PokerStars tournament cancellation policy

[JustSomeJackass]

Here it is, according to their website:
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TOURNAMENT CANCELLATION

If PokerStars has to cancel a tournament for any reason, we make a concerted effort to compensate players in the fairest and most equitable way possible. There are three different possible compensation methods, depending on the exact circumstances and timing of the cancellation:

Rollback

In this case, we are "rolling back" the tournament - if you were registered for the tournament, you get your buy-in and fees (including re-buys and add-ons, if any) refunded. Also, the buy-in is refunded in exactly the same format with which you bought in. For instance, if you bought into a tournament using 10 T$ and $15 cash, then you would get back 10 T$ and $15 cash.

The other two scenarios are called "Roll Forward." That means that we are distributing the money from the tournament based at least partially on the results.


Roll Forward (no players in the money)

If a tournament is cancelled and we do a "roll forward" before the players are in the money, we refund each remaining player his entry fee, and then divide up the prize pool based on the following formula:


50% of the award pool is distributed evenly among all remaining players
50% of the award pool is distributed proportionally according to the chip count

Here's an example:

You were in a ($30+$3) buy-in tournament (with rebuys). There were initially 200 players, and with rebuys, the total prize pool was $9000. Suppose at the time of cancellation there were 100 players remaining, and your chip count was 37,500. The total chips in play were 300,000.

Prize pool to be divided equally: $ 9,000.00/2 = $4,500.00
Prize pool to be divided based on chip count: $ 9,000.00/2 = $4,500.00

Your share in money equally divided: $4,500.00/100 = $45.00
Your share based on chip count: $4,500.00 x (37,500/300,000) = $562.50
Your entry fee refunded: $3.00
Total money refunded to your account: $610.50

Note that if you bust out before the tournament is cancelled, you receive no refund.

When we do a "roll forward", all refunds are in cash (not T$ or W$).


Roll forward (players are in the money)

When a tournament is cancelled, and players have already reached the money, we refund each remaining player his tournament fee, and then divide up the prize pool based on the following formula:


Each player receives the minimum prize not yet awarded at the time of cancellation
The remainder of the award pool distributed is distributed proportionally according to the chip count

Here's an example:

When the tournament was cancelled, there were 15 players remaining, and your chip count was 37,500. The total chips in play were 300,000. The remaining prize pool was $11,000.00 and the minimum prize was $250.00.

Prize pool to be divided equally: $250.00 x 15 = $3,750.00
Prize pool to be divided based on chip count: $11,000.00 - $3,750.00 = $7,250.00

Your "minimum prize" share: $250.00
Your share based on your chip count: $7,250.00 x (37,500/300,000) = $906.25
Your entry fee refunded: $3.00
Total money refunded to your account: $1,159.25

Note that if you bust out before the tournament is cancelled, you receive no refund of your entry fee. Of course, if you placed in the money before the tournament was cancelled, you keep that money.

We work very hard to avoid tournament cancellations, but we want to have a reasonable fair plan in place should such a cancellation be necessary. If you have any further questions about the tournament cancellation plan, please contact us at support@pokerstars.com.

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Take the $3 tourney for instance: There were over 1460 players already eliminated when the site went down (out of 1720) and yet they still "rolled back" the tournament. Doesn't make sense that a guy that got knoceked out on the first hand of the tournament gets the same compensation as the chip leader that played for over 2 hours... Seems a clear case where they should have "rolled forward". They can just do either option at their discretion...doesn't seem right to have a decent plan in place and then not use it.

JSJ

[lorinda]

It really looks like the Aliens are back today.

Freaky occurences at Stars and their fine CS appears to have been infiltrated.

Alien sightings at these places have been on the up for the last few weeks, I think their time is near.

Lori