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Amid months of constant cuts to player incentives by leading poker operators, it’s refreshing to see a poker network that clearly cares about doing right by their customers.
This past Sunday, Americas Cardroom faced criticism for cancelling their $35k GTD PLO Sunday Special just a few minutes before late registration ended. The PLO major was having technical difficulties and though it was posted as a re-entry tournament, eliminated players were unable to re-enter.
It was not the cancellation of a tournament itself that stirred up player emotions but more so the fact that the network was facing an overlay of $10,800 at the time of cancellation and that they let the tournament run for hours before making the decision to cancel.
Americas Cardroom was quick to explain the reason for the delayed cancellation and make amends to those players who were affected. “There’s no question we are at fault and apologize for letting the tournament run as long as we did,” commented spokesperson Michael Harris. “We were attempting to fix the issue to keep the tournament going but in retrospect we should have cancelled it sooner and for that we apologize and offer compensation.”
These were not empty words. Americas Cardroom then went on to share their plans to make it up to not just the players affected but also give their entire player community something to look forward to by doubling the guarantee of April 24th’s PLO Sunday Special.
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All players in April 3rd’s PLO Sunday Special received a full refund (whether they were eliminated or still playing).
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Americas Cardroom doubled the guaranteed prize pool of April 24th’s PLO Sunday Special to $70,000.
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They put up $10,750 (the amount they stood to lose from the overlay) and invited all 121 players affected by the cancellation to an exclusive freeroll where 50-$215 seats will be awarded to April 24th’s PLO Sunday Special.
“The overlay was never a factor in our decision to cancel the tournament and we hope our compensation demonstrates that,” continued Harris. “As re-entry wasn’t available, it drastically changed the outcome of the tournament and was unfair to those who expected the opportunity to re-enter. This is the sole reason we cancelled it and it was the fair thing to do.”
Their timely response and actions to rectify the situation received big praise from their player base:
Americas Cardroom has a proven track record of doing the right thing by their players and sticking to their word despite the cost. Last year they introduced $1,000,000 GTD Million Dollar Sundays tournaments and vowed to keep bringing them back regardless of the potential overlay cost. Thus far they’ve hosted 7 in total and they’ve overlaid in every single one, losing $1,163,259. Yet they have stuck to their word and kept at it with the next one scheduled for April 24th at 4pm ET.
It’s this continual track record of putting their customers first and doing the right thing combined with generous player incentives and rewards programs that have propelled Americas Cardroom’s network (Winning Poker Network) to the 10th biggest poker network in the world.
****Americas Cardroom will be hosting the Online Super Series VI from Friday, April 15th through Sunday, April 24th. Buy-ins start at just six cents and there’s $2,500,000 in guaranteed prize pools over 76 events, including a $1,000,000 GTD Million Dollar Sunday on the final day.*****
