Party/Empire Disconnection Abuse

[soah]

Well... it's not the first time it's happened, and I won't bore everyone with details. Short story: pot is already big, guy doesn't want to call a pot-size all-in bet to chase his flush, so he pulls the plug on the modem and hits his draw on the river.

I send an email to party/empire and get a reply almost instantly. It appears to be a form letter. From the second half:

[ QUOTE ]
and have found that along with the hand you reported, the player has shown some sign of disconnecting at keys times. Although that might seem suspicious, the player has in fact not disconnected more than what might be normal with an unstable internet connection and the hands in which he was reported by players or the system are borderline suspicious, at best.

Nonetheless, we have recorded your complaint into the players account and will keep this investigation on file. In addition, our gaming experts will be monitoring this player's account. If the player does at any time show a pattern of abuse we will remove his protection. We have sent an email to the player informing him of the investigation and making him aware that his actions are being monitored.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know that many others have dealt with players abusing the all-in protection and complained about it. I am curious to know if the form letter I was sent is the default which is sent out to everyone that complains. Part of me is pleased with their prompt reply, and the other part of me wonders if the reply came so quickly because they don't actually do much investigating.... and just send out these half-agreements to make everyone happy. (Or because they've already investigated him, found other suspicious hands in the past, but still choose to do nothing.)

The rules published on their site state that the penalties for disconnection abuse include: "forfeiture of any monies won, tournament disqualification, the loss of the Disconnect Protection privilege or expulsion from the site."

In my email I asked that the money he won from the pot be seized from his account and given to me. Do I have any hope at all of ever seeing that money? Will I ever hear back from them again on this subject? Essentially I'd like to know what results other people have had when pursuing these cheaters at Party skins. Did everyone get the same "maybe he did, maybe he didn't" sort of reply, or do they actually take an honest look at the player and give accurate feedback? I'd like to press this issue further but I don't believe it will accomplish anything for me.

[mrjetguy]

[ QUOTE ]
In my email I asked that the money he won from the pot be seized from his account and given to me. Do I have any hope at all of ever seeing that money?

[/ QUOTE ]
My simple answer is no, no, and... NO. They simply can't take moeny from one account and give it to another. That just wont happen. I can only imagine how many legal problems such an action could cause.

[lorinda]

That just wont happen. I can only imagine how many legal problems such an action could cause

Stars do it frequently.

What legal problems might it cause?

Lori

[octop]

I got the same letter before when i reported a guy who called a 20 dollar preflop bet cold with 45 suited ( I raised with aa and 3 people besides him were in the pot)
and the flop came queen 8 4 I bet fourty everyone folded to him and he figures what the hell Ill disconnect and rivered a 5 forr 2 pair.
I would rather the idiot call my fourty and then another 80 on the turn and then suck out my whole stack on the river than pull that [censored]

[BlueBear]

I believe Stars, unlike Party, have allocated a lot of resources, expertise and energy into investigating claims of all-in abuse and hence can do this "compensation" from one account to another with a much greater confidence.

[waffle]

I've only run into an opponent abusing the disconnection protection once. They did not send me this letter. They told me they had noticed previous suspicious disconnects with the same fellow and they revoked his disconnect protection.

[soah]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In my email I asked that the money he won from the pot be seized from his account and given to me. Do I have any hope at all of ever seeing that money?

[/ QUOTE ]
My simple answer is no, no, and... NO. They simply can't take moeny from one account and give it to another. That just wont happen. I can only imagine how many legal problems such an action could cause.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't imagine why there would be any legal troubles should they decide to enforce their terms of service.

3. Disconnect Protection is in no way intended to be used for any purpose other than a genuine disconnect. Any misuse of this policy by intentionally disconnecting from the poker site may result in; forfeiture of any monies won, tournament disqualification, the loss of the Disconnect Protection privilege or expulsion from the site.

[PokerHund]

Disconnects happen to everybody. Whenever somebody gets an advantage about it, he is a cheat for almost anyone at the table. This is just not true in most cases. In one case i got disconnected with the nut-flush on the turn and was accused of being a cheat because the river made another player a full.

I think that there is to much moaning about disconnects. If they happen to your advantage then everything is just fine. If they happen to somebody else advantage they are cheats.

This is ridiculous.