Mike O'Malley: Please Help!

[fryedliver]

Mike:

I opened an account at PartyPoker in November of last year. I played about 20 hours per week until February, when I left to go on a trip. When I returned home a month later and tried to log onto my account, I was told that my account was blocked and that I should contact support.

My attempts to resolve this problem with your support group have been very frustrating. I spoke with 'Logan' of the investigations team, and he told me that they had decided I was using software to assist my play, and that they were closing my account and confiscating my funds. They are doing the same thing to a friend of mine. As far as I can tell, our only crimes are that we opened the accounts on the same day.

Logan did provide me with some details of why he thinks I am using software, but his reasoning is just plain messed up. The lack of logic in his reasoning makes me think that Logan is not a poker player, and does not seem to understand some basic characteristics that are common to most winning players. I am hoping that you, as a poker player, can get involved and explain just how insane his accusations are.

At this point, I'd prefer not to turn this into a public discussion, since I'm still clinging to the hope that one sane person in that company will be enough to turn this situation around. However, I do not have an email address for you, and I have no confidence that email sent to Party will ever get to you. I have been told many things by the support group, with respect to getting called back, or problems solved in 24-48 hours, or send us some id and everything will be fine... and those all seem to be lies.

I have about $7k in my account. I have never cashed out of Party, having deposited about 8-9k into the site from Neteller. My friend (whom Logan claims "plays just like me") has done quite well at the site though, so maybe his good run is what has triggered this witch hunt.

As I've told Logan, I have never used software, other than trying a demo version of PokerTracker. From my research, there are plenty of people who successfully play at Party, so I suspect this type of misunderstanding is rare, and that there is still some hope of it being resolved amicably if only the right people become involved. I'm hoping, Mike, that you are that right person, or that you know who in that company is the right person.

If you need some specific information from me regarding my account, please contact me at [email protected].

[MicroBob]

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At this point, I'd prefer not to turn this into a public discussion

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This is an interesting thing to say in a public forum.

[fryedliver]

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At this point, I'd prefer not to turn this into a public discussion

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This is an interesting thing to say in a public forum.

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Good point.

It's a tough spot... not wanting to piss off the people holding onto your money, yet wanting to present some sort of leverage. I personally think that presenting Logan's 'evidence' will reflect quite poorly on PartyPoker. Making them look bad might not be wise, when they currently hold my money.

I'm still hoping a Party employee will fix this situation. Posting here is the only way I know to get hold of Mike O'Malley. Yes, it also implies that the next step is to open the details to the public. I'm hoping to get that leverage without annoying the people holding onto my money.

You seem to have a lot more experience with PartyPoker than I do, so I'd be interested in any advice you have on how to better handle this situation.

[Alobar]

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At this point, I'd prefer not to turn this into a public discussion

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This is an interesting thing to say in a public forum.

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Good point.

It's a tough spot... not wanting to piss off the people holding onto your money, yet wanting to present some sort of leverage. I personally think that presenting Logan's 'evidence' will reflect quite poorly on PartyPoker. Making them look bad might not be wise, when they currently hold my money.

I'm still hoping a Party employee will fix this situation. Posting here is the only way I know to get hold of Mike O'Malley. Yes, it also implies that the next step is to open the details to the public. I'm hoping to get that leverage without annoying the people holding onto my money.

You seem to have a lot more experience with PartyPoker than I do, so I'd be interested in any advice you have on how to better handle this situation.

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Your logic is flawed. Your best bet is to disclose everything here to us, and actually hope that it makes party look bad (which I in no way doubt that could easily be the case, party is run by clueless idiots), if enough stink gets raised they might actually do something about it. If not, you have ZERO hope of ever seeing your money again.

Also, like has been pointed out, you are going to recieve mostly hostility here from other posters since no one knows you, its just automatically going to be assumed you are a cheater.

If I were you, id start pasting the email exchanged here and tell everything that went down.

[Borgland]

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It's a tough spot... not wanting to piss off the people holding onto your money, yet wanting to present some sort of leverage. I personally think that presenting Logan's 'evidence' will reflect quite poorly on PartyPoker. Making them look bad might not be wise, when they currently hold my money.

I'm still hoping a Party employee will fix this situation. Posting here is the only way I know to get hold of Mike O'Malley. Yes, it also implies that the next step is to open the details to the public. I'm hoping to get that leverage without annoying the people holding onto my money.


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No offense, but this kind of sounds like blackmail. Like you're saying "fix it or get exposed". IMHO the best course of action would have been to just post everything up front in the first place if you're going to go public with this.

I'm curious as to what the actual cheating accusations are.

[MicroBob]

I can't possibly give much advice without knowing what you are talking about.


However, I really don't think Mike O'Malley has time to read the forums here that much.

In an older cardplayer he lists his e-mail as [email protected] and he has also posted under the 2+2 handle rzitup before I believe.
Not sure if an e-mail or PM to either would still get to him or not though.


You could also just try e-mail info@party and explaining that you are unsatisfied with the explanation you are receiving and would like to speak with someone higher up. You could even mention that you would specifically like to speak with Mike O'Malley if you think that would work.


I do not think that just posting your general situation on this message board and hoping that Mike pretty-pretty-please reads it would be the way to go.

I don't even think he got back to the people asking him Q's about the party upgrade way back when that was a hot discussion.


Anyway, it seems we have people asking for Mike's thoughts all the time and very rarely does he respond. Most likely because he just doesn't get around to reading all the Q's posed to him in the first place.

[jacknine]

Long live the search function!
In that old "Name the new Party tables"-contest thread, he listed his Party mail addie ... [email protected]

Good luck getting your money back.

[frommagio]

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I'm still hoping a Party employee will fix this situation. Posting here is the only way I know to get hold of Mike O'Malley.

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I can't understand why anybody would believe that posting here is a way to get hold of Mike O'Malley. Maybe before hundreds of people posted their questions on the infamous "Questions for Mike" upgrade thread, but not after.

Your best bet is to disclose the details. If you have a case, get the folks here on your side.

[fryedliver]

Okay, perhaps I was foolish to give Party one more chance.

As I mentioned, I came back from a long trip, and my account had been put on hold. It took numerous attempts to contact support before I finally spoke to somebody who told me something other than "standard investigation... 24-48 hours". This person was Logan. He was the first person to ask me any questions, and then followed it with direct accusations.

He told me that he felt I was using software to assist my play, despite the fact that I had told him I was not using any form of software. I asked if he was refering to something that advised me how to play, and he said, more like something that plays for you.

He supported his accusation with the following:

1. "You opened an account on the same day as your friend."

This is true.


2. "The only advanced actions you use are preflop folds."

It is not true that these are the only advanced actions I use, but they are the vast majority.


3. "You play at the exact same time every day."

This is ridiculous. I play at various times of the day, play on some days and not other days. Logan indicated that the last three days that I played, I had started within a five minute period. I have no idea if this is true or not, since those days were about six weeks prior to this conversation. If it is somehow true, it's just a coincidence, and going back more than three days would prove that. Surely they have more than three days worth of data, right??


4. "You play just like your friend."

We do play similarly. I admitted that this was true, but would be happy to point out some differences, but he was not interested.


5. "You never go on tilt, and never make a mistake."

What can I say about this accusation? I'd certainly like it to be true. My only response was to ask him how he would recognize if I was on tilt. If I opened in early position with ATo, am I on tilt, or is this my regular play? Better yet, is it a mistake or is it not? Logan, can you really claim to know enough about my play to know whether or not I am on tilt? And do you know enough about perfect play to know when a person makes a mistake? And why haven't I been able to beat the games??


That was the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence. He stated that for these reasons, they were certain I am using software, and that they were choosing to close my account and confiscate my funds. I told him this was completely unacceptable, and that I could not believe it was happening. I asked what I could possibly do to satisfy them that they had made a mistake. He told me that if I was willing to fill out the preferred players form, they would review my case.

I did as requested, fairly confident that any review of the case would clear things up. I received email indicating that I was now a member of the elite group of preferred players, and that $10 had been added to my account. However, I was still not able to login, nor did I feel preferred.

I have called them about ten times since then, attempting to get in touch with Logan. They give me excuses every time, and always claim that he will call me back within 24 hours. I always ask to speak to somebody else, and they always tell me nobody is available. I have never received a phone call.

It's been about three weeks since I last spoke to Logan.

I don't know what more to say. I swear that the above is a complete account of what occurred. I have not left out any relevant details, and I have not altered or exaggerated in any way.

[Synergistic Explosions]

Are you using SnoopFree?

For sure they think you set up multiple accounts for bot play.

They seem to already judged you as guilty and have closed the case.

Since there is no appeal process with third party intervention availiable, you just have to accept their decision regardless if you are innocent or guilty.

Thats the price we all pay for agreeing to the sites terms when we sign up. We give them that power when we click agree.

Sorry it happened to you if you are one of the innocent ones who got screwed. You aren't the first and won't be the last.