Error 71/1001 ... PokerStars, I ♥ U

After 3 loyal years at PokerStars.com I have finally had conclusive evidence that the site is by FAR the best in the business.

Back in early 2007 I self-exluded myself myself for a week because I had a terrible run and lost a few hundred $$$. A few days later I got drunk and opened a new account with the same name and details. What a dumbass I am. Of course this is against the TOS and I'm sure everyone knows that.

Well anyway,

a few weeks ago I won a tidy sum of $2,300 after playing for 7hours on a $11 MTT.

I was absolutely elated as this was my biggest win in one sitting after 5 years of playing poker. But oh shit, I've got two accounts. Instantly I think back to my friend who lost $6,500 after withdrawing the whole lot from PKR and getting caught on duplicate and false accounts. He lost all the money and was forced to donate to charity.

So I think of a plan...

$400 withdrawal every 5 days and it should go under the radar... right?

Well skip forward $800 banked and I impatiently make my 3rd withdrawal just one day after the last. Two days later I'm playing a $109 satellite to a big EPT London qualifier and I'm abruptly kicked out of the tournament. "Error 71/1001 please contact support@pokerstars.com" ... "Oh shit" I think to myself, "I've gone and lost my remaining $1,100." ... and being a student in debt that's a big deal!

Quick Google check comes up with numerous results "Error 71/1001, my account has been frozen by PokerStars!!! Omgomgomgomg" etc. Well now it's hit me. I've done what my friend has done and gone and lost my bankroll + some luxury spending.

What can I do??? I rush around telling my friends in a panic and quickly come to the conclusion I can easily lie and get away with it. "oh, sorry Stars. My brother created a new account under my name because he was underage and didn't want to get caught". But that's bullshit and surely a site like PokerStars would find out the truth if they wanted to.

In the end I come to the brutal conclusion that I am just going to have to fess up and be honest.

Infact, here's the ball-licking e-mail that I sent:

"Dear PokerStars Team,

I recently received the error 71/1001 when trying to log into my account. I was told to e-mail support and then found the message below in my inbox.

I am deeply sorry that I have broken the TOS of PokerStars.com. I do know and have known that using multiple accounts on PokerStars is illegal under your rules. A while ago (maybe over a year ago) I self-excluded myself on the account ****. Due to my obsession of poker I was unable to cope with not playing tournaments on PokerStars and foolishly created a new account under the username "****". I filled in all my details correctly and since then did not use my "****" account again and considered it closed. I wanted to e-mail support to get it closed, but I was afraid I would have both of my accounts permanently banned and therefore could not play again.

I have been a loyal member of PokerStars for the last 3 years now and have rarely stepped elsewhere in online poker. I have had the desperately unforunate problem of winning some money on my account **** and now I am incredibly worried that this money is gone forever. I really hope you can understand why I opened this new account and there was entirely no fraudulent or cheating intention when doing so. I simply and stupidly, could not last the self-exclusion period.

I will wait eagerly for a reply.

Apologies and Regards,
Nick."

And guess what. I got all my cash transferred to my other account and my current $400 withdrawal was processed. Ok, so they forgot the W$ that I had on my frozen account but who cares. That was only W$200. Shouldn't I just be grateful that I got my $1,100 back? Yes. I was. However I still mentioned my W$200 a day later and sure enough it was sent through the very same day.

They had every right to take my money and keep it for themselves.

I ♥ U PokerStars!