wtf...is this legal?

[cheapsuit]

i would just consider it a valuable lesson and be thankful that he didnt ask you for 100 or something.

basically, you paid 10 bucks for a pretty valuable piece of info. thats a good buy in my opinion.

[trying2learn]

i can't believe i'm the only one who thinks the OP was silly to say, 'ya'.

you agreed - if you were kidding it just makes you dumb (and a liar in a small way). i'm with the ten dollars to learn a lesson club.

[ChipFish]

To the OP.
You said you would give him $10 if you won.
You did.
What's the problem?

Maybe next time when someone asks for money you will give the 'correct' answer : 'NO'.

Lesson learned.

[Matt R.]

Like the OP said, the "ya" was meant in a sarcastic way. This should be at least somewhat clear considering how ridiculous the question was. You may not have said it, but in what way does this make the OP look dumb? I find the "liar" comment funny, when the guy who originally ASKED the question is clearly the biggest angle shooter in history if he contacted Stars support to have them transfer him the money. Based on all these supporters for the "lesson learned" theory, we should all go around asking people pre-tourney to transfer us money if we lose. Hey, if I'm teaching people these valuable lessons I may as well get paid for it.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
Look, if the other player said something very clear to the likes of, "I would like to make a deal where the WINNER of the match transfers the LOSER $10.50, is this acceptable?" and the poster said yes, then sure an argument can be made that he legitimately owes the money

[/ QUOTE ]


I've made deals on Stars for more money then this that was not nearly as drawn-out as your example.

In my Stars shoot-out to win my seat the guy offered me a $1000 save to whoever loses. I had a big chip-lead and turned him down. It was a bad deal. That doesn't make it an angle-shoot though. He was offering a deal that is advantageous to him.
When I fell behind he offered me $2500 for the seat. I didn't say 'yeah, sure.'
But the way he offered it was 'let me have it for $2500??'
If I said 'yes' I believe it would have been binding even though 'let me have IT' does not necessarily refer to the seat. Maybe he wanted my penis for all I know.



But this guy probably was just offering a one-sided deal in hopes that occasionally he gets to hold the other guy to it.
Hence, the reason why many have stated that we need an official 'deal' slide-bar or button or pop-up or something like that implemented on Stars for certain situations.


When I play chess on the internet-chess club there are many situations where the player 'agrees' to a draw.
We don't just type in the chat-box, "Want to draw?"
The same situation could develop....I have a big lead and the other guy says "Want to draw?" and I say, "Yeah...I don't think I can win this" (even though it's obvious) and I'm held to that draw.

There are buttons there for 'offer draw'.
You hit the button and i get a pop-up that says, 'your opponent has offered a draw. do you accept?'
If you click yes it happens RIGHT-AWAY. If you make your next move then the draw has automatically been declined.
I can then offer him a draw on the very next move if I like but he doesn't have to accept it. Once I made my move to turn down his draw offer then that offer is DONE and we are on to the next one.


I do agree that holding players to their commitment in the chat-box is kind of sketchy...but those are the rules and you can't just try to argue, "But when I said Yes I obviously meant No." the whole system would be ruined.

[Matt R.]

I agree with most of your post, especially the idea that if Stars allows deals, they should have some sort of system (like a pop up box) to make it official. My thing is, the "deal" with the OP is so obviously one sided ("Send me $10.50 if I lose, but you don't get anything") that it's silly to consider it a deal in the first place. In your example, even though the deal was favored to one-side, at least both sides were getting something out of it. It's much more obvious in your example that this was an actual deal being discussed, not some stupid request to transfer money if one person loses (and not reciprocating the deal).

And I believe a post in this thread stated that a deal COULD be made, but agreements through a chat box are not binding. I think what was done is precisely opposite of the rules, especially given the impreciseness of the chat box content.

[Matt R.]

Ugh...

All I know is, the next time I play I'm asking someone before the tournament starts if they'll buy me a Ferrari if I lose. When they think the comment is absurd, and they say "ya sure", PokerStars better uphold the deal for me when I lose.... since it was clearly fair and all! Make them file for bankruptcy for all I care, just consider it an expensive lesson. At least I didn't ask for their soul, that would really suck.

[trying2learn]

matt - what are you missing here?

this is silly, but he asked and he said yes, period.

maybe laughing or saying no would work better in this spot...just a thought.

[Matt R.]

Oh boy... I don't know how you can miss the point of my posts but I guess you accomplished it. My point... again, in simpler terms... is that just because you say yes to do something, should not bind you to do it in all circumstances. This is especially true when the person who says "yes" is not clear that the person asking the question is serious (i.e. they don't even know a "deal" is being discussed), and when the deal is absurdly one sided. Do you really think it is fair, if I asked someone "Hey man, will you give me $100" in a chat box and he/she said "yes", they should be legally forced to do it? I'm no expert, but I'm fairly certain contract law says no, even in situations way more official than a PokerStars chat box. I guess you disagree, although I don't see how. Out of curiousity, since you disagree with my above logic, at what point would you say it's "unfair" to force the guy who said "ya" to pay up. Would it be when he asks for $20, $50, $1000, his first born child? I'd seriously like to know.

[Paluka]

How about if you are talking on IM and the stars window pops up and you type "yes" in the wrong window.