Full Tilt Poker is extremely insecure

[gras]

Okay, now that I've headed this thread with an alarmist statement, let me get down to the details. I mostly play on PartyPoker but thought I'd give Full Tilt a go, as I'd heard good things - and I was bored, thought I'd try something new. So - eager as I was, I registered an account and attempted to deposit some cash into my Full Tilt Poker account... the beginning of my troubles. Immediately after doing this, the money was taken from my credit card and my full tilt account was disabled, stating that they needed identity verification to proceed. This is actually a fair request - after all, they need to know who they are dealing with.

The problem started when I asked for an alternative delivery method - currently you can ONLY provide your personal details to this site via email. For those that don't know, email is extremely insecure. No matter how secure the Full Tilt servers are (and I'm sure they are) email traverses third party routes which by its very nature allows others to snoop without much effort. The safety of emails to Full Tilt CANNOT be guaranteed as safe while email is the only method allowed for passing on the personal documents. I emailed them my concerns and that "I'd like my money back please" and yes they can close my account, no harm no foul... right? Wrong. I was told that unless I provided the personal documents my account would remain disabled - and as such, my money wouldn't be returned, as I hadn't yet verified my identity.

Crazy, right?!? It wasn't a lot of money but still... what if it had been?

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Okay, now that I've headed this thread with an alarmist statement, let me get down to the details. I mostly play on PartyPoker but thought I'd give Full Tilt a go, as I'd heard good things - and I was bored, thought I'd try something new. So - eager as I was, I registered an account and attempted to deposit some cash into my Full Tilt Poker account... the beginning of my troubles. Immediately after doing this, the money was taken from my credit card and my full tilt account was disabled, stating that they needed identity verification to proceed. This is actually a fair request - after all, they need to know who they are dealing with.

The problem started when I asked for an alternative delivery method - currently you can ONLY provide your personal details to this site via email. For those that don't know, email is extremely insecure. No matter how secure the Full Tilt servers are (and I'm sure they are) email traverses third party routes which by its very nature allows others to snoop without much effort. The safety of emails to Full Tilt CANNOT be guaranteed as safe while email is the only method allowed for passing on the personal documents. I emailed them my concerns and that "I'd like my money back please" and yes they can close my account, no harm no foul... right? Wrong. I was told that unless I provided the personal documents my account would remain disabled - and as such, my money wouldn't be returned, as I hadn't yet verified my identity.

Crazy, right?!? It wasn't a lot of money but still... what if it had been?

Sounds like you need another cone and to watch some more michael moore documentaries too me.

[SwoopAE]

This is 100% standard for all poker sites, Full Tilt is owned by Pokerstars now and i'm sure you could arrange to call their customer support staff and fax it or whatever if it's that much of a concern (i've been playing online poker for ~6years and emailed my docs to a bunch of reputable poker sites and nothing bad has happened, obviously delete the sent messages afterwards and don't store the files on your computer afterwards in case your email/computer is ever hacked or w/e)

[ben dee]

+ one

More excellent advice

[ben dee]

+ one

More excellent advice

[Baron Vo Mandor]

+ one

More excellent advice

yep

[parleorsen]

I find that most online poker is unreliable. I play different poker games and there are some players that always win with the worst hands. Some sites are better than others but really there are risks from all of them.

[SwoopAE]

I find that most online poker is unreliable. I play different poker games and there are some players that always win with the worst hands. Some sites are better than others but really there are risks from all of them.

you have two problems

1) you don't understand variance - you can break even or lose for thousands of games in tournament poker without doing anything wrong - or you can win piles of money

2) you're probably not a winning player, so 1) doesn't matter