Lock Poker Pay?

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Lock Poker was the largest US poker room and headed their own network - the Revolution Gaming Network - as recently as 2012. Things are very different for Lock Poker in 2014. They were once the most powerful and popular poker site for U.S. players and dominated the market. Since then they have basically been kicked off of the network they created and forced to be a stand-alone poker room with only a couple hundred players during peak hours. How did LockPoker.eu fall so far? It all began as Lock Poker payouts started taking a little longer than usual. Throughout 2013, Lock Poker cashouts started taking longer and longer. American players started using the p2p transfer feature to get money off the room instead of waiting 6-12 months for a withdrawal. Anyone with a basic understanding of business knows what happens when supply exceeds demand; lower prices.

At first a player could trade $100 on Lock Poker for $90-$95 on another USA poker room or some other asset. When LockPoker.eu cashouts for so slow everyone was opting to take a loss on a trade to get their cash quicker. Europeans made a lot of money by buying up U.S. player funds and cashing it out via Neteller or Skrill, but they were taking a risk since even non-US payouts at Lock Poker were taking months. There was no telling when the poker room would close. Over time the trade ratio for Lock Poker funds dropped lower and lower. It went from $.95/$1 to $.75/$1, to $.50/$1, to $.30/$1 and all the way down to about $.05/$.10 on the dollar. People were that desperate and Lock Poker money was viewed as that worthless.

You could buy $10,000 in Lock Poker funds for as little as $500. Lock Poker payouts were backlogged by almost a whole year. Each month LockPoker would pay out to some players but that was just for show. When the price of Luck funds dropped to around $.40/$1 they changed the p2p trading rules. You now had to play a lot of poker before you could cashout any money that was transferred to you. Lock Poker representatives made the bizarre claim that a secret cabal of poker players were intentionally trying to decrease the value of Lock Poker money, in order to make a bigger profit of trades. Lock Poker's paid troll and professional con-artist Shane Bridges was constantly on the big poker forums like 2+2 promising players that they would be paid the entire time. Then it came out that Lock Poker was only paying players sent by certain affiliates, affiliates who were still sending Lock Poker traffic despite the issues.

Cardschat was the main one. There was a mod there who could get CC forum members paid in a week or two while everyone else had been waiting 6-12+ months. Pretty scummy. Cardschat still had Lock Poker listed as their #1 US poker room, even though funds were being traded at $.20-$.30 on the dollar. It has been suggested that Lock Poker employees like Shane intentionally caused the payout scandal so they could buy up Lock Poker funds at a fraction of the cost. It would be like if you owed 10 people $100 each and you refused to pay them. Then you had a 3rd person offer to buy your debt from them for $20 each. Instead of honoring your $1,000 debt, you get away with paying it off got just $200.

Even the Lock Poker Pro's were selling Lock funds for $.10 on the dollar towards the end. Jennifer Larson, the owner of Lock Poker, is certainly trashy enough to do so and has been known to scam people in the online poker business. As of 2014 Lock Poker was kicked off of the Revolution Poker Network. They scrapped together a generic poker platform an re-launched the "New Lock Poker" or "Lock Poker 2.0", as many people are calling them.

Very interesting read, thanks for sharing