disconnect cheating on Party ... what do you think?

Scooterdoo · #1 11-03-2004, 01:17 PM

I had a situation last night on Party where someone clearly disconnected on purpose. What's your opinion on this, and do you believe I have a strong case to collect through Party? Here's the hand:

NL $100 short-handed cash game. I have $184, the opponent in question has $100. Opponent is on BB, I have position. Blinds are $1/2. I limp, he checks -- I have KTo. The flop comes Qc Td 7s. He bets $7. I call (he had been making bets this size many times with nothing). Turn 6c. He checks. I bet $25, he calls... maybe he likes his hand a little more than I thought so I put him on a Q with an iffy kicker (otherwise he would have bet out on the turn himself). The river brings a 3c. He checks again. I still figure him for a Q with an iffy kicker and I believe that a big bet will get him off his hand; especially with the 3rd club so I put him all in with a $66 bet. He waits, and waits, and waits, and then does nothing.

He disconnected. I get back my $66 bet, but lost the $70 pot. It turned out he did have exactly what I thought - Q9. This really ticked me off given that I read him perfectly and there was no way he was going to call my bet with this hand given what I had seen him do previously. I think he was tired of being pushed around, but did not have the guts to call. How could the disconnect be anything other than intentional given the circumstances? What do you guys/girls think?

- Scot

Jwasnock · #2 11-03-2004, 01:49 PM

I really hate it when someone does that. It's happened to me before also.

Definitely report the hand history to Party. It's probably not going to do you any good as far as getting any $$ back, but it may help down the road if he gets a couple of complaints. I've sent in a few complaints like this and they will usually say they check his disconnect history and don't see any pattern of abuse, blah blah blah. At least they will put it in his file and he won't be able to get away with it much more. They will take away someone's disconnect protection if they receive several suspicious complaints. If anybody sees this type of abuse even if you're not in the hand, report it. Unfortunately, there is not much more you can do as far as I can tell.

Good luck.

Scooterdoo · #3 11-03-2004, 02:18 PM

Isn't there any subjective analysis that needs to be done? If he had a junk hand or a powerful hand than I can understand the disconnect. I can also understand it on a different street or with a different sized bet. However, if they are going to keep the integrity of their games at a high level, they need to be willing to be more subjective about their analysis of these situations. This has to be extremely clear to anyone who looks into it. In fact, if he has no history of disconnecting it should even be more clear that this was done on purpose since it would show that he had not had connection problems in the past.

Anyway, I don't really care about the $70; it's just the fact that he cheated and I strongly believe that Party needs to come through in these types of cases or the integrity of the entire game is at stake.

One more point... my call of his flop bet and especially my $25 bet on the turn was made specifically to set up my river bet. Without the opportunity to play out the river bet, they are in effect 'giving' him my money when he didn't earn it.

37offsuit · #4 11-03-2004, 03:27 PM

That's why I don't play on Party. All the sites I play NL ring games on fold a hand on disconnect so there is no chance of this happening.

dogmeat · #5 11-03-2004, 08:10 PM

I understand your frustration, but yes, there is a chance that his disconnect is an accident. Your logic is flawed when you say that if this never happened before, it proves he did it on purpose. I have DSL and got disconnected three times last night, it happens. The first time it happened, should that have gone against me? (actually, never in a pot, but not my point)

Beyond that, you emailed support - and now if he does it again, and it is reported, he will either be warned, or his ability to get additional "disconnect-protection" will be taken away.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Scooterdoo · #6 11-03-2004, 08:32 PM

I guess anything is possible, but if you look at the specific situation there is less of a chance that this was an accident than George Bush becoming president if he was not the son of a former president. Sure disconnects happen (I've been disconnected with AA preflop), but just as he is faced with a large all-in bet when he has a terrible kicker, with a flush draw on the board, and had checked the turn? It's just so unlikely as to be virtually impossible. Plus, even if the argument is that it was an accident, they should at the minimum just give each of us our money back from the hand. The game has 5 streets. If I make bets/calls on the flop and turn I do it knowing that I have the river to make an additional move. How can you penalize me for this circumstance? Anyway, we'll see what they say.

dogmeat · #7 11-03-2004, 11:36 PM

Sorry - but I would not anticipate "each getting their money back".

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

M.B.E. · #8 11-03-2004, 07:24 PM

So did you report this or not? You don't need to solicit opinion from the forums before you report it, just email alerts@partypoker.com and let them sort it out. If you disagree with their opinion, maybe then you can bitch about it on 2+2 (but not the MTT forum; try the Zoo).

When someone disconnects on me and I lose chips because of it, I don't waste brain cells trying to figure out if it is "suspicious" or not. I just email them the hand number and ask for an investigation. They've never asked me to stop bugging them.

Scooterdoo · #9 11-03-2004, 08:03 PM

I did and haven't heard back. Was just wondering what others thought. Thanks for the feedback! It's happened to me before in tournaments, but this was so blatant and actually cost me money versus in a tournament it only indirectly costs money, plus the guy needs to stick around so you can get back at him a bit.

AlwaysWrong · #10 11-04-2004, 01:03 AM

You have to go into the situation understanding that people can cheat you if they want, and the vast majority of the time they will get away with it. This is just a risk that you implicitly accept when you sit down at one of these tables. If you really don't like the situation, I would reccommend emailing party and explaining why you will no longer be playing in their no-limit games. Vote with your chips.