The Winning Poker Network´s CEO Phil Nagy took to Twitch last night in order to respond to criticism about last Sunday´s WSOP Mega Satellite qualifier.
Yesterday afternoon, a Tweet by Wisconsin poker player Amit Makhija featured the image of a Live Chat conversation between his girlfriend and one of Americas Cardroom´s Customer Support Team. The conversation related to the prize pool for last Sunday´s WSOP Mega Satellite qualifier not increasing in proportion to the number of buy-ins.
The unfortunate response from the Customer Support Rep was that money from re-entries is not counted towards the prize pool. It goes to our profit
. Whether the response was serious or meant as a joke, the Tweet was picked by PokerNews´ Head of Content Matthew Parvis, who immediately retweeted it to his 3,000+ followers:
I’m amazed people still try and defend unregulated poker rooms as being legitimate options for players in the U.S. #buyerbeware https://t.co/BsMHhLO75w
— Matthew Parvis (@MatthewParvis) June 26, 2017
Criticism of Unregulated Poker Expands
The thread initiated by Parvis grew to include Pocket Fives´ Adam Small, freelance poker news writer Christian Zetzsche, and OnlinePokerReport´s Dustin Gouker – fierce proponents of regulated poker – and was widely shared among the poker playing fraternity. The tone of the thread was quite clear – that (allegedly) you take a risk by playing on an unregulated online poker site.
Unfortunately, Parvis et al may have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to advocating for regulated poker. Threads such as these are often used by opponents of regulated online poker to “educate” lawmakers on the risks of passing online legislation. As has been witnessed in regulation attempts over the past three years, many lawmakers cannot distinguish between regulated and unregulated online poker.
Later today, the PPA´s John Pappas will be testifying in favor of regulated online poker before Illinois´ House Executive Committee. It would be ironic if Parvis´ unjustified comments about unregulated poker rooms backfired during today´s hearing and resulted in regulation being delayed another year or three. The unfortunate thread may also derail attempts to regulate online poker in Pennsylvania.
What Actually Happened in the WSOP Mega Satellite Qualifier
What actually happened in the WSOP Mega Satellite qualifier is that the tournament was configured incorrectly so that, although the initial buy-in was $109.00, players re-entering the tournament were only charged $1.09. This explains why Amit Makhija´s girlfriend could not see the prize pool increasing as quickly as she expected, but does not excuse the actions of the Customer Support Rep.
The error was not identified by the Winning Poker Network until after the late registration and re-entry period had closed. So, due to the unusual circumstances, the Network refunded the buy-ins and re-entries of every player who lost money in the tournament AND honored the twenty prizes of seats into next Sunday´s WSOP Mega Satellite at a cost to the Network of $10,800.
Nagy Quick to Respond to Twitter Criticism
Having resolved the problem to everyone´s satisfaction, Phil Nagy took to Twitch last night in order to explain how the problem had occurred and what the Network had done about it. Rather than defend the Network, Nagy used his renowned sarcasm to suggest the error had been created deliberately to get everybody talking about the Network´s [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/wpn-freebuy-passwords/”]WSOP Mega Satellite[/geolink] next Sunday in which fifty players will win $12,500 cash to cover their WSOP Main Event buy-in and travel expenses.
Nagy did move into defensive mood when discussing the Network´s Customer Support. He said that, unlike many other online poker rooms, the Winning Poker Network offers Customer Support by Live Chat and toll-free phone. He estimated his team receives approximately 10,000 enquiries each week and that – in this scenario – the Customer Support Rep would have been under pressure to provide a real-time answer when he did not know exactly what was going on. Mistakes happen, Nagy said, but as anybody who plays on the Network should know, re-entries (usually) always get added to the prize pool.
Nagy Reveals Future Developments for WPN
Having addressed the unjustified criticism, Nagy went on to discuss some of the future developments in the pipeline for the Winning Poker Network. These include the release of a mobile app for playing Sit & Go 2.0 and Jackpot Poker (expected to be in beta stage within two weeks), the development of a new HTML5 poker client that will be Mac-friendly and rolled out in stages over the next six months, and an additional OSS Cub3d tournament series in August.
The final shape of the new software will not be determined until players have been given the opportunity to feedback on its early release stages, but Nagy hopes that – with some of the future developments – the Winning Poker Network will continue its ascent among the most popular online poker destinations in the world to be a “top three” venue by this time next year. You can watch the full Twitch broadcast here.
