Recently I watched a hand play out where a player clearly disconnected on the Turn when his opponent made a large bet.

The SOB was on a Flush Draw and didnt want to spend $300 to see if he would hit. So he disconnected. The SOB made his flush and won a $350 pot.

This type of behaviour pisses me off to no end.

So instead of just bitching about it, I decided I would actually send an email to Party Poker and see if they would do something about it.

Heres their response:

Dear okietalker,

We appreciate you taking the time to report situations of alleged disconnect protection abuse at PartyPoker.com.

Starting with the hand histories (or hand #s) that you sent to us, we performed an investigation that would allow us to examine thoroughly the account in question: "aklosvik".

We have looked into the players records and collected all previous hands in which this player used the protection. Our goal was to look for a pattern where the player usually disconnects in key moments.

Some of the parameters we use when investigating possible protection abuse:
o The player's cards at the time of disconnection.
o The player's previous action (whether he was betting/raising) and also the actions of the other players at the time of disconnection.
o The benefit obtained by a player disconnecting.
o The timing of disconnection.
o A player's pattern of disconnections.
o Previous allegations made by other players and/or the system.

Using the information listed above we have investigated the history of the player thoroughly and have found that not only was the hand you reported suspicious but this player has shown a pattern of suspicious disconnects in the past. Based on this information we have taken away the disconnect protection privilege for this player. In the event he is disconnected in the future his hand will be folded. We have sent an email to the player informing him of the investigation.

We thank you for taking the time to report your suspicions. Keeping the games honest is our highest priority. If you need any clarifications or have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Best Regards,
srinivasmudumba
Investigations Team for Poker

When you see this type of behaviour report it and these cheating SOB's will lose their disconnect priviledge.