I guarantee that when the bot ring was busted PS confiscated every penny they could, which is the exact same thing they did here.

I don't think money should be an issue here. If the stars TOS states they can confiscate all money from an account playing in the US then they can do so. People are going crazy because it's 250k and saying stars should give some money back, though if the player had 1 million in the account people would call stars soft if they confiscated "only" 250k and released the rest.

LOL LOL LOL.

This guy seems to think he's better than everyone and deserves special treatment. For all your intellect you did something very dumb, got caught and paid the price. Now you're here whining like a baby. We all know you won't sue because you know they're in the right and you'll waste money on lawyers.

tl;dr you f-ed up, and no, no one feels sorry for you, especially now that you whine just cause you got caught and your attempt to pressure PS here is pathetic.

nice bump, never saw this thread the first time around.

Agree with the sentiment that you risk your balance when you play on Stars.eu from the states. Everyone knows this and it sucks that the figure is so large, but you ****ed up.

With that said, taking the live cash is absurd. Hopefully you got that back.

Not reading entire thread but I'm sure it's been mentioned. Taking full amount is criminal. Taking x amount from x time period where you were believed to be in the states seems fair. Pisses me off stars thinks they can just take 250k. If you won all 250k while in the USA that would be different story but is clearly not the case. Giving you your deposits back seems the most reasonable. Also putting all that money on stars when you're doing shady stuff is idiotic af. Not saying you are guilty but anyone playing from the states should keep that balance low as possible.

I've read the entire thread. Interesting read, I have to say.

It's pretty clear that OP did play on Pokerstars from the USA. If he didn't, it would be a trivial process to prove his innocence. Might be time-consuming, but otherwise trivial. The fact that he hasn't gone through the appropriate procedures to prove that he didn't play from the USA, clearly demonstrates that he is guilty.

Now the question becomes: how fair was the punishment? Standard practice for casino/gambling companies is to return your deposit, but confiscate all your winnings. I think this is a fair punishment. To seize the winnings AND the initial deposit is unjust. Taking the amount deposited + won while OP played from the USA would also be a fair punishment (like the guy above me says).


In a way, I sort of feel a bit sorry for the OP, how he was very unlucky to get caught and the punishment was a lot harsher than it should have been. In another way, I think he was rightly punished and deserved all he got. Too many cheats and general scumbags in the poker world, so this story serves as a lesson to everyone.

Would be interested to know how much compensation the people the OP's tables received, if anything. Have not heard of many people receiving much more than a couple of bucks in this day and age. So that would be criminal for Stars to confiscate all the money, and then pocket it, rather than giving it to the players.

EPT winnings should be given back. That has nothing to do with him playing on stars plus it was a live tournament.

i think OP's approach may have hurt him here. if he admitted what happened and provided documentation as to when he was playing from the U.S., which seems fairly easily doable based on a couple statements itt, they might've been willing to work with him as far as how much to confiscate. but by going for the "never played in the u.s." angle he essentially chose to play for all or nothing, and got nothing.

If all he is guilty of is playing from the US then taking the whole 250k is overly draconian, and presumably if this guy is good enough to get to the level where u play SHR he's probably not involved in collusion or anything else.

not sure why you would assume that. being a good poker player doesn't mean you wouldn't ever cheat. it is shown in this forum time and time again

Taking the money that was won from the U.S. is fair since that action was against the T.O.S. Taking live EPT winnings and money won abroad is unfair imo.

Restricting people from playing online poker the way the US government has done is the equivalent of the Nazi's burning books and destroying art.

Anyone who defies that system is a hero and a patriot. The rest of you need to go change your tampons.

Look... there is a pretty clear line between 'didn't know' vs 'flaunting the rules'. It sounds like OP denied the allegations PS made against him (first mistake), then came to us to pressure ps into folding (second mistake), and thinks that people will side with him irregardless of facts because there is a lot of money @ stake (third mistake). OP knew the risks, got caught, and now hopes we will bail him out. When you risk everything you can lose everything.

yes

It was illegal to be Jewish, or a Gypsy in Nazi Germany. So, what you're saying is that it was perfectly fine for the Nazi's to do what they did.

Got it. Rules are rules and all...

Did Nazis actually own burning books? That seems odd.

It's Nazis, not Nazi's. And Nazis have nothing to do with this anyway.

He's making an analogy where the US is Nazi Germany, Pokerstars is Mussolini, and Jake is just a poor jewish boy trying to survive.

Though, the same analogy would've been used even if Jake's last name were Smith.

BS rules should be broken. Good for Jake for breaking them. The same goes for Brian Hastings and any other American player who VPN's/remote desktops there way onto Pokerstars. They should be allowed on Pokerstars. Every American should and doing this is shaping up to the be the only way Americans will ever be allowed back into the global player pool. So....

I personally have a lot more respect for someone who breaks horrible rules than someone who suggest following them.

don't worry op your 250k will go to the bazoov defense fund

Not at all. Did you guys even read Pokerstars rules? Even once? Rules clearly state playing from U.S. is subject to FUNDS CONFISCATION. What part of that is unclear? It doesn't say a part of balance or winnings or everything except what was going to be donated to hungry children in Africa, or everything except Grandma's inheritance or anything else. It's crystal clear that the whole balance is subject to confiscation.

Secondly, it's pretty obvious that Mr. Schindler is a liar and a manipulator. For all we know the deposit of "EPT winnings" is part of his BS sob story.

Thirdly, I'm for online (and offline) poker legalization worldwide as much as anyone else. But if you break the current rules/laws and get caught, lie and whine about it - you don't get my sympathy. ZERO.

I don't think many players read the rules at all tbh.

Look at all the sne's that were surprised/shocked when Pokerstars did exactly what their TOS allowed them to do, and changed the rewards system without notice.

Having a large sum of money ($250k) on their site without being familiar with the rules is extremely naive at best. And if he did knowingly break the rules whilst having that amount of money on site then that amounts to blatant stupidity.

The rules don't allow for Americans to access the ROW player pool and they never will. So, Americans are required to break them in order to play.

Who cares what the rules are? Especially, when you're dealing with a company that had "golfballs" and "weddingphotos" show up on bank accounts for years. Oh yea...let's not forget the recent "insider trading" issues the former CEO is facing.

Who are you to preach about following the rules of this company? You could say Jake was just following Pokerstar's lead in the art of deception.

Not Mr. Schindler. LOL.

You're hilarious. "Logical adults" generally understand the concept of breaking rules and consequences. Infantile manboys do not.