Saving your log in details like passwords is one of the worst ideeas ever. Better lose a couple of seconds to type it in, but at least you are much safer.
You must have a good antivirus program and don't acces the fucking poker platform from phone or some shit like that because they are too vulnarable.
And if you play on stars get the security token.

Cheers!

The token was only available for FPP's and I thought this was just for SNE's etc to be honest. I know now it was stupid but I assumed little old me with 3 figure BR would not be worth the effort of hacking. I didn't do the PIN either though and that was free.

I mean the password was saved in the system not anywhere else like the Remember Me option. If that is so bad then it should be removed. I actually thought it was a good idea as key loggers wouldn't pick it up then either or me have mistyped logins which in the event of hack could be used as evidence against me.

Anyway its done now, I've lost less than a weeks wages and now have a end to the journey rather than just losing my BR at the tables slowly over the next 6 months! The complete experience of gambling this time round. Won at a huge BB/100 for 75k hands on a heater, lost all of it over the next 75k hands and then got robbed like a dumbass tourist in Vegas, with his BR hanging out of his back pocket.

The real shame of it was I think I was in a decent shout of winning the coaching, and was planning to buy some more to give it a real go as never tried that.

Also I just noticed today is the 1 year anniversary of joining this site. I like the timing.

Sorry Paul, I thought you used something like remember password... misunderstood you earlier. Anyway, did you got any response from stars?

No worries. Unfortunately yes I did:

Hello Paul,

Thank you for your email.

We have conducted a full investigation into your account and we believe that your PokerStars password may have been compromised.

Our facts to support this are as follows:

The logins to your account show no failed attempts; whoever accessed your account knew your password perfectly.

Computer finger printing technology is utilized by our Security Team in order to determine which computer your account was accessed from. In this case, our investigation concludes that your account was accessed from a foreign computer in Russia where no logins were previously detected from. It is therefore possible that your login credentials have been compromised.

With regards to the bankroll in your account, unfortunately we have been unable to recover the funds lost. The funds were lost at the tables. Most of the funds were dumped to another player that may have been hacked as well and the funds were then cashed out from this account t to an e-wallet. We contacted the payment method provider in order to attempt to retrieve the funds. However, it is most likely that the funds were already removed from the e-wallet.

To conclude this matter, we would like to advise you that PokerStars will not be liable for funds lost on your PokerStars account. PokerStars will not be held liable for any losses as a result of insufficient security measures to ensure that your personal details remain secured. This is in accordance with the sections 10.2 and 10.3 of our Terms of Service which state your responsibilities as an account owner.

In order to reinstate your account with a new password and PokerStars PIN, we would like to ask you that you please provide us with:

- A clear digital photo of you holding your ID document. Please make sure that your full name, date of birth and the expiry date of the document are clearly readable.

As a precautionary measure, we will require you to take the necessary steps in protecting your computer. This includes, but is not limited to; scanning your computer to ensure no harmful software is installed or re-formatting your computer's operating system to ensure no malicious software exists and changing the password on your registered email account.

Finally, you may wish to visit the following link which offers suggestions on keeping your password secure and details about additional security features offered by PokerStars:

So yes. A hack. From Russia. A hack that is so common they have a specific prewritten letter for it. Its all my fault so Stars wash their hands of you and move on. I'll never get my money back and I'll never trust Poker sites or peer to peer gambling sites again enough to deposit. Off to withdraw from and close down all the accounts I currently have. Then reformat computer and start again on something new. Maybe Chess?

Bye PokerVIP its been fun.

And shove that "he's just a liar on a tilt run crap" up something uncomfortable SoupaHero.

You didn't had the Pin option on?

I am just asking to find out how safe I am too...

No I am just that stupid sadly. From what I understand all the hackees so far didn't have PIN or RSA token on. So you shouldn't have to worry too much. I think Stars will find the source of this and quietly stop it. Then make PIN mandatory and pretend they never had an issue.

Sad thing. GL with your further adventures! Forum will miss you.

OMFG i am gutted for you! This sounds like something from a fucking film man! I am surprised Stars have done nothing for you. Obviously they are not liable but jesus they could have offered something.

Nor should they be liable ether.. Its his fault for not taking any care whatsoever to keeping his account safe. As for myself, i use 3 layers of security to keep my account safe. An RSA token, a Pin, and SMS to approve all withdrawals and deposits into my account.

Good to see that div get banned on a side note.

No they could never be liable as otherwise people with proper money in the account could get someone in Russia to log in and take it all and then claim it back. Not worth it for £300 but different if $10k in there! I get that it I'm not blameless for not using the full level of security but thats not even possible on most other sites so if it had happened to me there would that not be my fault then? If someone is a victim of a crime it doesn't matter how much of a dumbass they are, the criminal is still the one at fault.

In this case only the RSA token would have been much use. If they can get a password, they can get a pin its just a numeric password. The SMS service is also useless as thats only for withdrawals or deposits and the hackers have moved past that now. That takes 48 hours to do whereas dumping to another hacked account and removal to e-wallet is instant. Stars tracked it to a user in Krasnodar in Russia but apparently that was also hacked. They told me the other account had been hacked, made a small desposit, waited 48 hours to get round restrictions then took my chips and some others, cashed out and left. HH is not pretty. AA? Fold. 52o Shove. I guess the same is true of the PLO tournaments but I don't know the game.

I'm currently considering a very kind offer from Jon for staking as a route back in that will not expose any of my bank accounts. I've been thinking about it for a few days to see if I think I can make it work. Currently I'm thinking I might go for it.

@CrazyCookie i banned him shortly after this. He was just trolling everyone everywhere.

I hope he gets to see that message one day! before it's too late.

+1 to staking!! I actually think this is a perfect opertunity for you. if you hadn't quit the October competition you'd have placed, for sure. I see they're doing it every week now anyway.

GL

I think staking will deffs be a good thing to try - if it doesn't work out then it doesn't work out. Just generally try to stay positive, get your head right and gogogogo. Just a card game after all so yeh lets crack on

I missed last night's drama? :'( away from all of that tho, Paul I'd say that if you are looking tonplay for enjoyment and don't really mind about the money but do want to have good BRM etc, I'd have one account which is 100% serious that is your roll and maybe a fun roll on another site to play on when ur drunk or want a laugh. Maybe play tournies on that account, if you bink something when drunk it would be epic and if you lose that roll, well it was fun not money you are worried about

Really hope you don't quit!

I don't think I'm going to quit. I'm not going to do the staking though. Its just not for me with my mental game as it is. I don't need the money so no need to do that, and I would never be able to walk away if I owed people even if dropped so no risk management there. The community here are excellent and I don't want to disappoint anyone in the staking team, so I think in the first instance I'm going to unblock my Stars account, and with the points in there (which I don't think they took) and the few bucks they left, plus the few £ I have in Skrill which I can't withdraw and outside of poker have no use for I will have a roll for NL2. If I play there and find that I'm not tilted beyond all belief by the theft sitting on my imaginary poker balance sheet then I have about £150 in other betting sites that I have withdrawn and self excluded from when I was clearing my online footprint a bit. If I put that in then I'd have a good roll for NL5 and maybe NL10 depending.

The kind offer of Jon to consider me for staking though was the main reason I got over my initial desire to quit. There are divs and thieves in online poker but there are also some excellent people. The forum here have been very kind to me ( in the most part!) as I struggle along with lack of self confidence and passivity. I'll get into the next coaching competition as well as I'm really keen to get some of that.

Ain't no quitting! Like the attitude and fair enough with the staking, can only respect that decisions.

So the next chapter begins....LETS GO

So, yeah. I'm back. Played a bit. I've missed it. I mean I played pretty poorly and every hand I've posted in the HH section has been a bit of a car crash. I'm both too aggressive and too passive and weak. Plus ca change as the french probably don't say.

With all the bits pooled up I got BR to $230. Its now sitting at $260 after a very lucky start. Won a flip (if you can believe that happened) and a couple of people spazzed out with dick all so thats nice. I actually think I played some decent small ball poker and took some creative lines, not all working out but it was fun. I think the break has meant I was a bit more focussed on what I was doing, not just grinding away as a small loser like I have over that last 80k hands. I will work on making it last. I lost all that though with some play that was not very good so in the end the flip (so above EV) and the two spazz hands I was able to snap off are the reason I'm ahead.

I am on pace if I play the rest of this year I will release a $50 bonus from Stars plus another $25 worth of FPP's. Roughly I think I will need to rake about $250 to get that so its a nice RB % for the remainder of this year. Stars structure does that sometimes. I had a awesome RB for the first few months of this year with some extra offers they put in I was on like 50% RB for a while. Then June to now has been pretty cack, and now I'm close to a milestone its good again.

My only real objectives are:

[] No self abasing on the journey, even if I play bad. None of the 'oh I suck at everything, I hate my play blah blah blah'.
[] Play and be focussed enough to take some interesting lines so its fun!
[] Leave table if stacked by annoying 64/55 loon or 80/0 weirdo. Once my mental state is gone vs them I'm burning money. Weak regs and morons are my targets.
[] Don't go broke or get fooking robbed again.

On that second note you'll be pleased to know I have a new password using a generator that I will be changing frequently, PIN active and SMS for deposits and withdrawals.

Fingers crossed.

I'm back and I'm bringing backs back too.

Saver. One time.