lol that list of nl 10 winners is the biggest give away of house bots possible, like they weren't even trying. there is not a single human or maybe even a bot owner who would continue to run the same bot/play at the smallest stakes possible winning almost 20bb/100 over a million hands, gfy. some sites are scummy, but this is a straight up ponzi scam trash fire. I didn't think you could beat any stake for 19bb 3 betting 3 percent, they that bad?

Wow fu*k that place, and so sorry OP. What a joke. I'll definitely discourage business whenever possible

Yeah. Some of them are lol. The bots are kinda tough tho. but you can just delay your raising until the turn cause the bulk of them double barrel really often and then give up most rivers.

they have the player pool on point

the fact they also say the limits on withdrawals can change is so ****ing sketchy, there is never any reason it should change because player deposits are supposed to be separate, and sending crypto is easy.

i feel like anyone thats making that 100k deposit is probably using it on the sportsbook and will be banned if they win a single bet

Obv scary/fishy/skechy overall.
These BBJ attract so many players but it so easy to mess around with those as the siteowner.

Similar stuff happend at Ultimative Bet iirc. There was a player who won the BBJ twice within a few weeks.

I hope Joey is in the investigation lab also about those Cashgame bots

Mike Postle

for other who want to avoid these scumbags

is it just betonline or chico network in general ?

i only know betonline and tigergaming as chico-skins, but maybe there are other sites we need to boycot/avoid

BetOnline, Sportsbetting, Tiger Gaming. That's all Chico network runs.

Jesus.

Wtf

Sorry for you OP. As shady as it gets

I had around 1k on bol left for weekends when the games were good. Just withdrew. It's insane how this is an obvious frauding attempt.

The posted bots, the bbj jackpot beeing won twice back2back (although obv possible but very unlikely), and the myrical DC when he hits the turn for the bbj.

They are running some kind of ponzi scheme 100%. They can't payout the bbj caus the money is used for other players withdrawal or stuff like that.

This raises huge huge red flags. Stop playing there, spread the word, make it public.

Curious if my cash out even goes through

The avatar thing is simply done for those videos. They are not the real avatars of those players. I imagine they don't want to promote some of the players' real avatars in their videos. The account names are real though.


I'm sorry to hear about the issues you face playing on the network time and time again throughout this thread. From my personal experience over the last few years, they have the most consistently stable software of any of the sites with decent traffic that offer games to US based players. I rarely ever have connection issues there. I've probably had less connection issues there than I've ever had at any site that I've ever put a lot of volume on, and that includes the big sites that I played on pre-Black Friday.


No other players were disconnected and no disconnection notice was shown in the chat box. A momentary freeze followed by a fold is not something I ever recall encountering while playing there.


Consider yourself lucky. Plenty of cash game players have requested refunds for similar situations on Bodog/Bovada/Ignition and are most often told no because the issue was caused from the player's end, even when it isn't.


You have a misunderstanding of how it works because what you're claiming should happen is exactly what happens there. It doesn't auto-fold you upon disconnections. There is an extended time-bank given when you disconnect. When you are brought back you are allotted the same amount of time to act as you had prior to disconnecting. As you can see from the evidence the OP provided in the 2nd video, the software never recognized him disconnecting. He never disconnected. The software froze on him.


Nope. The replay is sped up a bit.

There is an indication of time-bank usage. The client didn't recognize a disconnect from his end. It would show in the chat box if it had. I doubt there's any way to identify a momentary freeze from the replayer.


I do, or we would have heard of this happening previously since their Bad Beat Jackpot has been in operation daily for a few years now.


Exactly. It doesn't make logical sense.

Every other issue you mentioned is legit criticism of the network.


They do. There are several legit players, even 2+2ers, who won it and even more who have won large shares of it.


Even I was suspicious at first, until I realized it was a recreational player. He might have been one of the luckiest players of all-time, but the high stakes regs were also very lucky in the following weeks.


Hypothetically, let's say they didn't. Their current withdrawal limit per week is 3k.

What would be their reasoning for freezing a hand now, after all of the legit players who have won it in the past at higher jackpot totals?


I agree with this since no player would ever legitimately fold a made bad beat jackpot hand intentionally.

Interesting dilemma though. Let's say a player accidentally or disconnect folds prior to their opponent making their bad beat jackpot hand on a later street. If they make it on the Flop then it's possible that they would have incorrectly raised their opponent out of the hand prior to them making their bad beat qualifying hand. In that case, I'd say no, but yes if both hands were made prior to the unintentional fold.


That's completely made up bullshit. There's a 2+2er who just won it for $80k about a month ago.


There are bot accounts that have won it, but you won't find legitimate proof of these bots being operated by the site. Any rumors are simply that at this point.


I rarely ever have disconnect problems playing there and I can't recall ever having the momentary freeze followed by a fold without a disconnect notice that the OP describes.


I assume you don't play on any of the US friendly sites, because the software stability is a substantial step up from the rest.


He would have never folded intentionally regardless of another person being in the hand or not.

Myself and other 2+2ers commonly used the name "Botonline" in this forum for years and I'll expect royalties for continued use of the name.


Why UNLESS? I feel like it would be a bad decision either way.

It is stolen routinely, but not in the same way that's being described in this thread. Bot accounts have occasionally won the jackpot and regularly win large shares of it. None of that money has ever been reintroduced into the jackpot and we have no idea if it even gets confiscated prior to the bot operators withdrawing the funds.


Show proof of your claims. Oh right, you have none. On the other hand, we do have proof of legitimate players winning it and several more winning large shares of it.


Yes. Not only have I been at the table twice as it occurred with legitimate players winning it, there are also 2+2ers who have actually won it.


Any proof that the recreational player named santinhoz works for them and was subsequently allowed to go lose large sums of that money to high stakes regs?


I can usually count on you to make good points. In a thread full of misinformation you didn't disappoint.

It's mindboggling how stupid, stubborn and short-sighted they've been about this thus far, as well as several other previous decisions they've made.


I agree, that they should do that, at least once.


This is, and has been, a big issue for years when depositing via cards at any of these unregulated sites. It's actually not the sites scamming you. These sites use 3rd party processors for transactions. They are the ones skimming. That is one of the biggest reasons why most people recommend you use crypto for transactions with these sites and why the sites recommend you use crypto as well.


Withdrawal limits were reduced when the sports world went on hiatus. They are a sportsbook first and foremost. It is a bit worrisome that they have not been raised since then though. I'm also not sure how much they do to make players aware of this prior to depositing.


The most interesting thing to me is the handful of known botting accounts listed there. By no means are all, or even a majority, of the account names listed there suspicious accounts, not even the back-to-back winner.


Not true. The recent payouts were less because the bad beat jackpot hand requirements were lowered for that period of time. At the moment, the requirement is the highest it has ever been. You need to lose the hand with quad queens or better to qualify. Both players need to use both hole cards to qualify.


That is definitely a legitimate criticism of the network.


This is unlikely to be an intentional scam based on the history of this bad beat jackpot promotion. Why would they only start doing this now after all of these years?


That is very true.


You bring up a good topic. At one point in the past they actually raised their share for fees taken mid-promotion when the jackpot neared a million dollars. I was pretty vocal with my criticism about that. They've since lowered their share for fees taken.


100%. It's their way of increasing the rake without actually having to show it in their rake charts.


I 100% agree that the conduct of these sites gives online poker a bad look to new and potential players.


It's the same exact bot ring and they've been there for as long as they've been on ACR/WPN.


Don't you regularly play at ACR/WPN and Ignition/Bovada? I can assure you that neither of those options is much better, if at all, and each have had plenty of shadiness take place at their tables over the years.


It grows quickly these days and doesn't get hit as often with the newly implementing requirements for triggering it.


OFC he doesn't.


That Betcoin site was or is part of the Winning Poker Network with ACR, Black Chip and True Poker. It was never part of the Chico Network.


There was some talk about it at the time. Joey probably forgets now, but he mentioned it briefly back then. Even I was initially suspicious until I regularly saw the player at the tables in the following weeks.


It definitely is a bit concerning given the ability to deposit more than that and win more than that at the tables. I assume it will be raised when sports resume, but who knows. The Chico Network makes perplexing and dumb decisions on a regular basis.


We're talking about cash game bots and cash game players. Cash game bots almost never play other formats and not every cash game reg plays a lot of MTTs either.

I think that you nailed it.


Totally agree with everything in the first 2 paragraphs. Not sure about insolvency, but the extended withdrawal cap is a bit concerning and lends credence to the theory.


They've obviously had no issues paying out the jackpot to legitimate players in the past. Even if they had to credit it to an account their weekly withdrawal limit would save them from having to pay it all out at once.

Not only will I guarantee that your cashout will go through(Given you haven't broken any rules). I'd wager on the speed being quicker than at any of the other US friendly sites.

somewhat related, there's been a few times on acr when i've had glitches make it unable to play or it starts updating and shuts down software mid sng etc and i've always been refunded whenever i contact customer service about it

we're talking orders of magnitude different situation here but as far as unregulated US friendly sites go I've been pretty happy with them as they've been good with me about it when issues like this occur

looking at this, regardless of whether or not the disconnect was on server side, client side, or an evil scheme - there's absolutely zero chance he'd have folded there and they should have credited it

that's what i really don't understand, even if the issue happened to be on the client side, does it really matter at all?

they had a chance here to go along with the spirit of the jackpot at literally no cost to them but instead chose not to

notice they don't dispute his hole card history or anything like that, they agree had he not folded he would have gotten it - fraud is the only reason to deny it and everyone agrees he had JTs

Not sure if I made it clear in my lengthy responses post, but I am 100% on the side of paying it out.

oh that wasn't a response to you, or anyone specifically

sorry if i made it seem that way

Glad MCAChiTown has come into the thread and proceeded to quote every post in the thread to discredit all of us but show his unwavering support for a shady scam site. Betonline should hire you right away for their public relations.

Neither was mine specifically to you.

I just felt like I needed to add it after reading your post.

Right. Oh yeah based on your quotes defending how we all on here have got it wrong and your numerous and numerous and numerous defenses of the site, of course you are

You have zero idea of my relationship with BetOnline and the Chico Network if you think I'm some shill for them. I probably have more posts criticizing them in this forum than anybody has total posts of criticism towards them ever made anywhere on the internet.

I also didn't discredit everybody. I set the facts straight for the misinformed, like yourself.

So you choose NOW to come in here, defend how there is no way the OP got cheated? It was NOT a coincidence the software froze up as he was going to be part of the BBJ. Thanks for pointing out your past posts "criticizing" BetOnline and Chico Network. Now though you appear, quote nearly everybody and act like it is absurd the site screwed the OP purposely. Very consistent with your opinions I see smh.

I play there on a regular basis. Do you?

You clearly have reading comprehension difficulties if the only responses from my post that you could interpret were the ones that seemed like I was defending them, when in actuality I was just stating facts based on my experiences regularly playing there for years now. You must have missed the dozen or so responses in that post where I either brought up or agreed with legit criticisms of the network.

I also stated that I think the OP should be paid. Your main issue seems to be that I disagreed with your posts that were full of unsubstantiated bullshit.

I don't have all day to sit here and argue with you for the sake of arguing since we both agree that the OP should be paid in the end.

Aren't you a grown ass man with a wife? How about trying to approach adult conversations with a little more maturity.

Sure, as soon as you stop playing both sides and claiming there was no way the disconnection was on purpose. Maybe you believe in the tooth fairy then too because what I and many others see was something that was way too consequential to be a damn coincidence. Sure the OP should get paid. But claiming we are all misinformed and it definitely wasn't on purpose is naive and ridiculous. OP claimed that never happened to him before, and on the card that gets him the BBJ the whole software just freezes? When 300k+ is going to get claimed and split?

No pal it's your defense of the site in this case that is misinformed. Anyways I'm done going back and forth with you. And for the record I didn't give a **** if you criticized my posts. It was your defending the indefensible which set me off.

I'm not playing both sides. I am simplify stating facts based on firsthand experience, unlike yourself.

"OP claimed that never happened to him before,"
It was literally his first day on the site.
Please follow along closely if you're going to comment on this situation.

OP also posted a video of what it looks like when he loses internet connection on his end, which doesn't match up with what actually happened during the bbj hand in question.

So the disconnect was clearly NOT on his end (which is what betonline is somehow stating), which leaves us with what....

A stupid decision that borders epic.

They award the bbj with a message stating that no other players were disconnected but we cannot with 100% assurance say there was not some glitch on our end, therefore in the interest of player concern and the almost certainty this hand would have been okayed out, BOL will award the BBJ.

That bring tons of good cheer and support. Gives the players something positive to discuss on the heels of their VIP points being evaporated. Instead, they opt for not paying anything, or even some conciliatory award, wash their hands of any connection to the disconnect. Even with Apache logs proving there was no issue on their end, it is incredibly stupid PR.

Now, BOL will get an opportunity to deal with massive complaints re this, bots, payout levels, and rewards stolen from players when Ingram posts a video in it, rightly so. "Only" a cpl 100 thousand views to the video and months and months of talking about it. With a rec heavy player field, the impact from it will be well earned.

No chance I believe it is some nefarious action on behalf of BOL, but man did they really shoot themselves with their position here. Super fast payouts and smooth software is not going to be more important in the eyes of a prospective new player or those already feeling disenfranchised.

In a top ten list of epic fails by a poker network, this is right up near the top.

The video he has of the hand playing is not live, it was from the hand history.