Like within all areas where there are money to be made, a selection of people have learned to fool the system. And even if they don’t master the art, they will still try…

Some poker players are simply very skilled. Regardless if they have a lot of experience or not, there are a precious few online-gamblers that have exactly the right conditions to earn the big bucks. They might have a very sharp sense for math, a good perception when it comes to reading other players, or the right kind of patience. It varies.

But there are also those online gamblers who are just doing a bit too well, for it to be luck or skill.

Like in the AbsolutePoker.com-case, when one of the companies employees hacked their own system and managed to rip about $500 000 from the other players in the poker room. The company states that he did this to prove that the system had flaws, and that he was intellectually superior to the company. The employee found a way to see the other players hole cards, and could therefore know exactly when to fold and when to raise.

As soon as this got public, the company stepped forward and said that they would pay all the money back, with interest, to the players that had been victims to the hacker. However, he had not withdrawn any of the money from his account. That doesn’t change the fact that the company’s security has been undeniably wrecked in credibility. Even if they claim that the leek have been covered, I think that there are probably many players that don’t want to take their chances at AbsolutePoker.com any longer.

Already before the hacker was revealed, there were many players that reacted to how suspicious it was that someone did so well in a game. Like he knew something that they didn’t. He used several different nick names, among which “Potripper” was the most common. Later it was discovered that “Potripper” had also been able to see the other players e-mailadresses and IP-numbers. This is illegal trespassing as well, which could make a nice addition to an attorneys list.

Films have been made that show how the cheating was performed, and these are available on YouTube. Many poker players watch these of course, but one can only hope that the films doesn’t encourage people to try to learn how to hack other online poker-systems…