{"id":305324,"date":"2024-01-02T16:47:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=305324"},"modified":"2024-01-02T17:40:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T23:40:18","slug":"ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"GGPoker Embarrassed by \u2018Superuser\u201d Cheating Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

GGPoker<\/a> has apologized to its players after a \u201csuperuser\u201d was able to exploit a weakness in the online poker giant\u2019s software to cheat opponents out of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"GGPoker,
A screenshot from the GGPoker website that doesn’t show MoneyTaker69\u2019s cheating antics that relieved cash game players of almost $30K, plus more in tournament winnings. (Image: GGPoker\/PLO Mastermind)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a statement last Friday, GGPoker said a player with the username \u201cMoneyTaker69\u201d had been banned from the site, and the \u201cunfair winnings,\u201d equating to $29,795, would be redistributed to players who had been cheated.<\/p>\n

\n

The operator said MoneyTaker69 hadn’t been able to see his opponents\u2019 hole cards, but had been able to \u201cdeduce all-in equity by exploiting a client-side data leak vector.\u201d In layman\u2019s terms, this suggests he found a way of gaining an idea of the percentage probability of winning each hand, even though he didn’t know the precise hole cards of other players. The company has since patched up the vulnerability, it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“We sincerely apologize for the incident, which has caused many poker players to worry about the game\u2019s integrity and shaken their trust in GGPoker to provide the best poker experience. We take this incident very seriously and continue to work hard not to disappoint poker players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Player Power <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The operator claimed that its security team had \u201cspotted unusual game patterns,\u201d leading them to investigate the player. But the first to go public about MoneyTaker69 was a poster on the TwoPlusTwo internet poker forums.<\/p>\n

Calling himself \u201cGGPoker Superuser,\u201d the poster noted that MoneyTaker69 had won 90 big blinds per 100 hands over 8,900 hands while playing at\u00a0 a rate of 53% VPIP (voluntary put in pot). In layman\u2019s terms, that means MoneyTaker69 had been on a winning streak over a large enough sample size of hands to make it almost impossible. And he did this while demonstrating a suboptimal preflop strategy, to say the least.<\/p>\n

GGPoker Superuser also noted that MoneyTaker69 won a multi-table tournament for $47,586 \u201cwhile playing an extremely volatile strategy, which aroused a lot of suspicion.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

GGPoker said it would also reconcile the payout for the impacted tournaments, along with the cash game victims. The site also praised the poker community and \u201cthe poker players\u2019 hive minds,\u201d adding that \u201cconstructive community feedback gave us great confidence in resolving the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Link to Hacking Group?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Curiously, \u201cMoneyTaker\u201d is also the name of a hacking collective that has orchestrated at least 20 attacks on banks and financial services companies in the U.S., UK, and Russia. However, there’s no indication MoneyTaker69 had links to the group. The moniker is likely to be a simple play on the name of 2003 World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker<\/a> — one that proved to be equally apt.<\/p>\n

\n

The incident recalls another \u201csuperuser\u201c cheating scandal where an account playing on AbsolutePoker in 2007, \u201cPotripper<\/a>,\u201d was exposed, again by players on the TwoPlusTwo forums. The site later admitted players had been cheated over a period of 40 days and promised to refund $1.6 million. On this occasion, the superuser could see his opponents\u2019 cards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A similar incident occurred at around the same time on AbsolutePoker\u2019s sister site, UltimateBet. This time, UltimateBet shareholder and former WSOP Main Event champion, Russ Hamilton<\/a>, turned out to be the main perpetrator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GGPoker has apologized to its players after a \u201csuperuser\u201d was able to exploit a weakness in the online poker giant\u2019s software to cheat opponents out of thousands of dollars. In a statement last Friday, GGPoker said a player with the username \u201cMoneyTaker69\u201d had been banned from the site, and the \u201cunfair winnings,\u201d equating to $29,795, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":305326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,83771,14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGGPoker Embarrassed by \u2018Superuser\u201d Cheating Scandal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Playing on GGPoker, MoneyTaker69 was able to exploit the software client to cheat users out of $30K, plus more in tournament winnings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GGPoker Embarrassed by \u2018Superuser\u201d Cheating Scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Playing on GGPoker, MoneyTaker69 was able to exploit the software client to cheat users out of $30K, plus more in tournament winnings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-02T22:47:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-02T23:40:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GGPoker.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/\",\"name\":\"GGPoker Embarrassed by \u2018Superuser\u201d Cheating Scandal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GGPoker.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-02T22:47:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-02T23:40:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Playing on GGPoker, MoneyTaker69 was able to exploit the software client to cheat users out of $30K, plus more in tournament winnings.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ggpoker-embarrassed-by-superuser-cheating-scandal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GGPoker.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GGPoker.jpg\",\"width\":870,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"A screenshot from the GGPoker website that does not show MoneyTaker69\u2019s cheating antics that relieved cash game players of almost $30K, plus more in tournament winnings. 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