Hey Poker pals,

Seriously, I cannot tell you how cathartic it is to be able to have somewhere to go after an experience like this, and talk about it – get it off my chest, and hopefully into some kind of perspective.

This is not a bad beat story, it is in fact a software issue; I looked through the forums to decide which one was the most suitable for this thread, but the problem I am having is with how I am dealing with this issue.

So I had been playing in the Sunday Storm all evening. I tell you what, it is so relieving to me to have an audience with people who understand, rather than my wife or Stars’ support. I was pumped for this T, I am on holiday tomorrow, so I could’ve been up all night if necessary. So I had been working, all evening, at building some momentum in this T. Making complicated decisions, applying myself…I really do not need to explain here of all places the effort I had been making. For some reason I had a good feeling about this T before I started.

To cut a long, (excruciating, oh so painful,) story short, I was ITM with about 4000 players remaining.

I was on the HJ with As Qs. I raised 2.7x. BTN called, BB called. The board came Qd 5d 9h. 

I went to cBet. I could not depress the bet button, either with my mouse nor my track pad. I ended up having to check…that was the only button which worked.

BTN bets, BB raises, I try to raise but can only call…BTN folds…(I figure that maybe this might end up being the most inspired way to play my hand…by letting the BB pass me his chips into my under-rep’d hand). I cannot remember the exact mechanics of the rest of the hand, but I end up not being able to call my severely under-rep’d hand when the BB puts me all-in, offering me something like 5-1 with TPTK. I am UNABLE TO DEPRESS THE CALL BUTTON. I time out, and I am automatically folded. I am left with four and a half measly big blinds.

(Can you imagine if this had been the bubble or FT or HU in a HS T? I can’t).

Brother, I have gotten oh so pissed at my connection dropping out before. I now have a good fast dongle with me at all times to help me with that, but I do know how tilting losing connex. can be. 

But this was something else. I can not describe adequately my sheer…disbelief; shock; horror… becoming panic as I realised that here, just at this crucial moment, the button was inoperative. I ended up being timed-out of the hand, and busting two hands later.

OK so now you understand what happened. I would like to draw some kind of line under it. But it is tilting me SO hard…maybe I am going OTT here.

If I had won the 20bb 100000+chip pot I would have had about 28 big blinds. So it is not as if this happened at a FT or anything. And it is, of course, totally possible that BB had made a set and would have possibly busted me anyway. Nevertheless, had I won, which is the outcome I expect would have occurred, I would have been running something like 1500/4000 ITM in a well-structured very soft MTT. Who knows what I might have been able to achieve? As I said earlier, I really was feeling good about this T for some reason, even before it started.

So how can a poker site even decide what kind of compensation I might be due? It is an impossible question to answer. I might even have won the thing…are they going to give me $25000? 

To be honest, I expect they are going to ask me “did you have any 3rd party software running at the time?”. Of course, I had HM2 running. (BTW what a surprise… I am now 1/3 in a 180 man. If I were more cynical, I might think they had rigged this so I feel better. I do of course think it is a coincidence, but I can see how these conspiracy theories arise). [Edit: 15 mins later]: Jesus…I just won it. And I still have no response from support. I refuse, however, even in these circumstances, to become a “rig-tard”. It does seem bloody strange, however, that after they got my message which spelled out my utter disgust, shock, and horror with the circumstances, and asking them how I might be adequately compensated, when there seems to me to be no Earthly way that they might even be able to work out what a fair compensation might look like…THEN I GO AND WIN A 180 NEXT GAME?

I feel like The Incredible Hulk…resisting…oh so hard…Arrrgh! The Rig-tard within me is almost too strong for me to resist! It might break through! ARRRRGH! 

I resisted. I refuse to believe they have thrown me this bone to appease me. And even if they have…it hasn’t bloody worked. If anything, it has tilted me even further.

To summarise: Am I going OTT with my reaction? I was literally writhing and shouting and contorted and FREAKING OUT in my chair when it happened! I even bit my clenched fist! 2 hours later, I am still in shock, but truthfully, writing to you guys has helped me calm down.

Or, am I totally right to be pissed off beyond words, that my chance at a deep run in a soft T has been cut short brutally through no fault of my own; and that you all would be freaking out hard also?

Can you imagine if this kind of thing happened at a HS FT? A truly terrifying thought. Any of you guys got similar stories or experiences? (I had another thing with Stars for a while where the software would auto-fold my hand as though I had pre-checked the fold button, when I had not.).

Whatever, thank you for listening. You have already helped.