By Shari Geller
With my hopes of ever hitting that big online poker pay day now just a memory, I closed out my PokerStars account today. Since Black Friday the status of US players' funds held by the big three poker sites has been in question. While no one ever came right out and said the money would be long gone, that was the fear at first. With a 52-page federal indictment and criminal counts seeking up to 30 years in jail, it would not be unrealistic to assume the sites and/or their payment processors had absconded with our money.
But, no, the money is there. At least, that is what Full Tilt and PokerStars has assured its US-based players...or should I say, former players. But efforts to actually obtain a refund were met with various explanations and statements -- but no cold, hard cash.
That changed today, at least at PokerStars. When I clicked the "Cashier" button, instead of excuses and promises, I was led to a page where I could actually cash out my account. Now, I have in there about what I deposited, being an ace at break-even poker. And it's somewhere between $1 (under which PS explicitly will not reimburse you) and number that requires a comma to be written out properly. In other words, it's not a huge deal.
But the fact that less than two weeks after the indictments -- which were the poker world's equivalent of an 8.0 earthquake in a non-retrofitted house -- PokerStars was already able to process payments is a positive development. While it does nothing to resolve the question of why the Justice Department thinks the most important thing on its plate is stopping people from playing poker on their computers, it at least demonstrates that what seemed like the worst day in the history of US poker may not be a complete disaster.
Other positive steps. If you love and miss your old sites, you can go play there again. No longer will the dot com sites for PS or FTP greet you with either an error message or a scary posting from the FBI. No, you can go there an play just like the old days, with the teensy difference that you can only play for play money. Think of it like having to quit smoking. Instead of going cold turkey, you can at least enjoy a phony, electric cigarette that somewhat resembles your old enjoyable habit.
The fact that the Justice Department was willing, so soon after declaring the poker sites Public Enemies #1-3, to enter into an agreement returning their domain names is possibly a sign that the Justice Department is not as up for the fight as their initial salvo would indicate.
Only time will tell how the federal case will play out. But at least for now, we know that the only potential victims of this otherwise victimless alleged crime -- the poker players who were temporarily deprived of their funds -- will be compensated. I will update you and let you know how long it takes for the check to come in the mail. Wait, did I say the check is in the mail? Should I worry?
