The 2008 calendar year was a tough one for UltimateBet, not to mention the players who fought tirelessly to uncover one of the biggest online poker scandals in the industry's history. Once the company, along with parent Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, admitted to the problems and began the long process of investigations, penalties, and player reimbursements, it seemed that they were on the way to rebuilding the brand.
Then came December 20, 2008, and a hand played against Phil Hellmuth on none other than UltimateBet made poker media headlines once again. The online poker forums went berserk with accusations of another insider scandal or software glitch. But contrary to the slow responses that characterized the first scandal, Tokwiro took the reins and began an immediate investigation into the problem, resulting in a statement being issued three days later.
What happened during the hand in question was between PHILHELLMUTH and his opponent, DOUBLEBALLER, during a heads-up match at a $200-$400 table on UltimateBet. DOUBLEBALLER was holding K-Q, which should have won the pot over Hellmuth's 10-2 that made no improvement on the board. But to the surprise of DOUBLEBALLER, the pot was moved in Hellmuth's direction. DOUBLEBALLER immediately contacted UB's customer service, and the result was a $2,300 credit. However, the bigger question about why the problem occurred was not addressed by the customer service department. This set off a firestorm of rumors and speculation on the poker forums.
In fact, Tokwiro was looking into the problem and reached a conclusion only days later. "We have concluded that the malfunction occurred because the winning player disconnected from the table at the precise millisecond when the software was awarding the pot, in conjunction with the 'player's state' data being cleared from the memory cache.... There is a prevention system in place designed to protect hand results against disconnections. However, after conducting an extensive source code analysis, we found logic in our code that we have enhanced to further ensure this malfunction cannot reoccur."
Company executive Paul Leggett went on to say in the press release that in an attempt to replicate the problem in order to create a sound solution, another 36 players were affected but reimbursed immediately. The software team also reportedly reviewed hand histories in the database to look for similar incidents but came up with none.
Even Hellmuth added to the statement. "I am one of the most watched players on the internet, and all I can say is that it is pretty obvious that there was no malicious intent and even more obvious that UB handled this problem well. Sometimes these things happen on the internet. The important thing here is that I continue to have a ton of trust in UB's software and new management team."
With that, the case was closed. Even the players on the forums finally conceded that the incident was a solitary one, and Tokwiro seemed to have resolved it. And it seemed that Tokwiro learned its lesson from its handling of the Russ Hamilton-involved scandal, as they dealt with the Hellmuth situation promptly and seemingly thoroughly. Since UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, two formerly scandal-ridden companies, joined together on the CEREUS software network, Tokwiro likely knows now that the fate of both sites and Tokwiro itself depend on positive public relations and quick responses to anything to the contrary.
While some in the poker community still contend that the UltimateBet scandal remains unresolved, as the accused Russ Hamilton remains free from prosecution and no other culprits were ever named, Tokwiro clearly has an eye on moving toward the future and steering clear of anything that might further damage its reputation.
Jennifer Newell is a compulsive writer. In addition to Poker Player Newspaper, she writes for numerous publications and blogs at Pokerati.com as California Jen. In her little bit of spare time, she plays poker, too. Contact her at jen3351@msn.com.
