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Cashing Out Online

Top Tips When Cashing Out Poker Winnings

I love playing online poker. Oh boy I really do. The number of hands dealt are quicker than in a live game, plus you can focus and concentrate a lot more than if you were playing in a home game.

Most sites these days will also give you a load of player stats and best of all there are tournaments ready and waiting for you to sit down and play at.

Oh yeah - playing poker online is great.

But In order to get started playing online poker, you must first be in posession of two things:

1. Money
2. A credit card

Well, I say "credit card"... really this can be substituted for any means of payment that is accepted from your chosen poker room (we reccommend scbpoker.com).

A lot of poker rooms will gladly take your money from you no problem. Just enter in your details for your MasterCard, Amex, Switch, Solo, Visa or whatever, and away you go. No problem.

But what happens when it's time to cash out?

BIG problems if you are with the wrong poker room.

Read the terms and conditions before you deposit money

All respected online poker rooms will have terms and conditions of play including what you can and can't do on their site. You should always read through these carefully before you agree to them. These terms and conditions are legally binding and if you intend to win a lot of money by playing online poker you should really spend a few minutes of your time reading each word at least once.

Double check the cashing out policy

As mentioned before, depositing money is made really easy. The online poker rooms love you to give them your money, but you may need to jump through a few hoops if you decide to cash any of it back out.

Look for a phrase that says something simmilar to : "you may need to provide further documentation or identification for us to process your cashout request". This might mean you have to send them a copy of:

• Your passport
• Your credit card (front and back)
• Your driving license
• Other personal sensitive information

Phone customer support to ask questions

Every reputable online poker room will have a toll-free phone number for you to call in the country that you are in. If no phone number is available, then there most likely will be a 24/7 customer support chat window you can activate. Use it to explain you want to talk to someone in person and one of the poker rooms' representatives should be able to call you back within 24 hours.

If the poker room's phone number does not work or is out of service then avoid them like the plague.

Read the bonus policy rules carefully on the site

Many online poker sites will have great deposit bonuses. You should take advantage of this where you can but read the bonus policy rules before getting too exctited.

I seem to remember (please correct me if I am wrong) Fulltilt at one point was offering a $600 deposit bonus in their advertising, however on closer inspection you had to wager 40 times your deposit amount to be able to claim your bonus. That's $24,000 of serious punting which isn't exactly pocket change for a lot of us.

Lucky Ace Poker was another poker room that I played on who offered a deposit bonus. It was credited straight away, but I was not able to cash it out. I could only use it to play on the site. I could only cash out the money I won.

Bonuses differ from site to site so make sure you agree to the rules surrounding each bonus or special promotion so that you know what you are letting yourself in for and what to, or what not to, expect.

SCBPoker.com will give you a 100% deposit bonus that is unlocked after you have wagered a set amount of money, PLUS we will give you an extra $20 instantly to get started with as well!

Do NOT send personal information via email. Ever.

It still amazes me that even today in this world of personal identity theft and online credit card fraud that some online poker rooms will actually ask you to send them photocopies of your credit card and passport in order for your cash out to be processed!

Please, whatever you do, do not send this information to them. Email is NOT a secure way to transmit data. When you send an email, potentially anybody can read it.

Get in touch with customer support and ask them EXACTLY what information of yours they require. Often, they will allow you to block out some of the sensitive data such as the middle 8 digits of a credit card. You can do this by editing in Photoshop, or placing some blu-tack over the middle digits and taking a photo.

Expect a delay when cashing out your money

Have a think about the many thousands of customers your poker room of choice contains. Hundreds? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? More? Now imagine if each has £250 sitting in their account. This accumulates to many, many millions of pounds in their bank account at any given time. If they can delay you having your money by three days then that's an extra three days interest their bank pays them for this privilege.

I don't know about you but I sure would like to have three days interest on £100Million.

This is how they make a little bit extra out of you and this is no different what ever online poker room you decide to play on. It is just the way things are and you should expect a delay of between 3 days and 8 days for your money to be credited to your account.

Be patient and fair...

If you do have issues with your chosen online poker room, then try not to direct your anger at their helpdesk. Go punch a pillow, or have a cigarette and calm down a bit first. Trust me - if you piss off the people on the other end of the phone then they will be far less willing to help you out. Think of it as trap-checking your opponent - you need to play it softly to get the outcome you want.

If phoning customer services, make a note of the name of the person you speak to and the time when you spoke to them. Often in large call centers, there will be people that work there with the same name. In order to avoid confusion, each call center member is often assigned a false first name to use over the phone. State the facts and provide as much information as possible to help them help you. Don't shout at them or abuse them otherwise you will get nowhere. If you have an issue they can not resolve, then ask for their superior to call you back.

If you are sending an email, you must be aware that this can take up to 72 hours to get a sensible reply. Emails are great for logging conversations and sending attachments such as screenshots, but are a lot slower at getting results in the long run. You may want to print out a hard copy of emails for your records. This is useful for referencing past conversations and keeping track of the times, dates and people you spoke with.

...But don't be a mug

If you are not happy with the outcome, then do not be afraid to let them know. If there is something you are not sure about then ask. If you are not comfortable doing something then don't do it. It's a bit of common sense really but don't be mucked about when it comes to cashing out your money.

And Remember

At the end of the day YOU agreed to the terms and conditions on their site when YOU set up YOUR account. If it says in their terms that you have to dress up like a fairy and dance the Fandango before you get your money then so be it. This is why it is so important to read the terms and conditions before you agree to them getting hold of your money.

And beleive me, it is a lot easier to put your money into an online poker room than it is to get it back out.