PokerStars recently uncovered a bug in their SNG Rematch functionality.   When accepting a rematch it would always allow the rematch regardless if you had enough funds for it or not.

This bug was discovered and exploited by several players, one of which is documented below.   As you can see the player nugloker was a SNG player at the $11 and $22 type level, suddenly he spiraled up the levels and played the $5500 HU SNGs with 100% success rate.  He played the games against a friend or an alter-ego called takeittogo to as quickly as possible spiral up the bankroll with win after win.  Basically takeittogo ditched each HU game but then selected rematch each time (despite not having funds), this netted nugloker $5000 profit each game out of literally thin air.  Or more perhaps more accurately, out of the PokerStars coffers.

Needless to say PokerStars has now closed out the bug (booo, I hear you say). Here is the official response from their security department:

“Pokerstars became aware of a system glitch which allowed users to accept a rematch in heads-up SNGs despite having insufficient funds in their account. Once we became aware of this we suspended the rematch feature.

We have carefully reviewed each account which played in a SNG where the glitch occurred, and have taken action as appropriate in each case. We did not simply take action against everyone who received a financial gain as a result of this glitch. We carefully investigated each instance, and suspended player accounts only in cases where there was a clear violation of PokerStars’ terms and conditions, such as collusion or chip dumping to exploit this glitch.

During the course of our investigation we initially suspended a small number of accounts, however further investigations proved that some of the accounts in question did not breach our terms and conditions. Those accounts have been re-instated, and we regret any inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension.

It should be noted that only a very small number of accounts have been suspended for abusing this glitch for their financial gain. The majority of affected players have aided us in resolving this problem in a timely manner, and we would like to thank them for their continued support and custom.

We will reactivate the rematch feature as soon as possible, but we’re not sure at this point when that will be. We apologise for any inconvenience that this issue may have caused to our valued customers, and thank those who helped to bring the issue to our attention.”