To anyone who has been following the bizarre occurrences that have seem to become commonplace on Cereus Poker (the conglomerate of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker), this comes as no big surprise. However, the fact that the player whom the pot was pushed to was one Phil Hellmuth, name pro and face of the site, would make anyone question what in the world is going on at Cereus Poker, and in the mind of Hellmuth himself.
The hand was played as follows:
Stage #XXXXXXX: Holdem (1 on 1) Normal $200/$400 - 2008-12-20 04:15:23 (ET)
Table: FIR AVE (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 4 - PHILHELLMUTH ($4495 in chips)
Seat 6 - DOUBLEBALLER ($7494 in chips)
PHILHELLMUTH - Posts small blind $100
DOUBLEBALLER - Posts big blind $200
*** POCKET CARDS ***
PHILHELLMUTH - Raises $300 to $400
DOUBLEBALLER - Raises $400 to $600
PHILHELLMUTH - Raises $400 to $800
DOUBLEBALLER - Calls $200
*** FLOP *** [Js Kc Kh]
DOUBLEBALLER - Checks
PHILHELLMUTH - Bets $200
DOUBLEBALLER - Raises $400 to $400
PHILHELLMUTH - Calls $200
*** TURN *** [Js Kc Kh] [2h]
DOUBLEBALLER - Bets $400
PHILHELLMUTH - Raises $800 to $800
DOUBLEBALLER - Raises $800 to $1200
PHILHELLMUTH - Calls $400
*** RIVER *** [Js Kc Kh 2h] [9c]
DOUBLEBALLER - Bets $400
PHILHELLMUTH - Calls $400
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DOUBLEBALLER - Shows [Kd Qh] (Three of a kind, kings)
PHILHELLMUTH - Mucks
PHILHELLMUTH Collects $5599 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($5600) | Rake ($1)
Board [Js Kc Kh 2h 9c]
Seat 4: PHILHELLMUTH (dealer) (small blind) won Total ($5599) HI: ($5599) [Mucked] [2s 10s]
Seat 6: DOUBLEBALLER (big blind)
HI:lost with Three of a kind, kings [Kd Qh - B:Kh,P:Kd,B:Kc,P:Qh,B:Js]
Immediately after the showdown, player
doubleballer saw a popup on his screen saying he had missed three consecutive
blinds and was sitting out, and when he returned, he questioned Hellmuth
about the stack size discrepancy:
PHILHELLMUTH: U wanna play or what?
DOUBLEBALLER: no
DOUBLEBALLER: 5600 pot
DOUBLEBALLER: they are gonna credit it to me
PHILHELLMUTH: I play U limit, right now
DOUBLEBALLER: how the **** can that happen phil??
DOUBLEBALLER: that is such a major error!!!!
PHILHELLMUTH: good thing U found it, no wonder we differed about who was winning
DOUBLEBALLER: i am just in awe
PHILHELLMUTH: maybe U were booted just then
DOUBLEBALLER: no
DOUBLEBALLER: they just credited me
DOUBLEBALLER: it is so weird
DOUBLEBALLER: they show me showing the hand
PHILHELLMUTH: miracle U beat
me
After the pot, doubleballer contacted support, to which he received a response, "You lost with three of a kind? Wow, that's a great hand!" He was ultimately credited back the pot in two separate installments totaling $5600. Doubleballer has stated that he was having no disconnect problems at all. He says, "It just happened once, [and it] wasn't actually a "disconnect". It was just that popup that said I missed 3 consecutive blinds. We had played about 20 hands before that, with no problems."
To give greater context to the why the current situation is so troubling, asides from the obvious fact that dealer errors should never occur in a binary online poker environment, attention has to be paid to the recent Absolute Poker scandal. For those unfamiliar with this event, it was proven that insiders within Absolute Poker could see hole cards while playing, and by using this information, cheated players out of millions of dollars. A partial owner of Absolute, Russ Hamilton was implicated as the "ring master" of the scheme, and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission who licenses Absolute issued them a $500,000 fine. Absolute issued about $1.7 million in reimbursements to cheated players. This is a very topical summary of an incredibly complex and convoluted situation, and a simple Internet search will yield a plethora of information pertaining to this case for those interested in learning more.
The Absolute Poker scandal is relevant to the current fiasco in that the two companies share the same software, and merged to form Cereus Poker Network following the scandal. Phil Hellmuth is a name pro, and his cavalier and seemingly aloof attitude toward this situation is particularly troublesome, in that once again, the one person who should know the gravity of the situation is downplaying what is at the least an egregious software failure, and at the worst, the most high profile case of online cheating to date. Facts should be gathered before judgment is passed. However, Phil Hellmuth has yet to issue a statement, and Ultimate Bet has offered no transparency pertaining to their investigation of the matter. It appears as if the New Year will bring yet another new investigation into the integrity of the Cereus Poker Network.
-Justin Trott is a staff writer for ThePlayr.com
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