A software update for popular online poker room Absolute Poker recently caused confusion among customers when the security program AVG identified a component of it as a Trojan Horse. In response, Absolute Poker sent out an e-mail to concerned users explaining the situation. Poker News Daily sought explanation from Absolute Poker as well as feedback from a customer who experienced the abnormality.
Poker News Daily spoke with Jared Detwiler, who signed up for Absolute Poker in hopes of playing in a freeroll on the site. He told us that when he logged onto Absolute Poker, “My anti-virus asked if I wanted to allow the Trojan. I figured Absolute Poker was reliable and allowed it. After this, Absolute Poker was completely disabled and there was no way for me to log on.”
The e-mail sent to Poker News Daily from Absolute Poker stated, “With the implementation of the new banners on the AP application, the AVG antivirus recognized the interaction between those banners and the Microsoft Internet Explorer as a potential virus.” The e-mail noted that Absolute Poker developers have been in contact with AVG programmers in order to update the virus definitions and stop the error from occurring. When AVG starts, the program typically checks for updates automatically in order to ensure that users are protected. AVG offers both a free and a paid premium version.
In order to reinstall Absolute Poker properly, customers are instructed to go to “Start,” “Control Panel,” and “Add / Remove Programs.” Then, select Absolute Poker and uninstall the file. Once this is complete, open “My Computer,” access the C Drive, and then open “Program Files” to delete any straggling Absolute Poker files. Then, open Internet Explorer and click on “Tools” in the top menu bar. Delete all temporary internet files and cookies. Download Absolute Poker and run it.
Absolute Poker’s statement to Poker News Daily continued, “To perform a [virus] update, the customer just needs to right click over the AVG icon located at the bottom right of the Windows Taskbar and select Update.” AVG will then take a few minutes to download and install updated virus definitions. If this is performed manually, the software will oftentimes prompt a user before it updates the definition file. Players with additional questions are urged to e-mail Techsupport@AbsolutePoker.Com.
However, for many poker players, having to uninstall programs, delete cookies, and erase internet files can be a burdensome task, especially for users who are not particularly computer savvy. Detwiler explained that he had not yet contacted Absolute Poker “because I wanted to try them out with the freeroll and hopefully everything would work out. Basically, I just gave up and figured it was their loss.”
The issues with potential Trojan Horses seem to be isolated to AVG, as opposed to other anti-virus software programs like Norton and McAfee.
Absolute Poker is owned by Tokwiro, the same company that has ownership interest in online poker room Ultimate Bet. Its flagship tournament is a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool event that runs every Saturday at 16:30 ET. The tournament comes with a $530 price tag and regularly sees an overlay, which means that the $150,000 guarantee exceeds the actual prize pool. Last week, the tournament attracted 280 entrants and was won by Jon apestyles Van Fleet, who cashed for $37,500. Heads-up, Van Fleet defeated World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV winner Mike “SirWatts” Watson, who finished second for $24,000. The top 36 spots paid out.
