[jdunford]

To pay for group buy (GB) chips, one European GB participant sent me funds via PartyPoker (PP) inter-account transfer. The transfer went through ok, but when I tried to cash out the funds, I got an email from PP's "Investigation Team" informing me that my cash-out was under review because they "discourage" inter-account transfers for purposes other than funding someone's play on their site. In short, they refused my cash-out, and I'm stuck with money on PP that I can't withdraw! (NB: I'm Canadian, so it has nothing to do with my nationality)

My experience won't apply to a lot of you (as you're probably aware, PartyPoker doesn't allow US account holders anymore), but I was curious if anyone's had a similar experience on Bodog or FTP or P*, etc. Obviously, I'm not impressed. If I closed my account, I wonder if they'd let me have my money or not...

For detailed info, here are the emails they sent me:

Originally Posted by alerts@PartyAccount.com

Dear Jeffrey,

While approving a cashout request of yours we see that you are cashing out an amount transferred to you by another player on our website via the Inter-Account Transfer feature.

Please note that the Inter-Account Transfer feature is a privilege for all Real Money Account Holders who wish to help their friends on the site who go broke, or want to convert Play Money Players to play for Real Money.

Using this feature for any purpose other than those mentioned above is not encouraged, so please write back to us with a clarification about the same for us to verify the cashout.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience.
aravindr

Investigations Team
alerts@partyaccount.com
https://secure.partyaccount.com

Originally Posted by alerts@PartyAccount.com

Dear Jeffrey,

Thank you for contacting us.

We wish to draw your attention to the fact that the “Inter Account
Transfer” facility is a privileged feature provided to our esteemed
players, so they may be able to play with the transferred funds, while
awaiting their deposits. Transfer of funds for any reason apart from
this is strictly not encouraged

Jeffrey, we are sorry to say that we cannot process such transactions.
In this case, we have to either put the funds back to your Poker Account
so that you could use the funds to play or transfer them back to the
account that made the Inter Account Transfer to your account.

Your cash out has been currently placed on a temporary hold. Any further
action on the same can be taken only after receiving a clarification
from you. We also request you to henceforth use the **Inter Account
Transfer** facility for the said purpose only.

For further information on Inter Account Transfer feature, please click
on the link below:

https://secure.partyaccount.com/inte...eraccounttrans
fers_termsandconditions.htm

We thank you for your patience and co-operation in this regard.

Contact us anytime, we are available around the clock to assist you with
your account related questions and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Priyanka
Investigations Team
alerts@PartyAccount.com

[jojobinks]

i know of a member that had a similar problem at p*. he collected money for something, and then couldn't cash it it out.

[Chipmunk]

That sucks. I also heard that if you take Party Poker gift certificates from PSO then Party will require you to play with them before you can cash them out.

You'd think that with all the competition poker sights would try not to hassle their customers. Although they might be afraid of money laundering though.

[JM]

Yup, I had the same thing happen to me when party still allowed US customers. Basically they don't want to be used as paypal. So what you need to do is put the money in play. I think its something along the lines of one hand per $ transferred or something like that. I played at a .10/.25 NL table to 'clear' it and ended up making money on the deal so it was all good. Just tell them you didn't know the rules or they might reverse it on you.

[dad604]

Party's T&C for GC's which also applies to player transfers. Read the last paragraph.

PartyPoker.com Gift Certificates - Terms and Conditions
The following terms and conditions apply to all PartyPoker.com Gift Certificates, unless otherwise stated. By donating or receiving a PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate, you agree to be bound by the following applicable terms and conditions:
Once the Company has effected the transfer to the recipient, the Company will be not liable for the transfer. The Company will not transfer money back to the donor’s account unless the PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate expires before redemption

The Company reserves the right to reject any PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate request or to reverse any PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate upon suspicion of breach of the Terms and Conditions.

The recipient will need to complete the "Player Registration" with the Cashier before they are able to redeem the PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate. Player registration can be completed either by clicking "Deposit" on the Cashier screen or clicking on "My Account Update Personal Info" in the Lobby.

The donor agrees that the PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate is intended only to enable the recipient to play at PartyPoker.com and not for any other purposes.

The recipient will have to play the higher of at least 50 raked hands or the numerical equivalent of 25% of the transferred amount in raked hands before withdrawing the PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate money (for example if a $50 PartyPoker.com Gift Certificate is redeemed then the recipient must play 50 raked hands with that transferred money as 25% of $50 amounts to only 12.5 raked hands).

[jdunford]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to withdraw everything EXCEPT what was transferred to me, then play the remainder until they let me withdraw that amount.

I just hope I find enough time to play so that I can keep up with the interest I'm paying on my Visa CC!

[dad604]

Originally Posted by jdunford

Thanks for the info. I'll try to withdraw everything EXCEPT what was transferred to me, then play the remainder until they let me withdraw that amount.

I just hope I find enough time to play so that I can keep up with the interest I'm paying on my Visa CC!

Party might still try not to let you withdraw everything EXCEPT what was transferred but if you email them back that fact, they will cash it out for you. I had that happen to me. I had exactly the same problem last year. I withdraw everything except the transferred amount and they send me same form email as yours above but after I email them back that I was still leaving the transferred amount in the account, they aprroved the withdraw.

[yeltzen]

Poker Stars is not a money-laundering service.

[dad604]

Originally Posted by yeltzen

Poker Stars is not a money-laundering service.

Absolute Poker is tho. They will let you cash out GC's, player transfers without playing a single hand.

[Chipmunk]

I play NL5 there, about 75% of the hands are raked (pot is more than $.20) so if you 12-table NL5 and fold every hand you'd get about 630 raked hands per hour and you'd only pay a few dollars in blinds Should clear up the requirements quickly.