Hello, guys.

I would like to share the story I am experiencing with PartyPoker in the last 2 months. I feel highly disappointed and aggrieved by the way one of the biggest poker rooms is acting. I play poker professionally since 8 years, I`ve played in most of the poker sites available and I`ve never had such a bad experience.

I started playing Spin&Goes in PartyPoker 2 months ago. The VIP program they introduced in the beginning of this year caught my interest and make me motivated to start grinding in this room.

Since I started playing there, all of the withdraws I was making were so slow. I was surprised, but I didn`t make it big of a deal. For every withdraw I`ve done, I had to write to their support multiple times and it took them 5-6 days to approve and send it every single time. That`s quite unusual for a poker site. The last withdraw I managed to successfully make, it took me the effort of writing them emails almost every single day and they finally sent it ten days after I`ve requested it.

Few days passed and I received an email which said “Your account is temporarly placed on hold due to security checks.” The account of my roommate who started playing in PartyPoker around the same time as me, also received the same email. That made me think the room might be checking if we are doing some soft of collusion, which I am pretty safe it`s not the case, because we play from the same IP and we are not playing in the same games, exactly because of that reason, to not be accused in collusion.

We made the effort to contact the support multiple times and ask them what kind of security check they are doing and how can we assist them. We didn`t have any success, they always sent us the same template answer “Once there is an update on the matter, we will let you know as soon as possible”.

A month later we both received an email saying “Your account will remain closed in accordance with our Terms and Conditions, points 13, 16 and 28.4.1 as well as the unfair advantage policy.”
We tried to contact the team who did the security check many times willing to discuss that decision, but with no success again. They always sent the same template answers and you have the feeling that you are not talking to a person but to a brainless robot.

The reasons for the closure of the accounts they mention are vague and confusing.
- collusion and unfair advantage - as I previously mentioned, that`s not reasonable
- forbidden programs or AI software - that`s also not reasonable and we will both do everything needed to prove that


I`ve talked with many poker players, including players who are currently playing in PartyPoker. I understood that the site has recently introduced more advanced security checks to their players. They ask the players to record videos of their play and stuff like that in order to protect the games from bots and other ways to take unfair advantage. That`s pretty good, that`s beneficial for the games, but I don`t understand why our accounts were closed without any security check? I also don`t understand how can we even be accused in anything, when we both have played less than a month in this site?

My nickname is: OmegaFr3e
The nickname of my roommate is: seen_

I am going to speak on behalf of both of us.
The reason of us making this case public is to share with the people our disappointment and highly unprofessional attitude of PartyPoker, a room which is pretending to be one of the best in the market.
We feel improperly accused and we also feel robbed by the site, because our own money were confiscated without any real reason.
After the series of unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with PartyPoker, we hope the publicity of this thread can get the attention of someone from the PartyPoker team and we can get the chance to prove our innocence.

Complicated security checks cost money. They need resources for that. I think especially if you are a winning player, they are more likely to simply ban you because you are taking money out of the ecosystem and you MIGHT be cheating in some way or another.

I wouldn't be surprised if Party starts to ban many winners that way.

Yeah that's all fine and well, but you can't take confiscate funds in these cases lol.

Not saying the OP isn't using AI software (probably is) just saying that if they're doing what you're claiming they might be doing, they can't take players money.

I don't know if OP is doing something wrong.

But can someone explain me what is AI software in this thread?
I assume it not some complex charts what say what hands to play with given action before or something like that but actual bot what hand-free grind for you? Or perhaps hand grabber and hud after it been banned?

I can share a similar experience with such situation.Its almost 2 months now since my SECOND security check started for the last 7 months.In that time i only get standart , template answers, to my questions, and i dont even have an explanation what is the security check all about.Few months after i started to play in Party, i was locked without notice and was asked for a 4 hour live video session , shot from the back of my monitors and in my playing monitor at the same time.I did that, passed everything and i was unlocked with some excuses for the inconvenience.I also spoke on the phone few times for an hour with a Party representative , explaining myself like a schoolgirl, still cooperating tho.Now i am locked again about investigation and despite its still ongoing for almost 2 months, i get no explanations, no nothing.The key thing is that i am not even a winning player yet.I won a big multiplier recently, which finally gave me some hope, but i am still losing for more than half an year.Few days later i am locked and the money inside are all my own even.I decided to make a research , cause this really stinks and i found some very disturbing information.

I heard rumors from many players that some guy, named Patrick Leonard , who is an ambassador or some kind of a security guy in Party, has a Spin&Go staking program and he aims to put them playing (or already did) in Party.This sounds very shady and the way that Party poker operates with their regular players is very, very suspicious...It really seems that they want to benefit certain players or staking programs , damaging the normal regulars and killing every competition in the format.I've been playing online more than 10 years, passed every kind of security checks so far, in so many sites, but this here is just ridiculous.Something really shady is going on in Party.

OP,

Are you genuinely based in China?

Some general points here:
-You should keep records of all your communication with the operator.

-You should proof read what you write to them (and post on this forum) before sending/posting it. Make sure that a stranger can understand what you are saying. Imagine that you're writing to someone who is smarter than you, but who knows nothing about the issue at hand.

-In the first instance, if you are unhappy with their initial decision, contact them directly, and let them know why.

-If, after directly explaining your point of view, you continue to have a dispute, ask for the issue to be escalated for re-review.

-Many legitimate gaming operators have licenses from Governments where they "operate". In the case of many online operators, the jurisdiction that they "operate" in are where their servers are located. If you continue to be unhappy, you can approach the regulator with your concerns. You can obtain the contact details either by searching on the internet, or by asking the gaming site to give them to you.

-If the regulator is not an option, or does not satisfactorily resolve your concern, you may be able to consider taking legal action. Please consult a professional legal adviser for further assistance with this.

-You'll get more sympathy from the forum if you post - clearly - a copy of all correspondence with the site.

Why not? Party banned a bunch of accounts couple of months ago and refunded some players. So if they assume OP is using a bot or AI, why would they allow him/her to cash out if he/she was breaking ToS?

I know Stars used to ban players but allowed them to cash out, but in those cases, I think the reason was multi-accounting or playing from the US for the most part.

Now imagine I have a bot, open up an account on Party, deposit 100 USD, ruin it up to 1 mil. There is no way a company must let you cash out that money if you pretty much stole it from others by using software that's not allowed in the first place.

That's unbelievable. I've also heard people talking about Patrick Leonard may be trying to take over the spins in PartyPoker. It's completely ridiculous if he is convincing PartyPoker to ban players. I have contacted ECOGRA, a company that is a middle man in disputes with Party, I explained them everything, sent them the whole communication I had with Party and I really hope they take a closer look into that case. I don't see how a poker site can get away with confisceting funds without any real reason. Tfn2k, you say you have been through investigation, me and my roommate haven't even been investigated at all.

If there are other players who are dealing with the same issue, we can form a group and try to take a legal action.

Here you can see the correspondence my roommate had with Party. He has sent them more emails than me.
It all begins with the email saying my account is locked.
14 June:
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/75c35f882d41ecd93072ff5a17037055

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/1ad21a716da90ff63e3e6553ede6d814
Party - NO ANSWER

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/64679c355a382ed88d8ba42c319968a0
Party - NO ANSWER

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/ae711819b9315f92d0c9c8aa440aa89e
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/a0fc38df1063f9e04940b6a7c7d4f3da

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/78d1a405884eb3025ace58fa1979720e
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/06a7e9ea42b94bb1a6700add446b894e

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/b4e943f76dc6cc5827b61b11561c9582
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/9b1eb8654c539082de47df724f1f8dcb

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/0ba62c91c25e5a1bd1865fc1d7aba522
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/45b18fab69141451437f00184d9406c7

A month later they send me their final answer:
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/050bfc38d7fbb54d9427aa8c3ec49274

Me - https://i.gyazo.com/cf22e15b4b45357251b73ee915019676
Party - https://i.gyazo.com/cc7c9dd5625d7dae4566d834db877002

Then we wrote to eCOGRA, but we are still waiting them to do their research.

Hi,
I created a partypoker account during the month of July and I knowing most poker site have a first bonus deposit if you write the good code, I google party poker first deposit bonus.

I deposit 500$ by online transfer, wrote the bonus code, but did not get the bonus. So I started a chat session with the support. They told me the promotion that I thought and I should ask before etc etc...

However I was angry bc I knew since I already made my first deposit I lost my chance for whatever the first deposit bonus would be if I had the right code. There was nothing to do. They said I should ask before.

Then I said : ok I you're right but I want to cancel the deposit. I think if they don't want to give me same bonus than the others because of a technicality I don't accept it. They said we can't cancel the deposit. I said ok I understand then I want to withdraw. They said : ''you will have to gamble some money first''

I thought the guy from the support is just real dumb stupid and went to click on withdraw and my account went to zero again. I said in the chat : ok whatever it seems to work fine thank you. I never played a hand.

The next day my account was blocked. I wrote several emails to the support, starting the day the account is blocked, but never ever got a reply to this day. It's been 2 weeks. I also said in my email that I was worry about the 500$ and I have reasons to doubt their integrity. They never ever replied.

Obviously during this time I made sure with my bank the deposit doesn't pass so I'm fine. I got scared they confiscate the money and block the account for a technicality.

So maybe they would argue because my payment didn't pass I'm wrong. But they still never ever replied to this day and I can corroborate they have no concern for their clients.

My user name is/was ShelleyZhongWen

They are Thieves.

Well, they saw you playing with another guy on the same IP, so that's indication of fraud. Though, prob OP made something more than just playing on the same IP with another dude

This is false. ECOGRA used to be wholly owned by various online gaming sites, and it's hardly an independent arbiter.

What country are you based in? You should just go directly to the regulator and raise this issue directly with the regulator as soon as possible.

https://www.ecogra.org/srs/policies_procedures.php

"5. We ask that you do not place posts regarding the complaint on any forums nor should you seek assistance from another third party service while we work your case. Either of these will result in the immediate termination of our assistance."

Based on the emails, it sounds in fact that you are guilty. You seem to know why Party has closed your account.

I might be wrong and am therefore sorry if that's the case but from my experience Party is very slow at banning accounts. It took them roughly half a year to ban very obvious bots, which were playing the same style for a long time. Not just that, it took them about a month to actually ban the same new bots which arrived just after they banned previous ones.

I even know that Party tolerates VPN and account sharing to an extend, so I suppose that if they ban and confiscate money it must be something worse.

I've emailed party the other day and it was literally the same **** as before and as the every other player correspondence...I got the default template response exactly after 15-20 mins, which means that my questions doesn't even get to the operations team, but some support just sends me a "copy/paste" answer.This is really unprofessional attitude from a site, that claims to overcome Pokerstars as a number 1.It is the worst support i've seen for so many years, i don't know why they do this, but someone has to at least do a small effort for their customers.

Apparently there is a movement about my case. This is the email i got yesterday - https://gyazo.com/295770da0ab5d2c96ab2adf1eccc1fa0 .From what i see , this "business decisions" translates to me exactly as i thought before "We are clearing all the regulars from the lobby, so our guy Patrick Leonard to monopolize it".Cheers Party, you suck hard.It seems that it doesnt really matter what kind of regular you are, if you play a lot - you are out, so their guy can take all the action.They basically doesnt have any proof against me, never mentioned anything, investigated me for 2 months, 1 month before that again, didnt find anything, and lets close this guy's account, he just plays too much and takes too much action from our insider's stable....I dont know who is responsible for the security of this network, but they are either corrupt or they have no clue what are they doing.Literally my account is closed based on a "business decision", like wtf is even that.It is good that many players can see what they are doing to regulars and how shitty this network has become.

Why are they doing this?! I think because most people are addicted and will come back and play anyway... They don't give a sugarlump about the players! New people join online poker everyday! Ban 1 person or 100 is nothing for PP. And the other thing is... most new players that lose are not really nice in the chat or email. Internet poker will never DIE! People that say that internet poker will die are wrong! Yes it's different than 10 years ago but so is the world.

ANYWAY PP make your software BETTER FFS! It's boring and ugly as hell and full with bugs! (specially the lobby is ugly) Hire a graphic designer and a good programmer that likes poker! This Rob Yong is a horrible person for internet poker!

@silver18 Hope you get your money back!!! (if you did not cheat of course)

Money

I know why they closed my account because they state that my activity is in breach of certain points and I`ve read those points, from which seems like they are accusing me of every possible thing and this is just bunch of false accusations, that`s why I am asking for a proof, which they SHOULD give when they intend to confiscate my money. But they don`t have it, that`s why they just don`t communicate with me.

I see from the other posts that they switched their strategy to "business decision" without stealing the money, which is smart when they saw that they may face a backlash from the players. But I will not give up and let these thieves to steal my money. More people should see how one of the biggest poker room operates.

If some of PartyPoker representatives are reading this thread we insist for a proof of the the accusations, otherwise we want our money back!

Hello, guys.

I would like to share the story I am experiencing with PartyPoker in the last 2 months. I feel highly disappointed and aggrieved by the way one of the biggest poker rooms is acting. I play poker professionally since 8 years, I`ve played in most of the poker sites available and I`ve never had such a bad experience.

I started playing Spin&Goes in PartyPoker 2 months ago. The VIP program they introduced in the beginning of this year caught my interest and make me motivated to start grinding in this room.

Since I started playing there, all of the withdraws I was making were so slow. I was surprised, but I didn`t make it big of a deal. For every withdraw I`ve done, I had to write to their support multiple times and it took them 5-6 days to approve and send it every single time. That`s quite unusual for a poker site. The last withdraw I managed to successfully make, it took me the effort of writing them emails almost every single day and they finally sent it ten days after I`ve requested it.

Few days passed and I received an email which said “Your account is temporarly placed on hold due to security checks.” The account of my roommate who started playing in PartyPoker around the same time as me, also received the same email. That made me think the room might be checking if we are doing some soft of collusion, which I am pretty safe it`s not the case, because we play from the same IP and we are not playing in the same games, exactly because of that reason, to not be accused in collusion.

We made the effort to contact the support multiple times and ask them what kind of security check they are doing and how can we assist them. We didn`t have any success, they always sent us the same template answer “Once there is an update on the matter, we will let you know as soon as possible”.

A month later we both received an email saying “Your account will remain closed in accordance with our Terms and Conditions, points 13, 16 and 28.4.1 as well as the unfair advantage policy.”
We tried to contact the team who did the security check many times willing to discuss that decision, but with no success again. They always sent the same template answers and you have the feeling that you are not talking to a person but to a brainless robot.

The reasons for the closure of the accounts they mention are vague and confusing.
- collusion and unfair advantage - as I previously mentioned, that`s not reasonable
- forbidden programs or AI software - that`s also not reasonable and we will both do everything needed to prove that


I`ve talked with many poker players, including players who are currently playing in PartyPoker. I understood that the site has recently introduced more advanced security checks to their players. They ask the players to record videos of their play and stuff like that in order to protect the games from bots and other ways to take unfair advantage. That`s pretty good, that`s beneficial for the games, but I don`t understand why our accounts were closed without any security check? I also don`t understand how can we even be accused in anything, when we both have played less than a month in this site?

My nickname is: OmegaFr3e
The nickname of my roommate is: seen_

I am going to speak on behalf of both of us.
The reason of us making this case public is to share with the people our disappointment and highly unprofessional attitude of PartyPoker, a room which is pretending to be one of the best in the market.
We feel improperly accused and we also feel robbed by the site, because our own money were confiscated without any real reason.
After the series of unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with PartyPoker, we hope the publicity of this thread can get the attention of someone from the PartyPoker team and we can get the chance to prove our innocence.

Definitely not accusing you of anything untoward - but if you're both playing on the same site at the same time on the same IP, you're always going to run the risk of a ban. The majority of the "I got banned but did nothing wrong" posts on this forum involve multiple accounts on the same IP.

This post is familiar with me? Did you copy/past this post from somebody else or is it the other guy in this post it's turn to tell it again?

Good call.

I've merged the two threads.

Haha, literally a copy and paste. Bizarre.