Americas Cardroom Advertising Fake WSOP Main Event Qualifiers

Americas Cardroom was back making waves on Twitter feeds this week.

It began with a simple promotional tweet.

The problem is the tweet is a misrepresentation of the facts and is designed to exploit a player’s desire to enter the World Series of Poker Main Event.

The WSOP, held every summer in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the most anticipated series of the year. It is also very protective of its brand and affiliations.

WSOP draws a line in the sand

The team behind the WSOP Twitter handle wasted no time in responding to Americas Cardroom.

The WSOP tweeted, “Reminder that we have nothing to do with ACR. These are illegal satellites they are unauthorized to run. We will not be able to honor anything related to this company.”

Americas Cardroom was quick to reply. Here’s a screenshot:

Many found it amusing that the WSOP accused Americas Cardroom of running “illegal satellites” and ACR responded with a tweet that started with “Correct.”

Here is ACR’s updated response after deleting the first one.

Americas Cardroom and false advertising

In a time when authenticity and transparency are essential, Americas Cardroom seems to be taking another route.

ACR is using the WSOP brand to attract players to the site. It is claiming to award “50 WSOP packages” when it is actually awarding winners of each qualifier $12,500 cash.

Now, most people will look at the situation and say it is basically the same thing. But it is not. Those two things are very different.

When players win a seat in a tournament, they are often required to play. Most of the time, there isn’t an option to turn in the tournament ticket and take the cash.

When a player is awarded the cash to buy a tournament ticket, the player has the choice whether to play the tournament or not. It is a lot of money, and recreational players may opt to choose the sure thing and keep the cash.

A satellite by definition is a qualifying event. The winner(s) of the satellite earn a seat into a larger event.

By all appearances, ACR is using the WSOP brand to promote their “satellites” when there is no relationship, affiliation or promise of a seat. Then, if the player elects to keep the cash, the money is more likely to be put back in play on the ACR poker site.

Bottom line: by advertising WSOP satellites, Americas Cardroom is deceiving its customers.

Buyers beware of Americas Cardroom

As part of the Winning Poker Network, Americas Cardroom operates an unregulated online poker room in the U.S. It is not available in Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada and Washington State.

The controversial online poker site has been under fire lately with complaints about collusion, cash out issues, and a tournament loophole that allowed players who late registered for a tournament to sit down at the same table.

Americas Cardroom opened a thread a few years back in the Two Plus Two Poker Forums to answer player questions. The first question in that thread was, “how are you able to be open to the US market?” It is telling that they didn’t offer a response.

To play or not to play

It is understandable that players without regulated opportunities to play live or online poker will seek other options.

There is a risk when players sit down at a poker table on an unregulated site. The most significant risk is that there is no third-party oversight; monitoring the integrity of the game is up to the site itself.

Should a player trust an online poker site to regulate itself when the site’s motivation is to make money? That is the million-dollar question.

In the end, every player must decide the level of risk they are willing to take. Players should do their due diligence before taking a seat on Americas Cardroom.

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