Ok so I moved a good amount of money from Ultimate bet to Doyles room because I wanted some variety. After being there for a month, I tripled my bankroll. I tried to do a withdrawal for 2/3 of my bankroll at the site and was refused.

I clicked on the "manager" button to call and talk to a manager. I was sent to a "Tony-O" and when asked why my withdrawal was refused, he simply stated,
"We have the right to refuse any transaction and confiscate any funds. Thanks and have a nice day" then closed the chat.

I called their toll free number and they basically told me that the reason my withdrawal was refused was because I never answered an email which they sent asking for;
1. a utility bill
2. my identification (driver's liscense)

I told them that I had never received any such email, and they said that I was a "liar", and they hung up the phone.

So, going back to my account at doyles room, I see that they took the money from my requested withdrawal and put it back into my account for play.

I tried to do another withdrawal and it was refused, the money returned to my account. I then got a call shortly after and was advised that I was a security risk because I hadn't verified my information, and therefore they could not authorize a withdrawal. I replied, "Let me get this straight, you're saying I'm a security risk so you can't give me my money, but you can allow me to play at your tables?"

"This is the procedure to follow", was the answer. I asked for the fax number, and faxed a copy of a utility bill and a copy of my driver's license. I got a fax confirmation.

I went to do a withdrawal and again it was refused, and the funds put back in my account so I could continue to play if I wanted, giving rake but no withdrawal. I got on the phone again and was told that they never received my information. I informed them that I had received a fax confirmation but they did not care. I faxed the information again.

About 5 minutes later I got a call and was told that everything was in order, and to apologize for the inconvenience I would be comp'd $5 (big deal but ok).

So confidence renewed, I continued to play at the site. Then I got involved in a tournament and got into a paying position. The game locked up in the middle of a hand.

Doyles Room has a chatroom, so I checked chat and I see scrolling from hundreds of players asking "what's wrong" and "what happened I can't play the game is frozen!", that sort of thing.

I called a manager, it was Tony-O again. I explained the situation and he says, "well we show that you intentionally left the game, there is nothing we can do for you". To which I reply, "I did not leave the game, I'm still at the table it's locked up. Here is the hand # XXXXX". He responds, "our systems are fine, you need to check with your ISP have a nice day", and closes the chat.

Come to find out, after bringing my gripes to the chatroom, many many players are being told that they have been blinded out of a tournament. There was a 10k tournament going on, 27 positions paid, 32 players were left, and all 32 players were told that they got disconnected because of their own ISP and were blinded out.

I wonder how the chip leader got blinded out and didn't even make it to 27th place?

In any case I requested a full withdrawal, and to add insult to injury, they're going to be able to keep .61c that is left over in my account because they will only withdrawal whole dollars.

What a scam. Beware.

I dunno.. they just wanted proof and a fax got lost. No biggy. Tournament situation sucks, but they didnt pay out anyone? Doubt it...

__________________
“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann

Well, I gave them proof twice. I understand all of that business but they were completely rude the whole time.

no they didn't pay out anyone at any of the tournaments. Not the sng's, not the multi tables, nobody. The site dropped from 7500 players to less than 3000 in an instant, some of the hosts in chat even got dropped, yet they still claimed that people either had "bad ISP's" or "intentionally left the game" and refused to pay out.

Aside from that, the fact that they said I was a "security risk" but would still allow me to play at their tables is fishy.

edit;
something else I want to mention as well; doylesroom.com is not a standalone site. The software and network used is part of a conglomerate of several different poker sites. Betonsports, VC, viking bet, doyles room, golden nugget, to name a few all have access to the same poker rooms, use the same software, etc. So while you might be logged on to doyles room, you could be playing against people from entirely different sites.
Apparantly, any corporation that agrees to pay a subscription fee to the management of the poker rooms (of which whom is still unclear) can have their own poker site. Of course there are some exclusives (bounty tournaments only available to doylesroom players) but for the most part the whole operation is run by someone else that just collects a subscription fee from whatever company wants to have a poker site. This means that someone can make an investment in an online poker site but not have to manage, maintain, or operate their own facilities.
So... this means that if you play at doyles room, it's not Doyle Brunson's people that are running the show. Betonsports which is a very reputable sports betting site has no real control over what happens at the same place either. While we may have confidence in these names, they're just names because the whole operation is being run by a company in Costa Rica that is still unnamed. They charge a subscription fee, carry the names of their clients, then run it however they want whether their clients agree with their actions or not.

This in itself does not throw me off completely, but when you factor it in with the other BS that has been going on there; not doing the withdrawals, keeping change from your account when you do, not paying out when their systems go down... it's all really fishy.

It's standard procedure to let you paly but not cashout/transfer when they cant confirm your identity.

__________________
“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann

they said I was a security risk. Is it standard for someone that is a security risk to be allowed to play at their tables?

I don't give a damn about any of that though, the fact that they refused to pay out on tournaments and kept the entire prize pools is enough for me to leave, whether it's procedure or not to allow me to withdrawal.

Security risk to allow you to cash out.

I appreciate your advice; although, I've never intented to play at DR in the first place.

__________________
“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann

I agree with the other poster. Chit happens with tourneys all the time, beauty of online poker. As for the Identity issue, you should feel good that they went to these measures to sucure your money. It is probably a good thing that all sites should do that.

Scotty O

with hundreds, if not thousands, of people getting ripped off like this, or at least facing ridiculous amount of frustrations at online sites, I wonder why so many of them just keep on playing and dont just switch to land-based poker only, like i have....

no, the potential reqards may not be as great, without any bonuses or round the clock action, but at least you know you're dealin with a respectable and truly secure cardroom

Online, you really play at your own risk...losing a few hundred bucks was enough for me, thank you

Really Mike? Have you never been to or heard of a real live card game where the dealers are able to set the decks up to give their partners superior cards? It's just as easy, if not easier to run a scam at a live poker room. Remember that every hand history is available online and if you could show that there was a significantly higher number of KK v AA over 100,000,000 hands at any online poker site they would probably get closed down.

There's no such record of live games and as such this can not be tested.

Sounds like you got kicked in the teeth just for giving a newcomer site the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, I'd have ran when they finally paid up and not gone on to play there again. I will always stick to the big guns such as Party, Stars and Holdempoker as they have not let me down in the past. I did use Noble until recently when I heard from a few people of trouble while trying to withdraw.