The international poker site operated by 888 was in the news twice this week.
The first story involved 888 erroneously adding a new game called “Flopomania” to the lobby of cash games. This new game removes preflop betting from traditional Texas Hold’em. The game replaces the first betting round with an ante. All players dealt in the hand see the flop for a single bet that cannot be raised or folded.
Once the flop is dealt, betting begins as normal to the left of the dealer. The flop, turn and river bets are all identical to a normal Texas Hold’em hand.
888 pulled the game after a few hours. The company noted that Flopomania should be live in the coming weeks.
Flopomania shares similar traits with a game being tested at The Orleans in Las Vegas. In The Orleans’ version, there is no ante.
888 Bans Players, Confiscates Funds
The international 888 poker site was also in the news this week due to a mass banning of players. The site claimed in emails (see below) that players were using banned software. The emails did not say which software was used and offered no explanation beyond the player being banned and all money confiscated.
888 kept all player funds and gave players no way to appeal the decision. The funds appear to be lost at this time. A representative of 888 was gathering information from affected players to look into the situation but has since given players an email to a department to contact. It does not appear that any of these issues have been resolved at the time of this post. 888 has not made any official statement related to the situation.
Most of the players complaining in 888 threads state that the only software they used at the tables are ones approved by 888. None reported receiving any warning about using prohibited software before the account was banned. This especially concerns players that have significant funds locked on the main site they gave action to.
While we will not go so far as to recommend avoiding 888 at this time, players should be aware that using any type of software at 888 might raise a flag that can get their account banned. If 888 should keep the funds without any justification, we will recommend players choose a different site.
Email sent to players:
This is the Operations Team at 888poker and we are contacting you with regards to your account with username “***********”.
As you may be aware we carry out security checks on all of our members at some point during their membership with us. During a security check on your account we have been alerted to suspicious game play indicating that the use of Artificial Intelligence may be involved.
The use of Artificial Intelligence is strictly against our terms and conditions and will not be tolerated on our site. This email is to inform you that we no longer require your membership on any site owned or operated by Cassava Enterprises.
Please refrain from opening any further accounts as these too will be closed from use and no monies refunded.