Today when I had my break between my sessions I logged into my PS account and I saw that I can't play any real money game anymore. Pokerstars has closed all the accounts in my country Iran, and they have done it without any prior notification.

I heard that this has happened to some other countries like Malaysia, and my guess is all Islamic countries.

This action by Pokerstars was not legitimate. Players FPPs are frozen and they can't turn it into money anymore. The stellar awards they were chasing are left undone.

I hope Pokerstars have a good answer for doing this without any prior notification. I was not expecting something like this from the most professional poker site in the world. It is not fair!

I'll post the sudden full message in my news page :

Our management team regularly reviews our operation along with independent 3rd party professionals to assess the business risk and opportunities for our brand on a market-by-market basis. Following our most recent review, it was determined that we would no longer offer real money games in your country.

I am waiting for the response from a Pokerstars representative here.

Regards

Mod Edit:
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/jurisdiction-faq/
http://www.fulltilt.com/faq/general-and-other-faqs

Sorry dude. Can't imagine there were too many other people playing from Iran though.

If you play poker in Iran you will get beheaded

No it is not true and there are many players from Iran, of course not comparable with other regulated countries. One finished 3rd in Sunday million a few month ago. And it is not only Iran, it is other islamic countries as well.

My point is that I expect at least a prior notification to wrap up things. And I hope this affects Pokerstars reputation.

According to a thread in Internet Poker they also cutoff Malaysia and Turkey.

Amaya is running PokerStars into the ground...

In before Michael J posts a carefully worded BS spin control statement about how they routinely review their policies and this is all just business as usual. And then doesn't post in the thread again no matter how long it is or what people say.

I can confirm that Turkish accounts has restricted from real-money tables too.

Use a different word next time.

This is a disaster for the regulars in these countries. how can a firm like pokerstars do this without any prior notification. this is really unbelievable

?

what do you think happened on Black Friday in America?

Black Friday was done by American Legislators and not by Pokerstars 3rd party professionals who assess the business risk and opportunities for their brand on a market-by-market basis !!!

Comon Dude couldn't you tell us 2 weeks ago about it and not all of a sudden ? how stupid is that. my friend stellar award is frozen at 93 % and probably a lot of fpps are also frozen.

im just saying there was no prior warning in USA either

Same in Malaysia, moved here 2 days ago lol.
Atleast you can cash in Fpps and partly milestones will be credited by midnight ET October 1st
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/jurisdiction-faq/

It was still the decision of PokerStars (and FullTilt) to exit the market. They could have continued taking US players if they wanted to. In that regard, it's the same thing.

Some event has taken place that has similarly caused them to think it was a good idea to exit the Iranian, Turkish and Malaysian markets. Probably the opinion of Amaya's lawyers.

Does anyone think maybe, it's wasn't a choice? Are other sites experience the same issue or only Pokerstars?

When Pokerstars announced changes for UK players they gave ample notice.

We would like to get informed about the restriction.
Has Pokerstars made a deal with government or they just wanted to leave the market.

Yes, when stars pulls out of a country, it has this effect on the country's player base. Confirmed.

It wasn't their decision actually, the DOJ shut them down and slapped a big notice up on their websites. They were in the US long after other sites left the US.

I just read this. Good news they're paying the half-way stellar awards.

I can also confirm pokerstars has blocked turkey...Pissed is an understatement.....

Nice to see all my VPP go to waste.....

Also, HUGE wtf on having no prior notice.....

EDIT: Hope stars get a rep on here ASAP to address this.

They then moved to pokerstars.eu and they could have continued taking US players there, they chose not to.

I still don't believe they didn't have a choice. They allowed the DOJ to block US from accessing based on some "deal". US players could have still played without breaking laws. It was meant to punish the players and that is why I am so outraged in general. We did nothing wrong.

pretty sick and scary news, sorry for you guys!
Really curious to hear from PS about this...
The lack of consideration for their customers from those countries (only Iran and Turkey?) seems just awful

GL

The disrespect Stars shows for players with this action is absurd. Of course they knew weeks in advance. Real *****-up move.