Poker Atlas Reviews
I feel Poker Atlas serves a good purpose for poker players. But I would caution people as I would think the staff of Poker Atlas would caution you to take extreme reviews seriously. Some of the negative input you get is simply ridiculous.
I assume some of the far fetched stories are by people who have lost money, had a bad experience or are trying to help another poker room post. If you know many of the poker rooms as I do, having played frequently in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Tunica and Las Vegas poker rooms, you know that the lifeblood of a poker room is its clientele and to be rude, allow collusion, or any action that causes the erosion of that clientele is ridiculous.
Not to say that poker rooms are not run by humans who make mistakes, but if you are a veteran poker player you know that the players are the problem much more than the staff. I was personally at a table at Tunica when a player from Texas was out of line and drunk, soon getting into conflict with multiple players at the table. The dealer did his best to peacefully correct the problem, but soon had to call the floor manager. The player responded with a drunken barrage of profanity toward the dealer, floor manager and other players. He was asked to leave as politely as possible.
Soon after, I read a review that was obviously from this same player that was so full of incorrect information and poor ratings, it was just wrong. I know all internet-accessible ratings and reviews have problems, but I would hope that readers are cautious about these reviews.
I see more of poker room employees giving high ratings to the rooms they deal at. I’m wary of the 5 star ratings than I am 1-3 stars.
I would add that I would like to see some mechanism for players who make a review to then update or edit that review. I recently posted a review for Foxwoods, and I made the mistake of doing so while i was sitting in their poker room, still angry over the situation that occurred. After the review, over the next couple of days, I had an Email conversation with their Tournament Director, which resulted in me feeling much better about their management and their customer service than I did in the heat of the moment. What I wrote in the review was factually accurate. The situation was handled poorly. But I was impressed with their responsiveness to my complaint, their willingness to consider my viewpoint, and the assurances I received with regard to handling similar situations in the future. My problem now is that I would like to write a follow-up, but I can't do so for thirty days. I have given them good reviews in the past, and hope to do so in the future as well. I just regret that, where this situation is concerned, only one part of the story is being told, until the time limit on additional reviews passes.
DOGHOUSE POKER just screwed me out if $5000