Bug in PokerStars Software Creates a Scare for UK Players

A couple of days ago, PokerStars introduced PokerStars UK, leading to some changes regarding the games for players located in the United Kingdom, but not excluding them from the global player pool or anything drastic like that. However, a bug within the software escaped the eyes of the developers and created some fuss on November 5th among many regulars.

‘Abe008’ was the first one to report the issue on 2 + 2 forums. As he logged in to start his usual grind, he was greeted by the dreaded message – ‘We are sorry. PokerStars does not offer Real Money tournaments in your area.’ This is the message that appeared on the screens of many players a few weeks back, when PokerStars went through with the decision to withdraw their services from ‘grey market areas.’

After the initial post, numerous other posters chimed in and reported the same problem, many of whom were actually in the midst of a session when they were booted. As one can imagine, the shunned players were not thrilled to be locked out of 10+ tables they were playing on at the time.

The majority of players were aware that this was most likely a simple glitch in the software and not the same thing that happened in ‘grey market’ countries, but some suspicions crept in. With all of the latest happenings at PokerStars, confidence of many players has been shaken.

Fortunately, PokerStars came up with a Twitter response quickly, reassuring players:

Apologies for the earlier error this is now fixed. If you were affected please contact support pokerstars.com & you will be refunded.
— Poker (@PokerStarsUK) November 5, 2014

However, after the players were finally back in their seats, a whole different problem came up, as many of them were feeling they lost money because of the glitch. PokerStars, of course, refunded tournament buy-ins for all the players who were affected and failed to cash in particular events, but for some of the players this was not enough.

Players who were deep in multi-table tournaments were complaining that they should be paid out a share of equity and some who were at the final tables of Sit 'N Gos felt the same way. This is not in line with PokerStars' refund policy as the room cannot predict future events and simply sticks to the rule that if a player is affected by a software or similar issue, they will be refunded their buy-in if they do not cash in the tournament(s).

In one of the emails sent out to inquiring players, PokerStars stated the following:

So, although some players may feel they’ve been wronged in this particular situation, it doesn’t seem that PokerStars will divert from their standard policy. On a bright note, it is now business as usual for UK players.