And as far as stars being the bad guy...It took 5 months to come to a resolution, I basically wrote the report on where I was every day from black friday to the day I was banned, stars is in disarray more than anyone would ever realize...I dont condemn stars for their decision as I dont believe it was their decision, but the way they handled it was completely unprofessional and ridiculous...Ill have to create a thread detailing what the process was like over the last 5 months

Company gives some random guy on the internet the run around.
Not sure it's worthy of a new thread.

the same "random guy" they honored with a lifetime achievement award @ the PCA while this was in limbo...the vip club/marketing team had no idea I was even frozen....stars is in disarray and its sad bc their customer service used to be impeccable

Every poker client softwere is basically spyware, meaning they can see all you do on your computer if they want to, while the client is on.

I feel bad for you, but how could you not know? Everyone knew by then. And if you didn't know exactly what the repercussions were, you at least had to know they might be really bad. And as someone considering doing it, shouldn't you have looked into that? But you at least knew you were breaking a very serious rule. It's sort of like committing a crime and then saying "Wait if I knew the punishment was going to be this severe I wouldn't have done it." It's not a very good excuse.

But I do sympathize. It's tough to lose that SNE. GL in the future.

Can you elaborate on this part?

New site? Softer games elsewhere? Something along those lines?

I believe that if he knowingly played when he shouldnt of, his account should be frozen and if he won any $$ while he shouldnt of been playing should be taken. But he should be able to get the rest of his account balance ALSO then get a WARNING! saying"dont do it again or gg your acct forever" then if hes dumb enough to do it again then he should be scrwed.

for example: someone has 100k in their acct, they play in the USA and win $50, they shouldnt be penalised and get the 100k taken, just the $50.

Considering he was SNE for 5 years running it's probably more along the lines of not having the pressure to grind all day everyday all year. Nowhere else that I know of would be worth that time investment outside of stars.

a) Using a VPN is as close to an admission of knowing you shouldn't be playing as you can get.

b) There is no "should get this or that." There's only what the DOJ says they want done with your account.

and why should that be, beside the fact PS kissing DOJ a..?

contrary what us or doj thinks, laws outside the us are applicable when the circumstances dont have any relevance to the us. especially as stars is not an us company.

When up against an body that wields powers like the DOJ, ass-kissing when the time calls for it is not a bad play.

Maybe stars hope to be able to return to the US (i dunno how realistic that is).
Regardless it is indisputably way more +EV for them to nuthug the DOJ than be lenient on some random guy on the internet. Especially since it is the player at fault as he was stupid enough to try and play poker from the US via a vpn knowing it was breaking the rules.

the most interesting part of this (perhaps the only noteworthy) is that it took five months to finalize on stars end.

so what is your "friend" going to do now? no other site even compares

Completely disagree that no other site compares to stars, I'm getting just as much action as I did on stars and with a weaker player pool...and let it be known that I did not play on a vpn, I played on teamviewer. My thought process behind this was that since I was truly logged on from Mexico and was controlling that computer through a computer in the USA at the time it wasnt the same infraction as playiing on a vpn. Stars had no idea I did this and I (foolishly) told the truth to them due to the fact that I thought an infraction of this nature could never warrant having account closed...I believe a warning in addition to retribution on any wins while playing from USA seems much more appropriate, but hey, I can pay my 20k/month rake on sites that appreciate it

I find that a little hard to believe. What site do you currently play on and how do you find this basically as a blessing in disguise? Surely even if you're winning on another site you would still rather be playing on Stars. Previous poster asked this but I don't think you touched on it. Also, how exactly did you get caught? Did your VPN disconnect during play? Maybe you should've not been cheap and invested in a quality VPN. (kidding)

i'm not taking sides on this issue, but just want to say best of luck ricestud. i played against you on stars throughout the years (though not much because i tried to avoid good regs) and i always admired your work ethic.

Well only if he can substitute that $100k+ a year he was earning by doing something else.

If we all stop work/grinding our lives will be less pressured but we still need to earn money. It's not like the OP has won the lottery.

Pretty unfortunate situation. It's not like its cheating the games or anything. You were just trying t put more volume in. A warning/loss of wins while in the Us seems fair, but anything more seems like overkill. GL moving forward! Which sites do you play on now?

Yes, that's exactly why every single non-US player who plays professionally, plays on Stars.

Shhhh

paddypower, bwin, party, intertops, luckyace, black chip....and the customer support is so much better, specifically paddypower, than pokerstars is

Ricestud should've never been put in a situation to where he could not personally choose to spend his money where he wanted, whether it is on the internet playing poker, in a casino playing poker or in his own house playing poker. Nobody should have a right to tell him different.

He certainly broke the rules of the current system though, and was punished fairly hard for that. I personally don't think the punishment fits the "crime," but that's not really relevant here. The problem is the system we have put in place here, the misinformation and greed that has led to the online poker market in the USA and around the world. A few big businesses and influential politicians are making decisions that are entirely against the majority of millions of poker players in this world.

We have to rethink things guys. When you're in a room with 20 people, one person doesn't tell you all to do something that is clearly against your interests. So why are so few people telling millions of us that we can't play poker together, we can't spend our money playing poker online, we have to go to designated areas, or play against designated adults? It's a disgrace.

Bwin support is a joke. Iv been waiting since Thursday for a response to an email.

Regardless if it's the DOJ or Stars making the final decision, pretty ridiculous imo if some people are getting life bans and some less than that for same infraction.