At Chipstars we know that providing a secure, fair and friendly playing environment is key to ensuring that our players have as enjoyable a gaming experience as possible.
In order to maintain ethical gaming practices we created a list of House Rules.
All players are expected and required to adhere to these House Rules and to standards, policies and practices incorporated therein. If you as a player do so, the playing environment on Chipstars will be improved for its entire player community:
Minors Prohibited Policy
The Chipstars platform and all services made available via this platform should only be accessed by players who are 18+.
Minors (persons under 18 years of age) are strictly prohibited from playing at Chipstars!
Chipstars shall ensure to implement the appropriate safeguards as required by the laws of the respective jurisdictions to prevent minors from joining our gaming platform.
Chipstars Pe*(Platform Ecology) General Rules
(but not limited to):
Collusion/ Chip-Dumping
Collusion is the behavior in which two or more users establish a partnership to gain an unfair advantage over other users at the same cash game table or same tournament.
Chip-dumping is defined as the act of a user intentionally losing his/her chips to another user.
Users’ hands must be played independently, in their own best interests.
Users must not have a partnership to gain an advantage over other users.
Users must not share hole-card information with another user under any circumstances.
Our teams monitor wide range of data, such as hand history, betting patterns, and user gameplay. We also look at various other sources of information as part of our investigations.
Predatory Behavior/ Bum Hunting
Predatory Behavior is defined as user activities focused primarily on engaging in unethical advantages and tactics to exploit other users in order to gain unfair profit.
Bum hunting is defined as the act of deliberately targeting one subset of (usually weaker) Users while avoiding giving Action to another subset of (usually stronger) Users.
Predatory Behavior includes, but is not limited to; bum hunting, collusion, use of artificial intelligence
Predatory Behavior is in direct conflict with our policy, and as such, the Security Team adopts a strict zero-tolerance policy to it.
Bum hunting includes targeting a User by either intentionally sitting out at a table or observing Cash Game tables and only participating when the preferred User joins.
Bum hunting also includes the act of purposely targeting a User by following the targeted User’s activity. This can include being on standby in the lobby until a preferred User enters a game and then following them into the game and playing only until said User leaves.
Multi Accounting
Chipstars prohibits users from intentionally opening/using multiple accounts on the same CHIPSTARS skin.
Chipstars prohibits users from playing from multiple accounts simultaneously and playing on the same table in Ring, MTT or SnG.
Chipstars prohibits users registering for the same tournament multiple times to take advantage of freerolls or promotions.
If a user accidentally creates a multi-account, we will close all newly created accounts and move funds to the original account.
Cash Table Blinds Policy
A player joining a Chipstars cash table is usually required to pay an initial fee, equal to that table’s lower limit stake(BB or tournament buy in+fee). This initial fee follows the same rules as the blind bets (initial mandatory bets, typically placed in the pot by the first two players to the left of the dealer in games of Hold’em and Omaha poker) and allows the new player to sit-in at the table and join the game.
Players have the option of “sitting-out” and waiting for the big blind before beginning to play.
Posting an initial fee(SB, BB, ANTE) ensures fairness to all players, by preventing players from gaining an undue advantage over others by entering a poker game in a “Late Position” in order to avoid placing blind bets.
Responsible Gaming
One of the main Chipstars goals is to provide players with a responsible gaming environment, which includes prevention of compulsive usage of or underage access to our gaming products. Chipstars will implement appropriate safeguards to protect vulnerable persons and use all reasonable means to ensure the prevention of gambling addiction and underage gambling.
For more information, please visit our Responsible Gaming page .
Anti-Money Laundering
Chipstars will ensure a high standard of regulatory compliance in relation of preventing its services from being associated with crime, disorder or fraud. We shall implement appropriate measures to minimise the risk of being used to launder money, assisting in the financing of terrorism or being victim of a crime. Chipstars management and staff are aware of their obligations at law and procedures that must be followed.
Refund Policy
In the event of Chipstars servers crashing or a Chipstars unscheduled downtime happening, Chipstars shall refund players as described below. Chipstars, in its sole discretion, shall decide otherwise for any other events disrupting play caused by the Licensee or the Licensee’s players.
For Cash Games, all hands in progress will be rolled back. Each player’s chip count will be reset to the amount at the beginning of the hand.
For tournaments, there are three (3) possibilities depending on the status of the Tournament:
- If the tournament has not started, Chipstars shall refund all buy-ins and fees to the registered players.
- If the tournament has started and is in late registration period (that is to say, where the tournament allows a User to register as a player following the fixed registration `time) or if the late registration period has finished but the tournament has not reached the paid places, remaining players shall be refunded their Fee.
- If the tournament has reached the paid places, remaining players shall be refunded their Fee.
Restricted Countries
Due to the many different gaming laws regarding online poker and risks involved with political instability and terror threats, Chipstars does not currently accept players who reside in or are located in or are habitually resident in France, Holland, Curacao, USA.
Typically, if a prospective player is unable to select his country of residence from the list made available during the sign up process, we won't be unable to accept him as a player and the individual will be unable to access Chipstars products and services.
Chipstars reserves the right to amend the restricted country list from time to time.
Multi-Hand Policy
Chipstars allows players to play at multiple tables or in multiple games simultaneously; the maximum number of tables or games that a player can participate in is limited by the Chipstars software and is same whatever device they are using (such as desktop-based, android or ios-based, html-based, etc.).
Tied Hands Policy
In the event that two or more active players reach showdown at a poker table holding equal ranking hands, the winner is determined by card value (i.e. a pair of aces beats a pair of kings).
Should the poker hands remain tied (i.e. a pair of kings vs. a pair of kings), the highest ranked card, not held in common (the “kicker”), determines the hand’s winner.
In the event of exact ties in poker hand ranking, between two or more active players, the pot (the accumulated amount of chips in the centre of the table, being contested by the active players) will be split evenly between those players holding tied poker hands.
Play Time Limit Policy
To ensure a fair and enjoyable playing experience, Chipstars players are limited to a reasonable time limit that varies per table, per game variant and/or per game stage (i.e. the length of time that has elapsed in a tournaments, etc..).
Chipstars’s time limits are enforced in an effort to maintain a reasonable speed of game play. Players who fail to act within the set time limit will have their hand automatically folded and will forfeit any amounts that he/she has previously wagered during that hand.
In all Chipstars poker games, if a player requires extra time to make a decision, a ‘time bank’ will be accessed if a decision is not made in time.
Depending on the software used, the time bank will be visually displayed and will ‘count down’ while being accessed. The time bank gives players extra time to complete their actions, and those who fail to act before the time bank is exhausted will automatically fold their hand.
Chat And Emoji Policy
Players, whether in the hand or not, may not discuss the hands until the action is complete; ignoring this rule adversely impacts other players’ gaming experience.
Discussing cards discarded or hand possibilities is not allowed. A penalty may be given for discussion of hands during play.
Players are encouraged to use Chipstars’s emojis at the poker tables but are asked to avoid ‘spamming’ other players.
Tournament Policy
If the system detects that a tournament had more than 50% of players cheating, the tournament will count as void (the prizes will not count and will be taken out from the accounts that won the prize awards, and the cheating players will get banned. The players who were not detected as cheaters will get their tournament buy-in cash back.)
All tournaments will begin promptly at the scheduled time stated in the tournament lobby. Chipstars reserves the right to delay or cancel any tournament without prior notice.
Seats are assigned to players at random. Prizes are awarded as stated in the tournament lobby, except when a deal is made or the tournament is cancelled. The prize structure used in any given tournament depends on several factors including the number of entrants and the number of players per table. The prizes awarded in any given tournament are not finalized until registration has closed and the rebuy and/or add-on period is over.
In order to be eligible to re-enter, rebuy or add-on in a re-entry or rebuy tournament, you must have the funds available in your account.
In most tournaments Late registration is available. The length of the late registration period varies but will always be shown in the tournament lobby. If stated so Late registration will close early if enough players are eliminated to begin payouts or the tournament has reached the maximum number of players allowed.
Most Chipstars tournaments allow players to un-register until a few minutes before the event begins. The exact time at which un-registration closes may vary from event to event. Some tournaments do not allow players to un-register if they won their way in via satellite or giveaway tournaments. Chipstars reserves the right to alter registration and un-registration times without prior notice.
Tournament Elimination/Break/Disconnects And Sitting Out Policy
Most tournaments end when a single player accumulates all of the chips in play, and in some tournaments, when all remaining players will receive the same prize (for example, if a satellite tournament awards five (5) identical prizes, the tournament may end when there are five (5) players left).
As players are eliminated from Chipstars tournaments, the software will “break” tables to fill available empty seats. Players are re-seated randomly and may result in a player having to post multiple big blinds in a row. On occasion, the Chipstars software may balance tables to ensure all tables have an equal (or as close to equal as possible) number of active players.
Details about each tournament’s breaks are listed in that tournament’s lobby, with the amount of time remaining to the next break listed if the tournament is running.
Many tournaments feature synchronised breaks but not all do so, therefore Chipstars encourages players to make themselves aware of the break times of each tournament they are playing in to better ensure a comfortable playing environment.
By participating in a tournament, Chipstars players accept the risk of internet disconnection, due to problems with the connection between their device(s) and the servers, lag or freeze or some other problem in the player’s device(s) or how that device accesses the internet.
Chipstars does not accept any responsibility for a player disconnect except in the case of a server crash. While each user is responsible for his or her own internet connection, we make an effort to protect players who are disconnected during the final stages of a real-money tournament, by allowing extra time to reconnect.
If a player times out during a hand, whether connected or disconnected, his or her hand will be folded if facing action or may be checked if facing no action.
If a player is not connected before a hand starts, he or she will be dealt cards, and a blind and/or ante will be posted. There is no rule against a single player choosing to sit out; the player doing so will continue to have blinds and antes posted and cards dealt.
Bounty Tournament Policy
A player who eliminates an opponent will add the bounty amount to their own bounty total. Each surviving player’s bounty total will only be awarded once the prize-paying finishing positions are reached.
In the event that two players show identical winning hands and therefore split the pot in a hand that eliminates another player(s), any bounty awarded will be divided equally between the players that hold the winning hands.
Players may not make any agreement amongst themselves to eliminate a particular player in order to claim their bounty award. Such agreements are considered collusion and are grounds for disqualification from the tournament and/or other penalties.
Tournament Prize Award Policy
Chipstars reserves the right (at any time) to modify the prizes awarded in any given tournament. Further, Chipstars reserves the right to award a monetary prize of equal or greater value as the main prize in place of the main tournament prize, at its sole discretion.
Please Note: players will not receive fractions of a cent. In all instances where a player’s winnings include a fraction of a cent, Chipstars will round down such player’s winnings to the nearest cent. So, for example if you win $4.096, you will receive $4.09.
