The beleaguered Lock Poker has had quite a bit of trouble over the past few months as it continues to offer online poker to U. S. residents. Now it has to bid adieu to two of its more prominent professional players from its Lock Poker Pros team.
According to the PokerNews UK’s Matthew Pitt, online destroyer and live tournament pro Chris Moorman has declined to re-sign another sponsorship deal with the site. Over his Twitter feed, Moorman announced his decision in a two-part Tweet. “I have decided not to renew my contract with Lock (Poker),” Moorman started. “I sincerely hope Lock is able to overcome its current problems and, for the sake of online poker, (that) their situation is resolved.”
In addition to the decision by Moorman not to stay with the site, another poker pro has departed the fold. One of the top candidates for 2013 Player of the Year honors on the major leaderboards, Paul Volpe, also announced the termination of his sponsorship deal. “I want to thank them for giving me the opportunity,” he stated on Twitter. “I hope poker becomes legal and they can resolve all the issues they are having.”
The problems for Lock Poker that both Moorman and Volpe speak of have become more apparent over the past year’s actions on the site. As of late, cashout issues have become increasingly long for players looking to get their money off the site. According to Pitt, American players (the site is a member of the Revolution Gaming Network, which still accepts U. S. action) have had wait periods of as long as five months to get a cashout from the site. Even for international players, the wait time has been as long as three months before they received their funds.
The professional players that remain a part of the Lock Poker Pro stable are beginning to feel the heat also from the poker community. One of their most prominent pros, two-time WSOP Poker Players Champion Michael Mizrachi, has responded to Tweets from players by saying, “I will do my best to make things happen…I hope everyone will understand.” Fellow poker professional and Lock Poker Pro member Matt Stout took it one step further by issuing a post over the popular Two Plus Two forum.
“People all over are talking about how we, the pros, are scum for being associated with Lock and must have no moral or ethical standards,” Stout begins in his post. “That is far from the truth.”
Stout talks about other pros on the site, such as Melanie Weisner, who have been blasted on various platforms regarding their involvement with the site. “We are highly reputable members of the high stakes tournament community and have been for years,” Stout writes. “We have been very active behind the scenes, even if we aren’t able to answer all of the questions that people want answered. Please don’t think that we’re all sitting idly by without a plan.”
Stout cites that he has been a part of Lock Poker since 2009, “a couple of years before Black Friday when Lock Poker was nothing more than a skin on the Cake Network.” (The Cake Network has morphed into the Revolution Gaming Network) “I will commit to paying back at least $10,000 from the pro payments I’ve received this year (and more if I am able to get all of my Lock money offline) if Lock does indeed go under. I will distribute it to the players who are signed up under me based on how much each of them has on Lock.”
Stout finishes off his 2+2 statement by saying, “I think that walking away and turning my back on the situation after having my friends and followers sign up for and deposit money on the site for the past four years would be a cowardly move. I owe it to them to do whatever I can to advocate for the players in this situation.”
The roster of Lock Poker Pros (of which many have been blasted over social media) includes a diverse array of international talent. Inaugural WSOP Europe champion Annette Obrestad, Felipe Ramos, Eric Lynch, Bryan Pellegrino, Weisner and others are still a part of the team, but how long that will last is unknown.
The issues that are dogging Lock Poker don’t seem to be affecting the overall numbers of the Revolution Gaming Network. As of today, the Network is the 13th largest in the industry, according to PokerScout.com. Only Bodog has better numbers at this time of sites that accept American action. With the attention that the departing pros – and those that are staying – are receiving, there is hope that Lock Poker might get its act together and resolve the issues that it faces.
