FRAUD DURING A FREEROLL?
During the U.S. state finals of the PokerStars World Cup, I discovered a player 'num1kill' playing in multiple state finals. He/she picked multiple mid-west/western United States finals will low player participation. As of this writing (about 4 hours before the state tournament finals), 'num1kill' is currently in 5 different state finals. I have attempted to get an answer from PokerStars (see emails below).
I have searched 'num1kill' (a gold player with PokerStars) and it appears that he/she is a good customer with PokerStars, spending a considerable amount of money. Perhaps PokerStars allows players with considerable bankrolls to bend the rules.
If you are playing in one of the 5 final tournaments listed below, I suggest you write to PokerStars at support@pokerstars.com
I also suggest you copy your email to your favorite poker room blog or web site. If a player has found a way to get around the residence filter in PokerStars, I contend there may be other major computer problems with PokerStars.
Sincerely,
Brian B
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Yuliya,
You have lied to me. Player 'num1kill' is still playing multiple tables. This is a violation of your rules. You said below that you removed the player. You did not. I do not appreciate being lied to.
Please have a supervisor contact me immediately. This is urgent. Until a supervisor contacts me, I will begin to communicate this problem to players on the website. I have posted our communication on my website www.threesmartmonkeys.com for everyone to see.
I am surprised PokerStars wishes to treat players in this manner.
Sincerely,
Brian B
-----Original Message-----
From: PokerStars Support [mailto:support@pokerstars.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 9:46 AM
Subject: RE: World Cup US Qualifier
Hello Brian,
I am happy to inform you that the problem has been taken care of and those players who got multiple seats in different states were removed.
If you see any future discrepancies of the same nature please let us know the tournament ID and players User IDs.
We are trying to do our best incidents like that not to repeat themselves in the future.
Thank you for your cooperation and patience.
Best Regards,
Yuliya
PokerStars Support Team
-----Original Message-----
From: PokerStars Support [mailto:support@pokerstars.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 8:25 AM
Subject: RE: World Cup US Qualifier
Hello Brian,
Thank you for your report.
We are checking this issue and we will deal with it accordingly, since it can be considered as abuse.
Unfortunately we will not be able to share with third parties the outcome of the investigation for account security and confidentiality.
Thank you very much for choosing PokerStars. We wish you all the best in our games, and a pleasant playing experience.
Regards,
Yuliya
PokerStars Support Team
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 2008/11/16 09:54:09
To: support@pokerstars.com
Subject: RE: World Cup US Qualifier
Thank you for your response. After further review, I found player 'num1kill' played in multiple U.S. state games yesterday and is currently listed as a player for the following final U.S. state games:
Arkansas Tournament 118748840, starting Nov 16 15:00
Kansas Tournament 118748854, starting Nov 16 15:00
Nebraska Tournament 118748864, starting Nov 16 15:00
North Dakota Tournament 118748871, starting Nov 16 15:00
Wyoming Tournament 118748887, starting Nov 16 16:00
I have several questions...
Has this player been disqualified or will I find him playing in multiple U.S. state final games in the next 5-6 hours?
Are you going to notify the players in the above 5 tournaments that you have disqualified a player for violation of your published rules?
Does Pokerstars have a computer problem that allows a player to enter multiple games illegally?
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Brian B
-----Original Message-----
From: PokerStars Support [mailto:support@pokerstars.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 3:30 PM
Subject: RE: World Cup US Qualifier
Hello,
Thank you for your email. In future please write back from the email address registered to your
PokerStars account.
We will investigate this matter and take appropriate action.
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Thanks for choosing PokerStars.
Regards,
Howard
PokerStars Support Team
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 2008/11/15 17:00:10
To: support@pokerstars.com
Subject: World Cup US Qualifier
Player "num1kill" is currently playing in the Wyoming Qualifier (tournament 118945176 table 2). I see he/she has already qualified in the North Dakota finals. Please remove this participant from the competition.
Thank you,
Brian B