Hi everyone. I'm an MTT regular that sells packages of action for the major
weekend tournaments in Facebook posts. I have a slight issue this weekend that I've never had before having been done this all year, and I would like to gain responses from the community before taking any action.

If you could read the course of events and tell me if Option 'A' or 'B' at the end is more appropriate in your opinion. Or if I need to get more information somehow - if so, what? character references maybe?

...

- Player A sells a package of MTT action over a Saturday and Sunday.
- Player B asks to book 5% of package. They've never purchased action from Player A before, or swapped action in MTTs, they mutual friends, but have not met in person.
- The above is 'booked' via a PM on Wednesday. Player B promises to send the stake via Pokerstars P2P transfer. A schedule of tournaments is presented to Player B and it is clear the events staked for start Saturday afternoon.
- Player A sends PM to Player B on Thursday - no response.
- Player A sends PM to Player B on Friday - no response.
- Player A sends PM to Player B on Saturday stating importance of sending as tournaments are about to start.
- Player B finally responds Saturday evening after several tournaments have started and Player A is well stacked in one of the bigger events. His message details that he is 'out of the house' and 'will send tomorrow'
- Player B sends money on Sunday afternoon, after Player A is already up a large amount on the package.
- Player B will have seen that Player A was winning on the package already as it was posted on social media.

Here's the thing, anyone who plays on Pokerstars is aware now that P2P transfers can be carried out on mobile device.

So, does Player B have the action booked?

Or was this an attempted freeroll? As Player B could have simply sent the transfer on the app on his phone if he was out.

Options...

a) Player A pays out Player B in full.
b) Player A returns Player B's stake but does not pay out profits as action was not booked in time.
c) Need more information.

Seems like it was player A job to say definitively before a tournament was registered you didn't pay on time action is cancelled. As the action was booked on Wednesday and player A never cancelled it then player B has action imo.

He may have been freerolling you he may not. Could easily go the other way and player A was losing money when player B sent the funds. Player A really should say action is cancelled before they start the session assuming they have never done a transaction before.

+1.

What was your response to his PM on Saturday afternoon when he said he was out of his house and would send later? That seems to be the most critical part of all this.

In the future, you can avoid all of this by stating ‘all action must be paid for prior to the start of the first tournament.’ That is generally the way packages work, but the onus is on the person selling to make that clear.

If that wasn’t said and if you didn’t cancel the action after his PM on Saturday and before he sent, then he needs to be paid in full imo

I'm going against the guys before me.

Sure OP could have made it more clear beforehand. But come on, the guy didn't reply to two pm's (he surely got a notification) and then suddenly comes in after OP is deep in something.

If this was some frequent buyer, I'd let it slip and pay out but definitely not if it's his first time.

Clear B for me in this case.

everything ratslla said, and that in future like ushoveicall said you have to say action is cancalled if not paid on time

Saying that the backer surely got a notification is pure speculation on your part. We know that OP got the PM Saturday, but how did he respond? Like I said, that’s the crux of the issue. OP had the opportunity at that time to tell him the action was cancelled and to not bother sending the money. If he didn’t do that, he tacitly accepted the action imo.

You seem to side with both guys involved here. If Player A had to say the action is cancelled if not paid on time, then how is Player B’s action cancelled when that didn’t happen?

I agree that the answer to this is critical. It seems to be left out.

I agree I'm speculating but it's 2020 after all. Fair to assume he received a notification on some device.

I'm also agreeing that OP's response in this case is important. Sadly he left that out.

It is clear though, that the backer didn't fulfill his part of the agreement. Which is always sending the money before the first tournament starts, unless both sides agree on something else. Therefore he has no action in my book.

Eh, I have notifications turned off on all social media (otherwise my phone would always go off), so I’m not sure that is fair to assume. It’s certainly likely, but no guarantee.

And you can’t say the backer didn’t uphold his side of the agreement if there was no agreement in place (i.e. that funds must be sent before the first tournament starts). As a backer, I totally agree that this is standard operating procedure, but remember that this deal was done over Facebook, not the marketplace. And OP stated he’d never bought action before...maybe he didn’t know how it works.

Nevertheless, it sounds like we’re in agreement that how OP responded on Saturday night is extremely important.

OP, what did you do when Player B sent his DM to you Saturday night?

So I paid them, after seeing the first couple of responses.

To clear up the issue regarding my response to his late PM, I didn’t actually respond when I received it Saturday. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it and didn’t wanna get distracted from the grind with worrying about a freerolling (I was running like 12 tables).

I’m still none the wiser on whether I’ve been an idiot on paying out or not but hey I’ll always be strict af on deadlines in the future.

I think given that it was never stated explicitly that action would be cancelled if payment didn't come in time, and then you didn't reply to the Saturday PM, you did the right thing. You could have argued for not paying given that it's typically understood payment needs to be received before play begins to have action, and since his Saturday PM was after action had started, but I think this is the better play. Yes, he might have been freerolling you; that's something you'll never know for sure, but you helped open the door to the possibility. Good resolution IMO.