Online Poker
dbirider

Bayou Poker Crooks

By dbirider, 13. Sep 06.

[edit]I made this post a few days ago but took it down. I figured it wasn’t a good idea to have the first thing that they see on my site be, “Bayou Poker Crooks”, when deciding if they should pay me.

Well I finally got the payment owed to me from April 27th to September 1st. I called up their licensor, who sent an email to bayou upper management, who apologized and paid me right away. It definitely wouldn’t have resulted the same if I kept emailing bayou support.

Anyway - phiew! Hopefully I won’t have to go through this again next month.

You can continue reading for the whole first post I made [/edit]

Back when I first started the poker bus I signed up as an affiliate for Bayou poker. The owner was active in a bunch of poker forums, taking suggestions from players, and it seemed like they had a lot of potential.

I got some play money sign ups and 2 depositing players. I stopped promoting them over 6 months ago, but luckily one of the depositing players still plays a little bit almost every day.

I received my first payment of a whopping $87 on April 27th (two months late), and I believe it should have been double that, but there’s nothing I could do. I had to send them a bunch of emails and they sent it after I complained enough to Mike Henry, Bayou’s founder. I had to pay the neteller fee to.

Oh and this is from the official Bayou Poker affiliate Terms and conditions:

4.2 Company shall pay Affiliate monthly, in accordance with this contract for the preceding calendar month. Payment for the preceding month shall be made prior to the 10th day of each month. Monthly commissions totaling less than $100 will be held over until the next month, or such month when commissions total $100 or more.

So on June 5th, I started wondering where my next payment was. This time I earned $197. I sent an email to Tom the operations manger and he replied:

Hi Mike, unfortunately all affiliate payments will be postponed as I have specifically made a request to our licensor to hold off paying Bayou until the backlog of pending withdrawals have been eliminated for our players – as a result, affiliate payments will be delayed and I am hoping to issue payment in July to our affiliates.

I can assure you that we at Bayou will not receive a payment until our players and affiliates have been paid and paid in full, but I hope that you understand that our players need to come first.

Huh - pending withdrawals - what? This is about the same time I started seeing a lot of players complaining that bayou isn’t paying them the money they’re withdrawing. Players who deposited $1,000, or whatever, one week weren’t able to cash it out the next. How could that money just disappear from circulation? The only thing I can think of is that they’re stealing it, or ‘borrowing’ it and losing out on investments or the roulette table.

June 28th: I ask again when i’ll get paid. I get the same “blah blah within the next few weeks. Blah, we have to pay our players first blah” reply.

July 15th: I sent another email. At this point its been 3 months since they paid me. I tell them that I can’t wait any longer and I want the money they owe me. The reply is pretty much the same as the other two:

Hi Mike, I am sorry but it will be a couple more weeks before we receive payment from our licensor and can then issue payments to our affiliates – I apologize for the delay but I have not received payment either during this time as the priority has been to ensure the players receive all outstanding withdrawal requests first.

There have been significant payments issued to our players over the past few weeks and we are told that everyone should be paid out by the end of July.

frustrated.jpg

So I guess it’s pretty obvious i’m getting rolled at this point.

August 9th: I send another email to tom. They owe me $365. This time he doesn’t reply right away. Actually he hasn’t replied at all, even after I tried sending a second email.

August 31st: I sent an email to Mike Henry, the founder of Bayou poker. He hasn’t replied yet either.

September 7th: I sent a long email to Bayou player support and they replied,

Hello,

Unfortunately we do not do support for the affiliates. The only contact we have to give players is affiliates@bayoupoker.com
–
Regards,
Sam
M

Great, well the affiliate department is ignoring my emails so what am I supposed to do?

Today is the 9th and they owe me $600. That’s a serious amount now. Its been over 4 months and i’m determined to get that money. I contacted their live support, and I get to speak to Sam again. Actually I just realized it’s the same person from the previous support email just now.

** You are now speaking with Sam, Player Support. **
dbirider : Bayou’s affilaite support hasn’t paid me since april and has seemingly been ignoring my emails. Is there someone at a higher level I can speak to?
Sam : Hello
dbirider : Hi
Sam : No unfortunately the only contact we have to give is affiliates@bayoupoker.com
Sam : We don’t do support for affiliates.
dbirider : Okay. Do you know who bayou’s lecensor is?
Sam : No.
dbirider : hmmm… can you figure that out?
dbirider : Back in June bayous affilaite support kept telling me that they won’t pay me because their licensor is holding off all payments to bayou
dbirider : Are you looking the information up?
dbirider : Hello?
dbirider : Ignoring me isn’t going to help. I’m posting the chat transcript on my blog and contacting your licensor, futurebet, which i found out on my own while waiting for your answer.

Great, so now he’s ignoring me. I left the chat up for an extra 25 minutes before writing that last part in. Seriously, what good is this guy? I tell him that the affiliate support is ignoring me, and he tells me I can contact their affiliate support. Then I ask, “Do you know who bayou’s licensor is?” And he replies “No.”, and then ignores me. Gee thanks for the help!

I just called up FutureBet (bayou poker’s licensor) and talked to an operator. Nobody else was in since it was 3am. She didn’t know anything but she took down my number.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what kind of excuse they come up with. They’ll probably just say something like, “I’m sorry, we just provide the software for bayou and have nothing to do with funds. Please contact affiliates@bayou.com”, and I’ll still be screwed.

So I guess this is what it’s like to be rolled. At least I have this blog to let my frustration out on :)

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Categorized in: General Blogging, Poker, Rants

24 Comments »

  1. That is horse shit dude. You would have never seen that money if you didn’t go to that point. Can’t stand fuckheads that do shit like that. It is a company…don’t be a fucking company if you can’t pay your clients. Assholes.

    Mmmmm, I feel better now.

    Comment by TripJax — September 14, 2006 #

  2. TY TripJax :) I’m just releived they finally payed… although they still owe me another $150.

    Comment by dbirider — September 18, 2006 #

  3. TY Please delete the above add, we have no intention of spamming just couldnt find a contact options.

    (edit by dbirider: fixed - no problem. You can contact me with the Contact form listed on the top menu.)

    Comment by Greg — September 20, 2006 #

  4. “The priority has been to ensure the players receive all outstanding withdrawal requests first”

    Don’t make me vomit. It takes Bayou a fecking MONTH to pay their players and has done all year. It’s pathetic.

    I’d be sick f their excuses if I ould atually contact anyone to give me a reason why they take so long!

    Comment by Anonymous — October 18, 2006 #

  5. Bustmequick: Withdrawal for Bayoupoker/Bayoubets… Are they being processed on time?

    You are now speaking with Krystal of Player Support.

    Krystal: Hello, thank you for contacting Player Support.

    Krystal: May I please have your username?

    Bustmequick: Bustmequick

    Bustmequick: I request Withdrawal yesterday however I am curious because last time in November there were issues.

    Bustmequick: Has Bayou sorted out the delays?

    Krystal: Thanks! Just a moment while I locate your account.

    Krystal: As far as I know there are still delays, but I will check your account for you to see if there are any notes on it.

    Bustmequick: I have given in excess of 5,000 dollars in rake.

    Bustmequick: plus many more in VIG on sportsbook.

    Bustmequick: I have been a loyal bayou customer through out the troubles

    Bustmequick: and I have still money in the account will keep using account and reload i just wnat to make sure I can take money out

    Krystal: I understand. I know this is frustrating. Unfortunetly there does not seem to be any progress on the Withdrawal.

    Bustmequick: so the 24 to 48 hours is not possible?

    Bustmequick: what does futurebet have to say about this?

    Krystal: I am sorry, you will need to speak to Futurebet about that. We are just Player Support.

    Krystal: Was there anything else I could help you with?

    Bustmequick: Do you guys/gals understand if customers can not withdraw they will not reload

    Bustmequick: What is the current time frame?

    Krystal: I understand that, but we are not the site.

    Bustmequick: for neteller withdrawal

    Krystal: We do not have a current time frame to give.

    Bustmequick: Is there management I can contact at bayou?

    Bustmequick: ” Tom” … owner Mr. Henry

    Krystal: you can email help@bayoupoker.com

    Krystal: I do not have any contact information, I am sorry.

    Bustmequick: ok

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 11, 2006 #

  6. Any suggestions dbirider?

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 11, 2006 #

  7. bayou poker now says a couple of more days —– I will keep u guys and gals posted

    Comment by bustmequick — December 13, 2006 #

  8. Hey bustmequick,

    I feel your pain! Bayou can be so frustrating. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to recieve two additional affilaite payments since I made this post. They were late, but paid in full.

    You have to talk to futurebet, bayou’s licensor, and be persistant. The person who was able to help me was Ron Hastings (ron@futurebet.com)

    Try sending him an email explaining your issue. Tell him that dbirider suggested you email him to get the problems sorted out.

    Good luck and definitely keep us posted.

    Comment by dbirider — December 13, 2006 #

  9. on,

    I am curious to know when BayouPoker will honor the withdrawal
    requested by me. When I ask the playersupport I am told we do not
    know. I hope we can resolve this as soon as possible. My username at
    Bayou Poker is Bustmequick and the withdrawal is in the amount of
    $1,175.x Please let me know as I am really concerned. I was told to
    contact you for help from dbirider from an online poker forum. Thanks
    again.

    Regards,

    Bustmequick

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 15, 2006 #

  10. I received this reply fairly quickly so now the waiting game. Bayou has been good to me in the past i do not suspect issues even after move to dgn. I just want to make sure I can withdraw at any time.

    >>>>>
    Hi xxxxx,

    Yes, I will be able to help your situation.

    Please follow up with me next week Monday if you don’t receive it by then…

    I will be contacting the owners to make sure that you get paid out ASAP…

    I will be helping you with your situation…

    Thank you kindly for your email…

    Ron

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 15, 2006 #

  11. Wooo!! The reply you received from Ron sounds good. It must be a relief to hear that after your trouble with Bayou support.

    Good luck,

    Comment by dbirider — December 17, 2006 #

  12. Fingers crossed guys, I am on board for my stolen money back !

    Hi Ron,

    I found your address from a poker blog. Bayou are ignoring all my email and
    refuse to pay outstanding withdrawals for $5000 which I requested as far back
    as October 12th.

    I believe they should have their licence withdrawn IMMEDIATELY, but if you are
    able to get me my stolen money returned I would naturally prefer that.

    The new site has about a dozen players playing limits 100 times below my norm.
    I am not interested.

    My Username is xxxxxx

    Hope you can help.

    Regards,
    Mark

    Comment by Mark — December 19, 2006 #

  13. I dont think having the license Withdrawn will help us. In this situation we want to make sure BayouPoker stays onboard with Futurebet as they are the mediator for compliance on withdrawal requests.

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 19, 2006 #

  14. Sorry, but I want blood. Bayou cannot even be bothered to answer my email and I have easily generated $20k in rake for them. I was probably in their top 3 rake generators for months on end. It is disgusting. They are worse than inept, yet Futurebet seem eager to help, that is refreshing. How many active players do you think Bayou have. Not enough for anyone to worry about. Probably explains why all Bayou email is unread too.

    Anyway, as far as I am concerned, job done.

    Hi Mark

    Thank you for your email.

    Bayou has been terminated, and I will look into your withdrawal, and make sure that you get paid…

    I understand your concern with the New Networks volume, however it will increase within the next 3 months. Its not even a month old…

    Please follow up with me towards the end of the week, as I may be able to give you an update on your money issue.

    Although this is not my dept, I will honestly do my best to help your situation.

    Thank you…

    Comment by Mark — December 20, 2006 #

  15. Well good news to report from Bayou Poker- All cashouts have been paid in full…!!!!!!

    >>>>
    Hi xxxxx,

    That would be great if you can post that in the forum, and telling people
    what I great guy I am.. LOL…

    All the best to you and your family in the New Year.

    Ron

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 28, 2006 #

  16. resolution in a little more than 2 weeks. It was good to finally have it in neteller. Now that the ordeal is over it does not seem like the wait was too long. However it is a far stretch from the listed 72 hours.

    Happy Holidays folks

    Comment by Bustmequick — December 28, 2006 #

  17. Great News.

    I have $2000 and $3000 to go, but am much more hopeful, especially after 11 weeks I had given up hope of seeing any of it.

    Happy 2007, here is a joke from the Bayou webpage to get it off to a good start….

    “At Bayou Poker we place the customer first”

    LMFAO

    Comment by Mark — December 29, 2006 #

  18. Little doubt that Ron is “the man”

    I now have 80% of my withdrawals complete.

    Happy New Year

    Comment by Mark — January 6, 2007 #

  19. Hi!
    Are you guys really getting paid by Bayou? I have pending withdrawals dating as far back as october 26 2006… Player support tells me the same “we dont know anything”. Who can one contact guys? Bayou ows me close to close to 9k. Really need the money, extremely grateful for any kind of help!
    Best wishes Andreas

    Comment by Andreas — January 17, 2007 #

  20. Andreas,
    My payments were from October so more recent than yours.
    I managed to get 4k back but am close to kissing the rest goodbye.
    Links to Neteller have been revoked now.
    The new site is simply not worth playing (Although I have been offered 60% rakeback to play there under another skin so it might take off soon)
    I will let you know if I hear anything, have sent a chaser and will wait a few days…..
    Mark.

    Comment by Mark — January 26, 2007 #

  21. Well the silent treatment has kicked in. No replies for over a week.
    I decided to basically blow the last 900 bucks and get the account closed for peace of mind.
    The new network was full of people who are owed money and some guy on the table told everyone I was causing a fuss and that payments were not a problem (I guess he works for the site)
    All of a sudden he sits out and 3 minutes later my chat is revoked !
    I got satisfaction blowing it in the casino in 10 minutes.
    I told “player support” to close my account. When I had passed the security checks I told Joyce that I had just blown my bankroll on purpose because I know that I would NEVER get paid.

    Her answer ? “Fine”

    I guess they are getting fed up and they know that no-one will get their money.

    I am pleased I got 4000 and I covered the 900 several times over this month in a proper poker room.

    A weight off my shoulders and my commiserations to those who have lost their money.

    Comment by Mark — January 27, 2007 #

  22. Thanks for keeping us updated Mark. I understand why you’d just want to throw that $900 away to get out of the situation. Congrats on being done with it and getting most of your money back!

    Comment by dbirider — January 27, 2007 #

  23. Indeed. I am now on 30 per cent rake back on a site that pays out within 24 hours EVERY time and doing nicely. Bayou emailed me to advise of new deposit methods available on the new pathetic site with only 5 or 6 players with 90 pc rake and the rest are those who cannot get their money. I felt obliged to sent the following reply.

    On the basic that deposits are so very easy but withdrawals are impossible you should by now have closed my account.

    I considered my last $900 stolen so simply deposed of it in your casino to get my balance to zero.

    Please confirm my account is closed and please never send me any email ever again.

    I am frankly amazed Bayou is allowed to stay in business after the number of people whos funds you are withholding.

    Don’t bother me again thank you except for a reply to confirm my account is CLOSED.

    Thanks,
    Mark.

    Comment by Mark — February 4, 2007 #

  24. hey… does anyone have a contact for futurebet? a mailing address, email, and/or phone # would be great. been waiting on a withdraw in the amount of $800 from bayou poker since nov. 2006. i figure i’ll try contacting someone else rather than the useless people at player support. any other suggestions. i’ve almost given up.

    Comment by Dave — May 18, 2007 #

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