philossify Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Received my complimentary issue of InsideEdge and in it was a full page ad for PokerShare. Looked an interesting idea so signed up - took my sign-up no problem - but when I tried to put money in it had stuff about "email address not validated" (even though it was) - anyway today I get email saying ..... We received your request to open an account on pokershare.com. The pokershare.com poker room has been closed and is not accepting new customers at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Anybody any idea whats happening? Anyone got an Id on there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaF Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Hmmm.....just researching this a bit - is it an "ultimate bet" skin? Looks like UB have started blocking PokerShare user accounts, and communicating directly with PokerShare customers (poaching??) ...... so (and I'm guessing a bit) - Pokershare have stopped taking customers until they can sort UB out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaF Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? It seems it's shut down - copied from another forum .... Dear xxxxxx, We would like to thank you for being a member of PokerShare. We are writing to inform you that on November 14th, 2005 at 9 a.m. Eastern time, this cardroom will no longer be available for play. If you have funds in your account, please log in to the game as xxxxxx, unregister from any preregistered event you may be in and process a withdrawal by November 14th, 2005 at 9 a.m. Eastern time so we may return your funds to you in your preferred method. Cash funds remaining in your account as of November 14th, 2005 at 9 a.m. Eastern time will be automatically withdrawn and sent to you via check to the address we have on file for you. We apologize for the inconvenience. Sincerely Robert [email protected] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philossify Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Thanks for info GAF - pity, it looked a nice idea and seemed to offer better rewards in terms of bonuses for people playing tournaments than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friskyfitz Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Thanks for info GAF - pity' date=' it looked a nice idea and seemed to offer better rewards in terms of bonuses for people playing tournaments than usual.[/quote'] maybe that why they went bust!! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaF Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? maybe that why they went bust!! ;) I don't think there's any suggestion that they went bust - it seems if anything, they were too successful, Ultimate Bet got worried, put pressure on their (mutual) hosts, and PokerShare had the carpet pulled from under them ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friskyfitz Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? :lol:lol:lol the wink was meant to signify that i was joking. sorry :sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaF Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? :lol:lol:lol the wink was meant to signify that i was joking. sorry :sad Ok - so I'm lacking a sense of humour tonight :$ :$ :$ :$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guesswest Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Is a really interesting story with Pokershare, theories abound but in my mind this is the most credible. This was posted on the 2+2 forum by Todd Witteles, who I believe was Cardplayer's WSOP player of the year this year: Like many of you, I was shocked and appalled by yesterday's abrupt account closures on UB. I had over 33k there, and I was immediately worried that I'd never see that money again. Fortunately, they paid me immediately on Neteller, and I got to take a step back, clear my head, and analyze the situation from an objective standpoint. After taking a look at all of the available "evidence", I believe I have pieced together an explanation that is probably very close to what actually went down. Feel free to jump in if you feel I've missed anything. First off, it's important to realize that many of us (myself included, until recently) have been making a faulty assumption about the relationship between UB and Pokershare. We all assumed that Pokershare was a skin for UB. Not true. Pokershare and UB are both skins on the Excapsa poker network. The Excapsa network began with UB in 2001, but expanded to include several other smaller skins, the latest being Pokershare. A list of these skins and a short description of them can be found at here: Excapsa Licensee Page Prior to the existence of Pokershare, UB was not threatened by the other skins. These skins were either play-money only (i.e. Cardplayer) or were marketing to a different clientele (i.e. Aviation Club, marketed to French players). While UB does serve players from all over the world, their primary business (and "market share") is North America -- more specifically, the U.S. and Canada. Therefore, without any serious competition for this important market, UB was relatively happy and didn't mind other skins on the network. In fact, UB was probably happy about those European skins, because it increased the overall network player base, and kept more active games on the site. Enter Pokershare. Pokershare offers something nearly too good to be true: A 40% share of their profits! "Even when you lose, you win!", said their website. In addition, they allowed rakeback affiliates, meaning that players could get a healthy rakeback (in many cases over 30%) ON TOP of the 40% profit distribution. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to realize what started to occur. The word about Pokershare spread like wildfire, and people were jumping ship from UB to sign up to be part of this brave new world of poker profit sharing. This is hardly what UB had bargained for! To put it in street terms, UB was a pimp with near-exclusive rights to his 'hood, and some balding English guy shows up and offers the same girls for a lesser price. The turf war was on! UB complained to Excapsa. "We built this network," they insisted. "We've been here from the start. Without us, there would be no Pokershare, or any of these other skins, for that matter." UB insisted that, after being Excapsa's meal ticket for 4 years, they deserved better than to be bitten in the ass by a greedy Englishman on their own network. Excapsa never had to mediate like this before. Prior to this feud, all of the skins had existed in peace. To appease UB, Excapsa gave Pokershare a deadline of October 31st to stop accepting new rakeback customers. While UB felt this wasn't enough, Excapsa assured them that this deadline would prevent most people from jumping ship, as rakeback was far more valuable than this "profit sharing". UB still wasn't happy. "We'll lose most of our serious players by October 31st. This isn't fair. Any existing UB customer simply shouldn't be eligible for Pokershare!" And that was the next compromise. Excapsa released a new version of the software, which didn't allow you to install Pokershare if any previous Excapsa skin existed on that computer -- even if said skin was uninstalled. Still, UB was unhappy, and felt that most of the damage had already been done. Back at Pokershare headquarters, Max Wright scratched his balding head and wondered how much longer Excapsa would tolerate his company's antics. He already had to make excuses as to why people couldn't install the Pokershare software -- even if they already had a Pokershare account and simply wanted it on a second computer. "We're working on the issue," he would write them. Wright tried to appeal to the powers-that-be at Excapsa, arguing that it's his right to grab whatever share of the market he can get. Excapsa told him that they're still deciding how to come to terms with all of this. Finally, UB pressed hard enough, and Excapsa backed down. "We want our market share back," said UB. "We have always marketed to North America, and that should be our territory. Pokershare is based in Europe. Let them have their European customers, but we want our Americans and Canadians back." And so Excapsa finally realized that UB did indeed deserve their original market back. Indeed, Pokershare was based out of England, and none of the other network skins dared market outside of where they were based. Why should Pokershare be allowed to raid the crown jewel skin of the network? On November 1st, 2005, Excapsa quietly closed all accounts on the network, and informed each member via e-mail. They staffed their office 24/7 to handle questions and cashout requests, and quickly shipped out all refunds. The biggest accounts were handled first (thus to prevent mass panic), followed by the smaller ones. Everyone on the network was to be paid -- after all, Excapsa also manages the cashier -- thus maintaining the integrity of the network that had existed reputably for more than 4 years. This action was taken immediately, and without any prior discussion with Pokershare owner Max Wright. Once Wright found out about this, he was understandbly livid, but the damage had already been done. Observe his reaction to finding out what had happened: Maxey loses even more hair! So, in summary, here is the situation: 1) Your Pokershare account was closed by the parent network, not Pokershare, and not UB. 2) Your money is safe, and if you haven't received it yet, you'll be getting it shortly. The purpose here was not to cheat the players, it was to restore UB's market share. 3) Max Wright is currently lobbying Excapsa to get its players back, but it's doubtful he'll be successful, since UB has far more pull. Furthermore, it's unlikely anyone will trust Pokershare again, even though this shutdown wasn't directly their fault. 4) You will probably not be getting your "share" money. It's almost a certainty that they will claim that this abrupt shutdown has ruined them financially, and therefore there are no profits to distribute. 40% of 0 is still 0. 5) The rakeback situation is questionable. It will be up to Pokershare to distribute the rakeback to its affiliates. It's possible that they will either go under or claim financial hardship, meaning that your rakeback may never arrive. However, you should keep the pressure on your affiliate to make sure he's telling you the truth, and isn't using this situation to pocket the rakeback and blame Pokershare. I believe that the above tells the whole story, perhaps with a few details missing and/or slightly incorrect. I shall now twirl my seat cover for one last time this evening, and bid you all goodnight. -Dan Druff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masterplan Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? pokershare is now live and has a new software provider go check it out!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelopeys Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Very interesting reading, Guesswest :eek :eek :eek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarjaruk Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Good luck to Poker Share.... No site should ever have enough "pull" to force another site to shut down in my view. :@ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMatrix Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? I've been playing on their new platform lately. They have some good WSOP qualifiers. The first final I played there I bubbled in 3rd! 1st: $13k package, 2nd: $7k+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6ooner Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: PokerShare - any one any experience of it? Looks good, any chance of a link? I don't need to download immediately but if PL can get a link to there I can wait a while:ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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