Poker Perambulation

Well, I see ATMOnline at Ultimate Bet but nowhere else. It appears to function just like Neteller. It only wanted the last 4-digits from my Social Security – that seems better than the other choice mentioned in an earlier blog: click2pay.com. Hopefully, they get more sites to use it. It looks like the answer to Neteller may end up multiple choice.

Just how many will spend the time and effort I expended yesterday for a bit of poker fun? And, will the ones that don’t be the losing players we don’t want to see go away? If you are picking up nice bucks, you’ll obviously make the effort. But what will you find at the tables? Various estimates put Neteller at between 2/3rds and 3/4th of the market. If half of those don’t find an easy alternative and give up, what is left? The Neteller loss looks to be far more serious than losing Party and the other withdrawn sites.

It is as annoying to register for as any could be, I have sent them copies of everything but my Bart butt on the Xerox. That includes driver’s license, phone bill, credit card front & back and so forth. They are accepting all this via e-mail. So, it should be faster than the snail mail. How fast? Well, I waited over an hour just to talk to a rep – which you must do to get validation going. I think we can all figure they are having a busy time of it at the moment.

All this seems to be pretty standard in the online cash moving sector. They don’t want to be had and that means it is less likely that I will be. I am trying to think of it as a Martha Stewart Good Thing.

Is it the best way to go? I haven’t a clue but I have the setup in the works. I know I waited over an hour just to get to the rep so I doubt they will process all that info I had to send very quickly. I keep you posted. Neteller was also a royal pain as I recall and I don’t expect this to be a lot better. In the meantime, you can review their service here. They do let you pay other sites using their service. Is that good/useful? Again, my no clue disclaimer.

Next question is how long will they be around?

Well, they don’t appear to be a listed company. That is good for avoiding Uncle Sam’s long reach but doesn’t add confidence. I have no idea who their bank is. Hopefully, it isn’t one with a U.S. Footprint. There are plenty of decent mid-tier banks in that group.

There’s no mention of an escrow account setup that I could see. I’m hoping that just oversight on one of our parts. Co-mingled funds lead to Dutch Boyd type situations.

On the good side, they do make Electronic Fund Transfers to quickly (2-3 days) get money back to your bank account – just like Neteller. And, the site is clean and easy to use.

They are not on many sites beside U.B. (any?)

Poker Stars is recommending ePassport. You’ve got to really want to play badly (Freudian slip?) to buy into that. Here is their example: You fund $50 off your credit card and you get $45. 10% vigorish off the top!!! Thanks! … but I’ll haul the gold on a mule to the Isle of Mann or wherever before I buy into that.

FullContact is having some nice guarantees. Just got the email. 4/7/10 buyin with 250/350/500 guarantees. Looked and saw nice overlays. So I put a few bucks there using the old debit card. That is still working.

Later Addition: I opened an funded an account at eWallet.  You do the registrations stuff and then are given a code to enter that gets you to a regular person.  They ask all the questions you just filled in.  I now have funds there withdrawn from my bank account.

So, it all boils down to not having found a valid replacement for Neteller

P.S. My email to Click2pay.com email hasn’t been answered. But, no big shock there.

ADDENDUM:

Will I have to go to the freerolls before this all ends? LOL or COL? (crying) I actually like the occasional freeroll when bored or on a tough streak. I played a points SnG at Ultimate bet today. I hadn’t played there for a long time. But, I still have a little stack of player points with them and they can be used for a buyin or gambled in point sngs for points you can use for tournament buyins. Keep it in mind if the cash ain’t there.

The only site I have a decent ratio of bankroll to amounts played on is TonyG’s place. I like the site but it isn’t very big and doesn’t spread anything but holdem most days. I’ve always tended to not keep much on Neteller. I at least get a bit of interest if it is lying at my bank, instead. The last of it is headed for there after I couldn’t put it on a poker site. There is enough to play a blogger tournament on Poker Stars and a bit left over to try to bring back up to a second one without winning much. FullTilt is in fair shape. A couple or three tournaments there and losing a bit at ring could have me looking to board the free shuttle to their .NET site. I’ve got enough to play as usual but the thought in the back of my head is there is no safety net of a redeposit. Guess I play even cheaper seats for a while.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 7:50 am and is filed under Journal, Misc., Poker Other, Uncategorized, poker legislation. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.