In good fun to get over running colder than hell, I decided to write to FTP, here is what I wrote:
Dear Full Tilt,
I write as an agonized micro NL grinder severely fed up with my doom switch status. I am doing all I can to move up in limits and make myself and ultimately you guys, more money.
Unfortunately, with my strict BR requirements, I am unable to do this because of the position of the "switch." Right now it appears as if you have it set to the "doom" position on my account as I consistently lose 95/5's and 90/10's.
Losing the occasional coin flip is fine with me as that is standard variance, and of course, given that 90/10's and 95/5's do lose 10% and 5% of the time respectively, it is just discouraging when those 10% and 5% occasions occur with me, all the time.
I am not requesting that you move the switch to the boom position, although that would be wonderful, if you could just set it to the neutral position, I believe that I am a good enough player to make money and ultimately move up in stakes.
Thank you so much.
I will be playing throughout the rest of the week to test the new position of the switch. I look forward to the change!
*******************************************
Here is what I got back, within 5 hours of sending it:
Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support.
As an avid poker player, I certainly understand your frustrations with bad beats and general negative variance. I have myself been through prolonged streaks of both good and bad luck.
Please be assured that our shuffle is random.
Please consider that as well as being technically close to impossible, there is no motivation for a poker site to "rig" the deck in favor or against a specific player. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to keep players happy, and the best way to keep players happy is to provide a legit, fair, and friendly game. This is why site integrity is of paramount importance to us.
I have the feeling that you misunderstand how our business operates. Unlike casino sites, poker sites do not earn revenue when a player loses money. Our income is derived solely from the rake, a small percentage of the pot that is taken from the winner of the hand. Understand that in a very real sense, we have no interest in the outcome of individual hands. Manipulating the dealing of cards does nothing to increase our revenue and everything to minimize it--it would be financial suicide as a business decision to engage in such unethical activity, ruining our reputation. Understand that your losses are not translated into our gains; the player who has won the money from you has gained to be sure, but this is completely unrelated to how our revenue is derived.
Unfortunately in the short-run, variance is such a large factor in poker, and many players will receive more than their expected average of premium hands in terms of card distribution and consequently at times, less than their expected average of premium hands. The same can be said in terms of hitting flops and completing draws or having hands hold up. It is only when dealing with very large numbers that a player's average statistics will approach its expected average. This is where the expression, "professionals play by the month, not by the day" is derived.
Understand that there is no "doom switch" but there certainly is statistical variance. It is only when speaking of tens of thousands of hands that personal statistics begin to approach its theoretical expectation. For players that play this game for a living, it is imperative that they keep a very large bankroll to endure such fluctuation. It is well known that an excellent player that may win from 1 to 2 big bets an hour playing limit can lose 300-500 big bets, and a winning no-limit player can endure a run of 20 or more buy-in losses, again due to variance. In sit and gos, 20 to 30 session droughts in which a player does not cash is not uncommon. These are taken into account, and professionals are very conscientious of when to move down limits to lower their risk of ruination to a reasonable level. Knowledge of these statistics will not make these players immune to bad beats--nobody is--however, they will react better when these inevitable bad runs do occur. Also, these same players are very honest with themselves, analyzing when they are running bad, and when they are playing bad. It is often the level of honesty that separates an excellent player from someone who is merely above average.
I strongly suggest that you visit the poker forums in the link below; it is the largest poker forum that is visited by many poker enthusiasts such as yourself, and is an unbiased third party to our site (and any other poker sites in business). I believe that the voice of the general poker community will be more persuasive in dissuading you of your belief that online poker is rigged.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/index.php
On behalf of Full Tilt Poker, I wish you the best of luck at the tables. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Awesome imo.
