sometimes i register for tournaments and then unregister later just for the practice. it may sound strange but when the time comes to unregister for real and the pressure is on I do it with confidence

Americas Card Room's Great Customer Service. If you want to play there, think again and read this

I started playing at ACR about two weeks ago, can't remember exactly when because I also play at Global Poker and Bet online, thanks to a poker magazine which kept promoting this poker site to me. I played there three times, lost three times on three different days and had made two deposits on two different days, $200 each. Five days ago I wanted to play again but I was blocked from logging in and told to contact their management, so I did.

I asked the gentleman what's the issue and he told me that they suspected hacker activities in my account because I was using VPN to play two times out of three and I had to provide some certifications before I can play again. I told him I can play without the VPN and I never had any problem with other poker sites. He then said it's the house policy that required players to provide certifications to play. I asked him why they didn't list those terms out when I signed up and when I made two deposits? Why now? He couldn't give me an answer and told me to wait for his colleague to call the phone number that I registered when I signed up.

Then came in this big guy named Albert on the phone, I asked him could I play first and provide the docs later if I am that lucky to have something to cash out. I understand all other poker sites need your photo ID and a current utility bill in your name to verify your identity only when you cash out.This big guy gave me a simple and direct answer 'It's not gonna happened' and lecturing me that using VPN will make me vulnerable and easier for hackers (what an ignorant). I didn't bother to explain. I told him I felt like a little guy being bullied by a big guy, holding my money and forcing me to comply to terms that were never there when I first signed up (it's very much like changing rules in the middle of the game).I told him I might have to report this situation to my bank and hopefully I could get the remaining balance of my money back. He got so mad after hearing what I said and started yelling that he will blacklist me all over the poker sites so that I have no place to play (very professional, I don't know how he got this job but I do like his job descriptions).We talked for 50 long mins and most of the time he's interrupting me and kept saying I put words in his mouth and refused to answer my question which was "Are you going to take my money if I don't provide the docs?". This big guy reminds me of a quotation from Mark Twain: “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

All I want is to play and a little respect. Unfortunately, Americas Card Room doesn't know how easy it will be to lose a customer and how hard to gain one.

P.S. The big guy told me his supervisor will call me on the following day since I asked to speak to his superior and that was 5 days ago, I'm still waiting.

Did they unlock your account once you sent in the documents they requested?

No idea, I have no intention to provide the documents before I had something to cash out.

Why not?

they already verified by calling the phone number that I registered. Besides, they could have handled the whole thing with more respect by emailing, texting or calling my phone to verify the account instead of blocking me ruthlessly.

While I, like many people, have little respect for ACR, this is pushing things a bit far. T+Cs are available upon the point of sign up and (I assume) have to be explicitly agreed to. It is standard practice on most sites to ask for official documentation to prevent underage play, and after a grace period it is also standard to block the account from playing until such documents have been provided, not just a working phone number. Send the documents, and I'm sure they'll unblock you.

Many players complain about the exact thing that you are asking for here - you will find many threads along the lines of "They let me deposit without problems, but as soon as I want to withdraw, they ask for documents and make it really difficult to get my money. Why don't they ask for verification upfront?"

Also, you will never solve a situation like this by having a 50 minute phone conversation. Threatening chargebacks ("reporting this to your bank") also won't exactly help.

Yes, they verified that the phone number you provided had a human on the other end. Perhaps they're looking for something a little more substantive.

This.

And this.

The problem is I'm not withdrawing anything. Reporting to the bank is not a threat, I believe it's the only alternative - what else can you do, we're the little guy.

Send them the documents that they are asking for?

The problem is that they don't ask for documentation sometimes and then go and ask other people for documentation. They can't have it both ways and still have a leg to stand on. Sure they can have it whatever way they want, but then it is very evident that they lose the ethical case.

And they dont care, and why should they? Poker players will just keep sending them money right? There is not an American site or many other i think that really give give two ****s about there customers. Thank god there is at least 2 plus 2 to keep some preasure on them to pretend to act right. Just my opinion on what I have seen, they remind of used cars salesmen or drug dealers I have known. I dont hang out with either anymore lol. Anyways gl to you all!

Well, there isn't a reason to ask for docs up front a lot of the time, but if someone is playing from a VPN from the get go, it's worth doing considering the **** show that their site has been in regards to cheating. If nothing wrong is being done, what is the problem with sending the docs? Here is the issue with only needing them to withdraw, if they do that you can just make endless throw away accounts, VPN into the site, and make sure you win the money on the name that is verified.

It takes all of 2 minutes to take pictures of a drivers license and utility bill and send an email. You can also black out the DL number and any information that could be used to steal your identity, so what's the problem? 10/10 if someone comes here bitching about something so simple to solve they are up to something, not the site.

Good work WPN

I had been away from ACR for a while I was building a bankroll on another site. It's always good to have multiple options.

I was playing one of the On Demand tournaments and I got pop-up message that in 10 minutes there would be a 10 minute "courtesy break." I had no idea what was going on and I assumed it was a fancy way of saying they were shutting it down because they were about to crash.

That was followed by another message which gave the reason for the break. I don't remember the name, but it seemed to be a break during some kind of promotion.

After the break was done (14 minutes) they put up another message, in capital letters, telling us to get back to our tables.

1. Since when are all tournaments stopped because a promotion is running?

2. What is a "courtesy break?" Is that somehow different from a regular break?

3. Why did a 10-minute break take 14 minutes? Words (and numbers) mean things.

4. It's strange to put IN CAPS that we need to hurry back to the table when ACR extended the break by 4 minutes. (See number 3.)

mamelas, you know how when you go through customs, sometimes they wave you through relatively quickly, sometimes they ask you a bunch of questions, sometimes they search your bags, and sometimes they pull you into a room and interrogate you? That's how security generally works, and increased levels of security checks may be triggered by red flags, or randomly. There is nothing wrong with a poker site asking some people for documentation but not others.

It also wouldn't make sense for them to wait to ask for documentation until someone attempts to withdraw. Let's assume player A is shady and wins a bunch of money from player B, and then loses it to player C, and then wins some from player D, and then loses and wins some to and from players E through Z. When player A tries to withdraw money 6 months later they ask for documentation, and it turns out player A was multiaccounting, has won thousands of dollars from some players, lost it to others who have already withdrawn it, and player A has very few funds left in his account. What does the poker site do now?

All of that could have been avoided if they had just asked for the documentation when a security concern was triggered when he first started playing instead of waiting until he tried to withdraw.

Reporting WPN to your bank is a good idea if you want them to think about closing your bank account for transferring money to and from poker sites.

I have had problems getting them the proper docs., but your right it still doesn't take that long.
The main problem I have is once you have money on there they have all the power. Some of the smaller sites will kick there feet ,transfer you everywhere, and delay forever to verify. Have the person verify before play, whats the problem with that? That would solve most of these problems, but I am sure there would be something else. They use there rules to get over on people, at best only protecting themselves, I really dont think they care about players. Every site support is really terrible over all in my expierence.(I know they catch **** all day like a cop, but they have a job to do, they are paid to help the customer.) I really feel like I am beating a dead horse after rereading what I wrote, this is all in vain. We will have to keep taking it in the ass till we get regulated legal poker in the states.
But does anyone really care in the poker world, its a me first and the gimme gimme type world.

No, they use the rules to keep morons from cheating or using their site to launder money. It really isn't that big of a deal to take 2 minutes out of your day to send in pictures you can take with your cell phone and to then wait a few days for them to verify everything. If a site you play on doesn't require people to do these things you shouldn't be playing there.

You should find better drug dealers and car salesman.

They think it's cute to put an extra break at 4:20 during their high 5 series (it isn't and I love teh weeds) and OD's are treated as tournaments so they get the same breaks.

It is their high 5 series. I'm sure the break was at 4:20, so it is some kind of marijuana thing. They did it last year, and it is explained on their website. Yes it is a promotion.

It is always difficult to get the answers you want when talking to big guys on the phone.

The problem with that should be fairly obvious - they want to minimize friction for the casual player to get their money on the site, and so should you.

That's not to say your suggestion is without merit; just giving you a very big reason why sites don't want to do it that way.

So the same guys whining about multi accounting whine when security looks into them for using a vpn. You cant make this **** up.

I totally understand, they want your money, but it causes a lot of friction too when it doesn't come back as easy. Be nice if we could get them to verify there account as well. Haha

The point is not the documents, is how you were treated, anyways it's a matter of perspective. Someone likes to ***** here for no reason and someone likes to express their feelings here, no right or wrong.

Black Chip and ACR dont have the same player pools? I thought everyone on Winning played together?