Bluff Cans Chris Vaughn/Old Runaway move pops up on Vegas Strip

Bluff Magazine has canned its editor, Chris Vaughn, for his involvement in the Full Tilt account-selling scam. Can't say I'm surprised by this, as poker magazines, like any other medium in print journalism, has to do what it has to do to keep up appearances. One thing for sure, though: I bet Vaughn could write quite the interesting article about the scam, for whichever magazine or publication he ends up working for. Here's what went down:

Poker Magazine Fires Editor Following Online Poker Room Cheating

The managing editor of a popular poker magazine has been fired for his role in the latest cheating scandal to rock the online poker world. Bluff Magazine, which has both print and online editions, announced Monday that it had canned its 24-year-old managing editor, Chris Vaughn. Vaughn, according to news reports, had cheated in an online poker tournament and then, when confronted about it, lied.

In a statement posted on its website, www.bluffmagazine.com, the poker mag announced: “Bluff Media, publisher of Bluff Magazine, has made the decision to terminate Chris Vaughn as managing editor. In light of Chris’ involvement, recently admitted facts and the feedback obtained from industry professionals, it became apparent that the credibility required to perform the job functions of managing editor of Bluff Magazine at our company’s level of standards have become severely diminished. While we regret having to make this decision, we believe that it is the best alternative for all parties involved, including Chris, Bluff Media and the poker playing community at large. We wish Chris the best of luck.”

According to news reports, Vaughn recently won an online poker tournament at the Full Tilt poker room. However, it was soon revealed on a poker posting forum that midway through the tourney, which Vaughn had entered legally, he had sold his account-–that is, his position in the tournament to another, better player, who went on to win the tournament, news reports said. Later, in an interview on Internet radio, Vaughn lied about his role in the scam, the reports said.

As is so often the case, the cover-up became worse than the crime and Bluff had to fire Vaughn.

Vaughn's win was a case of account-selling, the practice of turning over an account late in a major online tournament to a potent, star online player. The practice has come to light only in recent months, after several account-selling incidents were discussed on major poker forums. It was quickly recognized that a star player taking over one of these accounts was gaining a significant edge over his remaining players, who would have no idea that a new tough player, perhaps with a radically different style, had suddenly assumed a seat at the table. Account-selling is considered dishonest and therefore cheating, and is against the rules at online poker rooms.

In an interview, Vaughn was asked about his role in the cheating scandal and denied it. But then in a follow-up interview, Vaughn said, “When they asked me the question (about cheating) on the show, I panicked and I lied.”

Well, hopefully this online scam will at least get us to the end of the year, meaning that I hope there won't be yet another before we all toast one another Happy New Year!

A RUNAWAY IN VEGAS!

I heard that over the weekend, a guy walked into a Strip Casino in Vegas, laid a stack of 20 black $100 chips on a blackjack table, was dealt a hard twenty, lost the hand to the dealer's drawing out a five to a sixteen, then swiped his 20 black chips off the table before the dealer could get to them, and ran out the door, down the casino's entranceway with security agents in pursuit, and finally disappeared in the throng on Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip).

At that I had to laugh! (lol) I don't know if he did it out of frustration or if he'd actually planned beforehand on bolting if he lost.

You see, I had done the exact same thing with my cheating team several times 25 years ago! We called the move "the runaway," which was a modified version of the old "walkaways" that old-timers in downtown Vegas did in the '50s and '60s when the casinos were all open like arcades to Fremont Street.

Back in the summer of '82, we had a lot of heat in Vegas on our pastposting moves, and we were sitting around the hotel room telling war stories, when my partner Duke told me about those old-timers doing walkways, which was betting a few $25 chips on "red" on roulette tables, then whenever "black" came in, scooping up their chips and walking out the open casino onto Fremont Street, which was literally a few steps outside the casinos.

I got a good chuckle out of it and said to Duke and the rest of my team, "Hey, Fuck the walkaways, let's do some runaways!" They all looked at me like I was nuts, but that very same night, I laid 20 black chips on a blackjack table at the Tropicana, lost the hand and ran out the door! My partner Jerry was waiting with his motorcycle outside the front entrance (in those days Vegas was not so congested and these escapes were possible, no longer the case today). I jumped on the back and we burned rubber and sped away!

We actually did three more of those runaways that night, and boy did that heat up Vegas! And then we did it a few more weekends during the following year, whenever we had too much heat on our regular cheating moves. I can tell you that the runaways were the most fun part of my entire cheating career; I was always laughing like a hyena when running out the door with the chips.

In the original manuscript of my book American Roulette (Great Casino Heist in Europe), I had written a chapter about the runaways, but unfortunately it was edited out by the picayune publisher to save space. However, there is a chapter about the same scam pulled off by others in my last book, The World's Greatest Gambling Scams. Go to my book page if interested in reading it.

How Long Has it Been Going?/Super User Account

According to these articles it's a couple of years. There really is no way to tell. My first thought was that it probably dates back longer than that, but then again I can't really say. The real question is whether it has been going on with other sites. Well, let's put it this way: if it has, the crooked employees behind it have been a little more discreet in their cheating. Remember, if you're seeing players' hole cards you don't have to play that way every hand. Apparently, those cheaters on Absolute Poker played their clandestine knowledge to perfection every hand, not something you should do but something that's hard to avoid in tournament play. So the real REAL question is: what about the cash games?

How Long Has Absolute Scam Been Operating?

Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 Online-Casinos.com

HOW LONG HAS THE ABSOLUTE POKER SCAM BEEN OPERATING?

Insider sources claim cheating has been happening for 3 years, earning the culprits millions

The well connected and informed gambling information portal Point-Spread.com made further serious revelations in the Absolute Poker scandal Monday, claiming that unidentified sources have revealed a greater web of deceit than just one tournament.

Webmaster Tommy Jensen quotes sources in Costa Rica who say that the cheating scam has been ongoing for the past three years and the actual amount that was skimmed from online poker players could be as much as $7 million. The actual amount is still unknown as an internal audit is underway.

Jensen says a former employee of Absolute Poker confirmed to Point-Spreads.com that the security department at AP suspected something years ago but were told it was just the owners testing out the system and to forget about it. AJ Green (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa reports) is alleged to have been involved in the scam and employees of Absolute Poker are prepared to implicate him, apparently.

Meanwhile, the 911 portal continued to publish what appear to be damage control reports from its sources, who claim that Absolute Poker takes in between $1.5 million and $2 million a day in gross revenues. "Absolute Poker will survive this (scandal)," the unnamed source predicted. "There are about a hundred investors in the company to ensure this happens."

911 reports that, contrary to reports that a band of college fraternity brothers started Absolute Poker in 2003, it was in fact started by a Las Vegas-resident college grad named Scott Tom with financing from his father. Tom subsequently brought other college friends into the business. Tom, who has since dropped out of sight, is believed to have resided in Panama City and Costa Rica.

"They (AJ Green and Scott Tom) are not talking to investors," the source told 911. "But Absolute Poker does not need Scott Tom. There is a strong management team in place with hundreds of employees." Other investors in the poker site include former employees of the Nine.com operation which now belongs to VIP.com.


No Such Thing as Super User in Absolute Poker Case

A representative speaking on behalf of Absolute Poker tells Gambling911.com "a super user account does not exist".

A report in eGaming Today suggests likewise:

Many people have suggested that there are "super user" accounts or account types that are able to see hole cards. Perhaps such accounts are not able to play, only observe tables -- the account #363 found observing POTRIPPER. Some people have gone so far to suggest such an account has legitimate purpose, for testing or fraud detection.

There is absolutely no legitimate purpose for any account nor any back office system to be able to view hole cards of a hand while it is in play. Creating such a feature would be an enormous breach of ethics and security. The existence of such a feature would be a huge temptation for insider cheating.

Fraud and collusion detection systems work off hand histories, compiled upon completion of a hand. Never should it be possible to compile a hand history of a hand in-progress.

Absolute Poker is in the midst of a public relations nightmare they can't seem to wake up from following an "internal breach" where they claim an employee was able to review other players hole cards during live tournament play. Various sleuths in the online poker sector insist that at least one former Absolute Poker founder was involved in the scheme. Absolute has promised compensation to all affected players and a thorough audit by an outside firm.

While super users may not exist, there is a market for robot poker players that places the game in serious jeopardy.

Bots and Online Poker

"Insider cheating" is nothing new to the online poker world. One of the original Internet poker websites, Paradise Poker, was long suspected of incorporating robots into poker games prior to being purchased by Sportingbet. The early bots were used to make the poker rooms seem more busy than they actually were.

But there are individuals looking to cash in using these bots.

There is actually a market for poker robots that sell for just under $50 (we won't disclose where).

Here is how one such company describes its product:

Human Poker players have two major flaws. One is emotion. Part of the key to good Poker is keeping your emotions in check. In a live game you can give away 'tells' or get upset and start playing poorly. This is often called 'steaming' or going 'on tilt'. Greed and over-confidence when the cards are going your way can be just as bad. Computers don't have this problem, giving them a natural advantage since they will always play their 'best' game. The other major flaw is lack of patience. People play too many hands before the flop, throwing money away with hands that should have been folded. Poker Robot waits for only the very best hands!

What occurred at Absolute Poker is really just the tip of the iceberg. The online poker community has put the word out that they are no longer going to tolerate any more monkey business, whether it's a robot, low level employee or someone very high up on the food chain of the Internet poker room (i.e. one of the owners).

But robots have been a part of the online poker landscape for some time.

Phil Robinson of the Mail on Sunday pointed this out back in 2005:
"If you're a poker player, this is merely unethical. But if you're an executive or shareholder in one of the top poker websites, the advent of programs that play for you is very bad news indeed. Online poker is a £3bn-a-year industry - £3m is gambled on online poker every day in Britain alone (we're now the fifth biggest gambling country in the world). But this depends on the punters knowing they're getting a fair game. When they're up against expertly programmed computer players, then they are, quite emphatically, not. And if these programs evolve as fast as the experts predict, online poker is nothing more than a busted flush.

"One expert in this powerful new software, 'Chopper', tells me, 'It's amazing to think of how much we gamble on online poker sites - mainly because there is no such thing as a fair game of online poker. It just doesn't exist. The game is completely corrupt; it has zero integrity. Online players are secretly using every means at their disposal to fleece you --and at the forefront of their campaign is the use of poker robots. When all this becomes public knowledge, the amateurs will leave and the game will die.'"