I wanted to preface this posting by stating I will include all email communication between myself and the sportsbook.ag /Merge Gaming Network support and will tell the story to the best of my memory of a big win I had vs. a player which resulted in the network confiscating approximately $4,000 of my funds.
On October 10th 2017 in the time range of 3 A.M. I was exhausted and was returning from the bathroom and was about to close all poker games. The games on this night were very slow and I played a small amount of hands. As I was closing the window I noticed a player had sat at the 15-30 limit hold em table I had occupied. I decide to play and if he was close to my skill I was off to sleep because I had work in the late morning.
After we played in the range of 5 to 15 hands I knew I had a large advantage on this player. As the game went along this player was often trying to bluff me with 2 to 3 bets and sometimes 4 with very weak hands on the turn and the river. I was able to get full value and then some often times when I was ahead but there were also times where he would jam in 3-4 bets with nothing and he would suck out on me and get more value on the river for extra bets which is standard vs a lunatic player
The opening 150 to 200 hands I won at a super high rate netting about $3000 in profit. This guy was so psycho that my plan was to play tight pre and chop him up post when I was more than likely to have big leads in the hands with strong pairs and 2 pairs. The entire game including the posting below took place over roughly 800 hands but I do not have the exact number.
At some point in the game he took a break and I took a break as well to get food and water. When I returned to resume the play I had timed out and he was not at the table anymore. I decided to take an open seat and see if he returned and a few minutes later he did. I quickly won another 600 from him and he reloaded again. At some points later he ran hot and I ran cold and he went on some $1500 runs and we were stuck at me being ahead $2000 for a the majority of the game and eventually when I caught some cards his style of playing aggressive imploded and I went on a jet to get ahead $4000 at which time he sat out and we both quit. He still had more chips left when the game ended and I did not break him. The entire game lasted 4 to 5 hours and I was extremely tired so I called into work. I woke up 7 hours later and at some point while checking my email I received the following from the sportsbook.ag fraud team.
Hi JJ9917,
We notice you performed a willing transfer of funds from player "pocketpairstacked". Therefore, we require you to explain the nature of your relationship with this customer and why you folded hand 88292156-506 by responding to this e-mail.
In addition we need you to please explain your relationship with player poncho
Until a response is received we have inactivated your poker account.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Best Regards,
Daniel
Fraud Team
Merge Gaming Network
After I read this email the first thing that crept to my brain was where is the hand they are talking about. There was no hand included or attached to the email. The second thing I thought was why would I pay this much rake to the house and play for 5 hours if I was taking a chip dump transfer. That would be extremely stupid and with Crypto cashouts like Bitcoin being the new thing and available at lightning speeds why would I ask the guy to dump chips to me over a long rakefest that lasts 5 hours. The bottom line is this guy was just a massive fish or a drunk guy so I responded with the truth within 30 minutes of receiving this mail
Hello Sportsbook.ag,
"pocketpairsstacked" I never played with I don't think until last night.
There is no hand history included on your email for hand 88292156-506 so I don't know which hand you are talking about. I can tell you that in general after playing about 5-10 hands I realized this guy seemed pretty crazy so I played really tight because I knew after the flop I had the advantage because he was trying crazy plays and that seemed like the best way to beat him.
The poncho guy seems like a regular on the site and I like it when he plays because more players join the 6 max games.
I have no relationship with either player. I just think I am a better player than both of them.
Sincerely ,
JJ9917
And that is the truth. The guy I played 1 on 1 stunk and the other poncho guy who they mentioned is some random guy who plays from time to time who I have had a lot of success against. Other facts I would like to include is I had $4000 in my account before this game began and over the previous 2 months on the site I was ahead $11,000 and was beating the games consistently anytime I played whether it be 1 on 1 or full 6 max games
They respond with this the following day
Hi JJ9917,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.
Our investigation leads us to believe that you are not being forthright with us.
Again, we require you to elaborate on your responce and explain your actions in hand: 88292156-506 while holding Qh-Kc
[04:19:15] JJ9917 is the Dealer
[04:19:15] Shuffling Cards
[04:19:15] JJ9917 Posted Small Blind $10.00
[04:19:15] pocketpairstacked Posted Big Blind $15.00
[04:19:18] Dealing Cards
[04:19:16] JJ9917 Raised to $30.00
[04:19:18] pocketpairstacked Raised to $45.00
[04:19:18] JJ9917 Calls $15.00
[04:19:18] Dealing Flop (8c,Ad,2h)
[04:19:21] pocketpairstacked Bets $15.00
[04:19:22] JJ9917 Folds
[04:19:22] $15.00 Returned to pocketpairstacked from Pot 2
[04:19:22] pocketpairstacked Wins $89.00 from Pot 1
Best Regards,
Daniel
Fraud Team
Merge Gaming Network
I read this and I have a feeling they have already made up their mind. How am I not being forthright when the hand they asked me about was not even presented to me in the original email? And I could not look the hand up on my own because I played the session on mobile and did not have the hand saved. Here is my detailed response which I sent back to them within 1 hour of receiving the mail from them.
Hello Sportsbook.ag,
How was I not being forthright with you when you did not include the hand history in your original message to me? You only included the hand number so I had no idea which hand you were referring to.
Here is the breakdown of the hand
I raise pre with KQ to $30
pocketpairstacked raises to $45
I call the bet
The flop rains down (8c,Ad,2h)
pocketpairstacked leads into me and I fold and here is why
I fold because I HAVE NO PAIR , and I DO NOT HAVE A BACKDOOR FLUSH DRAW as my hand is an offsuited KQ high and this guy has led into me some times with big hands in the 500 or so hands that we have played so I have no incentive to call him down because it will cost me $60 more to win only $90 and see if my calls are correct.
Also , this guy is weak at poker ,but he did raise to $45 preflop and even terrible players are going to show up with an Ace in this spot or a pair often when they show strength pre. So if this guy has ANY ACE I AM BEAT and I am BEHIND ANY POCKET PAIR and I am behind any hand he possibly raised to $45 pre with that contains an 8 or a 2 which is possible considering how bad he has played up to this point. So in this spot I am folding a very very high % of the time.
The other reason I will not call here is because I am playing an exploitative strategy ( a strategy where I can exploit the imbalances of my opponent when I have super strong hands). While doing this I do open myself up to being exploited but I do not perceive my opponent as the type of player who will be able to exploit me back while I play tighter and pound him when I have stronger hands.
https://www.upswingpoker.com/gto-vs-...imal-strategy/ (exploitative play vs GTO )
At the end of the day, I am a much better player than pocketpairstacked and if you look at my results the past 2 months overall this win is consistent as I have been beating most everyone and every game I have played in since joining the sportsbook.
Sincerely,
JJ917
A full day later I get this from them
Hi JJ9917,
Thank you for your detailed explanation
We have now concluded our investigation in your account. Given the way hands played out on your session on October 10th, we concluded that this was an intentional transfer of funds.
Please note that since we are committed on creating a fair and quality gaming experience, we are not able to tolerate a willing transfer of funds at our tables. Accordingly, those funds have been returned to their origin.
Moreover, we are unfortunately unable to allow you further access to our poker games.
You may continue using other products or withdraw your remaining balance should you decide to.
Best Regards,
Daniel
Fraud Team
Merge Gaming Network
I get this email from them and I just cannot believe it. I just chopped some guy into pieces for $4,000 and they are sending him back the money because he played terrible. Unbelievable!!!!
I followed up with this response
Dear Sportsboog.ag /Merge Network,
I would like to say that this is a terrible decision on your part based off of 0 evidence. I played a fish who was probably drunk and I destroyed him and now you are giving them back the money? THIS IS NOT RIGHT
And then to top it all off you based your decision off one hand that was 506 hands into a match that played out over ONE THOUSAND HANDS and the hand you presented to me I FOLDED A HIGH CARD not even a pair
I would like to request all of the hand histories from this match be sent to me as I do not have access to them as I played the match on mobile poker.
Since this email was sent to them on October 12th they have not sent me the hands for the session. In fact they have not responded to one email of mine since then. However I was allowed to cashout the $4050 that was in my account and still have access to everything but poker which is odd. If I did what they thought happened then wouldn't they just want me off the network period?
If they do release the hands to me which they should if they have nothing to hide, I will post every hand for the session so I can have limit experts look over the hands and they can conclude whether this was not a fair game. But the bottom line is this would be the worst and most inefficient way to ever dump chips and I think everyone will agree on that. I have sent multiple requests for the hand files and they still have not sent them to me.
The bottom line is this guy was either an extremely bad player who got destroyed or it was a site account who took a shot at me and got crushed and now they are swiping it under the rug. I can't even imagine what this guy said to them when they told him they believed he performed a willing transfer by dumping at the tables.
I will also be contacting the gaming licencing people
-JJ9917