[Cy]

Humilation! I am banned by Pinnacle! (and after I praised them here so lavishly on Aug.2)
On the upcoming chess match between Topalov and Kramnik I bet $100 on Topalov at +105.The next day I noticed he was down to +104. I remarked on this to my wife and we laughed at how my measly bet had moved the line.
A few days later I checked it again and was surprised to see they had eliminated straight betting and converted it to a half-game plus or minus format, similar to soccer style betting. Because this is a 12 game match with tie-breakers if needed, they announced that the wager applied only to the 12 games. no tie-breakers considered.
I wondered what would happen to my bet if it was tied at 12. I inquired, was told tie breakers would not be part of my wager.I didnt care much one way or the other.Of course I assumed that if there would be no action for me in the tie breaker, then in case of a 12 game tie my bet would be graded as a push.
I was then told no push, because I was laying a half game on Topalov.
I never laid any half game on Topalov, would never consider such a bet , as Kramnik is a world renowned draw machine.If the betting site was formatted in half games originally, as it was a few days later, I obviously would have seen it. There is nothing wrong with my eyesight and I know how to read a line.
I pointed this out and was then told I could cancel the wager if I chose.I thought that was fair enough and agreed.
I was then told that my account was closed!
Banned from Pinnacle!! Humiliation! How will I ever survive?

[freebie]

Dicking around with chess and then get banned?
What a chump.

[jjgold]

Seems like he took a shot

[Mudcat]

Nonsense.

[Cy]

Bad line?
What was there about +105 that was a "bad line"? No other book had a line.And it was only moved to +104 after a day had passed. Who knew it was a bad line?
They said nothing about such a thing. Instead they told me I had laid half a game, which I can assure you I did not.
The cancellation of the bet was at their suggestion to which I agreed.

[tacomax]

Seems like he took a shot

Seems like Pinnacle offered a line and he took it. Pinnacle then changed the terms of the bet and after offering him the chance to cancel the bet, he did so and was promptly banned. Interesting to see what SBR can find out about this one.

[crackerjack]

Sounds crappy, if all you say is true. Open a new account under your wife's name.

[isetcap]

...Open a new account under your wife's name.

That doesn't fly at Pinnacle. Leave nonsense like that to KGB so we don't have to have someone else bitching on the forum when they get caught.

As with many of these situations, it seems there is/are some key bit(s) of information we are missing here.

[bigboydan]

i agree with isetcap on this one. theres gotta be more to this than whats he has posted.

[jjgold]

Always another side that favors the book

I totally discredit this silly threads

[yokspot]

Seems like he took a shot

On a line the bet on which moved it a grand total of one cent?

[DrSlamm]

honestly i doubt pinnacle's CS would even know HOW to ban someone.. its probablynot a stock macro email button

[magnavox]

That's the "standard" procedure there if you bet a bad line. They ask you to let them cancel it -- if you decide not to, the wager stands, but it's your last bet at this place.

The real issue here is that Pinnacle claims he bet half a game, he claims he bet it straight.

[JoshW]

Sounds like a confused sitatution. If you want SBR look into the case just email your information to assistance@sportsbookreview.com and we will see what we can do.

[Cy]

Folks, Let me assure you there are no hidden facts that I have bypassed. The facts are exactly as I have stated them. I made a straight bet at+105- they tell me I laid a half game.No way, impossible , out of the question, totally inconceivable.
They say the computer shows I laid a half game. It didnt show that when I made the bet. If it showed it later- I never saw it -that was only done to conform the bet to the new format.
I asked Bridgette, the head of customer service, to talk to whomever at Pinnacle set up the original wager site and he would confirm that it was originally formatted as a straight bet, no half games involved. She never answered.
Dont say Customer Service doesnt have the authority to ban someone.- they just did it to me.
SBR, I appreciate your offer to look into this, but thanks anyway, its not important. Pinnacle's loss will be Cascade's gain.
I only put up this post to counter the constant praise that is lavished on Pinnacle here. That includes my own : on August 2 I posted a message entitled "Pinnacle is the Greatest!"
I found out differently.

[darkghost]

So you're saying that Topalov went from ML +105 to laying -0.5 +105. That's an odd line move for such an obscure event. I hate to say it but you probably misread the line from the beginning. I've done similar things in the past as I'm sure many other bettors have.

If you really want to pursue it, you could ask the line setter as to how he originally formatted the bet and again you'll probably hear that it was set as a 1/2 game line.

And in regards to bad lines at pinny, I made a small wager on a bad line to see what would happen. And later found it was cancelled. I didn't know I had an option to keep the bet and make it my final bet there. Is this confirmable? (In case I get desperate one day. )

[Cy]

DarkGhost:

Your suggestion that I contact the line-setter to confirm how he originally formatted the bet is exactly the same idea that I had. I urged Bridgette to do it last Friday. I have yet to hear from her.
I have no idea how to reach him myself.It appears to be impossible.
There is NO WAY I misread that line, on two successive days, too.And remember that it went from +105 to +104 first. Later it went to -.5 +105.
And lets look at this thing in perspective.No money involved, a cancellation of the bet that was agreeable to both sides.Banning me seems to be an over-reaction bordering on insanity.

[SBR_John]

I pointed this out and was then told I could cancel the wager if I chose.I thought that was fair enough and agreed.
I was then told that my account was closed!

This is their standard procedure if they think you are a shot taker. Let Bill talk to them and see if it can be cleared up.

[TLD]

It’s not uncommon in “bad line” cases for sportsbooks to give a player the option of either agreeing to the sportsbook’s interpretation of the situation, or it being graded according to his interpretation but being booted.

But there are (at least) two peculiarities about this story. Number one, the dispute is not even about whether the line that was bet was good or bad. The dispute is about what the bet was in the first place (-0.5, +105 according to Pinnacle; Pick, +105 according to the player).

Number two, if we’re to believe the player he was never told what his options were. He wasn’t told “We’ll settle this the way you want, but you’ll no longer be welcome to play here.” Allegedly they cancelled the wager according to his wishes, and then with no warning out of the blue banned him.

Anyway, it’s possible it all went down exactly like this, but I’m not convinced. To believe this story we have to believe that in order to cheat someone on some little bet (I’m assuming chess limits aren’t enough to hurt them), Pinnacle went into their software and changed the pending bet to read “-0.5” when it had been “Pick” on the wagering page when he made his bet. Then when he “caught” them doing so, they retaliated by banning him.

Does the player have a screen shot of the wager page or the pending bets page showing whether it was pick or –0.5? Assuming he doesn’t, how would Pinnacle know this? Isn’t it a little risky for them to change bets after the fact in the hopes that the player happens not to have saved any evidence?

I suppose they could have made some kind of honest mistake that would have changed the bet in the computer retroactively, but I can’t fathom what they could do accidentally that would have that consequence. Seems far, far more likely that the player made an honest mistake or one party or the other is flat out lying.

[pags11]

have never heard pinnacle banning anyone that didn't really deserve it...

[mad]

You sure you didn't get abusive on the phone with the nice lady?

Might boot ya' for that.

[rolemand]

Does the player have a screen shot of the wager page or the pending bets page showing whether it was pick or –0.5? Assuming he doesn’t, how would Pinnacle know this? Isn’t it a little risky for them to change bets after the fact in the hopes that the player happens not to have saved any evidence?

Great analysis. I think this sums it up. It's way too easy for the player to have quickly made a printscreen of the wager and provide that as evidence. It's obvious he doesn't have evidence but if he did it would look horrible and I just can't see that happening.

[koko]

You sure you didn't get abusive on the phone with the nice lady?

Might boot ya' for that.

I was just going to ask the same thing.