Expanded thoughts on Ultimate Beat Pt 3: Pointing fingers

Scott Bell pulled back the curtain on the Ultimate Beat super-user scandal in his recently released documentary, Ultimate Beat: Too much to lose which you can purchase here. In this three-part series I want to offer up some expanded thoughts on different aspects of the Super-User period and how it relates to poker in general.

In each part I’ll offer up my thoughts on a different aspect of the super-user cheating:

• Part 1: Players didn’t just lose money
• Part 2: Was this exclusive to AP and UB?
• Part 3: Who was at fault?

Who is at fault?

Thesis: Let’s not perform an injustice in our pursuit of justice.

We pretty much know who the main players in the scandal were, but even five years after the fact there are still many questions as to how far the tentacles of the super-user scandals infiltrated the company and the associates of the main perpetrators.

However, even if these people may have had an inkling that something was indeed rotten in Denmark, I just don’t see the point of trying to ruin reputations over it.

There are so many names attached to the super-user scandals in some way shape or form that it becomes a very simple exercise to connect the dates and just indict everyone that had their name/address attached to a super-user account, anyone who ever golfed with Russ Hamilton, or anyone that ever received player-to-player transfers from a super-user account.

This may simplify the process and make sure that we nail everyone involved, in terms of fairness to the people involved it’s a miscarriage of justice.

I had the chance to speak with one such person off the record a while back, someone who I found very credible and honest, and I would posit that trying to tie up every loose end in the investigation will end up ensnaring more innocent victims than guilty ones. Accusations get tossed around on the Internet far too easily, and if you were unfortunate enough to associate with Russ Hamilton and played on Ultimate Bet during the early to mid-2000’s I don’t think you should immediately be investigated.

Yes, I would love to know, who knew what and when. I would love to know who ignored the clear red flags. But knowing that money you are receiving could possibly be from ill-gotten means is not a major crime, and doesn’t make these people responsible in any way, shape, or form for the cheating itself. I’d much rather not know if specific names in the poker world had an inkling of what was transpiring if it means we spare the reputations of players who simply found themselves unwittingly caught up in the whole ugly affair.

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