Poker Forum

If only I had my funds on Poker Stars at the time of Black Friday....They really showed some class with the quick rebound.

i feel alot of pokerstars sponsorship in this one xD

Let's give credit where credit is due. POKERSTARS w top world poker champions & top poker pros like Daniel Negreanu fulfilled their obligations paying off all players before exiting the Poker Prohibition in process in the U.S.

FullTiltPoker looks on track for paying back everyone so top pros like Phil Ivey, et al will be in the clear.

Ultimate Bet & Absolute Poker with poker pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth look destined to pay zero shafting everyone that had money there.

The winner and great #3 is PokerStars. Although I played FTP and currently prefer PartyPoker .... I have to admit that PokerStars is a class act.

It's a sad state of affairs when "responsibility" is being recognized as a near heroic act. I always appreciated PokerStars' customer service, and so it was not a big surprise to me that it handled the fallout from Black Friday the way it did. But it troubles me that so many poker consumers feel that PokerStars made some kind of hero CS move. It's troubling because it implies that consumer expectations were so low that the kind of customer service that is expected in other industries was somehow, miraculous in Poker. And if consumers are making cash deposits into online poker accounts so frivolously, this is the poker public making a case against itself for legalizing online poker in America.

Simply, ten guys in a room all want to play poker online. Two of those guys are saying, "Awesome!! But before you deal the cards, tell me where my money is, and how to cash out when I want to leave". But the other eight guys are saying, "...man, shut up, just deal, let's play poker". And it's tough for two to be heard over eight. This is what has been happening in Poker, both before black Friday, and since. The combined voice of poker media, the PPA and it's political efforts, player blogs, chat-rooms and forums, word of mouth and more, have all pushed hard to get playing going NOW, not later. Even the Poker Players Alliance (curiously) hadn't presented it's own recommended set of Player Protections.

The industry already failed it's consumer base, and that player base cried foul - even though players had every opportunity to speak out about their rights and protections in advance of the failures, but either didn't, or the complaining voices were ignored. Let's not make the same mistakes moving forward that were already made, and at such a high cost. An organization that is similar in principle to the Poker Players Alliance can be effective in fighting for player rights. But in the case of FullTilt, there was a delicate balance that the PPA failed to meet, when it accepted contributions from FTP, filled PPA Board positions with FullTilt founding members, then remained relatively silent when harsh criticism littered the internet by the tens of thousands, about Full Tilt's failure to meet even the most minimal customer service standards.

Organizations whose missions claim to 'fight for players and their rights', should be held to the highest standards in doing just that. Fighting for player rights to play poker online, only to remain tight lipped if and when said operators fail to meet the most basic customer service standards is COMPLETELY unacceptable. A poker player's right to play poker should be argued with specific regard to protections - not simply free access to gamble. If we learned anything from past mistakes, it's that if operators are given free reign, some (not all) will take that opportunity for granted, and misuse it.