This was an incident that I posted on Cardschat over a year ago and the moderator closed the thread and said he would reopen it if I showed proof. I explained that by closing the thread, he was defeating the purpose of the poker forum. I went on to say that an honest poker forum would let people post their experiences and then allow discussions to follow. People will either say "I disagree", and relate some positive experience about it, or maybe others would chime in and relate their negative experiences. If everybody chimes in positive, you can say that most likely, this is a good site. IInterfering with this process raises the question of whether the poker forum has a possible affiliation or interest. I'm glad that dandruffpoker has a hands off policy because even though it's in the past and I'm over it, I still would like some feedback and opinions other than my own.
I should mention that this happened in a $50 freeroll, and there is no reason for the site to "fix" the hand. That was not the issue. What I think happened is that the software glitched or malfunctioned in some way, and because they contend that this is an "impossible" occurrence, they tried to cover it up because a disclosure like this could hurt business.
Here is the email I sent to Kahnawake Gaming Commission:
I enoy online poker and one of the trusted sites I play on is "Feltstars". On May 2, I entered a freeroll Omaha poker tourney that starts daily at 10am Pacific standard time on Feltstars. The first three hands were played and I took the pot in the third hand after losing the first two. In the fourth hand of the tourney, I went "all in" with another player and we pushed. We both had straights. The entire pot, however, was awarded to the other player. Being fairly new to Omaha, I realized that I could have misread the final results of the cards on the table and knew that because a given hand must use exactly two hole cards together with exactly three community cards, it could get confusing at times for someone new to Omaha. So I clicked on the history and double-checked and triple-checked again and again and, without a doubt, I can tell you both of our hands used exactly two hole cards and exactly three community cards to make up winning hands that resulted in a push. He did NOT have a higher straight. Like an idiot, I closed the history portion of the feltstars window without taking a screenshot (maybe because I thought I would be able to access it again anytime - why wouldn't I think that?). I then opened a complaint or "contact us" window on the Feltstars website and immediately sent a complaint stating that the software had malfunctioned. I knew that it was a rare to non-existent occurrence and that my complaint would not be met with tears of joy by the Feltstars administration but I wasn't just going to forget about it. This is a poker site that I deposit money on periodically and while part of me just wanted to say "ah, it's not a big deal" the other part of me would have a hard time depositing and playing in the future on ANY site if I were to allow a software integrity issue to gnaw at the back of my mind unresolved. So I sent the complaint not more than 20 minutes after being eliminated from the tourney. About 30 -40 minutes later, I checked my email to find that Feltstars had not replied. I then went to the Feltstars website and decided to review the hand again, so I clicked on the history and clicked on the tourney in question and found that the hand in question had been removed. I was only able to review the first 3 hands of the tourney. I immediately went to the history file that resides locally on my hard drive and discovered there was no fourth hand there either. It had been deleted. I then opened the properties of that file and saw that it had been accessed and "modified" 42 minutes after it was created, which would also be right around 10 minutes after they received my complaint. This really made me feel like I was being taken for a fool. Around 12 hours later, I finally received an email from FS saying (not surprisingly) that they "could not find the hand". I also received an email from FS security asking me to send them scans of my ID, the credit card I used along with a scan of the id of the cardholder together with a signed statemrnt saying that I was authorized to use the card. I 'm not sure why they would suddenly find this necessary, but I complied, sending them the requested credentials . It seemed to me like a desperate attempt to get rid of me hoping that I would not be legit. I then waited several days and it was only after I sent them some raw text extracted from the local history file, which was incomplete and only contained information for the first three hands, that they sent me a response stating they found the file and that they couldn't find it before because after the third hand, I had been moved to a new table. This explanation does not explain why both history files (the one on the server and the one residing locally) contain only the first three hands. I have reviewed hundreds of history files (on Feltstars and many other poker sites) and never once has a history file been incomplete. The player changes tables a number of times, but that does not break the sequence in the history file. Here, however, we have a history file that cuts off after three hands (just before the hand in question), and evidence that the file has been tampered with after I sent a complaint regarding that exact hand. So now they have found the hand and it shows that the other player had a higher straight. This would be believable had I not reviewed the hand and half an hour later was unable to view the hand because it was mysteriously removed. Had they been staffed with somebody capable of seamlessly manipulating the history file in a way that would have held up to later scrutiny and been able to do this all within a few minutes, I wouldn't be able to say much. However, because the hand was simply omitted and the history file "left hanging", my points are validated. Based on this, we have to draw the conclusion that upon receiving the complaint, they tampered with the history file and put me off for a few days, not answering my emails, so that they could concoct a new hand that would show the software had not malfunctioned. I believe this merits an investigation. I will forward all correspondences and a copy of the history file that shows when it was modified. The fact that it was accessed and modified at all and when it was modified together with the fact that the file is now incomplete with the hand in question missing - this just doesn't seem like normal protocol. It's peculiar and I feel they have really screwed up. How does the commission approach such issues?
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It took 2 emails to get a response but here is Kahnawake's response:
From: complaints <Complaints@gamingcommission.ca>
To: Pat N <smoothflowin@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 1:53 PM
Subject: RE: Patrick Nevarez Feltstars
Hello Patrick
Thank you for contacting the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC). This is the first email Complaints has received from you.
I must advise you Feltstars operation is licensed and regulated by the Government of Curacao. You need to contact Curaçao Egaming concerning your complaint at: info@curacao-egaming.com. Any reference to a Kahnawake License on the Feltstars website is displayed illegally.
However Kahnawake Gaming Commission does license the Mergegaming Poker system that Feltstars uses. The Mergegaming system is reviewed regularly as part of the KGC continuous compliance program. You can view the eCOGRA independant card shuffling report at:
http://www.ecogra.org/certificates/poker.aspx?cid=232
Regards
Micki
Dispute Management
Kahnawake Gaming Commission
www.gamingcommission.ca
Email: complaints@gamingcommission.ca
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So I sent a copy of the complaint to Curacao and it took 3 emails to get a response. Here is Curacao's response (mind you, I knew this wasn't ever going to go anywhere but at this point, I'm doing it just for insight):
From: Curacao eGaming <info@curacao-egaming.com>
To: 'Pat N' <smoothflowin@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 3:04 AM
Subject: RE: Feltstars
Dear Pat
If you look closely at the website you will see that we do not license this service: http://feltstars.eu/en/about-us.php
Regards
Curacao eGaming
--------------------------------------------------------------------------So we have both gaming commissions denying involvement with Feltstars and Feltstars lying to their client base via their webpage claiming to be "licensed and regulated"...
Here is the interesting follow-up with Kahnawakee:
From: Pat N <smoothflowin@yahoo.com>
To: complaints <Complaints@gamingcommission.ca>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: Patrick Nevarez Feltstars
I contacted Curacao and they said they do not license Feltstars, who presently continues to claim they are licensed by Kahnawake. If you continue to allow them to claim they are licensed by Kahnawake on their website, subsequent to this notice, Kahnawake may be bound by certain legal ramifications.
This got no response so I sent this:
From: Pat N [smoothflowin@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 12:56 AM
To: complaints
Subject: Re: Patrick Nevarez Feltstars
I spoke with Curacao via email and I must advise you that they are not licensed by Curacao. The language the Feltstars website uses is that they "have a gaming license by Kahnawake Gaming Commission". Is there a difference between "having a gaming license by ........" and "licensed and regulated by ......." ?
Now they respond:
From: complaints
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 8:47 AM
To: Pat N
Subject: RE: Patrick Nevarez Feltstars
Hello Patrick
I apologize for any confusion. Yesterday, the Commission agreed to issue a URL permit to Feltstars under Mergegaming's Poker.com Client Provider Authorisation license. You will see a correct link on Feltstars site in the next few days. In the meantime we will proceed to open a case file for your issues and contact Management at Mergegaming.
The KGC Interactive Gaming Regulation 210 states:
The Authorized Client Provider must provide to the Commission a full and detailed response to the complaint within seven (7) days, or such other time as the Commission may direct.
This does not mean your complaint will be totally resolved within seven days. We will respond to you as soon as we receive a response from the operator. We would appreciate it if you let us know if you receive a response directly from the operator in the meantime.
Please note: If you open a discussion concerning your complaint on any public forum, share information with the media or any other public forum, you may jeopardize our ability to assist you.
Regards
Micki
Dispute Management
Kahnawake Gaming Commission
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I did not include the original correspondence with Feltstars saying they "can't find the hand" but would be glad to post it if you're interested.The main issue I want to focus on here is the Houdini history file because that is the smoking gun. How often, in all of the hundreds or thousands of hands you have reviewed, did one hand, particularly the hand in question, simply vanish - only to reappear weeks later now showing that I lost? Is this common? How would you have reacted? I know it's petty and it's a freeroll but that's not the point. The implications here would point to something far more grand. I may have come too close for their comfort and that is why they banned me. That's right, I was banned. My theory is that they employ bots all over the site in order to drastically reduce the amount of prize money they pay out for tourneys and to have a hand in cash games and SNG's as well. This would be effective. Notice how quickly after a hand on Feltstars the payout is made and the next hand is dealt. Other sites wait a few seconds so the players can see what happened.
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Originally Posted by Dan Druff
