Yesterday morning Absolute Poker, an online poker room, released a statement that a 'trusted consultant' had compromised the system and was unfairly playing poker on the site. Essentially, the 'glitch' allowed this person--who has been linked to others within the Absolute Poker organization (can you say, conspiracy?)--to view the hole cards of other players (this means he was the only one who could see all the cards in the hand). The poker community has been blogging and sharing opinions on this issue for weeks, with plenty of uproar.

The only comment I have to these people is, "DUH"! C'mon, how can you take online gambling seriously? Obviously there has been quite a bit of attention to the fact that it is still illegal in the U.S., so the companies involved aren't the most upstanding and scrupulous. They are constantly dodging criminal prosecution and money laundering charges. So these are the people you think are hosting an honest game?

I am nearly convinced that BrickBreaker on my Blackberry cheats when I get too far in the game, so I think its only natural that humans would try and manipulate the system to make more money (obviously I was correct).

I have plenty of friends that have almost made a living out of playing online; however, when I think of online gambling I am reminded of the scene in Vegas Vacation where Clark Griswold goes to the Native American Casino and plays pick a number with the dealer. In my mind this is almost the same thing. How can one honestly believe that the Blackjack application is completely random? You cannot. At least in a real casino there are safe-guards and visual indications that the house only has a statistical advantage, not a technological one.

My only advice to the online poker players that are up in arms about this incident is to get a new hobby or drive your butt into a legal card room. While technology has made it easier to play cards online, it certainly hasn't made it more ethical.