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It’s an Online Poker Room, Not an Online Bank
I am going to admit up front that this column does not offer up anything in the way of poker “strategy.” Rather, I am going with a bit of advice this week. Advice that, thanks to one of the most out of touch, obtuse, stubborn, self-centered poker message board posters of all time giving me the perfect jumping off point, may help you avoid some potential headaches down the road. This tough guy posted a rant about Full Tilt Poker temporarily freezing his account pending an explanation of a transfer he received from another player. His story was that he had been staking this person for some time when this stakee decided to play in games above his skill level or bankroll. Our genius requested that the stakee return part of the stake, which he did. Our friend then proceeded to cash out that money. Full Tilt did not like this withdrawal request and wanted to know what his relationship was with the stakee. This infuriated our main character, who believes that since it is his money, he should be allowed to do what he wants with it. He contends that Full Tilt, because it is a company that holds people’s money ...
Anonymous August 27th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Great article. Another additional point that I think merits mentioning. Online poker sites that permit inter-player transfers like this are forced to be hyper-vigilant, as this is classified as a potential AML (Anti-Money Laundering) risk. This is why chip-dumping is prohibited. Having a vehicle where one player can deposit funds, transfer them to another, and then have the transferee withdraw them will always, always be scrutinized carefully, and rightly so. This is not a sign of an operator playing fast and loose – quite the opposite. This suggests that they are taking their internal AML controls seriously. The industry endures a tide of allegations that it is unscrupulous – some it deserves, and some it doesn’t. This looks to me as though the operator was doing exactly the right thing.