Pokerstars has bee driving me f**king crazy and finally I broke and sent them an email. This is due to being furious, but also because things happened to me like what you described in your first post. It seems that lately the cards have been falling in crazy ways like this, as I have recently seen and heard way more complaints than usual.
I used to keep track of how many times I got screwed over and in what way, but I stopped doing this because it just made me feel worse about it. At the same time, if I am going to complain, it should be informative and not just raw frustration. So I did and sent an email to Stars. This is their reply:
Thank you for your reply.
The shuffle on PokerStars is truly random; PokerStars is absolutely
satisfied of that fact. If there remains any doubt yourself then allow me
again to make the offer to you to provide you with the hand histories for
*every single* hand (all 162,570 of them) you have ever played on PokerStars
to have analysed by a mathematician, or for your own analysis using
software such as PokerTracker or Poker Office. All we do is shuffle a fair
deck of cards, deal them to the players and let them play, what more can
we do?
You have stated in your correspondence to us that these things "do not
happen in the real world". I have played poker in Brick and Mortar casinos
and clubs, and it's important to remember that we deal up to four times as
many hands per hour, per table that are dealt in a "real-life" brick and
mortar casino.
A typical casino poker table deals 20-30 hands per hour, while ours deal 60,
80, and even 100 or more (have a look at the H/hr -- hands per hour --
column in the real money lobby). If you're used to casino play, it's natural
to need to adjust to the pace of playing online. Almost everyone finds it
somewhat surreal at first.
We currently deal in the vicinity of twelve million hands *every single
day*. This is more hands than would be dealt in the large Los Angeles card
casinos (such as the Commerce and Bicycle clubs) in four *months*.
This means that we'll deal many months worth of bad beats, months worth of
straight flushes, months worth of unbelievable hands (such as "set over set
over set"), all in one day. Quads losing to quads in Hold'em is an over 5-
million-to-1 occurrence, which you will probably not see in a lifetime of
casino play, but it happens to someone on PokerStars every day. Perhaps this
will give you some perspective on why things seem "different" here than in a
live casino -- we've effectively sped up time.
You can flood as many forums as you wish; that is your prerogative and you
are entitled to your view. However we feel compelled to point out that
PokerStars has a long history of credibility, not vice versa
In any case, it is clear that you feel that you are going to withdraw from
PokerStars. If you wish to play somewhere else, then you are completely
within your rights to do so, however I do know that nowhere else on the
internet will you find a site that has put more effort into ensuring a
random shuffle, let alone a higher regard for integrity or commitment to
customer service.
As a player myself, I sincerely wish you the best of luck wherever you do
decide to play. If you do decide to return to PokerStars, or if there is
anything with which we may assist you, do not hesitate to email us back.
Regards,
James H
PokerStars Support Team
Also, whenever a thread in any forum like this appears, many others come out and say that the sites are not rigged and make smartass comments. They do this, not because they know what they are talking about, but because they
a) enjoy kicking people when they are down
b) believe that they are taking the "high road" and are being more professional
c) believe that it is an opportunity to make themselves look smarter.
Regardless of what position you take, rigged or not, (usually coincides with losing or not) most of those people are just as ignorant and clueless as what they accuse the complainer to be.
It is really not that much of a stretch to say that
a) everywhere else in the world, a computer program simulation is not ever as accurate as real life and
b)that computer software can be manipulated.
Threads, though ridiculous at times, like this help hold the sites accountable and is part of self-regulation that can help keep governments from meddling. And it is important to remember that posting in forums is pretty much the extent of any control you have over what happens, which is not much. The only thing you can really control is your own play, so that really does need to be your focus.
In summary, threads that complain about sites being rigged actually can serve a purpose, while those who post smartass remarks in response do not. So fuck off.
