Panic Button

[ms_attack]

Hello, what do you think of the panic button for German players. I find it totally pointless. I accidentally clicked it yesterday and couldn't finish my tournament. I was playing on my mobile phone and, as I said, I accidentally clicked on it. Without having to confirm, the account is blocked for 24 hours. It was very annoying for me because I was doing very well in a freeroll and was already in the money. Everything would still have been possible. Well, in any case an experience to be more careful in the future.

 

[Emily Trott]

Hello, what do you think of the panic button for German players. I find it totally pointless. I accidentally clicked it yesterday and couldn't finish my tournament. I was playing on my mobile phone and, as I said, I accidentally clicked on it. Without having to confirm, the account is blocked for 24 hours. It was very annoying for me because I was doing very well in a freeroll and was already in the money. Everything would still have been possible. Well, in any case an experience to be more careful in the future.

I'm very sorry to hear that happened to you. Hopefully even not being there you might move up a few places in the money. I've never heard of a "panic button" in the context of online poker. What is it?

 

[MishkaZL]

I didn't even know such a button existed. Very interesting. But considering it's done for security, I think it's a pretty good idea.

 

[Andyreas]

I think the general idea of this button isn't too bad:
When you have a tilt problem or a light addition, it can prevent you from loosing more money.

But I assume the amount of "accidental" clicks exceed the number of intentional clicks by a lot. 😅

You're not the first one I have seen this happening to in this forum. Sorry buddy.

And I'm always super afraid it will happen to me too one day. 😱

I've never heard of a "panic button" in the context of online poker. What is it?

It is in place in highly regulated countries, such as germany or sweden. The sites must have this button and once you click on it, it'll log you out of the site and you are not able to login again for the next 24 hours.

It's in place in the lobby itself but also on every table you have open. Sometimes it's even horribly placed next to the betting buttons
🙄

Here a screenshot from PS lobby:

 

[f_lampa]

I don't know what kind of button this is, but the story is very sad

 

[Niveau1]

Oh, it doesn't exactly sound useful that this button is right next to the betting buttons. Who hasn't already had a misclick when betting and has lost significant chips as a result? Clicking this button by mistake, however, has much more profound consequences.

 

[dreamer13]

No need to press anything and there will be no problems, do not look for adventure.In Germany, poker is being turned into something incomprehensible.

 

[dregan]

It's sad to hear that. I somehow played from my smartphone and did not see such a button. And that only German players have this button?

 

[skaterick]

i am glad we don't have ' panic button' where i live . i have misclicked many times online and there is a good chance i'd hit that one too . BTW , the song 'Panic Button' by the California band Silversun Pickups is fantastic !

 

[PatriceM915]

very good idea and should exist for all countries

 

[paetel]

It's sad to hear that. I somehow played from my smartphone and did not see such a button. And that only German players have this button?

Yes, it's required by German law nowadays. I am not aware of any other country that requires the client software to have such a button.

 

[knutwuchtig]

cracy, i am from germany and i didnt see it, perhaps pokerstars.sh didnt had it

 

[Emily Trott]

It is in place in highly regulated countries, such as Germany or Sweden. The sites must have this button and once you click on it, it'll log you out of the site and you are not able to login again for the next 24 hours.

It's in place in the lobby itself but also on every table you have open. Sometimes it's even horribly placed next to the betting buttons
🙄

Here a screenshot from PS lobby:
View attachment 331541

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question and you did an excellent job answering part of it.

What I really don't understand is: Why it exists, and what would be the cause of the panic that leads to clicking on it?

Because you think that you have a gambling problem?
Because you think that it is spamming you?
Because you think that you are being stalked?
Something else?

I honestly can't fathom why the panic button exists.

 

[Luvepoker]

I never heard of this to be honest. I am surprised there is no way to email the poker site and tell them it was hit by mistake and can you let me back onto the site. Thankfully is only for 24 hours.

 

[Andyreas]

What I really don't understand is: Why it exists, and what would be the cause of the panic that leads to clicking on it?

It's required by German law.

As always, laws do not really have to make sense. Someone had a beautiful idea and forced it onto all of us. 🤣

I quickly googled and a potential reasoning might come from online casino or sports betting:
They have noticed that some players often try to compensate their losses by taking bigger risks and loosing more of their bankroll instead of winning back. To "interrupt" that downward spiral, they could click on the button.

That reason somewhat makes sense but I doubt it's really used intentionally quite often
🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[whinwa]

Germany is just a bad place to live and play online poker now. They are restricted to 4 tables. On Stars they can no longer play Homegames. Rake/bonusses are terrible. No wonder many of the German pro's are living abroad.

You have my sympathy for living there and playing online poker :/

 

[Emily Trott]

It's required by German law.

As always, laws do not really have to make sense. Someone had a beautiful idea and forced it onto all of us. 🤣

I quickly googled and a potential reasoning might come from online casino or sports betting:
They have noticed that some players often try to compensate their losses by taking bigger risks and loosing more of their bankroll instead of winning back. To "interrupt" that downward spiral, they could click on the button.

That reason somewhat makes sense but I doubt it's really used intentionally quite often
🤷🏻‍♂️

Definitely makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to let us know.

 

[ms_attack]

I never heard of this to be honest. I am surprised there is no way to email the poker site and tell them it was hit by mistake and can you let me back onto the site. Thankfully is only for 24 hours.

i had sent an e-mail to support directly afterwards, but it is not possible to undo it due to the law. you have to wait 24 hours to be able to log in again.

 

[Andyreas]

i had sent an e-mail to support directly afterwards, but it is not possible to undo it due to the law. you have to wait 24 hours to be able to log in again.

Yes and the law also states they are not allowed to ask for a confirmation after clicking the button. 😶

 

[Station_Master]

Sounds so stupid as so easy to misclick this button and lose money. There should at least be a pop up saying 'are you sure'

 

[Emily Trott]

Sounds so stupid as so easy to misclick this button and lose money. There should at least be a pop up saying 'are you sure'

Especially when you are in a tournament, and there is no way to spend more money. Typical government program, they don't know much of anything about what they are passing laws to regulate.

 

[FIERROS]

I'm not sure if I like it or not but if you press the panic button you should have to confirm it before getting account blocked for 24 hours.

 

[Cooking]

I didn't know about this button. But for what I understood if you click this button, your account is suspended for 24 hours, right? I think it may be a good idea, but it would be better if they at least ask you to confirm your decision after you clicked the button.

 

[KevinRBTV]

Hello, what do you think of the panic button for German players. I find it totally pointless. I accidentally clicked it yesterday and couldn't finish my tournament. I was playing on my mobile phone and, as I said, I accidentally clicked on it. Without having to confirm, the account is blocked for 24 hours. It was very annoying for me because I was doing very well in a freeroll and was already in the money. Everything would still have been possible. Well, in any case an experience to be more careful in the future.

Same happened to me some weeks ago 😕

 

[fundiver199]

Yes and the law also states they are not allowed to ask for a confirmation after clicking the button. 😶

When I accidentally clicked this button, I was playing SnGs for a total of 30$, which I then of course lost to other players. That is perhaps not the end of the world and can just be considered another kind of "bad beat". But what if this happened at the final table of a big MTT? Then we could potentially be talking about a 5-digit or 6-digit amount of lost EV because of this braindead regulation.

There should of course be a warning message saying something along the lines of "You are currently registered for the following tournaments.... are you sure, you want to self exclude for 24 hours?" This would not even affect the degenerate casino gamblers, who the button is made for, since they are never in the middle of something, they already paid for.

It is worth noting, that the "panic button" is in addition to PokerStars normal responsible gaming program. In Sweden its placed in the bottom left corner of the main lobby and say "! 24 tim paus". However in the upper left corner we still have the normal responsible gaming buttons saying "Självtest", "Spelgränser" and "Spelpaus". And these are also found on the tables.

However if you accidentally click "Spelpaus", this will just open a browser window explaining about the options offered under the "responsible gaming" program, which goes from 24 hours and up to 6 month self exclusion or "cool down period", as they also call it. Moreover its explained, that if you are still playing while choosing this, you will just be reminded but not forced to log out. And then the "cool down" will begin, when you close the client. And you will be able to complete any tournaments, that already began, even including multiday events (but not phase tournaments).

So PokerStars did actually think it through and make something, which makes sense, and can help people with gambling problems without hurting tournament players. But the governments of Sweden and Germany had to come up with something totally idiotic and force it upon PokerStars and other sites operating here