Running Bad, Running Good

The government shut down my livelihood and now I don't have a job. That was the bad news. The good news was, I got all my money. Pokerstars (which, by the way, has the best customer service I've ever encountered, except for maybe my old employer Zingerman's) called me the day after the news broke to assure me my money was safe. A little over a week later, the money showed up in my bank account.


Players at Full Tilt, one of the other sites shut down, weren't so lucky. They still haven't gotten their money and about a week ago FT released a statement saying they're "raising capital to ensure that the US players are paid out in full as quickly as possible."


Yowza. Whatever else that might mean, it seems to mean they don't have the money. And Full Tilt players are still better off that people who trusted their money with Absolute Poker, the third site shut down. Although reports that they had declared bankruptcy, reproduced widely online, proved to be false, Absolute Poker has done little to reassure US players that they will get their money -- ever. At least Full Tilt says they're trying to pay the money back.


This is one thing I think about when considering whether or not to put money on some of the poker sites still operating in the US. Before the crackdown, in terms of size, credibility, and trust, Pokerstars was number one, Full Tilt a pretty close second, and Absolute a distant third. Those rankings turned out to be all too accurate when the shit hit the fan. So I have some reservations about committing money to other sites far more obscure than Absolute. Then again, sometimes it's worth it to take a risk, especially if it's the only way to get in business.