Disconnection and cancellation policy

1. Unless otherwise stated by partypoker, the following terms and conditions set forth the rules and procedures that govern all players' rights in the event of disconnection and game cancellation.

2. Disconnect protection is a tool that protects players if their internet connection is lost while they are involved in a pot. If a player is disconnected, he will be able to stay in the hand (provided disconnect protection is available) to contest the portion of the pot that he was financially involved in at the time of disconnection.

3. partypoker strives to offer the best disconnect protection to our players. Our goal is to protect players while also maintaining appropriate checks so that the protection offered is not abused.

4. Disconnect protection is not intended to be used other than in the event of a genuine disconnection. Any misuse of this policy may result in the forfeiture of any monies won, tournament disqualification, the loss of the disconnect protection privilege, or expulsion from the site.

5. Our software is designed to assess if a player has a genuine disconnection before giving the disconnect protection to him. Players trying to take advantage of disconnect protection by deliberately getting 'timed out' will be deemed to have folded.

6. Players must accept the risk of disconnection, and should simply log back in and continue playing as quickly as possible if they are cut off. Ask your ISP about how they can help reduce the risk of disconnection. partypoker is not responsible for disconnected players.

7. If a player is disconnected during a hand and has disconnect protection available, he will be able to play for the part of the pot he has invested money in. The player can win whatever was in the pot at the time of the disconnection.

8. partypoker reserves the right to alter this policy and render final decisions on all matters herein at its sole discretion. Policy changes and relevant decisions will be communicated accordingly by partypoker using electronic and/or written means.

The normal disconnection protection feature is not available on certain types of tables (all tournaments and some specifically marked ring-game tables). These tables will have 'No DP' next to their names in the Lobby. On these tables, when a player who is invested in the current pot is deemed to be disconnected, the system will award additional time for them to return and rejoin the game.

The amount of time awarded will depend on the current pot size:

• For stud games ‘X’ is lower stake
• For flop games, ‘X’ is big blind

For non heads-up tables:

• No time added if pot size is up to 5xX
• 20 seconds if the pot is more than 5xX and up to 20xX
• 30 seconds if the pot is more than 20xX and up to 40xX
• 45 seconds if the pot is more than 40xX and up to 80xX
• 60 seconds if the pot is more than 80xX

For heads-up tables:

• 20 seconds if the pot is more than 0 and up to 5xX
• 30 seconds if the pot is more than 5xX and up to 10xX
• 45 seconds if the pot is more than 10xX

The system will wait for additional time only if the current player who is deemed to be disconnected is a) invested in the pot and b) his current options does not contain 'Check' option. We call this feature a 'lifeline'.

Lifelines are simply the extra time a player will be given to choose what to do if they are disconnected when it is their turn to act. We strongly discourage abuse of this feature by penalizing players deemed to be using it intentionally with it the risk of losing both chips and money.

The player will be given 60 seconds to reconnect, including the lifeline. If he reconnects on the 56th second, he will then have at least 20 seconds act: This is the extra 'bet time-out' period.

Here’s brief breakdown of tables and tournaments which feature lifelines or the normal disconnect protection:

• Any table (normal, STT, MTCT) can have either lifelines or DP; no table can have both features
• All tournament tables are lifeline tables
• Live-game tables can be either DP or lifeline tables
• There is no lifeline tag added to STTs and MTCTs listed in the Lobby
• 'No DP' will be added to the Lobby listings for live games if they are lifeline tables

An unlimited number of lifelines are available to our players, as long as the conditions given above are met.

We’ll send the player a chat message when our software decides to award additional time as a result of a disconnection.

If a player who is deemed to be disconnected has the option to check, our software will automatically carry out this action without awarding any additional time.

We have removed disconnect protects from all Sit & Go single-table tournaments. Your hand will automatically be folded if you lose your connection. This change was implemented at the request of our players.

Disconnect protection is not available in any Sit & Go multi-table tournaments. Your hand will automatically be folded if you lose your connection.

Disconnect protection is not available in any multi-table tournaments. Your hand will automatically be folded if you lose your connection. This change was implemented at the request of our players.

Players will be refunded the exact amount of money they had at the time of cancellation.

Players will be refunded the exact amount of chips they originally brought to the table, as we don't record all play money hand information.

Players who have been eliminated from a tournament before cancellation for technical reasons will lose their buy-in and entry fee.

Any players still competing in a tournament when it is cancelled for technical reason will be refunded as follows:

1. Each player will be awarded prize money equal to the amount that would have been awarded to the next player to be eliminated.

2. After prize money has been allocated according to point 1, 50% of the remaining prize pool will be distributed equally between the remaining players, and 50% will be distributed on a percentage basis according to the remaining players' chip count at the time of cancellation.

3. The remaining players will also be refunded their entry fee.

If you are disconnected in the middle of a game of blackjack, simply log back in to your account. You will be able to resume the disrupted game at the point at which you were disconnected. If you were disconnected after submitting information, the next sequence or result will appear as normal.

Please contact our Customer Care Team if you continue to experience problems. We will investigate the situation fully. We will refund any losses caused by a bug in our system immediately.

The deal-making process will continue as normal even if you are disconnected while discussing a deal with another player, giving rise to the following scenarios:

• You reconnect while the deal is still taking place and rejoin the process
• You do not reconnect before the deal is rejected because the deal making time has elapsed
• Other players have rejected the deal while you were disconnected and play has resumed
• Disconnection is treated as an implicit rejection of a deal: If a deal must be approved by all the players at the table it will fail unless you reconnect and confirm it in the allotted time

All use of partypoker is governed by the partypoker terms and conditions of use.

partypoker
16 October 2013