Online poker is a game in which even a very small advantage can propel a player far beyond his or her opponents. That’s why Canadian poker player Elisabetta Bertucci alleges a technical glitch in the poker software offered by Loto-Quebec, was particularly egregious and offered some players a significant advantage over others.
Bertucci believes that an unintentional glitch in Loto-Quebec’s Texas Hold’em poker platform allowed players who played on iPads to see their opponents hole cards, whether the other player wanted them to or not. This would allow a player who’s working on an iPhone or iPad to know what cards had already been dealt, which can seriously change the odds of various outcomes.
There’s no word on how long this glitch may have been in existence, or if anyone besides Bertucci even figured it out. She claims she realized the discrepancy when she played her first tournament on the platform on an iPad. She said that during some cash games she discovered that she could see every other players’ hole cards. While some players decide to provide this information, not all of them do. She properly points out that anyone not playing on an iOS device would be at a real disadvantage over players on any other operating system.
When Bertucci brought her findings to a Loto-Quebec technician, he reportedly confirmed the glitch. Once she found out the glitch was real, she asked the company for a refund on all her losses on the site since she started playing in 2010, which were more than $10,000. After being offered a mere $15 dollars for her trouble Bertucci filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court asking for a full refund and asking others to join the effort.