Integrity and Rulings at On-Line Poker Sites

By Peter Athanasoulis

Often in brick and mortar play, mistakes made by a dealer such as exposing a turn card prior to all the action being completed around, is usually handled by calling the floor, which will make the final decision on how to handle the incident.

What do on-line players do, when something questionable occurs and are at the mercy of the software? Players can contact support for that site and plead their case with them.

Most reputable on-line poker sites have good support staff that responds quickly to players needs. They can be contacted via e-mail or phone in some cases.

Recently I was playing the $30K guarantee Multi Table Tournament (MTT) on Pacific Poker, which is one of my favorite tournaments on-line. The buy-in is $30 + 3.

I was playing for a while, approximately 75% of the field had been eliminated and the bubble was quickly approaching. The following hand came up:

10 handed, Blinds where T200-T400 and I was in the BB w/ AhQc. MP1 min raises to T800, there are two additional callers, SB folds, and I call an additional 400.

The flop comes 10s Ac Qd. I check with intentions of check raising, MP1 pushes T1705 and is all in, next player fold, and LP calls all in T974. I call with top two pair and have left T651 behind. The turn is the Ad, giving me the nuts. Then the unthinkable happens. My hand is mucked! How can this be! Well, as dealers can make mistakes, in B and M play, we must accept that that errors can happen w/ software on-line. The river card was the 3s. MP1 showed AsJc and took down side pot T1462, LP showed JsKd for a straight and won the main pot of T6322. Since I called and my chips were put into the pot, it was upsetting to see my pot get pushed to the other players when in fact I was entitled to the whole pot of T7784. My new chip position would have been T8435 and would have been in great position to go deep in the tournament and a possible final table.

Well thank goodness, that most poker sites have hand histories and tournament summaries recorded in memory. I emailed their support staff with the pertinent information. There explanation was that I was disconnected, and they would in good faith refund my entry fee. This was a nice gesture, but believed that I deserved more. Followed up w/ additional e-mails stating that I had called two all-ins in front of me while connected, and was entitled to the pot, even if disconnected. Also mentioned that on other sites, if disconnection happened, the hand would have been eligible for the pot, but would be blinded off if still disconnected. In my case, was connected the very next hand.

Also mentioned how frustrating it is to play several hours, and for something like this to occur.

In the end, they had made their ruling and they were standing by it. Had I not voiced my concern, not even the entry fee would have been refunded.

Just like in live play, you can have you’re discrepancies voiced on-line to the support groups of the site, as you would the floor in B and M.

In most cases they will listen, and attempt to make a fair ruling.

Don’t forget, we are their customers, where their revenue is derived from. They need to provide a certain level of customer satisfaction because the competition is getting fierce.

So don’t be timid and tell it as it is, and request for what you think is right. They work for you.