disconnection protection

[jayg]

Yesterday I played a disturbing hand at a 6-max 5-10 NL game on Party. The details are unimportant for this post. I'll just say that I was check-raised on the flop and I called. I then hit a distant draw on the turn. I smooth-called a turn bet and when checked to on the river, I moved in.

This put my opponent in a very difficult spot. He clearly had a piece of the board, and I could very well be bluffing in that spot. He disconnected and was able to showdown the hand without committing another dollar. I was furious. You don't get an opponent in a position like that all that frequently, and I thought he just cheated.

I immediately contacted Party and they responded promptly, saying that while the situation was suspicious, the player in the hand did not have a history of disconnections at key moments. There's was nothing they could do other than warn the player and look at his actions in the future.

I have no doubt that Party acted in good faith here. I’m not a conspiracy guy. There doesn't seem to be anything else I can do. I certainly can’t prove that he would have called.

However, if I had been bluffing, I would have lost a large pot when an opponent SHOULD have had to make a very difficult choice. I don't see how I can play in a game -- especially a big game -- where people can opt out of difficult spots by pulling the plug on their cable modems.

I believe UB allows one disconnect a month, or something like that. Pokerroom simply gives no all-in protection for PL/NL games.

I’m curious what y’all think is a fair disconnection policy.

-j