Poker Blog & Poker Forum

The US government has recently seized more than $24 million from bank accounts which are linked to Bodog also known as Bodog life Poker. According to Forbes, the federal government has filed papers which have suggested that a criminal investigation has been initiated.

These reports have also said that the seizures from financial institutions are from Wachovia, Bank of America, SunTrust Banks and Regions Bank, a unit of Regions Financial.

According to Forbes

“Court filings in Maryland say that in January and February a total of $14.2 million was seized from accounts in the name of JBL Services and Transaction Solutions at Wachovia, Regions Bank, Bank of America and Sun Trust Bank. In July, filings say, another $9.9 million was found in eight accounts at Nevada State Bank, a unit of Zion Bancorporation, in the name of Zaftig Instantly Processed Payments, doing business as ZipPayments.com. The companies are described as helping to facilitate parts of the Bodog operation. “

These documents provided the feds with information on a detailed schema to allow Bodog to not only collect but write checks to players within the USA. U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, said that $248 million involving entities linked to Bodog was processed through Wachovia Bank, from which $11 million of the $24 million was seized.

Wachovia claims that they had no information about the accounts belonging to anyone in the gambling operations however these accounts were for a third party credit card servicer. The documents also suggested that the financial company may have allowed accounts to remain open as per requests from the investigators to help with their case.

This past May the DA’s office made a break in their investigation when an undercover agent for another state gambling commission received a check which cleared from a bank account in the Nevada State Bank. Once the check cleared, the feds were able to seize $9.9 million from that account.

“One affidavit by Randall S. Carrow, a special agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, said that $248 million involving entities linked to Bodog was processed through Wachovia Bank, from which $11 million of the $24 million was seized.”

“The affidavits were filed in connection with the U.S.’s successful efforts to get a federal judge to authorize the seizures. But to keep the money permanently, federal prosecutors must file a civil lawsuit and allow a challenge by anyone with a claimed interest. No one fought the $14.2 million seizure, and it was ordered forfeited to the feds. The lawsuit over the $9.9 million–its official name is United States of America v. $9,869,283.05–was just filed.”

As many know, Calvin Ayre handed over his empire to the Morris’s nearly three months ago, which stirred some rumours as to why one of the most successful moguls in the gaming industry, that built his company from the ground up could just hand it over as he did and walk away.

…well rumour had it that he could be trying to diminish his main role in Bodog due to legal issues and this more than accounts for a few legal problems for Mr Ayre. According to some reports this investigation by the DA could just be the start of his problems, although other rumours have surfaced that he is already under indictment in the States.

Ayre was not available for comment, but according to sources Ayre stated, “I’m a billionaire bitch!, I shit $24 Million”.

Well, John Juanda didn’t exactly lose his house, but with the money he (almost - he managed a comeback after writing this post, but it is still a great story) lost from flipping you could have bought a very nice one.

After about 4 hours of $8k flips on FullTiltPoker.com, Juanda (who we suspect was intoxicated judging by his awful chat skills) typed into the chat box:

John Juanda: im stuck 320 fcking thousand here

About 2 minutes later, like a true degenerate gambler, he asked flipament expert Ziigmund if he wanted to do $40k flips. Ziigmund agreed, then proceeded to take another $80k of Mr. Juanda. Even after Ziigmund told Juanda he was leaving, like a crack fiend asking for one more hit, Juanda typed “2 more” into the chat. Unfortunately Ziigmund was long gone by then, and Juanda was left down $400k.

Most people would probably be grabbing the noose to shove around their neck at this point, but not Mr. Full Tilt Pro. Juanda started another table where he continued to do more $8k flips. One of the players that took him for around a few $100k and was up over $300k from $8k flips on the night, ICallSoWhat, couldn’t resist and joined in on the action with another high stakes player, LoLina. The two were multi-table flipping as they knew Juanda was just too profitable to pass up on.

Juanda continued to try to entice them to do a $16k flip, but neither player would have a peice of it. Juanda managed to actually scrape back about $100k at this table, but then decided to try his luck over at the $16k cap table, where the stakes were doubled.

Juanda managed to scrape back around $50k before I logged off, but chances are he ended up losing it all back, as his competition wasn’t really willing to risk as much as he did in these games.

EDIT: Actually I was wrong, he made back about another $200k more, so in the end he was still down $100k.  He posted this chat as he left:

John Juanda: i was stuck 440k
John Juanda: ended up losing 100k
John Juanda: not too bad
John Juanda: :-)))
John Juanda: lost a Mercedes McClarran then got it back:-)))
John Juanda: gn guys

The whole situation was best summed up by another Full Tilt Pro, David Oppenheim in the chat:
David Oppenheim: learn chat and watch the pros act like idiots

To check out these gambling degens doing stupid things live, head on over to Full Tilt Poker.

We came across this news story today where a guy actually sits down at a poker table in a casino and attempts to place a bet with weed. He literally pulls out the baggy and places it on the table. Wait it gets better. The guy then decides that he has bet to much weed and pulls it back only to spread the buds out on the felt. Of course the casino calls the cops.
Here is the video:

Many poker players are left wondering today, “are you CEREUS?”.

Hot off the wires, it looks like Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are planning to merge to a new network called the cereus network.

The details are still unclear if they will be keeping the same names, or if the sites will be packaged as one in a new site called Cereus Poker, but as we get more information we will be sure to post it.

For now, here is the press release going around:
“Miami, FL (PRWeb) July 24, 2008 – Today, the management of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet announced the upcoming launch of CEREUS: a NEW POKER PLATFORM that will integrate the customers and features from both poker rooms, instantly making CEREUS the third largest online poker network.

CEREUS is the result of more than 12 months innovation and development. Absolute Poker and UltimateBet will retain their unique assets yet share more players, more action, more tournaments, incredible new features and massive promotions.

Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, said:

“I am so excited to announce the launch of our new poker network CEREUS. This is a huge landmark for our company and online poker. I’m confident that Absolute Poker and UltimateBet customers will be thrilled by the new platform and we look forward to welcoming many new players from around the world.

“CEREUS not only delivers the best online poker experience; it enables our company to improve our operations and deliver significantly better value and service to our customers.

“Our company’s goal is to provide poker players with the ultimate online experience. The launch of CEREUS is a major step for us in achieving our goal and we look forward to making many more exciting announcements very soon.”

This is most likely an attempt to recover from their horrible image right now in the online poker world, after the scandal where high up individuals in the company were found to be using super-user accounts to see other players’ hole cards.

Kahnawake Gaming Commission released an official statement this morning regarding the most recent cheating allegations at Ultimate Bet. We are republishing this press release and yes it does sound like the is doing quite a bit of damage control instead of an investigation. It will be interesting to see what the findings of their investigation are this round and what steps, if any will be taken against UB. If you want to read the full story on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker cheating scandal you can read about it here - UB Scandal Continues

Official Statement from KGC in Regards to UB Cheating

Kahnawáke Gaming Commission (the “KGC”) has been continuously regulating online gaming for over 9 years – longer than most, if not all, other jurisdictions. During that period of time, the KGC has proven to be a world leader with regulations and methodologies that have established a regulatory environment in which online gaming can be conducted fairly and securely. The KGC’s success as a regulator is evidenced by the fact that a significant percentage of the online gaming industry has chosen to locate and operate within Kahnawáke. Given the length of time that it has regulated this new industry and the significant number of licensees under its control, the KGC’s record has been exemplary.

As commentators have correctly noted, even the most well regulated industries are not immune from abuse. Examples can be found in the banking, securities and land-based gaming industries. The fact that the online gaming industry is new and is technologically driven creates additional regulatory challenges. Throughout its history, the KGC has met these challenges and its regulations have been emulated in a number of other jurisdictions around the world.

Over the past several months, it was discovered that individuals within two of the KGC’s licensees – Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet – had created and carried out a scheme to cheat players. In both cases, the improper conduct of these individuals was brought to the attention of the licensees, and the KGC, by affected players. The KGC acknowledges the diligence and sophistication displayed by these players and the role they played in bringing these matters to light.

The first case involved Absolute Poker. After a thorough investigation carried out by the KGC and its agents, Gaming Associates, the KGC rendered its decision in this matter on January 11, 2008. This decision concluded that the cheating that took place was not initiated, nor did it benefit, Absolute Poker as a corporate entity, or its directors or principal ownership. The decision imposed a number of sanctions and conditions on Absolute Poker, including twenty-four specific directions for changes to its management and systems. The KGC was provided evidence that all players affected by the cheating that took place were fully reimbursed for their losses.

Shortly after its decision was rendered in the Absolute Poker matter, the KGC first became aware of similar allegations of cheating involving individuals within Absolute Poker’s sister company: Ultimate Bet.

Over the past several months, the KGC has been closely involved in an in-depth investigation of the Ultimate Bet cheating allegations. Significant efforts have been expended to identify and correct the flaws in Ultimate Bet’s system that permitted the cheating to take place; to identify the individuals that were responsible for the cheating and to ensure that all affected players were fully reimbursed. Unfortunately, the KGC’s actions were not well communicated to the poker industry or public at large, creating an incorrect perception that the KGC was ‘doing nothing’.

The KGC’s investigation into the Ultimate Bet matter has yielded a number of key findings which, within the next several days, will enable the KGC to issue its decision on the appropriate steps to be taken.

It should be stressed that the KGC’s primary concern throughout both matters was to ensure that affected players were fully reimbursed and that corrective measures were implemented to prevent against any further incidents of cheating. Both of these objectives have been accomplished – as evidenced by the fact that the recent concerns that have been raised about the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet matters are not being driven by affected players.

Murray Marshall
Senior Advisor
Kahnawáke Gaming