Online Poker Room Drops the Ball

Online poker room, Check n Raise Poker, is not making many friends these days. Check n Raise, a member of the Ongame Poker network (mostly notable home of PokerRoom.com), has recently informed winners of World Series of Poker (WSOP) seats that it will not be awarding the seats, after all. This comes during the month the WSOP is to start and less than two months from the beginning of the Main Event, itself.

Three Check n Raise customers won $11,000 WSOP prize packages, which included the $10,000 Main Event buy-in for the 2006 WSOP, as well as $1,000 for expenses, while seven others won seats for prelimary events, through a series of poker promotions. Some promotions were free for the customer, some required a minimal buy-in. With both promotions, though, the poker room has now said that “cash flow did not allow us to set aside sufficient funds” for the prizes.

In an effort to save a little face and make good on at least the prize value, Check n Raise has said that it will pay the players 5% of the value of the entry into their poker room accounts every month until they have paid 110% of its value. The $1,000 for expenses was already paid to each player before the announcement.

Unfortunately for many of the players, travel arrangements have already been made, plane tickets have been purchased, vacation days have already been granted by employers, and maybe most importantly, dreams of poker glory have been dashed. Even if the players do get all the money for their entries (which, considering the reasons why they aren’t getting their prize in the first place, is not a given), it will not be in time to use it for next year’s WSOP.

On the bright side, it is known that at least one of the winners has been in contact with the poker room about this problem and they have responded thoughtfully to his concerns. As a sign of good faith, Check n Raise deposited the first $500 into his account today, rather than waiting a month, as planned.

Originally published June 15, 2006
Edited June 21, 2006