree that it's interesting. I think though it's pretty premature to read anything into it- especially considering Freddy talked to Daniel Alaei very soon after this stuff was posted and answered a few questions.

Freddy's answers cliffsnotes go something like this... (from freddy thru daniel alaei)

---He was a net loser in the games.
---He was owed money from UB when he stopped being a sponsored player there, money he has never been paid.
--- He says -Fred- was some account from management that got money to people. That seems to fit with all the transactional info provided by brainwashdodo.
--- He did cash out more than a million over his deposits and wins- but he got paid for his aruba win into his account (1 million which didn't show up in brainwashdodo's posts), and online accounts are often used to square up debts among high rollers at varying sites. His account at UB could/would have transfers to square up for other debts elsewhere, so it wouldn't necessarily match.

BarryG has somewhat backed up this claim of debt clearing, as have other bigger game players. I think you could also find many 2+2ers who would say the same.

As far as I know Freddy is coming on the pokercast this week.

I agree with the gents on the Pokercast that this superuser fiasco will hurt the online poker community but it's a boil that has to be lanced. What we as poker players MUST do when the subject comes up is mention that this is a result of greedy people taking advantage of an unregulated system. Poker should be regulated in the United States, not banned. Cheating has been going on in poker since its inception and a high-tech way of playing the game is going to have high tech methods in which people cheat.

Internet poker has been around for almost 10 years now. There are hundreds of honest online poker rooms out there. Let's use these two as an example of what happens to dishonest companies when they cheat their customers, not as an example of what the state of the industry.

Someone should be going to prison for this, even if your Government in the US does not want to deal with it, someone who was cheated from the UK for example should be getting in touch with the police and asking them to investigate and press charges.

I hope you guys are seriously considering withdrawing your rolls from UB - when this thing blows up anything can happen.