Since 2018, the Winning Poker Network (WPN) has been bombarded with complaints regarding bots. It took more than a year for the site to take action, much to the dismay of its players. Earlier this year, it launched a war on bots, resulting in the closure of several accounts, with thousands of dollars in confiscated funds being returned to the affected users.
However, since mid-May, the network has yet to release an update on its fight against fraudulent accounts, and latest grievances posted to online poker forum TwoPlusTwo suggest the problem has only gotten worse. In addition to that, WPN is also receiving flak among its player base for unfulfilled rakeback obligations.
The original post on TwoPlusTwo was written by “HandOfGod666” who has accused the network of failing to provide an effective solution to the bot problem that’s currently plaguing the site.
FoxRox Incident
A breakdown of the timeline of events presented by the HandofGod666 shows a controversial tournament in April involving a Twitch streamer and a player from Latvia who was later discovered to be a bot. WPN took action the next month and terminated only 46 accounts. This is far from the actual number of suspicious accounts infesting the site.
The livestreamed episode between the Twitch streamer and the malfunctioning bot went viral on social media, prompting WPN CEO Phil Nagy to issue a statement, acknowledging  that the site was indeed battling a problem with bots and that the company would crackdown on these accounts once and for all, promising to return the funds to affected players.
Three months later after Nagy’s interview with media outlets, HandofGod666 said the bot problem has gone “full out insane”, with up to four bots playing at almost every table during peak hours in the month of September. The poster also identified some 90 bot accounts that haven’t been dealt with, some of which were even issued “refunds”. The list of banned accounts recorded by the site remains the same, with no new accounts being added.
Prompt Action Needed To Solve Bot Issues
Bots have been an issue on the WPN for quite some time now, with content creator Joey Ingram even warning players to avoid the site, saying the network lacks proper security measures for its games. While the site earlier claimed it’s the first and only online poker network to offer a verifiable and transparent reimbursement policy in fighting bot accounts, players remain unsatisfied as the main issue has never been fixed in the first place.
HandofGod666 said bots will continue to dominate the tables and take away massive funds from legitimate players if the network fails to act.
Rakeback Issues
One other issue raised by players is WPN’s mishandling of rakeback. It’s been revealed that for the month of September, more than 50% of rakeback has not been deposited to players’ accounts. A number of posters on TwoPlusTwo also claim they’d been shorted, with the site appearing to be disinterested to deal with the problem.
The issue regarding the rakeback program was traced to a software update on May 20 which has remained unfixed until now, despite assurances by the company that the issue will be resolved by July. It’s now unknown when the problem would actually be fixed as the site has now pushed the target date back to an unspecified date.
In August, the site was able to pay out some VIP rakeback, but not in full, with some players confirming they’ve been shorted, and affiliates not being paid. The site also failed to generate hand histories during all-ins at both MTT and cash games, making the whole situation a lot worse.
Majority of players commenting on the TwoPlustTwo thread appear to support the claims of the original poster, with some also complaining about software bugs and lack of customer support.
The regulars and top players on the site are getting tired and full of all the issues and complaints that appear to have fallen on deaf ears. Players are awaiting explanation from the WPN on why the issues have remained unfixed.
If these problems continue to worsen, it will only be a matter of time before players collectively pull out their funds, ultimately leading to the network’s total demise.