Travis Makar talks about Super User scandal Part 1

A major, and totally unexpected, break in the case revolving around the Super User scandal that occurred on Ultimate Bet Poker in the mid-2000’s happened this week when Travis Makar -one of the people linked to the Super User scandal-called in to the DonkDown Radio show, and spent over an hour discussing his involvement and knowledge regarding the UB Super-User scandal with Bryan Micon and Todd Witteles.

In the hour-plus long interview, Makar discussed a number of issues, and while some of his answers were on the vague side, he did drop a number of bombshells, and implied that the Super-User scandal -which netted some $27 million-was only the tip of the iceberg! Of course, until proof of Makar’s accusations is revealed it’s unclear how much, if any, of what he is saying is true.

First let me start off with why Makar called the fairly small-time outfit DonkDown: Each week DonkDown produces a radio show and a recently added segment has seen co-hosts Bryan Micon, Todd Witteles, and Brandon Gerson prank call Russ Hamilton. The previous week they used the back-story of Makar’s arrest in Utah for a purported road rage incident as part of their prank. Well, apparently Makar has a Google Alert for his name and caught wind of the incident, prompting him to first join the show’s live-chat, and later to be coaxed into calling into the show.

During the course of the impromptu interview Makar describes his role working with Russ Hamilton and UB Poker as an independent contractor of sorts who worked on their computers, and later basically becoming Russ Hamilton’s personal assistant -and this is where it gets interesting considering Makar basically worked on, and had access to, every Ultimate Bet bigwig’s computer!

Makar implied, and flat out said, he had complete Hand History records, cash-out histories, personal E-Mails, and even a 6-hour recording of a meeting attended by Russ Hamilton regarding the company’s plan to deal with the Super-User scandal! Information Makar said he would show to Bryan Micon to prove he was telling the truth.

Here is a look at the other revelations/assertions we have heard bits of before that were made by Makar during the interview:

• Russ Hamilton was a major player in the Super-User scandal, but not the only major player
• Ultimate Bet not only withheld Hand Histories but actually deleted data from their servers
• The original ownership group is still intact and running the show -the sales have been to Shell Companies
• Paul Leggett paid hush money to an employee using the screen-name “BrainWashDoDo” on 2+2
• Russ Hamilton recorded a 6-hour meeting with UB higher-ups and attorneys (which Makar downloaded to Hamilton’s computer)
• Annie Duke borrowed money from Russ to buy a house and after the scandal never paid him back

But there were also a couple of bombshells dropped by Makar:

• He hinted that Annie Duke may have benefitted by staying quiet
• He outlined another cheating scandal taking place on the site!
• He hinted at a larger conspiracy between other online poker rooms where cash was funneled back and forth between sites

These last three points I will talk a bit about in Part 2 of this series.