The Real Problem in Club Poker Isn’t the Clubs — It’s the Players [ ClubGG ]
Hey everyone,
I wanted to share some thoughts with the poker community and hear your insights about what’s been going on in club poker lately.
I host games in one of the biggest unions — TMT — and I keep running into a recurring issue. In my opinion, the problem doesn’t come from the clubs themselves, but from the players. I’m talking about people who try to exploit different systems. Honestly, I’m surprised by how much time some players spend figuring out ways how to “beat the system” or create shady schemes.
You’d think players would be cautious of club owners, but lately, it feels like the real problem lies within the player base. More and more, I’m getting messages with fake screenshots, chargebacks, chip dumping, and similar scams.
If a club has 50+ active regular players, there’s really no reason for it to ruin its own reputation by scamming anyone most of them earns from this. Plus, unions instantly remove any club caught doing shady stuff, with no chance of coming back. I’ve been working with this union for over a year now, and I can confidently say they run things professionally. Their back-end system is solid — they can easily track bots and other abuses. I’ve personally never been scammed, even with payouts as large as 10–20K.
Still, every time I see posts from players claiming they’ve been scammed, I can’t help but wonder — how does that even happen? Every union has its own rules for a reason — to protect against abuse.
From my experience, as soon as you offer better deals or conditions, there are always people trying to take advantage. For example, referral bonuses, some players make multiple accounts just to claim extra bonuses, then join other clubs and try to withdraw those same rewards. That’s why we usually require players to play through the bonus — to make sure it’s not being abused.
It’s honestly disappointing to see how common this has become. I’d really like to hear from others — how do you deal with these kinds of issues in your clubs? What’s been your experience handling players who try to exploit the system?
13 Replies
Well don't offer referral bonuses and just do rakeback I don't see how that wouldn't be enough anyhow. Like anything in life there will always be someone unhappy. I will say Massiv union gets worse by the day with some of their changes.
Hey, can you please send me a private message about how to contact the union? I’m having some issues with a club and an agent who haven’t paid me, and now even the club is ghosting me. They say it’s not their issue, but I think clubs should also take accountability for the agents they work with.
I’d like to talk to the union first before going public with everything — maybe they can help sort it out, since it’s not life-changing money.
I’d really appreciate your help, thanks!
Yeah. Message me
Looks like TMT is even worse. I had a little upswing after months, there are literally some players giving money away at plo5. Now i can't play because I'm a slight winner, I'm not talking 10 or even 5bb winner. In plo5 when the players are playing it like holdem how the hell is that my fault?
I’m not saying it’s your fault — I’m talking about completely different things.
As for the fact that you weren’t allowed to play in the TMT club, most likely your agent made that decision for you. The reason is that if you pay little rake but generate a large profit, it simply isn’t worthwhile for agents to have too many winning players — for several reasons.
Club owners have to pay a fee based on your winnings — it’s called a rebate. [If you’re a highly winning player], this system was basically introduced so that people get good fields, rather than just gatherings of regular players.
If players go through an agent, your rake is split among too many people. So, if you want to play there and get better conditions, it’s always best to play through the club owners rather than through agents and I don't see why this is bad. In this way all clubs are interested to bring losing players to keep field soft.
I did win a lot in a short period of time. I will say it was just insane variance spots. I cant imagine Im over a 2bb winner over the last year with tons of volume. This is the corporate speak he forwarded to me. I did get rb too
After a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of the player pool across all clubs, we identified a group of players performing well above the ecosystem’s balance. As part of this union-wide initiative, we’ve decided to restrict the following players from playing in TMT.
Our goal is to keep the games fun and sustainable for recreational players. This isn’t disciplinary — it’s part of a broader, data-backed adjustment to protect the health of the pool.
Note: If the player attempts to return under a new or different account and is detected, it will result in a ban and confiscation of funds.
We appreciate your understanding & cooperation.
Totally agree with you. In most solid unions, the real headaches come from players trying to game the system, not the clubs. Fake proofs, chargebacks, bonus abuse - it’s become way too common. Reputable clubs don’t risk their name for a quick scam, especially in big unions where they get kicked instantly. The tougher part is filtering out bad actors before they cause damage. Curious to see how others are handling it too, because it’s definitely getting worse.
When Massive union does a leaderboard, a bunch of players show up out of the blue and play nonstop on 3 tables each. I saw a guy on here saying they are bots, or at least some of them are. Not sure if that's true, but I've heard the recent rumors about the crop of MDA exploit bots...
Yh.. I receiving a lot of offers from BOT developers and most of them saying that they running it in mass 😃 But seems Mass not even care about it.
I play some poker there but most of the time at Bovada and my casinos around here .I am above average poker player but not a pro. I also play slots sometimes at clubs poker .I bought two promotions with them and both came with 50 free spins for $20 bucks .For some reason not one but both promotions would not let me finish my free spins and slot quite working all together. I still as of right now have not ben able to finish my free spins.This is very aggravating because most of the time i will play the slots for a while trying to get some money back after free spins .I only spent $40 bucks on both promotions but money is money .I complained to clubs poker and they kept telling me that I finished my free spins ? Then they blocked my account for no reason with $80 bucks in my account and never gave me my money back ? I am a fair person and this site completly ripped me off on two promotions and kept the money that was in my account .Just wanted ti warn anyone thats thinking about playing there its best to stay not to ? They are a scam site that will take your money then block you out of your account .I did not beleive all the negative reveiws about clubs poker but now will start paying attention to bad reviews because they are telling the truth .Why would someone want to lie about a casino stealing there money anyway if they are legit ?Thanks
This is exactly right. The problem isn't club quality - it's pool isolation. Each club runs its own separate player pool, so when your regulars aren't online, tables go dead regardless of how well you run things.
The fix is a union that connects multiple clubs into a shared pool. Instead of competing with your own 50-100 players, you tap into a network of 170k+ across 80+ clubs. Tables stay active 24/7.
TOP UNION (topunion.club) does this across ClubGG, PPPoker and X Poker. You keep full ownership - they just provide the liquidity layer.
Both club owners and players can try to exploit the system, and there are also plenty of honest people in both groups.
Based on my 10 years of experience, if we are simply counting individuals, players who try to cheat vastly outnumber dishonest club owners. Of course, that is partly because there are far more players than club owners.
However, percentage-wise, I would estimate that shady club owners are much more common than cheating players. For example, if roughly 5% of players are looking to scam or cheat, then maybe around 25% of club owners are capable of cheating people. These numbers are just rough estimates based on experience, not accurate data.
Seen it from both sides honestly. Played in a few ClubGG unions and the chargeback thing is a real headache for hosts, had a buddy who ran a mid-sized club get hit with three in one month from accounts that were clearly coordinating. That said, the reason players are skeptical is because there's basically zero recourse when a club does go sideways - no regulatory body, no dispute process, nothing. The trust deficit runs both directions and it's kind of baked into the model.
