With Russ Hamilton’s name and legal connections to the UltimateBet super user scandal in circulation for more than 2 weeks now, major members of the poker community are reacting.
Following months of conspicuous silence on both the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet super-user cheater scandals, the Poker Players Alliance has finally commented. On Tuesday July, 22, Senator Alfonso D’Amato issued a statement on behalf of the PPA. The following selected excerpts from the Poker Players Alliance’s statement refer explicitly to the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet scandals as well as the legislative state of the Online Poker Industry in the USA.
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is the political and public policy voice for poker players in America… To be clear, the PPA is not a regulatory body for poker players or the poker industry, nor do we seek to be. We are, however, compelled to speak out when our public policy mission is potentially undermined by actions which present Internet poker in a negative light.
Trust is paramount in poker. Sadly this foundation has been undercut by admissions from two well-known online poker companies, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, that cheating has occurred on their poker sites. The Poker Players Alliance condemns any and all cheating in poker no matter the forum in which it is played.
It continues on to suggest that the recent cheating scandals provide further evidence to the US Congress that regulation (and outright legalization) is imperative to the American online poker consumer:
…this can be the pathway to understanding that regulation is the key to protecting citizens and the future of America’s card game.
As the Poker Players Alliance has issued a formal statement regarding UB, famous pro player Barry Greenstein has gone about addressing UB in a more informal manner.
Writing under his famed screenname barryg1 on the 2+2 forum, Greenstein addressed many of the involved parties in the UB scandal from Russ Hamilton to Freddy Deeb both in words and numbers:
Let me deal in probabilities since many people here are better with numbers than words. (These probabilities are based on the information I have.)
Before I talked to Russ, I thought it was more than 95% likely that he was involved in cheating…Now I think it’s more than 99% that he knows people who cheated well enough to transfer money with them, but I think it’s less than 50% that he actually cheated or knew that the people were cheating at the time.
He went on to suggest that there is a virtually 0% chance that Freddy Deeb was involved in any cheating and that he expects “more than 95%” to be disappointed by the official explanation of the NioNio scandal to be released by UltimateBet. Regardless of the numbers, Greenstein’s pessimistic response has further exacerbated a deepening crisis for UB.
And finally, having nothing to do with the NioNio scandal yet still integrally linked to its crumbling public face, UltimateBet has been removed from PokerNews.com over the Tiffany Michelle dispute. While PokerNews’s famously vocal owner Tony G threatened stern legal action against Michelle and UB over what Mr. G had felt was an infringement on an endorsement contract, he decided against litigation. However, Tony G’s blog entry ends with this final note for Ultimate Bet’s newest spokesperson:
I believe that the time it would take for me to go after her and the hard feelings that would build because of it, that I would lose so much of my good energy that I am not going to prosecute her.
I have a message for Tiff: you are 24 and you have made a horrid mistake. You let me down. You can’t live your life like this. I am very hurt that you came out with UB and you could not call me to say, “Hey, here is a deal and this is what I want to do, what do you think?”
Tiff you’re off the hook with this, it’s over. I have said all I want to say about this.
In sum, the crisis for Ultimate Bet has now been compounded by a deepening and worrisome connection to former owner Russ Hamilton as well as the consternation surrounding 17th place Main Event finisher Tiffany Michelle. An official statement from Russ Hamilton is expected shortly; we’ll keep you posted.
