My dad won’t like me saying this but he is a sucker, he isn’t going to win at poker over time. That might be brutal but it is honest. My dad’s story is so pertinent right now it is unreal because it points out why the suckers leave and why they are going to contribute less and less to the poker economy.

My dad has always liked to gamble. As he has gotten a little older he has more time on his hands, he is retired and occasionally he works odd jobs. He also plays poker, too much in my opinion but mostly it is low limit so other than the time he really isn’t hurting anyone because the amounts really don’t matter. Mostly he plays sit and go’s and satellites, recently he has started to actually show some results so clearly his time investment is paying off. Last week he won a satellite into a live event for 10k. For many reasons my dad didn’t want to go, begrudgingly the site gave him tournament currency which was actually nice of them. They didn’t have to do that.

In fact, no one is really wrong here but it is the perception of being wronged that is causing our suckers to leave.

So my dad has 10k with no idea what do with it, I told him he should just sell them and take a little hit, which is a more than reasonable position but as you get older you don’t always think of things rationally. His basic thought is he has 10k now and he would like it. Plain and simple. Now for a lot of readers you may think my dad’s position is unreasonable but you clearly aren’t a sucker because suckers know they are going to lose that money, so they want it and they want it fast. No dice. Without paying the fee my dad just decided to play the dollars into cash, which cost him about 2k (I told him he should have just cashed the damn dollars in, oh well). He owed me a few dollars so he transferred them to me which left him with about 7k. Fine so far. Now he wants to cash out and he is a little hot from having to lose 2k to get his money so when the site says he will have to send all kinds of documents in to them to get a check my dad blows his cork. I mean none of this stuff was required when he was a contributor, now he is being inconvenienced for money that is rightfully his, or so he thinks.

Here is where I need to stop for just a second and give a few disclaimers because I know why the sites have these policies and I certainly don’t fault the sites at all. What I am attempting to do is remind everyone why the fish are leaving and why they likely aren’t going to come back.

While my dad can likely figure out how to get this site his information he doesn’t want to do it. Why? Mostly because he doesn’t know how. Whether it is international faxes or wires to a bank my dad doesn’t want people in his business. After all he is a losing gambler, gambling is a source of shame for him to be judged by the guy at Kinko’s is not high on my dad’s list (of course the guy at Kinko’s could give 2 shits but my dad doesn’t know that). So he calls me up sounding tired and pissed off and asks me if he can transfer me the money. Begrudgingly I say yes, I have enough online money that I need to get off monthly but I can hear it in his voice that he really needs help, so I agree to help him. The first transfer is declined for 5k. It is not uncommon for me to transfer or recieve 5k transfers 5 or 6 at a time a day, so this seems odd to me. Especially since my dad did win the money. He wasn’t dumped the money by some crook, there were numerous emails that went back and forth before the site begrudgingly relented the tournament currency. Why they declined the transfer we still don’t know but you can bet there will be another stream of emails that will need to go back and forth. I am guessing they are figuring that since my dad won’t send them his documents that he could be jobbing them. A very legit thought on the part of an online poker site I would imagine except for the fact that they know where he got the money and I have a long history on the site.

Anyway, to end this story I will summarize with this, when you are a fish you are used to losing but when you happen to win occasionally you are inconvenienced beyond normal reason. Fact is, my dad lives in Baton Rouge and if he were to win a tournament they would ask him for identification but he can just pull it out, he doesn’t have to fax it anywhere (or refax it because the first one wasn’t clear, let’s be real not all of the customer service agents at these places do a great job). My dad is pissed to no end right now and you can bet what little money he contributes to the poker economy will be gone soon. He has a theory that the site is holding his money so he loses it, which I have told him is absurd but think about it, what if you knew very little about these processes, you might feel that way too. You might think I could be a calming influence on him but when 7k is on the line that matters to someone who is used to just putting money online. And then the first time he happens to get a little lucky and win he can’t get the money off.

One more sucker down. The games just got a little harder.