Former Lock Poker rep Explains Site's Downfall

One of the greatest and most-reprehensible mysteries in online poker right now involves the story of Lock Poker. Once one of the largest US-friendly poker sites in America, they've devolved into a complete disaster and haven't processed cashout requests for over a year now.

Somehow Lock Poker continues to operate and take players money without answering numerous questions that have spawned on major poker forums. So what's the deal here? Luckily, somebody has finally spoken up and given details on this site and whether or not players can ever expect to see their money. And, no, you're probably not going to like the answer.

Disgruntled employee spills all on Lock

Shane Bridges, who ran affiliate marketing and social media for Lock Poker, was often active on forums before the site decided to stop honoring withdrawals. And given that he's owed back-pay and not happy about it, Bridges spoke with PokerFuse on what went wrong.

First off, he believes that, when considering 12 months' with no cashouts happening, players aren't going to get their money back. This is a terrible thing indeed since TwoPlusTwo users have estimated that players are owed anywhere between $3 million and $15 million.

As for the major reason why Lock spiraled into this player-owing mess of a company, Bridges believes it has to do with the owner's excessive spending and terrible marketing moves. Addressing the former, Jen Larson, CEO of Lock Poker, dumped money into $500 bottles of wine at every meal, first-class flights and five-star hotels. No expense was spared, even if it came from player funds.

Regarding the marketing, Bridges believes that spending big on low-margin campaigns didn't do the site any favors - especially considering the shrinking online poker market and US government seizures on payment processors.

Why didn't Bridges and sponsored players step forth?

Bridges claims that he kept his mouth shut about the situation because he thought that Larson might be able to right the ship. However, by the summer of 2013, he'd given up all hope of her pulling "a rabbit out of a hat" and giving players back their money. Sponsored players who stuck around for a while also thought that Larson could change things around and not only make good on player cashout requests, but also the sponsored pros' balances.

But we now know that there's basically a 0% chance of this ever happening. The best thing the poker community can hope for is that prospective players will spend two minutes googling Lock and stop depositing here.