Poker Stars support is The Shit

After my recent third place finish in that $30 PLO MTT I was feeling kinda sick about how it ended (not my run as much as the tourney in general; after I was eliminated the two guys got all-in with crap after playing each other tight all day).

So I spit out a letter to the guys over there.

>Ok, I'm prolly just imagining things, but the play 3-handed in this
>MTT as really bothered me.
>Maybe I was just so aggressive, that both players felt like they
>needed to just wait for me to overdo it. So they stayed out of each
>other's way.
>But I'd like someone to please look at it, because sometimes I got the
>feeling they already had some deal in place. Then I was eliminated and
>the big stick won on the next hand or the hand after (and both players
>had trash).
>
>So for my peace of mind, could you give it a once over? Only
>3-4-handed play would be necessary.
>
>Also, I forgot to copy and paste the last hand of the MTT from the
>hand history box. Could I see it?
>
>Thanks.
>-Ryan Killian
>BurntOrnge


After a few days I thought I'd been ignored, but they guys were just working thourougly.

Thank you once again for reporting your concerns to us. Although we do
monitor the games for collusion, we always appreciate vigilant players such
as yourself reporting any strange or unusual play to us for review. I have
completed my investigation into the accounts of the players "BOT84"
and "TotalScience".

The first thing that we look for in such cases is a relationship between
the two players. In this instance, they live toth live in the St. Louis
metro area. They have also logged in from a common computer or internet
connection.

I then look for frequency of play together. I am looking to see if these
players seem to be seeking each other out. Although a high frequency of
play is not necessarily an indictment, it can be a harbinger of unethical
play. In this case, they have not played at the same ring game table any
time in the past month, and this is the first tournament that they have
played at the same table. We also contacted the players, and they admitted
to knowing each other, and even sharing a computer from time to time, but
have avoided playing with each other at the same table.

With that said, the real question comes in the play of the tournaments. One
of the advantages of online poker is that there is a full record of every
hand, and after the fact, we can look through the hands with all cards face
up; as a result, cheaters cannot hide what they are doing.

I reviewed this tournament with all cards face up, looking for any forms of
collusion. First of all, the players were playing from distinct locations
when this event was played. Most of the play in this event was consistent,
and there didn't really appear to be plays that were maliciously or
intentionally collusive. However, as an experienced PLO player, I can tell
you that there were some hands in which I felt that they were avoiding
confrontation. This was reviewed by 4 other specialists as well, and the
consensus was at worst, they avoided confrontation a couple times, as most
of their play was consistent, including several confrontation hands which
were exonerating. There were several perfect stack balancing opportunities
which passed without incident, as well as many pot building opportunities
that were not taken advantage of. It very unclear if this even was affected
by the possible lack of confrontation, but in your position I can certainly
understand why you had your suspicions. In fact, we are not comfortable
with any possibility existing that this event was affected. It is our
policy to compensate those that are affected by unethical play, and even
though I can't really conclude that unethical play occurred, we feel a need
to compensate you because it was possible that this event was affected.

Therefore, we have advanced you from 3rd to 2nd in this event, and credited
your account with $194.40. We do this at our expense, just because the
possibility exists, and the integrity of our games must be maintained.

Furthermore, we have restricted the accounts of the two players so that
they can not play in SnG tournaments together, or share a table in a ring
game. They will also not be able to play in small MTT events, in which
there is a likelyhood that they can share a table.

As you can see, we have a lot of tools at our disposal which help us keep
our games honest and fair. In addition, the thousands of honest, vigilant
players who point out situations that merit investigation are an important
part of our arsenal. Thank you for doing your part to protect the integrity
of our games.

Regards,

Randy
PokerStars Support Team

Pretty cool, but I felt robbed still. I want to be on top of a damn tournament, and I felt like i was the cream of the remaining crop. But I was facing players who wouldn't confront each other, and I couldn't dodge a suckout...