PokerWorks

A major bug was found last week after a software update at the poker site Betfair Poker. Savvy players soon noticed the glitch while playing in the Six Pack sit-and-go tournaments. They found if every player at the table went all-in on the first hand, then every player got paid. The first place winner got the usual first-place pay out, but all the remaining players received second place prize money.

Internet chat boards and poker forums were all a buzz with the news and word spreads fast among poker players. Once players knew of the bug in the system, several rushed to sign up for the $1,000 buy-in sit-and-go tournaments, to take advantage of the malfunction in the program.

It has been reported that hundreds of these sit-and-go tournaments were held before Betfair was made aware of the bug in the system. Players who had taken advantage of the glitch tried to immediately withdraw their funds from the poker site. Most of these players were stopped before their withdrawals were successful and Betfair took action against them by freezing their accounts.

It appears several players were able to complete their withdrawals however. The United Kingdom newspaper, The Telegraph, has reported that several poker players received emails from Betfair regarding the incident. In the emails, Betfair asked for the immediate return of the money the players won as a result of the glitch.

In the emails to players, Betfair stated,” You recently received payments from playing Sit& Go STTs on Betfair Poker in circumstances that resulted in greater payouts than intended."

According to the e-mail, “The games were incorrectly set up to pay everyone involved in certain all-in situations and this was exploited by the players involved to generate substantial returns in a short space of time.”

Betfair Poker also said in the e-mail, "As I'm sure you can understand, the winnings received as a result of this exploitation must be returned."

There have been no reports yet of how many players have voluntarily returned their winnings.