Poker FAQ
1. If I lose connection with Skybook Poker, what happens to my hand and my money?
2. Is there any protection against collusion?
3. How does Skybook Poker ensure true randomness?
4. How do I enter a tournament?
5. How does a tournament work?
6. Where are my credits / refund for tourney?
7. How is money tracked during a game?
8. Can I make a new table?
9. Do the graphics slow down the game?
10. How can I view my past hands?
11. Why can't my roommate and I play at the same table?
12. How do I change my avatar?
13. I am having trouble connecting to the server. What can I do?
14. What has Skybook Poker done to speed up the games?
The questions below are the questions most frequently asked of the Hosts at Skybook Poker. If you need a more thorough answer to any question or topic please contact us.
1. If I lose connection with Skybook Poker, what happens to my hand and my money?
Online poker games like Skybook Poker rely on a continuous Internet connection, which isn't always possible. Breaks in service can occur, either because the connection is lost at your end or at the Skybook Poker server.
If the connection is lost at your end:
If the connection is lost at your end, you'll see the game darken on your screen. When this happens, you have about 30 seconds to reconnect. If you reconnect within that time, you'll return to the table and - if there's still time - you'll be prompted to continue your hand.
What about my hand if I can't reconnect in time?
If you don't return to the game within 30 seconds, the game continues without you and the server makes decisions based on your last known state. The server treats you as having gone all-in (unless you've already gone all-in as many times as you're allowed). In that case, your hand is folded. In a blinds game, you only pay missed blinds if the button has passed your position in your absence.
What about my money?
To protect players from inevitable disconnects and server errors, a player's account balance is NOT affected by the bets until the hand is completed - i.e. until a winner is declared, and the system updates all players' accounts with the appropriate transactions. Your total bet is deducted when you lose, and a NET win is credited when you win. The chip stack (or table stake indicator) is a gauge of the remaining funds and is reduced by the amount of your bet as you play in a hand. Bottom line? Your account balance is unaffected until the hand completes and the transactions have been posted to your account.
If the connection is lost at the server:
At Skybook Poker, we've gone to great lengths to prevent this from happening, but 100% reliability is not possible. The communication link between our server and the Internet could conceivably be lost. Or the Skybook Poker server itself could fail to link to anyone.
If this were to occur, your Skybook Poker software would warn you the connection has become questionable. After about 20 seconds, the game would darken and you would see a "Trying to Reconnect" message.
What about my hand?
When this occurs in the middle of a hand, the systems treats the loss of connection as a misdeal. It acts as if the cards had never been dealt and all bets are off.
What about my money?
If the server machine or software causes the server to go down, all player account information remains unchanged from the end of the last completed game transaction. In other words, if you’re in the middle of a hand when the server goes down, your account will not change by any betting during that hand (which could be good news or bad).
Rest assured transactions are not posted to players' accounts until the completion of the hand, and thus, no player's accounts would be adversely affected by the server failure. In other words, no losses are deducted, and no win is credited for an incomplete hand. When the games are restarted, your account balance will be the same as it was at the start of the hand.
Skybook Poker Hosts and help:
If you need assistance, please contact us. If you would like to talk to a host immediately, Skybook Poker has hosts online 24/7. Simply click on the host button on the upper-right-hand side of the poker console.
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2. Is there any protection against collusion?
At Skybook Poker, we're committed to providing you with a high level of security and integrity. There is NO CHEATING ALLOWED. This includes fraud - which typically involves fraudulent payment. And, collusion - which occurs when two or more players play in such a way as to put the rest of the table at a disadvantage. That's why we've instituted new, unique systems to prevent these forms of cheating.
Anti-collusion
Our prevention system monitors several factors that identify players who have an opportunity to share card information. When that opportunity exists, those players are prevented from joining the same table.
Three different detection systems operate independently and track several inescapable game and client events. These three systems determine a ‘review factor’ for each player's game play. When a ‘review factor’ rises above a certain point, our security experts analyze hand histories and other player actions and data. Suspect players are approached by our team and asked to explain the suspicious events. All players are given the benefit of the doubt, but without valid explanations for suspicious behavior, we reserve the right to remove players from the site.
Fraud detection
Fraud typically involves making a deposit via fraudulent payment methods. These events pose no threat to innocent players since these defrauding players simply use the site as a means to spend or exchange money that does not belong to them. We have several fraud detection systems we are continually adding to. Once detected, players are banned permanently from our games.
Action against fraud and collusion perpetrators
We have no tolerance for unfair or fraudulent behavior. Our goal is to offer a safe and fair environment to play poker. Anyone interfering with this goal is dealt with by the most severe means available. Funds on deposit of any identified fraudulent player or colluder can and will be frozen until a resolution is reached. All information about a known colluder will be shared with other online poker sites, as well as with other gaming sites and proper government authorities, as required.
Skybook Poker will cash chips held by innocent players who happen to win them from a cheater. However, we reserve the right to freeze chips held by players who collude with the fraudulent players, for example, when a credit fraud perpetrator dumps chips to a partner or partners.
Finally, if you think someone cheated in a hand, report the Hand Number to the Host on duty. Remember, online cheaters cannot ‘hide the evidence’ by mucking their cards. In addition to the above built-in systems, we can and will review hands that players report as suspicious.
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3. How does Skybook Poker ensure true randomness and security?
Skybook Poker employs a random routine generator to guarantee a ‘true’ shuffle for every hand. More than 219,000 combinations are possible for each shuffle. To ensure that every shuffle is truly random, we provide random data by adding entropy. We accomplish this by mixing in data associated with many truly random system events, such as network activity, player actions, system process timings, etc.
Security
SSL: All communications between you and Skybook Poker are encrypted and secured under SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), the most accepted communications security system for advanced e-commerce over the Internet.
Encryption: All data not only travels encrypted over the Internet, it is also encrypted inside our databases -- which are also heavily guarded.
Audits: A separate machine reads all account and transaction information at every critical event to ensure all transactions are in balance. Discrepancies are reported instantly to our staff.
Backups and archives: Archiving takes place frequently. Off-site backups are regularly maintained.
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4. How do I enter a tournament?
Each tournament has a ‘registration period’ when you can enter. Registration periods are between 2 and 30 minutes long, and typically immediately precede the tournament start time. To sign up in a tournament, click the ‘Trny List’ tab in the Tables window. (The Tables window lists all poker Tables at Skybook Poker and can be accessed via the Tables button in the upper left of the display).
Each upcoming poker tournament in the list shows a time when registration starts: i.e. ‘reg starts in X mins.’ Once registration begins, you'll see the time now shows ‘reg ends in X mins,’ which lets you know when registration ends and the tournament starts. Click once on the tournament. A pop-up menu will appear, allowing you to register.
Once you've registered, you're free to play in other games, or even leave the site while registration is underway - your place is reserved. You will be automatically placed into your seat when the poker tournament starts - even if you're not online. (More on this below.)
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5. How does a tournament work?
Online poker tournaments are friendly competitions involving 10 to 1000+ players at one or more tables. All players start playing at the same time with the same amount of chips (called ‘tournament chips’). As the tournament proceeds, the stakes rise, making it more and more difficult to stay in the game. Players who lose all their chips-or ‘bust out’-are removed from the tables until only one person remains. Players are then awarded prize money based on their finishing position within the group. More.
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6. Where are my credits / refund for tourney?
The chip stack (table stake indicator) is a gauge of your remaining funds during the tournament and NOT your account cash balance. All credits earned from the tournament go directly to your Skybook Poker account.
What if I get disconnected?
If you registered but don't show up for a live tournament (or if you leave mid-game), your seat is still dealt cards, and your blinds are paid from your stack. The same occurs when you lose the connection to Skybook Poker at your end-your character will become translucent (and green) to others in the game, and you will fold each hand, even those where your character bets the blinds. This is called being ‘Blinded-off.’ When you register for a tournament, you must accept this risk to play.
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7. How is money tracked during a game?
To ensure your account information is always 100% accurate - even with communication failures and other difficulties of operating a game that spans the globe - we follow this cardinal rule: a game hasn't taken place until it ends successfully, i.e. we don't record the results of a hand until it ends cleanly.
The only exception occurs when you fold. When this happens, we update your account with the change in chip amounts. If the game then fails to end properly, the system automatically re-instates the account amount to reverse the fold. If this were to fail as well, the audit system would instantly identify the problem.
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8. Can I make a new Table?
Yes. To create a new Table of your own, click ONCE on any Table listed in the Poker Tables window. Choose Add New Table from the pop-up menu.
To create a Public Table, click the Public option. Then choose a name, stake, and game type. Anyone on the Skybook Poker site can join a public Table you create.
Tables you create will expire an hour or so after the last person leaves.
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9. Do the graphics slow down the game?
The animation and audio in Skybook Poker NEVER slows down the action.
For example, when you click the Bet button during a game, the Skybook Poker program on your computer immediately sends that message to the main server, which in turn sends it to all players in your hand. Only AFTER the message has been sent does your program start playing the animations to remove the button, make your bet move, slide the chips, play any audio, re-arrange the chips by your side, and so on.
When the player ahead of you acts, not only does his/her message leave their computer instantly, but also your Skybook Poker game is tuned and ready to receive it as quickly as possible. Even if 15 different animations are playing when the message arrives, you will see your Action buttons instantly. This is all possible because Skybook Poker is an asynchronous application (i.e. it deals with events as they arise, not in sequence).
As proof of this, or as a measure of the true speed, watch the action at the beginning of a hand in which most players fold before the flop, if several in a row have set to Auto-fold, you will see that several players act inside a second!
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10. How can I view my past hands?
Every event in a hand is recorded in the Skybook Poker databases. If you have questions about past hands, use the Hand History option found under the Menu button in the upper left area of the main display. You will receive the requested hand histories via email.
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11. Why can't my roommate and I play at the same table?
Skybook Poker strives to provide a true-to-life and sociable place to play poker on the Internet, but not at the expense of cheating or collusion. It is our policy not to allow more than one player per computer, or per connection, in an effort to reduce fraud and collusion and to promote the same high standards required for play in the best live poker games in the world.
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12. How do I change my avatar?
Your avatar is the virtual ‘you’ in Skybook Poker card Tables. To change your avatar, click on the Menu button in the main display while not in a game, and choose Account.
In the Account window, click the Edit Mode button in the lower left corner. Then enter your password. (If you've forgotten your password but know your login ID, press the Forgot Password button in the initial login screen or contact us.)
Once in edit mode, you can change your password, city, and e-mail address. You can also scroll through the selection of avatars and choose a new one.
You can't, however, change your Nickname or user ID. Other players at Skybook Poker know you by your Nickname and user ID, and you could gain an unfair advantage by hiding your identity when you change them.
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13. I am having trouble connecting to the server. What can I do?
Skybook Poker requires certain ports to be available to connect to our server. By default many firewalls block any programs from accessing the Internet.
Do you have any Firewall programs installed on your computers? The following programs are common programs that may interfere with your ability to connect to the server:
- McAfee Internet Security Suite
- McAfee Personal Firewall Plus
- Norton Internet Security
- Norton Person Firewall
- Norton System Works (has firewall included)
- Kerio Personal Firewall
- Sygate Personal Firewall
Another thing that may cause this problem is connecting to the Internet through a router such as a Linksys or a Dlink or a netgear, Cisco PIX or directly to your cable modem. You may need to configure this router to allow the proper port access. These would be ports 21 and 443 - port 21 is used for client updates and port 443 is the client port.
If you are running Windows XP, you may need to configure the default Windows Firewall, you can do this by going to:
- Control Panel
- Windows Firewall
- Exceptions
- Add program
- Browse
- Find the location
- Double click on client.exe
This will allow Skybook Poker to function through the Windows XP Firewall.
If after configuring your Firewall you still cannot connect, please contact us for further assistance.
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14. What has Skybook Poker done to speed up the games and reduce distractions?
Based on player feedback, Skybook Poker has made the following changes to improve the quality of our games, while maintaining an authentic, engaging environment:
- Less time between hands (when no cards are shown)
- Faster dealing
- Full range of Advanced action / act-in-turn check boxes
- Game comes to front more aggressively, and only when it's your turn to act
- No more 'Burn' animation
- Cards remain visible when dealt, until your first action
- Dramatic reduction of the unique player actions, like taking a drink
- Host messages reduced in frequency AND moved away from the table
- Omaha pockets stay visible longer
- Ability to reduce the amount of audio by using Preferences
- Play halts far less often in Tournaments (for balancing)
- More sophisticated waiting lists
We are always open to suggestions and comments, so if you'd like to offer other improvements, we're all ears. Contact us today.
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