July 8, 2004
Avatars that growl
by Otis
Those of you who play on Empire Poker might have heard a growl from across the ethereal poker room last night. It wouldn't have been hard to spot the source of the noise. It sprung, nay, erupted from the avatar known as Otis.
While I'm the first to defend online poker rooms for the massive task of managing tens of thousands of players at once, I'm also not going to be a mindless shill for them either.
So, please step inside for a rant against my homesite and, well, one of its players.
Rant #1: I bought in for this?
In recent days, Empire's multis have been experiencing a problem so serious that it threatens to discredit the effort to be a serious, reputable poker room. In two consecutive tourneys I've played, the entire game locked up. Every player is forced to sit and watch the screen do nothing. If you leave, you lose your buy-in. If you sit there, you're forced to watch mindless chat among bored players. You're also forced to watch the blind level go up without having a chance to play. After 30 to 45 minutes, the game springs back to life, but the blinds are a few levels higher. The crapshoot begins.
This first happened to me when we were two from the money in a 145-player multi. I ended up cashing in 9th place, but I can't help but think it hurt some of the other players. It happened again last night on the second hand of the tourney. Many of the other players said this has been happening for a while. It's a major bug in the system and severely discredits Empire's already weak tourney schedule.
Rant #2: You unbelievable weakling
This is no new problem, but it was the first time it cost me money.
I was in a $200 PL game last night. I raised on the button with AKs. The player UTG re-raised $20. I called. The flop came ATT rainbow. UTG (JacksRHI) bet the pot (~$50+). I thought for all of two seconds. Right now, AA, TT, and AT, and Tx beat me. I figure he's not going to re-reraise UTG with AT or any other naked T. The only way to know if he's holding American Airlines or TT is to...of, course, re-raise the amount of the pot.
When he didn't call for ten seconds, I knew I was out in front. No way he's going to think that long if he's holding the boat or quads. But then he didn't call for another five seconds. Then another five seconds.
The sonofabitch timed out and used his disconnect protection to see of his 77 would turn into a boat. To see those cards fairly, it would've cost him the rest of his stack.
My hand held up and I raked a sizable pot. But it should've been $87 bigger.
I know some sites have gotten rid of their disconnect protections for tourneys. I'm starting to think they should get rid of them all together. It's one thing when it only means the difference between winning and losing a few bucks. But when it's a few hundred bucks, that's a different story.
Disagree? Wait for it to happen to you.
Rant #3: My atheletic supporter works better than this
After both of these issues happened in the same night, I clicked on the 24-hour support button. I'd noticed several weeks ago that the 24-hour support function was inoperable. Turns out, it still is. When I e-mailed the off-line support about the tourney problem, I didn't even get an automated response.
True Poker, while replete with flaws, at least always has a host online to answer questions. How in the world Empire can operate without online supoprt is beyond me.
So, there ya go. I'm unhappy with Empire Poker. Perhaps I'm more unhappy because I'm more successful at this site than at any of the others I've played. The players are weaker, the pots are easier to rake, and they offer a variety of good games. Their multi-table tourney schedule sucks, but I probably shouldn't be playing too many multis anyway. Despite the great overlay on Empire's guaranteed tourneys, my EV is never that great.
I'd be curious to hear what other Empire players think. I'd also be curious to hear from Party players who also play at Empire about which skin they'd rather play at.
Rant ends here. Better writing to come later.
I've never been a fan of Empire. Apart from the bad players there, there are few if any benefits. UB's set up is much better... even Planet (which I play almost exclusively now).
i've switched almost exclusively to empire in the last few weeks after years at party. primarily because i was beginning to see too many regulars in my 5.10 game and i wanted to hide my identity. i don't play many tourneys there so i haven't had to suffer the delays. brutal.
per the purposeful disconnects - they MUST do something about that. just about everyone else has stopped allowing that practice. at the least, i would write a futile email to "support" complaining about the d/c jackass.
I switched over to Empire for one of their affiliate deals, and couldn't believe the weakness of the tourney schedule... I thought Party's was bad.. but it blows Empire away. Even now with the multi-SNG tables, they onle offer $5 entries.. Poor.
Complain about the jackass. They will revoke his disconnect privilege. That kind of shit drives me crazy.
Wow, what a great rant! I've not played on Empire but I not a big fan of disconnect protection the digital version of rabbit hunting that costs money and forces showing cards.
those are some of the reasons i don't play online poker. let me just ask one question that will sum up the worst thing (in my opinion) that could happen at an online poker room.
What if you logged into your choice of online poker rooms (pick one it doesn't matter) and viola!, the $500 you deposited yesterday was gone! What would you do?? Send some emails... Call a phone number for some support?? Well no matter what you answer it wouldn't matter because you have no recourse. You have no legal standing. In other words you have no OUTS period!
nothing is better than the real thing and online poker is evil incarnate.
i hardly ever hear of anyone talking about the integrity of their online poker rooms because there is nothing to compare them against or a standard to hold them to.
anyways i guess my point seems to be that i really don't think you can complain about something that doesn't have any rules to play by and thousands of people choose to play anyway.
i think i need to move to the west indies and start an online pokerroom. what easy money!!!
slip in a couple of bots here and there (as pokerprof and I have talked about before) and in a little less than a few months i could be a millionaire.
later...
Well, myradiohead, your points are very vaild. Except for one thing... it is in the online poker room's best interest to run a legitimate business.
As soon as one of these poker rooms gets a reputation for stealing money (i.e. Choice Poker), they're finished. Empire Poker, Ultimate Bet, etc. are all making money hand over fist because they are perceived to be legitimate. Why would they start stealing?
A legitimate online poker room is like permission to print money.
that was simply an example and you are right. people would leave in droves if they stole your money but that wasn't the point. the point was is that they could do it and you are screwed.
but how do you know they are "legitimate"?? how do you know the guy on the other side of the table isn't "injected" every so often and plays a "pre-defined, setup" hand, whether it be by software or a live player that can see everyones cards.
take the following example (something pokerprof and I have talked about)
bot is plugged into the game every 50th or 100th hand in a number of different tables and will be dealt best hand while someone else will be dealt the "bad beat" hand. bot takes maybe 10, 20, or so dollars (can't be greedy so as to not alarm the lemmings) and what do you yell "Check out the bad beat that happened to me yesterday... I had a Aces full of Kings and he had 4 2's to take the pot... worst bad beat ever i tell ya."
How would you be able to tell the difference between the "injected" and a real player. You can't.
You saying a "legitimate online poker room" is a misnomer because you can't prove they are legitimate you are just assuming. do you honestly think the poker room has your best interest in mind?? they want your money. they aren't regulated and there is no recourse (other than lots of people leaving the poker room). but what you don't know doesn't hurt you right?? talk about a fleecing. not why would they do it, but why wouldn't they. it is way too simple.
Can you prove they don't do something like what I have tried to explain above??
i have played thousands of hands of hold'em in live poker rooms over a number of years and i played online 4 months (started with 100 and finished with 300 at 1 of the most reputable online rooms) and saw more dastardly things happen in 4 months than all my days in brick and mortars. very fishy stuff too. i actually have wanted to start a blog about all the weirdness but that would require me to play more online poker and i refuse to play (except for getting rid of all these stupid FPP's)
if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck... well you know the rest!
remember there is nothing better than the real thing and if you are playing poker online you truly are gambling!!!
as for me and mine. i wanna stare back at myself through your mirrored sunglasses at a real poker table and check my teeth for food while you contemplate calling my all-in pocket rockets with your pocket 2's
