60 Minutes and More by Mike Sexton

On Sunday, November 30th, the nation was told about the online poker cheating scandal that rocked the poker world during the broadcast of “60 Minutes.”  The segment focused on a “$20,000,000 cheating scandal” on two online sites – Absolute Poker and UltimateBet.  The story was a collaborative effort between “60 Minutes” reporter Steve Kroft and Washington Post’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Gilbert Gaul.  Ira Rosen was the producer.

I was on a panel that was invited by the PPA (Poker Players Association) to represent the poker world on this 60 Minutes segment.  That panel consisted of myself, Linda Johnson, and Greg Raymer.  Our presence was not to defend these sites (because we couldn’t – and wouldn’t), but rather to offer our input as to why online poker should be regulated, legalized, and taxed.  Steve Kroft conducted an interview with us for nearly an hour during the WSOP at the Rio.

We expressed our disappointment and irritation regarding the cheating scandal and why that was the prime reason the online poker industry should be regulated (Money for the government would top the list by those who legalize it). Our panel also expressed that “freedom of choice” and individual responsibility should prevail when it comes to playing online poker.  We were notified a few days prior to the air date that our panel discussion had been cut from the show (My wife, who didn’t want me to do the 60 Minutes show to start with, was overjoyed when she heard we were cut from the show).

Truthfully, it didn’t bother me that our panel was cut from the show, as I knew 60 Minutes’ mission would be to put a very negative slant toward online poker.  What did irritate me was that the elimination of our panel meant eliminating anything positive about online poker.  To see an example of that, just look at their first sentence: “Online poker is illegal in the United States.”  Many in the industry would adamantly disagree with that statement.

When Kroft said it to us, it was quickly refuted by Greg Raymer (who, in addition to being a former World Champion, is also a lawyer).  He firmly told Kroft that there were no federal laws against playing poker online, but that some states did have statutes against it.  I then said, “Online poker has been around since 1996.  If’ it’s illegal, then why hasn’t anyone ever been arrested or indicted for playing online poker?”  Neither of us got a response.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada is in charge of overseeing approximately 60% of the online gaming sites, including Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, but as most know, they don’t really regulate anything.  They collect money from the companies that they license and collect rent for the servers they house.  And as everyone knows, any industry without regulation is much more apt to open itself up to corruption.

These cheating scandals were brought to light by the players themselves.  And all of us should stand up and salute those who followed their suspicions and put so much time and effort into uncovering the cheating.  We should also tip our hats to the newsgroups, such as twoplustwo.com, which brought it all to light.

Two of those involved were Todd Witteles (computer scientist turned poker player) and Michael Josem (player and computer security expert).  Witteles said of one of the online cheats, “He was raising just really, really bad hands against very good hands. He seemed to play crazy. It seemed like he was giving his money away. Except the only thing was, he wasn’t losing. He was playing in a style that was sure to lose, but he was killing the game day after day.”  Josem did the mathematical analysis and said, “They were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean, which is the equivalent to winning a one-in-a-million jackpot six consecutive times.”

Former World Champion Russ Hamilton was identified as the kingpin of the “$20M cheating scandal”.  It’s very sad that the greed of a few could be the downfall of something that millions of people enjoy.

I believe it’s inevitable that online poker will eventually be legalized, regulated, and taxed.  It’s just a matter of when.  There are millions of people who enjoy it and it’s too much money that the government is missing out on not to do it.  In the long-run, let’s hope that the online poker world will be much better off because of these cheating scandals.  A safe, secure, and trustworthy online poker world is what all of us want.

The other big news in the poker industry this past month was that the final table of the WSOP took place (finally).  Congratulations to Peter Eastgate from Denmark, the youngest ever World Champion.

The four month delay was viewed as a success by some and a failure by others.  Ratings were nearly 50% higher than year ago, so ESPN probably viewed it a success.  And some players, like Daniel Negreanu, thought it was great because the final table in the Penn and Teller showroom was packed and the atmosphere was electric (Daniel, that would have been the case had the final table taken place two or three days later).  As you can probably sense, I never liked the four month delay (before or after).

I did hear something disturbing to me, but haven’t verified it with any of the November Nine. And that was that they declined to appear on Jay Leno and other talk shows prior to the final table taking place.  Some (including me) feel that these guys had a duty and “obligation” to appear on these types of shows and promote poker, while others feel they shouldn’t be expected or required to do so.

Here’s why that bothers me:  For years, with the exception of Amarillo Slim (who appeared on the “Tonight Show” six times), the World Champions of Poker never did anything to help promote tournament poker and/or the poker industry.  And in my mind, that’s a big reason poker took so long to take off and grow.

Although they have no obligation to do so, I think that the reigning World Champion of Poker should travel, do public appearances, seminars, photo sessions, television shows, etc., in order to help promote the poker community.  Harrah’s and the WSOP could hire a PR person to schedule them and prepare them for appearances if need be (Every casino and all poker players would benefit if they did this).

And while I’m on my soapbox, I believe the World Champions should also set the standard for behavior at the table, but unfortunately a number of them like Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, and Stu Ungar were the worst-behaved players in poker history.  And you can now add Phil Hellmuth to that list.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!