ACR Closes Accounts Over Unfair Gameplay

America’s Cardroom currently benefits from its status as one of the biggest online poker rooms permitting US customers to play on its platform. Nevertheless, it has attracted a great deal of criticism of late, with poker media personality Joe Ingram adding his voice to the chorus of disgruntled customers in February after alleging that cheating was taking place on the site.
Ingram’s accusations covered the whole gamut of malign activity as far as online poker is concerned, including collusion, multi-accounting, and super-using. He further asserted that loopholes in the site’s tournament registration system were being exploited by some players after noting that a group of linked accounts would regularly show up together for late registration in tournaments. As an official statement at the time noted, the Winning Poker Network (WPN) is “thoroughly investigating all claims recently brought to our attention through social media channels regarding alleged unfair gameplay practices from certain accounts on network brands.”
Refunds Being Issued
More than a month later, and a number of Americas Cardroom players appear to have been lined up for refunds by the WPN, with copies of the letters obtained by Ingram stating:
“The Winning Poker Network Game Integrity Department has investigated and recently uncovered unfair gameplay practices carried out by a player on the WPN that breached our terms and conditions. While we cannot publicly disclose the name, specific activity, or account associated with this offense, we have closed access to this player’s account. This email reflects that we are currently refunding any account that was potentially affected, including yours.”
Poor Communication
If all this wasn’t bad enough, Americas Cardroom’s handling of the issue has demonstrated a clear lack of customer consideration and communication that has only served to worsen the situation further. In February, for instance, WPN CEO Phil Nagy failed to respond to a call for clarity by Two Plus Two Poker Forum Administrator Mason Malmuth concerning the accusations of suspicious activities taking place on the site. The following month, Malmuth responded by ending a 15 year advertising relationship with WPN, demonstrating a clear lack of foresight on the network’s behalf.
DDoS Attacks Continue

Furthermore, America’s Cardroom has increasingly become an attractive target for cyber criminals and hackers determined to squeeze money from the company. As Americas Cardroom has a policy of not caving in to cyber criminal demands, however, these elements have been severely disrupting its operation, instead. As a result, the site has now suffered around a fortnight of DDoS (Distributed Denail of Service) attacks.
The recent spate of DDoS attacks got started on April 24, resulting in tournament and cash games being canceled, with new attacks continuing until May 4th when normal service was briefly resumed, despite many players being left unable to log into the site. As an Americas Cardroom tweet stated at the time:
“We have noticed that even though the poker client is up and running, some players cannot log-in. If this is happening to you, contact our CS dept via live chat http://ow.ly/QJ5W30jQgVc and provide: your username, ISP (internet service provider) and IP Address. Thank you.”
The following day, however, a new DDoS attack forced Americas Cardroom to cancel all its tournaments once again. On May 9th, the Winning Poker Network (WPN) subsequently underwent maintenance, but more problems were quickly encountered meaning that presently Americas Cardroom customers have had to endure more than a fortnight of disruptions. Adding further to their customers’ frustration have been rather stilted and tardy updates by Americas Cardroom and how it was working to mitigate the problem, with one social media poster noting that its “one hour down time is nearly 4 hours old.”
Considering the amount of negative publicity that Americas Cardroom has received in recent times, the operator needs more than ever to reassure its beleaguered players as to the site’s safety by being as transparent as possible and providing constant updates as to the situation. The alternative is to carry on doing what it is doing, and adding further to its customer’s  concerns and frustrations, instead.