Eight professional poker players have filed a lawsuit against Ultimate Bet for a scam that the company ran three years ago, which allowed the Cereus Network (which owns Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker) to embezzle 20 million dollars from UB players. The players are out to crucify Ultimate Bet for a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a piece of legislation originally created to allow the government to prosecute organized crime.
These are not the first RICO charges that have been brought against the site or its parent network. Ultimate Bet has been in dire straits since Black Friday, which became a turning point for the poker world not because the United States Department of Justice closed down three of the leading online poker sites, but because of the way those various sites reacted. The problem that Ultimate Bet faces now is not unlike the problems facing Full Tilt Poker– just on a smaller scale. It all boils down to a company taking money from players, knowing full well that what they were doing was not legal, and then refusing to give it back.
The difference in this particular case is that last time, it was the government who was angry, as they didn’t get their piece of the pie while UB schemed to get around US government regulations. This time, it’s the players who are out for blood for unfair play. While Ultimate Bet previously held the upper hand and could play the victim in a big governmental misunderstanding, putting the blame on the US Department of Justice, this time, there’s no one else to blame, and the players are backing away from a site that they believe has done the unforgivable. To scam a government is one thing (come on– poker has always been a game of rebels), but to scam your clients, your paying customers– that’s another thing entirely.
The eight who have brought this case against UB include well-known Canadian player Brad Booth and notable American players Tom Koral, Daniel Ashman, and Dustin Woolf, along with Greg Lavery, Dave Lizmi, Joseph Sanders, and Daniel Smith. The suit represents players from three different countries in their attempt to recover their lost money as well as an injunction and damages from emotional distress, fraud, negligence, unfair business practices and other charges associated with RICO, and the potential economic damage that the players suffered.
The complaint filed last week refers to a number of unnamed defendants, known as John Doe 1-10. This anonymity is not due to an effort to maintain privacy surrounding the lawsuit, but because the plaintiffs don’t actually know who is directly responsible, due to the coverup for which they’ve cited a RICO violation:
At this time, plaintiffs suspect but do not know the identities of Does 1-10. Evidence, some of which is discussed below, has arisen that some of the founders and management of UltimateBet and Excapsa, including Greg Pierson, Jon Karl, Jack Bates, Russ Hamilton, and others who formerly operated (and may continue to be involved in the operation of) UltimateBet were likely aware of or involved the conspiracy to cheat players. However, because the identities and activities of UltimateBet and those who have profited from its operations has been intentionally shielded though numerous agents, subsidiaries, and foreign corporations, it will be necessary to conduct significant discovery before a complete list of defendants can be identified. After such discovery, plaintiffs will seek to amend the complaint to add additional defendants.
The real question about this lawsuit is this: why have the defendants waited until now to file this lawsuit? Why the three year delay after Ultimate Bet has already admitted fault and made efforts to repay players? The answer to this seems more closely related to Black Friday than it would seem at first glance: “Sorry” simply isn’t good enough anymore.
The last year has been a rough one for 
Lock Poker has added a new star to their LockPro Elite lineup: Melanie Weisner has become the latest name to join the poker site’s team of pros, adding to an already impressive lineup that includes Chris Moorman and Matt Stout, along with many others.
Since her quick start in poker, she’s appeared on both 
The first ever World Poker Tour event in Dublin, Ireland, has gone to Brit David “Dubai” Shallow, who fought his way past the 337 other entrants to nab the title and $289,031 first place prize. In addition to the cash and recognition, Shallow also leaves Dublin with a seat at the WPT World Championships worth $25,000. This is by far the biggest win of Shallow’s career, and it makes up the vast majority of his $325k career tournament earnings.
Blom had to beat out some pretty heavy competition to win this particular title– sharing the final table with him were Daniel Negreanu, fellow Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, Galen Hall, who won the PCA Main Event in 2010, and 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel, who was back on his feet not a month after the notorious violent attack against him. Brenes was the first player out at the final table, followed by Mike “Timex” McDonald and Scott Seiver in the bubble seat. Negreanu made the first money finish and left with $250,900, while Duhamel followed him to the rail and would go home with $313,600. Hall held on a while longer, finishing in third place with $470,400, and the head to head play was ultimately resolved by Blom’s ability to hang in there longer than Dan Shak, who was eventually booted as the runner up. Shak made a hefty $846,700, however, which isn’t shabby for a day’s work. Blom made an impressive $1,254,400 for his first place win.
The Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC), from whom we’ve heard a great deal during the course of the Full Tilt scandal, has issued a new statement to British citizens, urging them to take action. While the AGCC doesn’t come out and say that British players who are still owed money by Full Tilt Poker (some of the 440 million dollars in player funds that have been held by the company for almost a year now) should press legal charges, they certainly imply it. The most recent press release from the gaming commission informs players that they should contact their local authorities if they feel that they have been the victim of a crime, and also reminds them of the many legal cases currently pending against Full Tilt– just in case some British citizens are starting to think that they should get in on that action.
American poker player Dusty Schmidt has decided to pursue one of his greatest passions and has planned to return to golf, a sport to which he dedicated himself years ago. Schmidt is the most recent in a slew of American players who have taken a step back from the game after the conflicts that arose in 2011.
Russian Andrey Pateychuk dominated the final table at the San Remo Main Event of the European Poker Tour, beating out several far more experienced contenders in order to become only the second Russian ever to win an EPT event. The San Remo event has historically been one of the biggest events in the EPT, often touting a prize larger than any other in the annual tournament. At the end of play, Andrey Pateychuk took home a €680,000 prize.
This year’s San Remo had an interesting payout schedule, as second place (which ultimately went to Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev) was awarded €600,000, a mere €80k less than first place, while Australian Daniel Neilson, who came in third, left with only €285,000. That’s quite a leap between second and third, and not a great deal of difference between the first and second prizes, and all of the other events at the European Poker Tour this year have been more fairly distributed. Why did this EPT event, which had one of the larger prize pools so far this season, have a smaller take for the first place winner and such an uneven distribution among the winners? The top two players made a deal during the heads-up play, when the game was determined by a bad beat– instead of winning €800k and €480k, first and second place took home more balanced amounts to reflect the true nature of how this game played out. Pateychuk had gone all in with only a 6-7 in his hand, while Danchev held 9-10. The 9-4-2 flop left Danchev in the lead with a pair, but Pateychuk got lucky when the turn and river produced an 8-5, making this an incredibly bad beat. We imagine that Danchev probably won’t mind too much, as he’s still walking away with a considerable sum.
As thought Full Tilt officials haven’t had enough to worry about, it now seems that Absolute Poker/ Ultimate Bet is gearing to put the final nail in the former poker giant’s coffin. According to a statement from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker will be paying back their former clients as soon as possible. To players who have seen their assets frozen since April, this hardly seems like a timely action, especially since PokerStars returned player funds months ago, but Absolute and UB have only recently resolved their problems with the United States Department of Justice, which means that players may soon see some return on accounts that have been frozen since Black Friday. The solution? To sell off the 
So what does this mean for former Absolute and Ultimate Bet Poker players? First of all, it may mean that while you’ll see some of your money returned, you may not see all of it. Ever. Some are theorizing that former players on the Cereus Poker Network may be looking at returns at 50 cents on the dollar– if that. Secondly, even a partial reimbursement is likely to create even more anger directed at Full Tilt Poker, which has yet to pay back its customers, despite the fact that the company is being bought by an investor, not sold off in pieces. Lastly, it means that Cereus Poker Network will likely be no more.
The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table has no shortage of firsts, and Pius Heinz is no exception– he is the first Main Event final table player to hail from Germany, and, as such, has already achieved a poker first. Should he win the game, however, he’ll have yet another reason to go down in poker history.