Online poker giants, Pokerroom.com, are currently the focal point of a week of controversy and unwanted publicity after accidentally placing a $19,000 guarantee on a $20 Christmas tournament that was only meant to offer Pokerroom merchandise.
Realising their error, cardroom managers swiftly retrieved monetary prizes from the accounts of the players who placed in the competition and apologised for what they described as a technical glitch.
Outraged by this, 4th place finisher, Artie0001 brought the matter to the attention of the cardroom’s forum, 'Pokah!', claiming that he had entered the tournament due to the advertised guarantee. Incensed that his $1,200 had been recaptured from his account two days after the Event, Artie0001 demanded answers and a reason to why this injustice had occurred.
Soon after, mvzander, who placed 1st in the tournament for $3,829.06 and a HDTV worth $2,000 made a similar complaint and demanded a full reimbursement of the prize money that had been ‘stolen’ from his account.
Backed by a number of Pokerroom members (many of whom were Americans unable to play due to the ban), the two were gradually joined by the other finalists who echoed their thoughts.
Although Pokerroom did offer to compensate finalists and all other participants $110 and $10 respectively, the silence since has been deafening.
The members, however, have certainly not been shy in making their voices heard, and are not only keen to fight for a full reimbursement, but also to see that Pokerroom receives as much bad publicity as possible.
Whilst many have been banned from the forum and the thread has been unstickied countless times, the members have remained resilient and have successfully managed to spread the word across the cyber world. With more and more poker sites across Europe and America highlighting the scandal, one forum even went as far as suspending advertising of Pokerroom until the matter is resolved.
Pokeroom did speak out briefly very early on in the thread, but this was merely to say that the players had been overpaid and that the competition had never been promoted as a 19k guarantee event. However, whilst this is true for emails and promotional leaflets, the description on the homepage did speak of 'extra prizes' (thereby implying that the merchandise would be additional to monetary rewards) and the tournament lobby was clearly seen by many players as offering a payout of money and merchandise. One member even offered a screenshot of the final result (to which can be seen below), but this has been seemingly ignored by Pokerroom management who remain intent on worming themselves out of what has become a very tricky predicament indeed.
The players, who are yet to receive a reimbursement of any kind, are continuing to rally, gallantly showing support in numbers by boycotting what they believe to be a dishonest cardroom. Meanwhile, the forum thread continues to thrive, at last glance surpassing the 75-page mark.
Whilst the players involved await a response of some kind (many are already threatening legal action), one has to wonder how this scandal will affect what was one of the poker world’s first online cardrooms. Cleary harbouring what is only a minor percentage of their playing field, it appears as though Pokeroom are ignoring the matter in the hope that it goes away. However, news has already spread, and whilst the company won’t be folding any time soon, the $13,170 being withheld is surely nowhere near the figure they will potentially lose from all the negative publicity.
Watch this space for further news as we receive it.