Online poker community at Pokerstars saves a woman’s life
Players at PokerStars, which will be forced to withdraw from the Australian market if the Interactive Gambling Amendment bill 2016 is passed, came together to save a woman’s life earlier this week.
The anonymous woman is a regular player at the Amaya-owned site, where both cash games and tournaments can be played.
The incident occurred when she revealed a wound on her leg had started bleeding via the PokerStars chat box, which connects hundreds of online poker players from all around the world.
She revealed her blood pressure to the table and players instantly recognised it was dangerously low and unstable.
A search and rescue volunteer for the US military, a Vietnam veteran, and a player who is well versed with dealing with online medical emergencies were all present at the time and noticed her entries were becoming more erratic.
The players ceased the game of poker, expressing their concern that she was close to passing out and she needed to contact medical services.
When there was no response they took things into their own hands.
One player emailed the Support team at PokerStars.com, requesting staff to look up the woman’s contact information and call medical services.
“I copy pasted the chat to an e-mail and sent it to PokerStars Support, with the subject heading ‘EMERGENCY, Medical Issue’,” the player said.
“Time was critical.”
The Support team acted instantly by locating the woman’s address and contacting medical services for her.
The woman had already taken her fellow player’s advice and contacted help, with emergency responders already on their way when PokerStars called.
The woman has expressed her gratitude to the players at the table, revealing her cardiologist believes they saved her life.
“Without my heroes, I surely would have would have been unconscious, and we wouldn’t have been able to stop the bleeding,” she said.
She was back online the following night and told fellow players had they not urged her to call medical services, the situation could have been different.
It is important to note PokerStars should not be treated as an emergency service. PokerStars recommends to always contact relevant emergency services first. In this instance, since the players didn’t know where she located they relied on PokerStars as a back-up.
PokerStars is one of the world’s leading real money poker sites, but licensing restrictions mean players in certain regions must look elsewhere. If this is the case for you, we can also recommend Ignition Poker and Intertops Poker.