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Hypocrisy of PS Hypocrisy of PS

10-14-2010 , 09:57 AM
I am very happy to see PS section on 2+2.
I hope that I'll be able to expose a lot of hypocrisy and double standards without being banned here (I am already banned on PS).

First some positive feedback:

1. Korn you are a genius and I envy you!!!. Starting PS few years ago was a great move and from a business point of view your company is a goldmine.

2. I admire how you skillfully avoided legal problems (by transferring from Germany to Gibraltar) and how you trained your staff so they actually believe that they work for a big reputable company.

3. Your business model may look controversial to many ppl, but IT WORKS and I am sure you make tons of money and that is what business is all about.

Now more detailed feedback based on my experience from polish section of PS (some positive but mostly negative)

Positive:

1. I got so called free bankroll

2. I learned how to play poker (at least basic + intermediate), I was smart enough not to waste too much time on short stack strategy, but I'll write more about SSS later on.

3. In the beginning the overall quality of polish PS forums was quite high, same for articles and coaching. That was for the big part achieved by some polish staff like (JacekPL, Simoo, Panadol and some others). Unfortunately 90% of "old staff" is gone and now it looks like you went for quantity not quality.

4. Poker articles, forums and coaching are still average (not horrible) however there was a significant drop in quality. New coaches as well as judges for different sections are recruited all the time but their skill (at least in 50% of cases) is far from satisfactory. However from "marketing" point of view you offer free trainings and coaching so even if quality is bad users should not complain.

Now to negative feedback (and great hypocrisy)

1. You do not accept users from US (because of legal problems) as you fear US state lawyers and possible problems.
All internet gambling INCLUDING POKER is also illegal in Poland !!!
You do not give a damn because you are not afraid of polish state lawyers and feel safe on your rock of Gibraltar

2. Your staff is constantly lying and supporting a lot of illegal/criminal activities (and some of those are supported by PS as company)
Bellow just some (of many) examples of lies:

- PS will transfer 50$ of starting capital to poker room ...
What you do is offer some kind of "reversed bonus" that appears on player's cashier as cash but in fact must be cleared by playing certain amount of rake like any other bonus. Of course player can not withdraw that money before clearing it and such operation has some risk of illegal chip dumping and multiple accounts. However I am 100% sure that PS is not transferring 50$ of "hard cash" to any poker room (PS may pay something but for sure far less than 50$- it is your business secret. Yet ALL those stupid admins and moderators always write that PS is/will transfer 50$ and gives all kind of stupid explanations to make it look like as if PS was some kind of reputable charity foundation.

- Everything PS does is legal and PS has strict rules that are always enforced.
That is the biggest bull**** on earth. Of course it may be truth on Gibraltar (but who cares or knows Gibraltar Law ) PS and almost all polish staff is either breaking polish Law or supporting/encouraging it:

1- Your TAF program is criminal activity (from fiscal/tax point of view) - you do not transfer money to ppl account (so it could be tracked by fiscal authorities) you give credit to selected poker room that take part !!!
2- How do you pay to all polish moderators coaches etc. ? (I bet 100-1 that you do it in exactly the same way)
3- There is a "private coaching section" on forums where PS is promoting illegal services user to user, as I am 100% sure that first training poker in Poland is illegal and second coach salary/fee is not transferred to any bank, taxed etc.

There are dozens more examples like that but I do not have time now to write about them.

However one thing that pisses me off most is STUPIDITY of your present polish staff !!!
Instead of admitting that PS works in a "gray zone" and they are safe in Gibraltar they all act as if PS was Lloyd Bank, Greenpeace or WWF and fight all criticism about PS. At the same time they allow that ppl call each other names, swear etc. but ban ppl that criticize in a polite and civilized way what they do. I am not surprised because it is clear that they are a bunch of losers that think they became professionals in a professional and reputable company
It does not matter that they (desperately) try to be polite as they always quote rules of PS, and write all kind of polite endings : "have a nice day" "glad to help" "always at your service" etc.

They often describe other players (not members of PS) as donks and fish when in fact PS itself is a "fish manufacturing factory " not that I blame you for that.

The real disaster is community forums and all sections not related to poker. If you could see and understand all those posts it would become clear to you that you hired (and are paying salaries to) idiots.
10-14-2010 , 11:23 AM
To answer your question on Polish government banning poker. The European Gaming and Betting Association said that a number of key provisions in the law, including the “unjustified” ban on online poker are “highly doubtful under EU law”.

So if the Polish law itself is illegal under EU law, then online poker is still legal in Poland as far as I understand.
10-14-2010 , 05:46 PM
You do think that they care about law of the country if there is so f*ckin great money to earn?? When poker will become legal they will have competitors now they don't+ poker sites can't legally advertise so they offer pokerstrategy +50% of rakeback for each fish that they recruit.
That's called easy money, bro.
I wish I did't years ago. I would be so loaded with cash as Korn is
10-15-2010 , 05:17 AM
Hey hatehypocrisy,

thanks for your feedback - although I don't agree to most aspects, as you can imagine

To get more into detail:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hatehypocrisy
I am very happy to see PS section on 2+2.
[...]
2. I admire how you skillfully avoided legal problems (by transferring from Germany to Gibraltar) and how you trained your staff so they actually believe that they work for a big reputable company.
[...]
I don't really like your attitude here.
You never visited our offices & still want to imply (in your 'positive feedback') that we are not a reputable company.

In fact, we are one of the most reputable companies ...
(a) in the gaming industry
(b) amongst our members/customers/players
(c) in Gibraltar

If you don't believe that, you should discuss this with other members, people from other gaming companies and the like. Or visit us down here in Gibraltar.

Quote:
3. In the beginning the overall quality of polish PS forums was quite high, same for articles and coaching. That was for the big part achieved by some polish staff like (JacekPL, Simoo, Panadol and some others). Unfortunately 90% of "old staff" is gone and now it looks like you went for quantity not quality.
There will always be - especially in a company that has 90% ex patriates (i.e. people moving away from their home country) - a turnover. In fact, we have a pretty good relation to most former employees, i.e. I just had a great time with Simoo on our last Diamond event in Hamburg, Germany.

Maybe your impression of "quantity over quality" comes from the following angles:
(a) you improved yourself as a poker player - and maybe thus relatively, the content quality has become less interesting for you.
(b) we of course grew quickly - especially in Poland over the last 12 months -, and this will always provide problems of scale that will ultimately result in imperfect quality at certain areas.

Quote:
4. Poker articles, forums and coaching are still average (not horrible) however there was a significant drop in quality. New coaches as well as judges for different sections are recruited all the time but their skill (at least in 50% of cases) is far from satisfactory. However from "marketing" point of view you offer free trainings and coaching so even if quality is bad users should not complain.
As said, I don't think it got any worse. It might not have improved as far as it should. But we're certainly making progress & also have a bunch of great video producers etc. in our Polish community - a great recruiting ground, as the Polish community has a very good grasp of poker in general.

Quote:
1. You do not accept users from US (because of legal problems) as you fear US state lawyers and possible problems.
All internet gambling INCLUDING POKER is also illegal in Poland !!!
You do not give a damn because you are not afraid of polish state lawyers and feel safe on your rock of Gibraltar
In fact, in both the U.S. and Poland (and Germany, ...), there are plenty of opinions to whether poker is legal or not. Every company has their own view on things.

The fact that all relevant poker rooms are active in the Polish market should show you that your view that poker might be illegal there is quite not shared by the majority of industry insiders, who spend a lot of money on legal advice.

Quote:
- PS will transfer 50$ of starting capital to poker room ...
What you do is offer some kind of "reversed bonus" that appears on player's cashier as cash but in fact must be cleared by playing certain amount of rake like any other bonus. Of course player can not withdraw that money before clearing it and such operation has some risk of illegal chip dumping and multiple accounts. However I am 100% sure that PS is not transferring 50$ of "hard cash" to any poker room (PS may pay something but for sure far less than 50$- it is your business secret. Yet ALL those stupid admins and moderators always write that PS is/will transfer 50$ and gives all kind of stupid explanations to make it look like as if PS was some kind of reputable charity foundation.
It is obvious to everyone that we don't do this for charity. We even state that in our publicly linked & available business model:
English - http://www.pokerstrategy.com/businessmodel/
Polish - http://pl.pokerstrategy.com/businessmodel/

And of course there need to be restrictions on cashing out etc - as even now, there are loads of people who try to de-fraud our free bankroll offer.

For everyone who honestly wants to give poker a try, our offer is very good and honest. We clearly state the conditions and they are in no way against an ambitious player's interest.

Moreover, it's an irrelevant quarrel whether we transfer the free $50 or we don't. Imagine a deal A where we are paid a one-time CPA: even if we pay the free$50, we of course get a payment higher than that, as the player value is higher (otherwise it would not make anys sense. Now imagine a deal B, where we are paid just on revenue share & fully bear the risk of free$50. In this case, we pay the bill.

And by sending lists of people who are elegible to this money AND paying these free$50 costs AND also accounting for that as a cost, I think it is fully correct what we state.

Quote:
- Everything PS does is legal and PS has strict rules that are always enforced.
That is the biggest bull**** on earth. Of course it may be truth on Gibraltar (but who cares or knows Gibraltar Law ) PS and almost all polish staff is either breaking polish Law or supporting/encouraging it:

1- Your TAF program is criminal activity (from fiscal/tax point of view) - you do not transfer money to ppl account (so it could be tracked by fiscal authorities) you give credit to selected poker room that take part !!!
We offer various payment options. Amongst them also Moneybookers.
If you sell something over Ebay to someone in Brasil, do you also expect the buyer in Brasil to report this to the authorities in Poland? Obviously no: you yourself are responsible to fill your tax forms / behave according to Polish law.

Quote:
2- How do you pay to all polish moderators coaches etc. ? (I bet 100-1 that you do it in exactly the same way)
As every international company pays their foreign freelancers: by invoicing, billing.

Quote:
3- There is a "private coaching section" on forums where PS is promoting illegal services user to user, as I am 100% sure that first training poker in Poland is illegal and second coach salary/fee is not transferred to any bank, taxed etc.
Of course it is not illegal to train poker in Poland. This is outright ridiculous.
How a coach and his pupil handle their payments is theirs to decide. Do you also want to make 2+2 responsible if some guys from Poland buy/sell a poker book and not report this to the tax office? Come on!

Best,
Lutz
10-15-2010 , 12:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ribbo
To answer your question on Polish government banning poker. The European Gaming and Betting Association said that a number of key provisions in the law, including the “unjustified” ban on online poker are “highly doubtful under EU law”.

So if the Polish law itself is illegal under EU law, then online poker is still legal in Poland as far as I understand.
It does not matte what The European Gaming and Betting Association said.
EU law is more like a guideline and until polish law is not changed anybody playing online poker can be prosecuted (of course such person can make a case i EU court in Strasburg, but only after he/she is prosecuted in Poland.
10-16-2010 , 08:12 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Hey hatehypocrisy,

thanks for your feedback - although I don't agree to most aspects, as you can imagine
Hey Xantos,
I do appreciate the fact that you answer to my post in a professional way rather than ask/force 2+2 moderators to ban me (as I was banned on PS for a very similar post).
Of course you don't agree, but you give your reasons, I give mine and we can discuss like civilized and educated people, which unfortunatelly is not possible with polish staff that you employ

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
To get more into detail:

I don't really like your attitude here.
You never visited our offices & still want to imply (in your 'positive feedback') that we are not a reputable company.

In fact, we are one of the most reputable companies ...
(a) in the gaming industry
(b) amongst our members/customers/players
(c) in Gibraltar

If you don't believe that, you should discuss this with other members, people from other gaming companies and the like. Or visit us down here in Gibraltar.
It is nothing personal against You, Korn or PS. I even wrote that I admire/envy how you created and run your company. What I can not stand is how your polish staff reacts to any constructive criticizm and how they defend "reputation, professionalism and rules of PS"

I'll give you 2 examples (which I hope will not offend you) of how do I perceive reputation and professionalism.
1. Imagine I am a call girl
Now listen to this:
I am the most pretty call girl in Poland (all my customers say so)
I am the most reputable call girl in Poland (all my customers, competitors and police say so)
BUT I do not pretend to be as reputable as Mother Therese of Calcuta or the Pope !!!
2. Now imagine I run a drug dealing company on some deserted island without any jurisdiction (which means it is legal).
Now listen to this:
I run the most reputable company on this island.
My services are the best worldwide (first class 100% clean drugs of perfect quality with my certificates of authenticy).

I hope you got my point

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
There will always be - especially in a company that has 90% ex patriates (i.e. people moving away from their home country) - a turnover. In fact, we have a pretty good relation to most former employees, i.e. I just had a great time with Simoo on our last Diamond event in Hamburg, Germany.
That is true but in most reputables companies ex patriates have at least 2-3 years contracts and turnover is not so great.
What is even more important is that new people should have at least similar education and experience and former ones.
JacekPL which was community manager had university degree as well as some years of managerial experience in hotel business (if I remember correctly)
Your new "managers" had impressive managerial experience:
one was "managing" how to wash dishes (in some small London restaurant) and the other was "managing" customer relations working in call center picking up phone calls. (yes they both wrote it in one of their first posts )

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Maybe your impression of "quantity over quality" comes from the following angles:
(a) you improved yourself as a poker player - and maybe thus relatively, the content quality has become less interesting for you.
(b) we of course grew quickly - especially in Poland over the last 12 months -, and this will always provide problems of scale that will ultimately result in imperfect quality at certain areas.
I can agree with both your points, but have to add some comments.
(a) As I got new statuses (bronze, silver, gold etc.) I got access to new articles as well as coachings but when I compared its quantity and quality to those from English or Russian sections it was frustrating. It got even worse when it came to coaching ...
(b) it is good for you that you grow fast but you should be aware that while you recurit hundreds of new members (out of which 80%-90% will never go past bronze/silver) you lose a lot of income from players that play on their accounts not tracked to PS because they got better rakeback deals/do not value much PS offer/any other reason.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
As said, I don't think it got any worse. It might not have improved as far as it should. But we're certainly making progress & also have a bunch of great video producers etc. in our Polish community - a great recruiting ground, as the Polish community has a very good grasp of poker in general.
How can you judge that???
I doubt you speak/understand polish so you just believe what they tell you.
I have several years of managerial experience and I learned that whenever employe is "too happy", does not have any problems, and claims high growth and improvements I have to check it personally because either he/she is hidding something or is too stupid for the job.

As a personal advice please check all coaches and judges in a following way:
Write down all nicks they use on all poker rooms then track their results on http://www.officialpokerrankings.com and http://www.pokertableratings.com
See how many of them are loosing players.
Maybe they have nice voice in videos but can they really train ???

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
In fact, in both the U.S. and Poland (and Germany, ...), there are plenty of opinions to whether poker is legal or not. Every company has their own view on things.
True, but PS moved from Germany to Gibraltar just in case ... ?
Which by the way was great move as Gibraltar Law and Tax regulations make it a lot better place than Germany to run a company like PS.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
The fact that all relevant poker rooms are active in the Polish market should show you that your view that poker might be illegal there is quite not shared by the majority of industry insiders, who spend a lot of money on legal advice.
It depends how do you define active?
Do they have polish players: YES
Do they have any operations in Poland: NO
There were even few big stories in Poland how some of those companies had to cancel advertising and sponsoring of some polish football clubs or how they dissappeared from big sport events (and how much money those clubs or sport events lost).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
It is obvious to everyone that we don't do this for charity. We even state that in our publicly linked & available business model:
English - http://www.pokerstrategy.com/businessmodel/
Polish - http://pl.pokerstrategy.com/businessmodel/

And of course there need to be restrictions on cashing out etc - as even now, there are loads of people who try to de-fraud our free bankroll offer.

For everyone who honestly wants to give poker a try, our offer is very good and honest. We clearly state the conditions and they are in no way against an ambitious player's interest.
I agree 100%, but there is more to it...
Big majority of PS users are young people(18-22) very often as young as 14-17 years old (I know it is against PS rules) who even sometimes admited it on forums. Of course as soon as some moderator reminds PS rules they alway reply it was a joke ...
However if you read carefully all community forums and quizes/games etc. you would know that some of them are still around.
They want to become new Durr ...
One more funny thing:
Whenever someone is posting charts of his winnings it is always thanks to great articles and coaching from PS, but whenever somebody is losing or going broke it is always badbeats, variance or bad BRM.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Moreover, it's an irrelevant quarrel whether we transfer the free $50 or we don't. Imagine a deal A where we are paid a one-time CPA: even if we pay the free$50, we of course get a payment higher than that, as the player value is higher (otherwise it would not make anys sense. Now imagine a deal B, where we are paid just on revenue share & fully bear the risk of free$50. In this case, we pay the bill.

And by sending lists of people who are elegible to this money AND paying these free$50 costs AND also accounting for that as a cost, I think it is fully correct what we state.
I agree from business point of view, but it still does not change the fact that your staff is lying !!! (writing that PS is transfering 50$)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
We offer various payment options. Amongst them also Moneybookers.
If you sell something over Ebay to someone in Brasil, do you also expect the buyer in Brasil to report this to the authorities in Poland? Obviously no: you yourself are responsible to fill your tax forms / behave according to Polish law.
However anybody selling something over Ebay to Brasil does not claim to be a reputable company. You should also be aware that any transfer through poker room or Moneybookers (UK based company) are not possible to trace for polish authorities. If you paid to bank accounts in Poland it would be different.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
As every international company pays their foreign freelancers: by invoicing, billing.
Sorry to say but I doubt it. However after second thought you may partially be true - you make all kinds of "monkey" paper work on your side and do care what happens after (like foreign freelancers throwing away those papers as they get money through poker room.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Of course it is not illegal to train poker in Poland. This is outright ridiculous.
How a coach and his pupil handle their payments is theirs to decide. Do you also want to make 2+2 responsible if some guys from Poland buy/sell a poker book and not report this to the tax office? Come on!

Best,
Lutz
Your example with 2+2 books does not make sense because 2+2 has no reason to know/believe that anybody resells books and makes profit.

Private coaching forum section is different because very often it is written how much is fee and that it should be transfered through poker room which means that PS is aware that this is illegal.

Regards
Hatehypocrisy
10-16-2010 , 10:44 AM
Hey again Xanatos,

I forgot to give you one more personal reason why I do not think of PS as reputable and professional company.

Here is my story of dealing with polish staff of PS. Please tell me what do you think about it.

I signed on PS and chose Party Poker for starting capital. Verification (in my case) was very fast and I started to play there. I read all articles and attended a lot of coaching (which I liked especially in the begining) I was active on forums (especially strategy, hand evaluation etc.) and did not have any problems with admins/managers at that time. If I asked "wrong question" or wrote soomething that criticized PS I usually got answer like "Sorry we can not discuss it" , "it is PS rule, we have to follow and can not change it" etc.
Such answers were honest and fair and I understood between lines what they meant.

Few month later (under new "polish management ") there was few posts in general poker section and in TAF forum where few users were unhappy with how they are treated by PS staff. I was not one of them (as I have never used TAF program) but I answered few of those posts explaining at the same time how and why PS acts like that and what to expect.

Shortly after I was banned (my status changed to "global") and I could no longer log on to PS. I received official e-mail from your polish "manager "
that only said " my account is banned because I violated PS rules".
Just one sentence + "regards" etc.
No explanation and even no information whether is for 1 week, 1 month or permanent.

I wrote a kind reply asking whether it is temporary ban (for how long?) or permanent? I also wrote that as I understand his frustration that my posts exposed the truth about PS, I am sorry for that and I kindly ask to allow me to use articles, coachings and strategy section and ban my posting rights.
Or if it is not possible to have limited rights on forum I promise not to post anything about PS and from that time post only hands evaluations and strategy oppinions.

Few days later I got another "professional e-mail" which said :
My ban is permanent, I will not be able to log on PS ever again.
Regards etc.

I got a bit angry at that time and wrote another e-mail demanding to remove my Party Poker account as "affiliated to PS". I explained that as I can no longer use articles and coaching from PS I do not want PS to earn even 1$ from the rake I pay.

I got and answer (from the same "professional manager") that said:
It is not possible, your account is and will remain linked to PS as afiliate because it was created using "PS referal link".

At that time I was really pissed off and decided to contact Party Poker support. I explained to them this situation and asked what can I do to "unregister my account from PS". I got answer that Party Poker can not cancel PS as affiliate UNLESS PS officially ask for it.

I wrote again to the same "professional manager" and demanded that he (or somebody recognized by Party Poker) write an official e-mail to Party Poker saying that PS agrees to be removed as afiliate from my account.

I got the following reply:
It is not possible.
regards etc.

He did not even give any explanation or reasons and I already knew (from Party Poker support) how to remove PS as affiliate.

I liked to play on Party Poker but I could not stand that PS would be earning any money from the rake I pay. The only thing I could do was to close my account on Party Poker (which I did).
If PS agreed to be removed as affiliate I could chose another afiliate for example 2+2 and get some poker books.

However thanks to "proffesional manager" of polish PS.
Party Poker lost 1 customer.
2+2 did not get I account as afiliate.
I would never again play on Party Poker (even though I liked it)

I would be happy to hear if that is how PS treats customers (even former ones) and whether such actions are normal for reputable company.

Regards
Hatehypocrisy
10-17-2010 , 12:03 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hatehypocrisy
I am very happy to see PS section on 2+2.
I hope that I'll be able to expose a lot of hypocrisy and double standards without being banned here (I am already banned on PS).

First some positive feedback:

1. Korn you are a genius and I envy you!!!. Starting PS few years ago was a great move and from a business point of view your company is a goldmine.

2. I admire how you skillfully avoided legal problems (by transferring from Germany to Gibraltar) and how you trained your staff so they actually believe that they work for a big reputable company.

3. Your business model may look controversial to many ppl, but IT WORKS and I am sure you make tons of money and that is what business is all about.

Now more detailed feedback based on my experience from polish section of PS (some positive but mostly negative)

Positive:

1. I got so called free bankroll

2. I learned how to play poker (at least basic + intermediate), I was smart enough not to waste too much time on short stack strategy, but I'll write more about SSS later on.

3. In the beginning the overall quality of polish PS forums was quite high, same for articles and coaching. That was for the big part achieved by some polish staff like (JacekPL, Simoo, Panadol and some others). Unfortunately 90% of "old staff" is gone and now it looks like you went for quantity not quality.

4. Poker articles, forums and coaching are still average (not horrible) however there was a significant drop in quality. New coaches as well as judges for different sections are recruited all the time but their skill (at least in 50% of cases) is far from satisfactory. However from "marketing" point of view you offer free trainings and coaching so even if quality is bad users should not complain.

Now to negative feedback (and great hypocrisy)

1. You do not accept users from US (because of legal problems) as you fear US state lawyers and possible problems.
All internet gambling INCLUDING POKER is also illegal in Poland !!!
You do not give a damn because you are not afraid of polish state lawyers and feel safe on your rock of Gibraltar

2. Your staff is constantly lying and supporting a lot of illegal/criminal activities (and some of those are supported by PS as company)
Bellow just some (of many) examples of lies:

- PS will transfer 50$ of starting capital to poker room ...
What you do is offer some kind of "reversed bonus" that appears on player's cashier as cash but in fact must be cleared by playing certain amount of rake like any other bonus. Of course player can not withdraw that money before clearing it and such operation has some risk of illegal chip dumping and multiple accounts. However I am 100% sure that PS is not transferring 50$ of "hard cash" to any poker room (PS may pay something but for sure far less than 50$- it is your business secret. Yet ALL those stupid admins and moderators always write that PS is/will transfer 50$ and gives all kind of stupid explanations to make it look like as if PS was some kind of reputable charity foundation.

- Everything PS does is legal and PS has strict rules that are always enforced.
That is the biggest bull**** on earth. Of course it may be truth on Gibraltar (but who cares or knows Gibraltar Law ) PS and almost all polish staff is either breaking polish Law or supporting/encouraging it:

1- Your TAF program is criminal activity (from fiscal/tax point of view) - you do not transfer money to ppl account (so it could be tracked by fiscal authorities) you give credit to selected poker room that take part !!!
2- How do you pay to all polish moderators coaches etc. ? (I bet 100-1 that you do it in exactly the same way)
3- There is a "private coaching section" on forums where PS is promoting illegal services user to user, as I am 100% sure that first training poker in Poland is illegal and second coach salary/fee is not transferred to any bank, taxed etc.

There are dozens more examples like that but I do not have time now to write about them.

However one thing that pisses me off most is STUPIDITY of your present polish staff !!!
Instead of admitting that PS works in a "gray zone" and they are safe in Gibraltar they all act as if PS was Lloyd Bank, Greenpeace or WWF and fight all criticism about PS. At the same time they allow that ppl call each other names, swear etc. but ban ppl that criticize in a polite and civilized way what they do. I am not surprised because it is clear that they are a bunch of losers that think they became professionals in a professional and reputable company
It does not matter that they (desperately) try to be polite as they always quote rules of PS, and write all kind of polite endings : "have a nice day" "glad to help" "always at your service" etc.

They often describe other players (not members of PS) as donks and fish when in fact PS itself is a "fish manufacturing factory " not that I blame you for that.

The real disaster is community forums and all sections not related to poker. If you could see and understand all those posts it would become clear to you that you hired (and are paying salaries to) idiots.
Hi Everyone:

I'm not going to get into specifics here, but we at Two Plus Two strongly believe that adhering to high standards is one of the most important reasons as to why this site (www.twoplustwo.com) and our publishing company have been so successful. One of the ways this translates is that we do not allow sponsored forums by any organizations whose integrity we have concerns with. This doesn't mean that our judgement is perfect, but it does mean that in this case we do believe that PokerStrategy.com does meet our required standards, and they are an appropriate partner for our site.

Best wishes,

Mason Malmuth
10-17-2010 , 05:04 AM
Hey there,

try to build some bigger blocks for readability.

Your problems with our Administration

Quote:
Originally Posted by hatehypocrisy
Hey Xantos,
I do appreciate the fact that you answer to my post in a professional way rather than ask/force 2+2 moderators to ban me (as I was banned on PS for a very similar post).
Of course you don't agree, but you give your reasons, I give mine and we can discuss like civilized and educated people, which unfortunatelly is not possible with polish staff that you employ
Maybe it is not possible with our Polish stuff because you are very quick to move to the personal level, e.g. see:
Quote:
Your new "managers" had impressive managerial experience:
one was "managing" how to wash dishes (in some small London restaurant) and the other was "managing" customer relations working in call center picking up phone calls. (yes they both wrote it in one of their first posts )
Of course this is not an acceptable way to talk about each other in a forum - as it is down-looking and completely unrelated to the topic.

Maybe this is just the explanation for your quarrels on PokerStrategy.com: you have different views of what is okay in our forums compared to ours. I'm in no ways claiming that we are perfect - but we still need to adhere to and enforce certain rules for our community. Dealing with each other on a respectful level is one of the basics.

I cannot judge what exactly you did to get a life-time ban - but probably it was not done lightly, as there are not too many lifetime bans on our Polish community.


Quality of Polish Education Content

Quote:
I can agree with both your points, but have to add some comments.
(a) As I got new statuses (bronze, silver, gold etc.) I got access to new articles as well as coachings but when I compared its quantity and quality to those from English or Russian sections it was frustrating. It got even worse when it came to coaching ...
Sure - our English and Russian poker education still is ahead.
Both sites are way older and until a year ago have been way bigger.
Still, there was continuous improvement and I think we're by far the best educational site in Poland. Does not mean that we don't want to improve, but I think your criticism here is too harsh. Especially as you speak very good English and thus could use our English content as well.

We know we have to go a long way with our Polish community - and our staff is fully aware of this. We support them with audits of their content, the ability to dub a share of videos and support in finding top-notch coaches.

Our system of managing languages is very interwoven, and even the CEO views important info on the Polish community once a week.


Gibraltar

Quote:
True, but PS moved from Germany to Gibraltar just in case ... ?
Which by the way was great move as Gibraltar Law and Tax regulations make it a lot better place than Germany to run a company like PS.
Our company in fact was set up in Gibraltar from day 1. Our CEO studied in UK before moving to Gibraltar to found the company. Why Gib? When we were supersmall, the main reason was advice by our partners and closeness to them (quite a lot gaming companies down here).

Tax is a benefit, not a reason.

Quote:
I agree from business point of view, but it still does not change the fact that your staff is lying !!! (writing that PS is transfering 50$)
They don't lie. Contractually and from an accounting perspective, we pay the $50.


Payments for Private Coaching

The payment channel is irrelevant when it comes to being legal or not. You can pay cash, via poker room, via banking - all can be correct or not. What everyone should do is report all his earnings to tax authorities based on local law.


Best,
Lutz
10-18-2010 , 09:57 AM
Hey Xanatos,
You take too many assumptions, concentrate on weaker patrs of my post and avoid answering important questions. First I ll comment on yours replies and then I'll ask again some very easy questions asking you to answer YES or NO (of course you can add comments to those answers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Maybe it is not possible with our Polish stuff because you are very quick to move to the personal level, e.g. see:

Of course this is not an acceptable way to talk about each other in a forum - as it is down-looking and completely unrelated to the topic.

Maybe this is just the explanation for your quarrels on PokerStrategy.com: you have different views of what is okay in our forums compared to ours. I'm in no ways claiming that we are perfect - but we still need to adhere to and enforce certain rules for our community. Dealing with each other on a respectful level is one of the basics.
I have never written anything like that on polish PS forums as I thought it would not be appriopriate to point out lack of experience or education of any polish PS staff. I wrote it here only to draw your attention to one of possible reasons of what is going on on polish PS section.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
I cannot judge what exactly you did to get a life-time ban - but probably it was not done lightly, as there are not too many lifetime bans on our Polish community.
I only did what I described - I questioned legal aspects of TAF program (payment part) as well as the way how salaries of polish freelancers are paid.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Quality of Polish Education Content


Sure - our English and Russian poker education still is ahead.
Both sites are way older and until a year ago have been way bigger.
Still, there was continuous improvement and I think we're by far the best educational site in Poland. Does not mean that we don't want to improve, but I think your criticism here is too harsh. Especially as you speak very good English and thus could use our English content as well.
That is exactly what I did, but as I was banned I could not continue it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
We know we have to go a long way with our Polish community - and our staff is fully aware of this. We support them with audits of their content, the ability to dub a share of videos and support in finding top-notch coaches.

Our system of managing languages is very interwoven, and even the CEO views important info on the Polish community once a week.
Who gives that info?
If polish managers then this info may not be accurate .

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Gibraltar


Our company in fact was set up in Gibraltar from day 1. Our CEO studied in UK before moving to Gibraltar to found the company. Why Gib? When we were supersmall, the main reason was advice by our partners and closeness to them (quite a lot gaming companies down here).

Tax is a benefit, not a reason.
Somehow I find it difficult to believe.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
They don't lie. Contractually and from an accounting perspective, we pay the $50.
I was not talking about accounting or any other point of view. I wrote that you do not transfer 50$ cash and polish on several occasions presented it that way (trust me polish translations leaves no doubt that they meant "cash transfer")

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Payments for Private Coaching

The payment channel is irrelevant when it comes to being legal or not. You can pay cash, via poker room, via banking - all can be correct or not. What everyone should do is report all his earnings to tax authorities based on local law.
You are wrong here (at least when it comes to polish law but I think it may be the same in Germany):
Anybody conducting any professional activity => earning money should:
1. Register it (you should have such copy of registration from polish commercial chamber)
2. Register a bank account that will be used for ALL professional activities.

Paying any salaries by poker room or foreign accounts (like moneybookers) is against polish law (except staff that is living in Gibraltar)

Now I would like you to answer some easy questions (YES/NO is enough, but of course you can add any comments):

1. Do you think that losing players can be good coaches?
2. Do you think it is fair that somebody banned (like me) - without rights to use any services of PS should still pay a part of rake for PS?
3. Do you think it is OK for reputable company to allow anybody under 18 to use its services, when according to rules all users should be 18+ (of course this is done by trying very hard not to spot anybody below age of 18)
4. Do you think that anybody that got any money (transfered through poker room) thanks to TAF program declared it in a tax office?
5. Do you think that you are aware of what is going on or what is the content of polish section of PS?
10-18-2010 , 06:42 PM
Hey hatehyprocrisy,

to get things more precise, I try not to continue points where we made our opinions clear and concentrate on your questions. If you disagree, you can bring up any topic again.

Quote:
You are wrong here (at least when it comes to polish law but I think it may be the same in Germany):
Anybody conducting any professional activity => earning money should:
1. Register it (you should have such copy of registration from polish commercial chamber)
2. Register a bank account that will be used for ALL professional activities.
100% agree - if you earn money.
But we are billing freelancers.

In Germany-to-Germany business, companies are asked to give tax ids on invoices etc. to enfoce - but this is of course not enforced on non-German companies.

We have freelancers in 35+ countries - do you expect us to have tax lawyers in all of these to enforce our guys to stick to the rules? Of course not! And no one expects this!

Quote:
Paying any salaries by poker room or foreign accounts (like moneybookers) is against polish law (except staff that is living in Gibraltar)
This is wrong. Even paying cash is 100% fine in all countries - even if it es even "less transparent" than online transfers.

Quote:
Now I would like you to answer some easy questions (YES/NO is enough, but of course you can add any comments):

1. Do you think that losing players can be good coaches?
Of course most good coaches will not be losing players on their home limits.

But:
(a) there are players shotting a lot - even Schnibl0r might be caught "losing" by PTR if he would shot on some rooms and grind / earn on others.
(b) hasenbraten, one of our best coaches ever, is just comfortable playing NL50 for psychological reasons. His abilities as a coach, didact and theoretician are unrivalled, though.
(c) even the grandmasters of chess have coaches, that are below their level. It's different types of skill.

I would say: a coach should be a comfortable winning player across all rooms on the limits he coaches.

Quote:
2. Do you think it is fair that somebody banned (like me) - without rights to use any services of PS should still pay a part of rake for PS?
Ideally, we would have a "read only" feature that allows to expell players from posting, but allow them to read in the forums.

I could imagine we do a trust-based deal along these lines with anyone who is reasonable (i.e. respecting the forum ban even if there is no technical boundary).

But in terms of a wider fairness, I think it is not unfair to ban someone violating rules.

Quote:
3. Do you think it is OK for reputable company to allow anybody under 18 to use its services, when according to rules all users should be 18+ (of course this is done by trying very hard not to spot anybody below age of 18)
Of course not -and from all poker communities, we're for sure one of those with the hardest ID checks. Reason is simple: we give free money and thus are subject to fraud. Thus, we do way more ID checks than even most rooms.

Quote:
4. Do you think that anybody that got any money (transfered through poker room) thanks to TAF program declared it in a tax office?
I don't know. Counter question: do you think Polish ebay users declare their ebay business at the tax office? Do you actively care and lobby at ebay?

Quote:
5. Do you think that you are aware of what is going on or what is the content of polish section of PS?
Not me personally and certainly also not throughout the last 2 years. But today, we managed to set up good checks & balances with central, independent functions, auditing quality of content and service delivery.

Best,
Lutz
10-19-2010 , 04:12 AM
hatehypocrisy, could you please give us nicknames of coaches who (you think) are losing on their own limits? I'm polish coach myself so I know most of our crew personally, and I knew about ONE (of dozens coaches) guy who probably was losing, but this coach was long time, experienced employee and had great teaching skills so I think that he could easily be a good coach for microstakes players (but afaik he got fired lately anyway).

Unfortunately there is a lot of frustraded guys in our community like this one, who are trying to defame our company (probably mostly due to refused starting $50 or something) accusing our staff to be losing players, company to breaking law etc., but there is always in empty general phrases, never including specific nicknames or acts...

Last edited by TheNaturat; 10-19-2010 at 04:19 AM.
10-20-2010 , 11:51 AM
Hi again Xantos,
I do appreciate your answers however I can not agree to some.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
100% agree - if you earn money.
But we are billing freelancers.

In Germany-to-Germany business, companies are asked to give tax ids on invoices etc. to enfoce - but this is of course not enforced on non-German companies.

We have freelancers in 35+ countries - do you expect us to have tax lawyers in all of these to enforce our guys to stick to the rules? Of course not! And no one expects this!
Even freelancer should register his commercial activity. Tax regulations in UE are quite similar (in principle as rates may of course differ). Random company should not worry about it, but a reputable one should.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
This is wrong. Even paying cash is 100% fine in all countries - even if it es even "less transparent" than online transfers.
This is only partially true. Paying cash has some restrictions like maximum amount (3000 EUR if I remember correctly), can only be made in local curency (I doubt you pay polish zlotys), you must keep signed recipes (which you probably do not have).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Of course most good coaches will not be losing players on their home limits.

But:
(a) there are players shotting a lot - even Schnibl0r might be caught "losing" by PTR if he would shot on some rooms and grind / earn on others.
(b) hasenbraten, one of our best coaches ever, is just comfortable playing NL50 for psychological reasons. His abilities as a coach, didact and theoretician are unrivalled, though.
(c) even the grandmasters of chess have coaches, that are below their level. It's different types of skill.

I would say: a coach should be a comfortable winning player across all rooms on the limits he coaches.
I agree to a), b) and c) but I think that those are just special cases or exceptions from the rule. I can understand that a coach that teaches general concepts of poker, probability, BRM, poker mindset etc. can be a losing player, but a coach who teaches during his life sessions should not be loosing player long term.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Ideally, we would have a "read only" feature that allows to expell players from posting, but allow them to read in the forums.

I could imagine we do a trust-based deal along these lines with anyone who is reasonable (i.e. respecting the forum ban even if there is no technical boundary).
That would work perfectly in my case, pity it is not available.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
But in terms of a wider fairness, I think it is not unfair to ban someone violating rules.
That is not an aswer to my question. I was not questioning my ban but the fact that after I was banned PS support refused to help me "unregister" PS as affiliate (which according to Party Poker would be possible if they received official agreement from PS).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Of course not -and from all poker communities, we're for sure one of those with the hardest ID checks. Reason is simple: we give free money and thus are subject to fraud. Thus, we do way more ID checks than even most rooms.
I am aware that you have special security team for that reason, but I can only suspect that they concentrate on fraud and not legal age. If you carefully follow some posts on polish PS you would have a lot of clues that some people there are under 18. Of course I do not expect you to do it as it would reduce your profit, but a reputable company should do it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
I don't know. Counter question: do you think Polish ebay users declare their ebay business at the tax office? Do you actively care and lobby at ebay?
No I do not care, but e-bay and PS business are two different things.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xantos-
Not me personally and certainly also not throughout the last 2 years. But today, we managed to set up good checks & balances with central, independent functions, auditing quality of content and service delivery.

Best,
Lutz
As long as you rely on information from polish staff you can not be sure that it is not biased.

Thanks again for all your replies, regards
Hatehypocrisy
10-20-2010 , 12:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNaturat
hatehypocrisy, could you please give us nicknames of coaches who (you think) are losing on their own limits? I'm polish coach myself so I know most of our crew personally, and I knew about ONE (of dozens coaches) guy who probably was losing, but this coach was long time, experienced employee and had great teaching skills so I think that he could easily be a good coach for microstakes players (but afaik he got fired lately anyway).

Unfortunately there is a lot of frustraded guys in our community like this one, who are trying to defame our company (probably mostly due to refused starting $50 or something) accusing our staff to be losing players, company to breaking law etc., but there is always in empty general phrases, never including specific nicknames or acts...
Hi TheNaturat,
I know very well who you are. I even followed your 100k PLN/month challange and think that you are for sure one of the best players/coaches from all polish PS community.

Unfortunatelly I can not give you any nicks because I am banned on PS and I do not remember all those nicks. However last time I did such investigation I found at least 30%-40% of coaches/judges that were losing players. Of course I can not be sure that I managed to check all poker rooms/nicks that they use.

So in theory it could happen that I checked coach X on poker room A, B and C (where he was losing) but at the same time coach X played on rooms D and E (under different nick) and was winning there.

I am not frustrated, and I got my starting capital over 2 years ago.

As for breaking law - please scan and paste here:
- Documents that you registered commercial activity
- Any invoice for coaching for PS
- Any bank statement/tax declaration showing salary from PS
(of course you can delete/blank all sensible personal information)
Do that and then we can talk more.
10-21-2010 , 04:31 AM
Sorry, but papers you are asking for are confidential, good old business practice is to keep them between employer, and employee, without posting them publicly. Only thing I can do is assuring you that they do exist, everything looks legit from freelancer side.
I've been lately in PokerStrategy headquarters on Gibraltar, and saw how company really works - It's full-scale professional corporate hiring hundreds of people, with full accountancy etc., it doesn't look like small shady garage business you are suggesting. Of course that some law-breaking could be included in salary taxing but it's on side of employes, company is giving us all necessary papers - in this matter you can't accuse PokerStrategy about anything, company activities are fully legit.
10-21-2010 , 08:37 AM
hatehypocrisy,

few things about hypocrisy. Is it ok to blame someone he breakes the law (PS) and be a poker player in Poland at the same time?

Next thing, is it ok to have two accounts at 2+2? Don't you find this as a hypocrisy, WIKUN?
10-26-2010 , 06:41 AM
Hi, again Xantos,

I found very interesting thread on polish PS forum.

http://pl.pokerstrategy.com/forum/th...tuser=0&page=1

It gives perfect picture of what is going on there:
- very good and constructive criticizm from some very good and respected players.
- very stupid answers and comments from PS staff

Do not be misslead by brozne status of few users there (thy are mid/high stakes players who got fed up playing for PS but have not been banned so far )
10-26-2010 , 03:55 PM
what about ept warsaw
11-03-2010 , 12:05 PM
about the reverse bonuses stuff, I believe anyone with half a brain understands PS isnīt making charity, so its your choice to become a member or not.


about legal stuff in poland, itīs not nice to do, but thats not our problem, but polandīs. do you agree?
11-10-2010 , 01:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hatehypocrisy
Hi TheNaturat,
I know very well who you are. I even followed your 100k PLN/month challange and think that you are for sure one of the best players/coaches from all polish PS community.

Unfortunatelly I can not give you any nicks because I am banned on PS and I do not remember all those nicks. However last time I did such investigation I found at least 30%-40% of coaches/judges that were losing players. Of course I can not be sure that I managed to check all poker rooms/nicks that they use.

So in theory it could happen that I checked coach X on poker room A, B and C (where he was losing) but at the same time coach X played on rooms D and E (under different nick) and was winning there.

I am not frustrated, and I got my starting capital over 2 years ago.

As for breaking law - please scan and paste here:
- Documents that you registered commercial activity
- Any invoice for coaching for PS
- Any bank statement/tax declaration showing salary from PS
(of course you can delete/blank all sensible personal information)
Do that and then we can talk more.
OP will you show your bank statements and tax declarations? if not thats awfully hypocritical of you.
11-10-2010 , 07:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by robing
OP will you show your bank statements and tax declarations? if not thats awfully hypocritical of you.
I do not see any problems doing that as long as I blank/delete personal info (name, surname and adress), which is exactly the same what I asked him to do.

      
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