Hello,

I have had an account with Pokerstars for nearly 20 years. I have logged in a tremendous amount of hours since then. My account has always been in good standing; never had any issues whatsoever. I have submitted all my IDs and banking information and have a fairly high deposit limit. All this to say; I was a damn good, honest and loyal customer ever since the Chris Moneymaker days (pre black friday good Ol days..).

I am so disappointed in how I am being treated by them and have resorted to making the issue public in hopes to get some action from them or some advice on what I should do.

My problem started approximately two weeks ago (I believe it was Friday April 23rd). I logged into my account to withdraw the funds I had in there (6160$ CAD). I am a small business owner, specifically a small restaurant, and needless to say, times have been a little tough.. I recently made three (3) deposits at the end of February and beginning of March, totaling 6000$CAD, with the hopes that I would be able to get back on the PLO grind. I should point out that the deposit method was eChecks which has been consistent with the many, many deposits I have made in the past (always from the same personal bank account, and any withdrawal was also directly into that same bank account). I had stopped about a year ago due to a very bad run and also given the fact that I had very little time to play. Being a father and running a small restaurant doesnt give much spare time for leisure..

I noticed that the available amount to withdraw was only 160$, so I opened up a Live Chat session with one of their customer service agents to ask why the other 6000$ wasnt available for withdraw. He copy pasted part of the user agreement stating that for money to be available for withdraw, it has to be wagered on the tables. Meaning, you have to gamble the money you deposited before it is available to be withdrawn. He also informed me that this policy wasnt new and it was to "protect the integrity of the games".

Given that I used to grind 1/2$ PLO, where the pots get fairly big; I probably never noticed that policy. I could easily have cleared a 5000$ deposit in 1 night of playing, so this was kind of a shock to learn. I politely informed him that while I could see the logic behind the policy (and also from a business standpoint of making people gamble, and therefore getting rake or generating revenue), there must also be exceptions.

Since I made those deposits, business has not been great and my optimism for playing has faded. COVID restrictions are dragging on and my industry is not healthy. We also desperately need to invest some money in the restaurant and to pay rent. So I needed to withdraw the 6000$ I had deposited.

In my case, it should not be a question of integrity. I hadnt played in roughly a year so collusion wasnt and issue. The money was deposited in the same fashion it had always been, from the same personal bank account and I was trying to withdraw it to the same bank personal account, so fear of money laundering wasnt the issue. I have had no recent player transfers.. I just needed my money. And I cant risk losing it, so I am not willing to gamble it in order to make it available for withdraw.

The customer service agent told me to hold on for a little bit while he spoke to a specialist. After a few minutes, he came back and said "unfortunately you must wager it". I asked him if there was a phone number I could call to speak to someone and he told me that Pokerstars no longer offers telephone assistance (which is absurd). So I then asked him if he could escalate it to someone else because I needed MY money (it is MINE and not theirs, right?) and I am not willing to gamble it. He told me someone would be in touch and asked if I had any further questions. I thanked him and said "no" and the chat ended.

To my surprise, a dialogue box popped up saying my account had been frozen. Since this had never happened before, I did not know exactly what having your account frozen meant. I surely discovered that I was unable to login, unable to use Live Chat for help, unable to access my funds, and the only method of communication was to "email support@starsaccount.com for help". So I did, every day since then, and I have yet to even receive an email acknowledging that I am trying to reach them and that they are looking into it. Nothing... Crickets.... I have filled a complaint with them and not heard back. I also emailed security@starsaccount.com and they answered me saying my inquiry was forwarded to the Responsible Gaming team and I would get a response (this was a week ago) and I have not heard back from them.

I have gotten two emails from no_reply2@starsaccount.com saying;

"Thanks for contacting us.

We're no longer offering email assistance on this topic.

Instead, you can get a fast and easy response by logging into your Stars Account Account and contacting us via Live Chat. From there, one of our agents will be better able to help you with your query.

Regards,"

But I cant login to my stars account. So what the hell is going on here?! Are my emails getting threw? Why am I getting no_reply2 telling me my problem is no longer offering me email assistance on this topic and to try a method of communication I am currently locked out of?

This customer service is deplorable. I remember being a proud Pokerstars player, but this is just shameful. Almost 20 years with these guys and this is what I get for asking to give me access to MY money!

Someone help... Two weeks (with no end in sight) is a long time to wait for your money when you needed it yesterday..

Hello,

I have had an account with Pokerstars for nearly 20 years. I have logged in a tremendous amount of hours since then. My account has always been in good standing; never had any issues whatsoever. I have submitted all my IDs and banking information and have a fairly high deposit limit. All this to say; I was a damn good, honest and loyal customer ever since the Chris Moneymaker days (pre black friday good Ol days..).

I am so disappointed in how I am being treated by them and have resorted to making the issue public in hopes to get some action from them or some advice on what I should do.

My problem started approximately two weeks ago (I believe it was Friday April 23rd). I logged into my account to withdraw the funds I had in there (6160$ CAD). I am a small business owner, specifically a small restaurant, and needless to say, times have been a little tough.. I recently made three (3) deposits at the end of February and beginning of March, totaling 6000$CAD, with the hopes that I would be able to get back on the PLO grind. I should point out that the deposit method was eChecks which has been consistent with the many, many deposits I have made in the past (always from the same personal bank account, and any withdrawal was also directly into that same bank account). I had stopped about a year ago due to a very bad run and also given the fact that I had very little time to play. Being a father and running a small restaurant doesnt give much spare time for leisure..

I noticed that the available amount to withdraw was only 160$, so I opened up a Live Chat session with one of their customer service agents to ask why the other 6000$ wasnt available for withdraw. He copy pasted part of the user agreement stating that for money to be available for withdraw, it has to be wagered on the tables. Meaning, you have to gamble the money you deposited before it is available to be withdrawn. He also informed me that this policy wasnt new and it was to "protect the integrity of the games".

Given that I used to grind 1/2$ PLO, where the pots get fairly big; I probably never noticed that policy. I could easily have cleared a 5000$ deposit in 1 night of playing, so this was kind of a shock to learn. I politely informed him that while I could see the logic behind the policy (and also from a business standpoint of making people gamble, and therefore getting rake or generating revenue), there must also be exceptions.

Since I made those deposits, business has not been great and my optimism for playing has faded. COVID restrictions are dragging on and my industry is not healthy. We also desperately need to invest some money in the restaurant and to pay rent. So I needed to withdraw the 6000$ I had deposited.

In my case, it should not be a question of integrity. I hadnt played in roughly a year so collusion wasnt and issue. The money was deposited in the same fashion it had always been, from the same personal bank account and I was trying to withdraw it to the same bank personal account, so fear of money laundering wasnt the issue. I have had no recent player transfers.. I just needed my money. And I cant risk losing it, so I am not willing to gamble it in order to make it available for withdraw.

The customer service agent told me to hold on for a little bit while he spoke to a specialist. After a few minutes, he came back and said "unfortunately you must wager it". I asked him if there was a phone number I could call to speak to someone and he told me that Pokerstars no longer offers telephone assistance (which is absurd). So I then asked him if he could escalate it to someone else because I needed MY money (it is MINE and not theirs, right?) and I am not willing to gamble it. He told me someone would be in touch and asked if I had any further questions. I thanked him and said "no" and the chat ended.

To my surprise, a dialogue box popped up saying my account had been frozen. Since this had never happened before, I did not know exactly what having your account frozen meant. I surely discovered that I was unable to login, unable to use Live Chat for help, unable to access my funds, and the only method of communication was to "email support@starsaccount.com for help". So I did, every day since then, and I have yet to even receive an email acknowledging that I am trying to reach them and that they are looking into it. Nothing... Crickets.... I have filled a complaint with them and not heard back. I also emailed security@starsaccount.com and they answered me saying my inquiry was forwarded to the Responsible Gaming team and I would get a response (this was a week ago) and I have not heard back from them.

I have gotten two emails from no_reply2@starsaccount.com saying;

"Thanks for contacting us.

We're no longer offering email assistance on this topic.

Instead, you can get a fast and easy response by logging into your Stars Account Account and contacting us via Live Chat. From there, one of our agents will be better able to help you with your query.

Regards,"

But I cant login to my stars account. So what the hell is going on here?! Are my emails getting threw? Why am I getting no_reply2 telling me my problem is no longer offering me email assistance on this topic and to try a method of communication I am currently locked out of?

This customer service is deplorable. I remember being a proud Pokerstars player, but this is just shameful. Almost 20 years with these guys and this is what I get for asking to give me access to MY money!

Someone help... Two weeks (with no end in sight) is a long time to wait for your money when you needed it yesterday..

try logging into the website, but yeh they've cut the support staff quite a bit over the years.

that policy has always been in place tho, im only speculating but they might need to close your account to circumvent it

I cant login to the website. Gives me the same message:

"Your Stars Account has been frozen. Please contact support@starsaccount.com for more information."

Sadly I have been trying to contact them for over 14 days and have not gotten any response whatsoever.

bump for some help

You can talk with chat support even if you're not logged in.Just open lobby/help/contact us and fill those requests.I even talk with them with the client closed.
But i have one question: why would you deposit money into a poker site if you didnt play at all?

I haven't played on Stars in years but have never ran into a site stopping me from withdrawing unless some of those funds were bonuses(or needing to complete verification). My understanding is that you don't want to e-mail them multiple times regarding the same thing as they can have different people trying to deal with it and it will probably confuse whoever is looking into it

Twitter can be surprisingly effective as a brand doesn't want it's image tarnished - putting visibility on this could perhaps motivate someone there to stop durdling and help you

+1 to twitter. Every time I've taken this route (with 2 or 3 different companies) the issue has been resolved within 2 days.

probably a stupid reply but you can easily stake $1000 a day on gambling without losing a large amount. If you simply played 200 $5 sit and goes that is $1000.

I have found on every poker site I have tried $5 sit and goes are easily beatable. you could have met the wagering requirements within a week. Even if your a losing player at low stakes (in which case why the hell would you have deposited such large amounts) it would be hard to get burned for a significant amount.

for example in hyper turbo formats where the roi of winning regs is a few percent and rake is very low you cant lose terribly unless your just folding way way too much.

often when these threads come up on these forums there ends up been more to the story details missing or details vague etc that others point out.

what does not appear clear from you is on what grounds your account has been suspended. I guess your still waiting to hear back on that.

many countries around the world are taking responsible gambling very seriously and the fact that you had what would be considered a large amount of money on there to most of the population, and stated you cant afford to have that much on there then they may have decided to ban you on responsible gambling terms. However if this is the case they need to allow you to withdraw your funds.

another possibility is that the company rightly or wrongly feels that you have cheated them or committed fraud or cheated at the tables in someways and thus they are seizing that money. In which case they need to provide you an explanation of that.

I think you should start more threads about this. And you don't need to gamble your money you need to wager it you muppet. Coming from a player with 20 years in online poker that sounds so stupid "buuhuu I need to gamble my deposit". Just grind it out or get your account locked. if you are in a hurry then just laybet the ammount with a reliable booker and you are good to go. Earn few coins on the way.

Ur posting on wrong platform, use reddit or twitter if u want to get attentio

I’m guessing that in your chagrin you said something that can across slightly unhinged which made them freeze your account due to their problem gambler/self harming type policies

Now they are working through the process of deciding what to do , probably how to circumnavigate their own no play no withdraw /anti launder policy and send you your money back without it being wagered

They will not steal it. You will get your money back without having to wager is my guess. Worst case scenario you will need to do some grinding first

Sucks for you but you need to accept your behaviour has been slightly strange . This is what happens

@OP has the option of asking for his account to be closed and "force" Stars to pay him his money now. However he will not be able to use any of their services ever again......

Um, the obvious here, from a personal standpoint, I have enough in back up savings to cover 3 months expenses, a steady passive income that covers all expenses +add to savings or poker bankroll each month.

I don't gamble with future possible rent money. I am prepared if all goes bad to file bankruptcy, but my favorite creditors are at a 0. And I still have to support myself and pay rent.

You, in my humble opinion, should not have deposited that much. If you need it now for the restaurant, that should have been in savings before depositing to account.

You have been a long time stars player, but not recently, which would cause problems. And yes, wagering to cover the cost of deposit (its not like you used a form of bitcoin, which costs us a small fee, not so much them), is standard for the industry.

You couldn't risk to lose it, you should never have deposited it. 'Nuff said.

PS: If my roll got to 1k from where it is now, would withdraw everything except 200 for 5nl. You not only plan your financial life, you plan your poker life as well.

Joey Knish over here.

OP you're just going to have to be patient. I know you're in a bind but keeping correspondence polite and professional is key. As mentioned already, emailing every day just causes too many reps getting involved and convolutes the situation. Good luck.