When I first got into playing poker 6 months ago I mostly played on Lock Poker because thats where the so called online authority said to play. In the beginning I was losing all the time while putting good money into my Lock account. However, slowly I began to win a little and tried to take cash out. Dudes, its been since the beginning of December and I heard nothing from these guys. I mean, are they legit. Its a good thing my desire to get good at poker is strong because sites like Lock would turn people off. Im losing enough money to the regulars so, anybody please tell me, where can a fish go play and not worry about getting ripped off from the site.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/195/lock-poker/

As a US player ur basically ****ed.

I have been playing on Carbon last few months and cashed out numerous times no problems.

true poker is good. I cashed out through moneygram even though I paid a decent size fee I recieved the money in 2 days legit. They also have a debit card you can receive from the site. Look into it,they even have phone support. The only downside is not alot of traffic.

If you are from the US this is standard procedure when cashing out from online poker via check.

i have never had any issues with carbon, 4-6 weeks cashout. lock is a joke. just downloaded 5 dimes and true poker, also intertops

What online authority told you to play at Lock?

They are popular for US facing rooms, but even in their own subforum on 2p2 the payout, support, software and other issues have been clearly spelled out for many months.

Beware of affiliate sites simply recommending sites without detailed information about them. You really need to look at the differences between ad copy and substance in reviews. Reputation is important too (not just "rip off site" vs "reputable site" but you want to tell the difference between reputable affiliates that talk good about anything they promote and the few in this industry that will tell you the truth about everything they do and don't promote).

You are US Player, you can't expect much if ANYTHING from these sites. They aren't allowed to allow you to play. I wouldn't be surprised if you never heard from them.

Today is 2-26-2013. I ordered my check on 11-09-12 and still have nothing. The support dept with Lock is useless as titties on a bull. They send out auto replies to most any e mails. I have beem promised and guaranteed a minimum of 4 times in Jan. my check had been sent via fed ex. When I contact fed ex they explained to me we need the tracking number which Lock refuses to provide giving additional bogus explanations.. Intead lock continues to lie about the process, paying players, and checks. Lock is not paying me and many others worlwide. Lock Poker allows chip dumping betweeen players, cheating, and otherwsie. Ever notice how players from very strange unknown places puch all in with garbage and win cosistently? Lock Poker is a huge scam and have many people involved. The Owner/CEO Jennifer Larson has a very shady history when it comes to poker sites and fair play. Now that I have gone off on Lock for continueing to make up replies and lies about the check that was supposedly sent 2 months ago which they refuse to answer directly only skirting the real questions in an auto reply. Now Lock closed my account and has also stolen the account balance. I have every intention of filing complaints throughout the internet. I have accepted they are not paying myself and others. I have made contact with US government agencies requesting assistance. I sincerely hope the US government intervenes and punishes the cheating crooks for their actions. No business in the world can act this way or treat consumers in this manner unless there are 0 rules and regulations for them to follow. see there are no geoverning bodies for the crooks and they make their own rules as they go!!!! They have no rules to follow. If they dont pay you there is nothing you can do.!!! I will pursue this until they are taken over by the local police, government, US government, or some type of governing agency..... Another player ripped off by LOCK POKER AND ITS ASSOCIATE TEAM OF THIEVES!!!

I'm in the UK and they wouldn't give me my money after turning £10 into £400. I tilt spewed it off by putting it on one table and shoving, couldn't bare to let them have my money sitting there. Stay away from this con of a site.

an older interesting article

http://calvinayre.com/2011/10/23/bus...nnifer-larson/


You may have better luck tracking them down in Canada and having the Royal Canadian Mounted Police get them for fraud.




oops, if they are official advertisers on this site, I am just kidding....

I requested a check Nov 4. Still haven't got it, so it's going to be a while bud.

I would recommend using Western Union and not requesting a check.

Are you serious? That is far to long for comfort. Are we talking a large amount of money or a moderate amount?

You make a good point, because I can't recall ever hearing any reputable player, news organization, podcast, forum, etc EVER recommending lock. (besides affiliates, which are the vast majority of so called "news" organizations in poker, or players who have deals with lock)

If anything, the vast majority of places I trust have been Sh#ting on lock ever since the Girada scandel (or however hes named is spelled).

If you listen to any podcasts or read any legit articles on online poker it would be immediately clear that lock is the most suspect of all the sites that carter to Americans.

Not to use hyperbolic rhetoric, but I would feel like my money was safer with the drug addict sleeping on a park bench near my apartment then with my money on Lock. At least I would know where to find him when my money goes missing.

To answer your question, your only real choices are a merge skin (id use carbon if that's your choice), bovada, or a winning network skin (true/black chip) - but you really just have to pick your poison. Do some research and pick the one that best fits you.

I don't play online poker anymore, but if I had to put 5K online, with a gun to my head, id put it on Bovada - easy decision for me, but that's because I played on Bodog for 6 years and never once had an issue with them in any regards. Never once waited for more then 3 weeks (usually it was 7-10 days before black Friday). Never had a check bounce, and anytime I ever had an issue with software or suspecting collusion I always felt like I was at least moderately listened to. And, you can call them on the phone - which is a huge plus over some stupid live chat with a person who can't tie their shoes.

if you can get invited in intertops is a good place to play at, good traffic and good payouts good luck getting your withdrawl

Intertops is invite only?

I just opened an account at Bovada, but if you don't have a Visa Card, it just seems like a pain to deposit cash.

How are the cash outs on Carbon? Do they send a check like the majority of everyone else?

Yes, they send checks.

Typically takes about a month to arrive.

I've cashed out there numerous times and never had any issues.

The only issue for me is that I don't believe my bank accepts international checks unless you have a "higher" account with them. I will have to check on that. Thanks for the info though!

Some people have reported that their banks require a verification process for int'l checks that takes a few weeks. I'm at a small regional bank, I just deposit the check in the ATM and never speak to them about it.

That would be correct, when BCP switched to winning the check I received took 10 weeks for my bank to clear it.

It depends on your bank and also on if the check is drawn of a bank that has an American partner. For example, all my Bovada checks are from a country in Asia but they clear within a few days because the bank has a partner in NYC, so it is technically not drawn on a "foreign" bank. This new check, from the same Asian country took 10 weeks because it did not have a partner bank in the US and therefore was truly a "foreign check"

Long story short: if you plan on cashing a lot of checks then get a bank account at a big bank that has the power to process foreign checks much faster. I hear a good one starts with a C and is 4 letters long. I also hear Bof processes fast, but I hate bofa because they tried to screw me a few years ago on something unrelated.

Yeah I am gotta give my banksters a call and see how they handle international checks. At this point, I think I might just have to stick with BTC poker..a few hours is much better than a month + 10 weeks.

Intertops is the best option i believe...but they have stopped accepting players from the US

I have played on almost every skin and i am on intertops as i was a member before they stoped accepting members. Carbon is by far the best in regards to cash out and activity imo. I can always find a game and the micro stakes usually have very loose players. The only issues i have is the suck outs can some times be a little disbelieving but this is worse on other sites. Inter tops is best in cash outs they have like 10 or 20 options lol but the game play is skeptical at times. Never in real life have i been riped off so bad lol. I have decided to wait for legal online poker to come as i live in NJ so will have access later this year. If you want my advice on what site to play the following should help. Please correct me if i mix category an skins.

Revolution
Cake - Nice bonuses slow pay outs
Intertops - if you can get a invite great cashouts tough game play
Lock - No way

Merge
Carbon - 2-4 weeks cashouts not counting bank. Great game play at micro level
Aced poker - Ghost town in regards to traffic

Bovada poker - Most fish are here because its anonymous. High traffic. 2-4 week cashout. Great tourny and SNG system set up can always find a double up game. Downside huds are worthless cause you wont know if you find that person again.

Winning Poker Network
Americas card room and black chip would be the only options on this network i would recommend. Traffic is low and the games that they do have members play a cap game so its not no limit. Cashout system looked nice has a debit card system you can pay a monthly payment to have cash put on.

TBH online pokers traffic in the USA is not fish oriented atm. I would recommend playing live until it becomes run by US law regulated commissions. I predict federal legislation passing within two years as 7 or 8 states should have online poker running by the end of the year. Good luck in your search as i said i would recommend Carbon if anything if you want to waste some money.

Mateo, a few corrections.

Intertops and Lock share traffic.

Carbon and Aced are owned by the same company and share traffic.

Agreed about Winning Network.

Cashout wise, Winning Network and Intertops are best, Tops has higher fees on avg though. Bovada then Carbon generally are recommended as the next best cashout wise, then Cake/Juicy and Lock are considered terrible for cashouts.

Software wise, Merge, then Winning then Bovada then Revolution seems to be the software consensus. Might be able to swap the middle two (I haven't done Bovada in awhile myself).

Traffic, Bovada, Revolution, then a decent gap to Merge, then a decent gap to Winning.

Rewards wise, Revolution skins, Winning then a big gap to Merge then Bovada is the order.

Every site is soft, regs are inferior to Stars, but the real problem can be finding action. Micro action shouldn't be a huge problem for most major games on most of these sites.

Just one quick question:
How long did Lock take to accept a deposit into your account?
Was there any verification involved for them to accept money?

Just saying, I love how these sites needs months to 'process' the payout, but accept money into the account so easily.
And of course they verify nothing when you want to deposit, but suddenly they need photo ID and proof of address when you want your money!