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PurePoker did a hit-and-run?

Casinomeister said:
I have no idea why anyone is making any "deals" yet. I don't think anything has been finalized - I have been assured by FB's CEO that all players will be taken care, and it should be happening early this week.

Players should not be making any deals that aren't 100% satisfactory. You guys need to wait it out a few more days before making any decisions. For those of you that have made some arrangemnt already - you probably just got shafted.
Click to expand...
So FB sells the Purepoker site to some guy, tells him to clean things up and give everyone their deposits back and steal their winnings and bonus money (he would only unlock the account if you said okay to his "offer"), and then, after giving the guy a few weeks of leeway to shaft as many people as possible, they finally "make good" on the eight people left (who probably aren't the ones with the $2000+ balances)?

Rogue rogue rogue. By the way, I made up all that stuff about the guy calling me.. or at least, I'm pretty sure he "misunderstood" me when I said fine, unlock my account. :what: What I meant was of course, "Give me my #*$%-ing money, you thief."
 
(just to clarify, I got a phonecall from someone who said that FB had him cleaning up the problem at purepoker, and the only thing he could give me was my deposit back, or nothing. If FB now intends to offer better deals to those who didn't go for that, that's dishonest in itself, imho... the first call was a scam in that case. I'm holding out hope that FB is going to be honest and fair and correct this even for people who believed the first guy's story, assuming they correct it for anyone)
 
Jay said:
(just to clarify, I got a phonecall from someone who said that FB had him cleaning up the problem at purepoker, and the only thing he could give me was my deposit back, or nothing. If FB now intends to offer better deals to those who didn't go for that, that's dishonest in itself, imho... the first call was a scam in that case. I'm holding out hope that FB is going to be honest and fair and correct this even for people who believed the first guy's story, assuming they correct it for anyone)
Click to expand...
This is the deal. You are owed both your deposit and winnings. Same goes for anyone else. If some dude on the phone is offering you anything different - tell him to forget it. You are owed both your deposit and winnings, anything less is unacceptable. Period.
 
Tino calls

Tino did call me back the day after I last posted on this thread. He said since I had deposited $4,000 I was on the top of his list as it was more then most. He said my balance was just a bit over my deposit he wanted to pay me but it would take awhile. Quite the talker Tino is, I just said "uh-huh" the whole time. Said he owns ~8 other casinos or something and Futurebet asked him if he'd clean this up. What got me was he said something along the lines of "I'm only willing to do this if it benefits me, I mean if I pay all these players and end up out money or only even it's not worth all my time". That kinda irked me that the only reason me being owed $4,000 is getting any attention is because it's a money making opportunity. He said for now he'd deposited $1,000 into the Poker room for me to mess around with and if I ran out I could email him for more money. He did not say anything about this was the only money I would be getting. Only that it was all he could credit my account with for now. What's scary is the rest of my balance was *cashed* out to nowhere... He said on the phone he's keeping track of who's owed what money and how much he credited to each account - sounded like with pen and paper. I saw a missed call from his area code 613 yesterday. Not sure if I should pick up next time he calls until I hear more about this.

I find it incredible CasinoMeister and JetSet have a ball rolling already with this. Very impressive, let's see if I can get paid!

Oh BTW he said that NETeller funds are secure but people who deposited with credit cards wouldn't be able to have any money for six months because if they charged back he wouldn't know and they'd be paid double (from him and credit card company).
 
Thanks Casinomeister...

I was one of the few who was stuck in a take it or leave it deal getting $500 of my inital $1000 deposit, and then was told I'd hopefully get my other $500 within a week. That was just my inital deposit, not my $2500 in winning either.

I will keep my fingers crossed for a payment of $3500 into my NT account. Thanks again!
 
All heart, our Tino isn't he? Really concerned for the players who put money in his pocket.

This sort of guy should really not be in this business at all imo, and if he has 8 other casinos (that sounds like a little grandstanding) he should be in a position to afford to look after PurePoker's screwed players in a timely fashion instead of all this BS and trying to knock the peoples' claims down.

You can bet he's getting a sweet deal from Futurebet to take this lame duck over, but that doesn't stop him trying to squeeze some extra benefits out of the misfortune of others.

IMO none of this relieves Futurebet of their responsibility to stand by the players left stranded by one of their failed licensees, and I am watching with interest to see if they come through with their promise that the players will be looked after.

I'm glad to see that Bryan is still in communication with FB, because over the past 24-36 hours they have dried up on me despite several emails.

Futurebet made some extravagant promises about their future intentions and conduct a couple of years ago, but thus far in this case I don't see too much improvement in the way they handle this sort of situation.
 
Earlier I posted that I was being forced to play poker to get $1000 for my rough;y $3800 back. Howver, I spoke with Pino (or Tino) again and that is not the case. He says that .$1000 is in my poker account, and poker play is requested but not manditory. Either I misunderstood earlier or things changed.


Great to hear that this may very well be resolved in favor of the players. Thanks for all the help.!!
 
Poker

I'd like to clear something up. He did not say I had to play Poker. I just mentioned that I play poker and he said if I wanted I could play with $1,000 for now. It sounded like a "you help me I help you situation".

I don't feel like my funds are secure, and I wont until at least my deposit is sitting back in my NETeller.
 
I just tried to login to play some Poker and my account is disabled again. It was working after he called me and placed $1,000 in the account but now I am completely cut off from my money.

Just wanted to keep everyone informed. Can those who were offered Poker still login?
 
Casinomeister said:
This is the deal. You are owed both your deposit and winnings. Same goes for anyone else. If some dude on the phone is offering you anything different - tell him to forget it. You are owed both your deposit and winnings, anything less is unacceptable. Period.
Click to expand...

He wasn't really making a deal with us. He was basically just saying THIS is what we've got and THIS is what you'll get. Since I cashed my deposit out awhile ago, I was told there was no $ for me.
 
TrixSlice said:
Quite the talker Tino is .... What's scary is the rest of my balance was *cashed* out to nowhere...
Click to expand...
Lol, yeah, he can talk.

My balance was also "withdrawn to cash" (not MY cash.. I guess it's Tino's cash), except the $200, which was put in the account (and which is still in limbo itself)

If he's making EXTRA PROFIT off of our already considerable losses, that's even less acceptable than the original situation. I hope CM is right and FutureBet steps in and clears things up, because so far it there appears to be no sign of them, nor even the promised partial money from Tino (and I had a bit over $1000 in confiscated winnings that I could really use right about now)
 
Well, now my account is disabled again. I tried to log on to see if my cash was also withdrawn to "who knows where" and I got this message:

The requested user account has had poker disabled. If you feel this message is in error, Please contact customer service for assistance.
Click to expand...

It is like I took one step forward and then two steps back (after being pushed)

I tried to contact live support, but, as ususal, they were "too busy" to answer.
 
(P/T)ino called me last week during dinner and I asked him to call me back the next day. Still haven't heard back. Does anyone have an email/phone for him?

I obviously won't take any deals yet, but I want to know whats going on at least. I feel clueless!

Freakin
 
I emailed him because my Poker account was 'inactive' as I posted ealier. He replied that with all the negative postings he's been reading he may be backing out of the deal. Sounds like he's dumping PurePoker too.

All I want is my damn deposit back now.
 
After quite some time and several chasers *Pino* finally responded last night, emailing from PurePoker in answer to specific questions we put to him.

Unfortunately, he didn't address any of those questions or for that matter anything of significance. He wanted to talk on the telephone, which we don't do because it leaves too much room for *misunderstandings* and *misquotes* later. It's better to have everything on the record.

It's a strange thing how upfront and professional operators generally have no problem putting their point of view across in writing and on the record - it's usually the questionable guys who want to "talk this over off the record" LOL

I think we are more likely to see a resolution of this from FutureBet than Pino, although I can't understand why this very clearcut case is taking them so long to sort out.
 
TrixSlice said:
I emailed him because my Poker account was 'inactive' as I posted ealier. He replied that with all the negative postings he's been reading he may be backing out of the deal. Sounds like he's dumping PurePoker too.

All I want is my damn deposit back now.
Click to expand...

Well, when he decides to keep people's winnings (and says that he's doing it at a profit to himself), and has everyone's accounts locked for weeks without answering emails.. Is he expecting postive posts?

Anyway, why would anyone want to take over a casino that's only claim to fame is screwing its customers?
 
How come I get the unsettling feeling that I'm just being stalled long enough for NETELLER to release my funds and for someone to then withdrawal that money to their own bank account. I hope NETELLER won't let that happen. I'm looking forward to seeing some money.
 
FWIW, my account is once again active. Not sure why is was deactivated for second time (or even the first time for that matter) nor do I know why it was reactivated.

I'm not complaining about my account once again being active, but there is something unsettling about accounts being activated/deactivated without any explaination. Since I'm still looking for a silver lining (and my missing $2700+) I'm going to convince myself that this is progress.. however slight it may be.
 
TrixSlice said:
How come I get the unsettling feeling that I'm just being stalled long enough for NETELLER to release my funds and for someone to then withdrawal that money to their own bank account. I hope NETELLER won't let that happen. I'm looking forward to seeing some money.
Click to expand...


That's a good point. TrixSlice. I've alerted a contact at Neteller to this thread as a precaution against that.
 
TrixSlice said:
How come I get the unsettling feeling that I'm just being stalled long enough for NETELLER to release my funds and for someone to then withdrawal that money to their own bank account. I hope NETELLER won't let that happen. I'm looking forward to seeing some money.
Click to expand...


Might want to (if you haven't already) contact Neteller and explain this situation to them....maybe they can help that *not* happen.
 
My contact is apparently travelling until mid-week, but I've arranged with his assistant to have this passed to his deputy.
 
Jay said:
Well, when he decides to keep people's winnings (and says that he's doing it at a profit to himself), and has everyone's accounts locked for weeks without answering emails.. Is he expecting postive posts?

Anyway, why would anyone want to take over a casino that's only claim to fame is screwing its customers?
Click to expand...
After talking with Pino again, I get no indication that he's making any profit off this. He hasn't taken over PurePoker; he's just trying to unwind things at FB's request and his own expense for what's not sitting in FB's escrow account for the site.

Hopefully FB will step in and make things right, and maybe increase their oversight of licensees so there aren't a few dozen more of these failures.

Plus I want the money I won :(

The worst thing for me is that I signed up, played, then withdrew a little of my money after clearing all the requirements, but I left a LOT in there so I could keep playing.. If I'd just cashed out everything (and redeposited later), I would've gotten all the money!

(I assume all the players are on board with the concept of getting back deposit+winnings (or -losings), without any bonus money.. I'm fine with that, and I'd even continue playing at the site if (a) it was under new management and (b) FB changed something in their program to keep a tighter control over who they sell their software to -- it sounds like they don't even have a physical address for the thieves who own PurePoker at the moment!)
 
How can anyone know? There are numerous operations that seem fancy and reliable with good bonus offers that eventually rip their players off...
Click to expand...

its true you can't predict the future but you can learn from history to avoid repeating the same mistake.

By that I mean it's always a good idea to do a search for the name of the site in question and then add a few keywords into the search like "complaints", "ripped-off", "didn't pay", "under investigation" etc.

if they've been screwing people for any extended amount of time before you got there ... it is likely somebody has published a page to warn others but you've got to know what to look for in your search.

hope that helps somebody avoid trouble somewhere down the line.
 
Thanks webs, that's solid advice. Wish it helped me before this, PurePoker didn't show up under any search prior to this incident, and I had no idea what Futurebet was prior to this thread. I just assumed a Poker site with thousands of players had to be funded well enough. I didn't know poker sites were networked like they are to share players.
BTW, CM I assume you are a very busy person but we havn't heard from you since Futurebet was supposed to call. You might be staying away until you know more or have found this to be a helpless matter - just curious.
 
TrixSlice said:
Thanks webs, that's solid advice. Wish it helped me before this, PurePoker didn't show up under any search prior to this incident, and I had no idea what Futurebet was prior to this thread. I just assumed a Poker site with thousands of players had to be funded well enough. I didn't know poker sites were networked like they are to share players.
BTW, CM I assume you are a very busy person but we havn't heard from you since Futurebet was supposed to call. You might be staying away until you know more or have found this to be a helpless matter - just curious.
Click to expand...
I've been here just watching this unfold, and all it does is piss me off.

Yes, Futurebet has been in contact with me - I responded to their last email on the 17th telling them more or less that making "deals' with the players is out of the question. Pay these people and move on. That was Friday.

I expect something to be happening behind the scenes, and I expect the players to be paid - no strings attached. It's beyond me why this has been drawn out for so long.

And again, we are witnessing casino operators/software provider failing to learn from their and others' mistakes. How many times have we witnessed scenes like this? And it could have been handled way differently. The guys at Futurebet didn't just jump off some boat from China, they've been in this business for years. They know better.

And watching from the sidelines, all I can do is shake my head and wonder what the hell.
 
Jay says: "After talking with Pino again, I get no indication that he's making any profit off this. He hasn't taken over PurePoker; he's just trying to unwind things at FB's request and his own expense for what's not sitting in FB's escrow account for the site."


I've had some exchanges with this character Pino, too and frankly his responses and his actions in trying to bargain players down to date don't strike me as being those of a guy getting nothing out of this situation.

I'm guessing here that the quid pro quo might be access to the PurePoker player lists so that he can generate more action for his other online gambling interests. Alternatively, if he has not taken over PurePoker, perhaps the deal is a cheaper price eventually if he looks after the absconding owner's obligations.

Whatever, I don't see this guy helping players out of the goodness of his heart!

I don't have a problem with him getting a cheap poker room in return for picking up the old obligations, providing that the players are paid in full the monies that are owned to them.

If this operator was smart he would recognise the great marketing possibilities that a timely and integrity-driven resolution to this situation could bring to both him and Futurebet.

Unfortunately, and based on this saga thus far this does not yet seem to have entered the considerations of either. The operator has been trying to knock the players down in their expectations, and Futurebet seems to be sitting on it's hands hoping that Pino will pull its chestnuts out of the fire.

It's high time now for Futurebet to prove that it is capable of ethical turnkey provider conduct by standing behind its players, imo.
 
Yes, clearly what he gets out of it is the PurePoker accounts. A set of gamblers who can deposit four figures into a casino is probably worth something.

It sounds like the Bad Guys still own the PurePoker domain name, and they're in hiding (which is why I speculated that FB didn't even know their address.. if they owed ME $60k+, I'd invest in a plane ticket or at least a private investigator or even lawyer in their area). Without the PurePoker name (and that's a pretty good name, as such things go), the player list may not be worth as much.
 
What really sux about this is that the money involved is all PLAYERS money (less rake) unlike a casino where their own money is at risk. The winnings being discussed were never the poker rooms monies but other players monies.

Its is bad enough when a casino rips off players winnings because they dont have enough of their own money to pay the players.

It is really bad when a poker room rips off players because in essence the only reason they wouldnt have the money to pay off the players is they just stole it.

Theft is theft but poker room theft is even more insidious than casino theft.

(Edit- this is assuming no casino type games were involved in the mix)
 
IMO the longer Futurebet leaves this, the worse it will get in terms of damage to their reputation and that of their licensees.

Remember, players have not yet even had the courtesy of a formal email from Futurebet explaining the situation, and that in itself is extremely unprofessional and lacking in integrity.

The players have a right to know what is going on, what is happening with their money and what action is being taken to secure their interests, and if this is not forthcoming I would suggest that it is grounds for a rogue listing.

The way things are going at present, I would say that Pino is not a good bet!
 
paul02085 said:
(Edit- this is assuming no casino type games were involved in the mix)
Click to expand...

For the record, casino games were included for me.

I think if Pino does resolve this he deserves to make some money off of it as it wasn't his problem to begin with. Futurebet should have just sucked it up. Is $60k that much when you are on the other side of this business? I would hope not. This problem definatly didn't originate with Pino but if he truly decides to resolve it I think players need to start being paid at least partially. I asked him for a portion of my money to be paid to my neteller in good faith but have seen nothing yet.

Pino, I know you read these threads. Please respond or do something in good faith. Everyone would appreciate it.
 
Last edited:
Neteller Investigations and the PR department now have this issue is my last information from that quarter. I don't know what they can or will do about it, but they have been alerted and given this thread as a reference.

I think Pino has been offered the player database as a quid pro quo for trying to do what is really Futurebet's dirty laundry, and I get the feeling from his exchanges that he has not actually taken this operation over - it's the player database that is the honey here, and in itself that raises questions about player privacy imo.

As posted earlier, I think it's high time that Futurebet accept their responsibilities to owed players of a failed licensee and get this thing resolved in a timely and fair manner.
 
paul02085 said:
What really sux about this is that the money involved is all PLAYERS money (less rake) unlike a casino where their own money is at risk. The winnings being discussed were never the poker rooms monies but other players monies.

Its is bad enough when a casino rips off players winnings because they dont have enough of their own money to pay the players.

It is really bad when a poker room rips off players because in essence the only reason they wouldnt have the money to pay off the players is they just stole it.

Theft is theft but poker room theft is even more insidious than casino theft.

(Edit- this is assuming no casino type games were involved in the mix)
Click to expand...
Only casino for me. I don't really play poker much, and didn't play at all here.
 
That raises the interesting question of who is on the controls here, bearing in mind that Pino says he hasn't taken this operation over?

It must therefore be Futurebet, but what is their criteria for switching accounts on and off like light bulbs???
 
Definitley Pino has control there. During my original phonecall, he said that he could reactivate my account (with less money in it), and five minutes after the call ended, I checked and it was reactivated.
 
Just double checking this thread - it's almost a month old...and no resolution

Yet, Purepoker.com is online touting ongoing tournamets. To the casual observer, nothing is amiss.

I was in contact with Futurebet's CEO, and last Friday he stated that they had a deal that would please everyone. But so far, I haven't heard anything.
 
Thanks CM

I am sure many of us are just sitting tight awaiting word from you on what is going on currently. We appreciate the update (even if it is nothing).

FWIW..My account has not been locked as far as I've seen and it has the lowly $500 sitting in it.

Hopefully we will all leave happy!
 
yes, thanks for the updates.

I'm surprised some of your accounts are still open. Mine was closed after Pino asked me if I wanted to deposit more (?!) and play there. I said no, so he closed it. over $1200 still owed.
 
Ok... here's something new for me...

Now, when I try to log into my account, I get a message stating that poker has been disabled for my account. So, even if I wanted to, I can't play poker. However, I can log into the casino and the cashier page. If this site didn't owe me so much money, I might think all the activations/ deactivations/setting changes etc to my account was funny. Of course, there is nothing funny about this situation.

CM, that's for the help and for the recent update.

I do hope Futurebet and/or Pino steps up and realize that they both will gain much more from resolving this than they will "save" from not paying players.

When I was playing at Purepker, I remember thinking about how much I liked the software. If I would have beem paid (and not gone through this hassle), I'm pretty this could have become my favorite site, because I liked the software that much.
 
Possibly interesting iinformation on Futurebet

The following link is to an agreement found using Google.... on the sale of Futurebet Systems Inc. to CYOP Systems International Inc. on the 14th of December 2005.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.


take from it what you will.... Don't know why this document is online just found it interesting when I came across it looking into futureBet. I don't even know if the link is to an agreement which actually went through....
 
I'm open to correction on this, but I seem to recall that this deal referred to a sale to CYOPS of the source code (rather like the deal that was done with IGS, enabling them to 'tweak' same as opposed to a licensee who doesn't have that level of *ownership*

I'm not sure that it applies to this case other than an interesting deal by Futurebet on what must be its major asset.

QUOTE: The Seller further warrants that it is not selling their business, operations, employees or any other right with regard to operating their own business.UNQUOTE
 
Thanks Jetset,

Just don't know why they can't pay players when a deal like this has a payment schedual.... right around the time people are having problems......

Quote

"1. A deposit of $325,000.00USD on closing. (Dec 14th/05)

2. Initial deposit to be paid to FutureBet Systems Inc. on delivery of all "assets", ie., newest source code ( known as version 2.4) with translated games in the languages described in Exhibit A.

3. Installments of $30,000.00USD 30 days after the closing and $40,000.00USD 60 days after the closing.

4. The balance of $255,000.00USD to be paid upon effectiveness of the Buyers registration statement and concurrent funding with Cornell Capital due payable no later then March 31st 2006. "
 
Of course FB *can* pay. But the first responsibility is on the site, not the software provider. I don't think anyone here believes that FB has run out of money.

That said, my account is currently unlocked and I have a (verbal only) agreement to get my money over time, with added playthrough on my part. Since I left the money in there in order to play it anyway, that doesn't bother me. Never heard a peep from FB, and have nothing in writing (letter or email), so I'm mostly on faith here.. (but better to wait for a letter with an unlocked account and some of my money than a locked account and no money :) )
 

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