Locked out of tables at Party

gurgeh · #1 07-03-2006, 02:57 PM

Unfortunately I and some of my friends had the misfortune of playing off of the same computer at various times on Party before we knew that this was a bad idea. We're now all banned from sitting at the same table with each other, making table selection at 5-10 NL pretty aggravating. We've tried getting around it, but it looks like three different accounts all became associated with the same MAC address and are forced to stay on separate tables. I therefore have two questions:

1) Has anyone tried changing MAC addresses or any other way of circumventing this little problem? We do not collude, soft-play, or do anything even remotely like cheating, so frankly I don't give a damn whether the method is considered kosher.

2) If Mike O. is reading this, could you please, PLEASE fix this? It's making playing at Party impossible for us and there is NO good reason for this "security measure" to be in place. If it actually added to the security of the site I might be more understanding, but it doesn't. All it does is annoy us. If you wanted to prevent collusion, a better way would be to flag multiple account activity from the same hardware and then investigate it before banning people. This is what Stars does and, strangely enough, that's partly why we love their customer support so much.

AThermopyle · #2 07-03-2006, 03:19 PM

How would changing MAC address now solve the problem?

If your accounts are "flagged", it doesn't matter what computer you use.

Unless...

anduril · #3 07-03-2006, 03:25 PM

how is there an "unless", therm?

Ali shmali · #4 07-03-2006, 03:27 PM

3 of you guys. that kind of sucks. If you are all friends you should set schedules for eachother. For such high stake players I'm surprised you guys did not realize that was going to screw up your table selection. Maybe you guys can just rotate weeks at the 1000's and if it's your week your two friends have to play the 600's or something. I don't know. I'm not sure party will be very lenient with this. That is a lot of money being wagered at 5/10. I don't think I would feel comfortable sittting at a high stakes table with 3 people that are good friends.

Gregg777 · #5 07-03-2006, 03:40 PM

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I don't think I would feel comfortable sittting at a high stakes table with 3 people that are good friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

catalyst · #6 07-03-2006, 03:47 PM

changing your mac address isn't very easy since it is "burned" to your NIC card. if your card doesn't support Clone MAC address then you need knowledge of windows registry. this might help: http://www.nthelp.com/NT6/change_mac_w2k.htm. Also, wouldn't just swapping in a new ethernet card solve this? I may be wrong here someone correct me if I am.

bill.

Ignignokt · #7 07-03-2006, 03:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
If Mike O. is reading this, could you please, PLEASE fix this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure you understand -- what they did WAS a "fix."

You're now asking them to take your word that you and your friends -- who sometimes play from the same computer -- don't collude, softplay, etc.

I often track players who sit together and appear to have a relationship. If anything looks fishy, I send off an e-mail. At your level, no doubt other players have been paying attention and may have complained.

I'm not saying they have grounds, you may be playing each other exactly as hard as you would play unknowns, but to protect their other players it may be Party's only option.

Edit: and cheating to get around it may only make things worse, as in a total ban.

gurgeh · #8 07-03-2006, 04:05 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If Mike O. is reading this, could you please, PLEASE fix this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure you understand -- what they did WAS a "fix."

[/ QUOTE ]

So then you are saying that PokerStars is broken?

gurgehsfriend · #9 07-03-2006, 04:13 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If Mike O. is reading this, could you please, PLEASE fix this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure you understand -- what they did WAS a "fix."

You're now asking them to take your word that you and your friends -- who sometimes play from the same computer -- don't collude, softplay, etc.

I often track players who sit together and appear to have a relationship. If anything looks fishy, I send off an e-mail. At your level, no doubt other players have been paying attention and may have complained.

I'm not saying they have grounds, you may be playing each other exactly as hard as you would play unknowns, but to protect their other players it may be Party's only option.

Edit: and cheating to get around it may only make things worse, as in a total ban.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your suspicions of players possibly complaining are incorrect. One account has literally never played a hand with one of the others, yet they are forbidden to play at the same tables.

I have called Party and asked them to watch our accounts for collusive behavior, and ban us if they see any. Of course, that's way too much effort for them, so they'd rather institute this borderline useless system. Typical customer support from them.

Calling this a 'fix' is extremely naive. Party is lazy and unwilling to enact real anti-collusive measures, so they give us this crap and cost themselves thousands of dollars in rake per year (from the three of us alone).

gurgehsfriend · #10 07-03-2006, 04:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't think I would feel comfortable sittting at a high stakes table with 3 people that are good friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Then don't ever play anything over medium-stakes NL online. The poker community isn't that big. Playing with people that know each other very well is just a cost of doing business.