On Monday, the Ongame Network room Hollywood Poker shut its doors rather suddenly. When visitors opened its website, they're now greeted with a message that reads, "Hollywood Poker has stopped offering online poker. So that you can continue playing, we have arranged to transfer your account with your entire account balance to RedKings, a leading gaming site offering superb casino and poker games in a secure environment."The message continued, "Please be informed that your Hollywood Poker account, along with your entire account balance, has been transferred over to RedKings. Your nickname and password will remain the same." A reason for the cessation of business was not given, but players appeared to be able to access their funds without incident.
The reason we used the word "abruptly" in the title of this article to describe the closure is because, as recently as Sunday, Hollywood Poker was updating its Twitter feed as normal with messages like "#CelebrityTrivia: While shooting Transformers, Megan Fox lost two of her big toenails" and "#WhiteCollar fans! The all-new season will be out this summer." Its affiliate staff was communicating with PocketFives as recently as two weeks ago.
On Two Plus Two, posters appeared frustrated that the carpet had been pulled out from under them without warning. One player, "LTU Westham," wrote, "I know that this is nothing compared to Black Friday, etc., but still - it is so frustrating that they close rooms without saying anything." Another player, "ACEvivKING," questioned, "Lol at people who can play at PokerStars but don't. WTF are you thinking?"
A veteran Two Plus Two poster named "MMD" argued that he had seen the writing on the wall: "Wondered last week if something was up, as I was helping a user get in touch with people regarding an over two-week Instadebit transfer he was waiting on. My VIP manager was 'on a sabbatical' supposedly even though she was online checking her e-mails but not answering any of them."
Another poster on Two Plus Two recognized that instead of shutting down and offering players little recourse to recoup their funds, Hollywood Poker had partnered with RedKings: "To be honest, at least they moved people's balances to another site rather than steal people's money."Hollywood Poker launched in 2004. Its affiliate portal remained open at the time of writing, with options still available to sign up to become an affiliate of Club Hollywood and Hollywood Poker. According to Pokerfuse, "Its sister casino, Club Hollywood, is apparently undergoing construction," although its website remains operational.
A RedKings customer service agent told PocketFives that his coworkers and he were "very busy at this very moment."
Hollywood Poker launched its Club Hollywood Poker Loyalty Store in 2009. The site's primary spokesmen included the likes of World Poker Tour host Vince Van Patten (pictured) and actor James Woods.RedKings and Hollywood Poker are both members of the Ongame Network, which according to PokerScout is the fifth busiest family of sites worldwide and has a seven-day running average of 1,640 real money ring game players.
Ongame's traffic has dipped noticeably with the onset of summer in North America and Europe. According to PokerScout, the network has not broken 4,000 cash game players since June 5. By comparison, in May, the Ongame Network passed 4,000 cash game players 17 times. On June 23, Hollywood's 24-hour high was 2,847 cash game players, one of the lowest 24-hour peaks in the last 60 days.
Two Plus Two posters debated whether financial issues could have contributed to the downfall of Hollywood Poker. One poster from Brazil, "kamel," countered by saying, "I never had problems with cash outs, even in the weeks after Black Friday. Indeed they were always pretty quick."
PocketFives reached out to Hollywood Poker for comment, but our e-mail was not returned at press time. We'll have more for you on this breaking story as it develops.
