Disconnect Abuse Is Just Fine With Poker Stars, Pt. 3

***Epilogue - Just like Barnaby Jones!***

Welcome back, faithful reader. We left off with my 3rd try to get some kind of genuine response from Stars:

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your reply.

Perhaps I did not express the scenario correctly in my last email.

The player that disconnected received 120 seconds of disconnect extra time over several consecutive hands, more times than he should have according to your rules. If he was doing this somehow within your rules, he was abusing this rule and it needs to be reconsidered. By abusing this rule he received MORE disconnect extra time (by intentionally disconnecting and reconnecting) than the rule was designed to give him.

The disconnected player was allowed extra time (without facing increasing blinds) and the ability to defend his stack when blinded all-in. He/She never "officially" reconnected in the game. The player behind the disconnect also gained superior positional advantage in the tournament. This scenario gave some players an unfair advantage over others.

Just to clarify, TURBO tournaments have 5 minutes blind levels, while regular tournaments have 15 minute blind levels. This vastly affects the number of hands a player has to play against a larger stack at a final table. A disconnected player getting 15 consecutive hands of maximum disconnect extra time in a turbo = same player getting 45+ hands of maximum disconnect extra time in a regular tournament.

So the unfair advantage (or my disadvantage) is more pronounced in a turbo tournament.

I'm quite taken by surprise that Poker Stars thinks this disconnect abuse is OK, just because it is within the written rules. This loophole also opens the possibility for collusion at final tables among large stacks by using disconnect extra time to force smaller stacks to play each other.

I realize I'm a small potatoes player to your big company. But I'm staying away from all games that allow disconnect extra time, until this rule is modified.

All I want is a fair game for all.

Thanks again for your time and consideration.

Regards,

Pokerstars id - 66Buffalo66

Finally, a reply with SOMETHING.

Hello 66Buffalo66,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we have no way of telling whether a player is intentionally disconnecting and reconnecting. There is no way for us to tell if this is the case, or if he is legitimately being disconnected.

I must confess that I do not see how it is possible to gain any advantage from doing this deliberately, or how this forces smaller stacks to play against each other.

If a player receives disconnect extra time, then the Tournament Clock is stopped at that moment. It does not restart until that player has acted (or timed out). So there is no way to increase the blinds by deliberately disconnecting. If there was then I agree that there is potential abuse in raising the blinds so that shorter stacked players are forced to participate sooner.

Nevertheless I have forwarded your feedback to the appropriate people. If many players dislike this particular feature it is something that we can change in the future.

Regards,

MarkW
PokerStars Support Team

Deny, deny, deny. Ignorance is bliss. What have we learned?

1) Poker Stars - BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION - cannot police intentional disconnects. You can disconnect as many times as you wish and face no penalty.

2) Pokerstars "officially" sees no unfair player advantages in disconnect abuse. Deny that any advantage exists, because it can't be enforced. I think this might come back to bite them in the ass if it does happen in a big tourney.

3) Pokerstars support doesn't know the main difference between a Turbo and Regular MTT, which is just sad. No mention (or response) of the positional advantage either. There's no such thing as positional advantage in hold 'em, I guess.

The real answer seems simple to me. Modify the "disconnect extra time" rules:

1) Eliminate DET in Turbo tournaments.
2) After a player disconnects and uses 10 consecutive hands of DET, they will be sat out until they reconnect.
3) When a player reconnects after using DET, they must stay completely connected one complete orbit before receiving additional DET.

This would eliminate all incentive to abuse the disconnect rules. Are you listening Stars?