Pinnacle eliminates "grace period" when wagering

**BAUS** · 12-07-05, 04:13 PM

Very interesting. What sort of message do you get when you try to make the wager?

BAUS

**DrSlamm** · 12-07-05, 04:50 PM

It basically tells me the line has changed.. does not offer the new line but forces me back to the beginning of the entire betting process.

**tacomax** · 12-07-05, 04:53 PM

I presumed that that was the default - you can only lock-in the bet once you've hit submit. If the line changes after you enter the bet but before you hit submit then the wager is rejected. I've had it with Pinnacle quite a few times (as well as with just about every other book).

**docdekay** · 12-07-05, 05:24 PM

YES

The same thing has happened to me. They have acknowledged over email that this is indeed true.

It definitely is a countermeasure which has been confirmed ...... straight from the horse's mouth.

**bigboydan** · 12-07-05, 06:09 PM

well, this sucks ass. it looks like we gotta find a way around it now. if it's possable that is. which i'm doubting.

**DrSlamm** · 12-07-05, 06:21 PM

we need to pressure them to create software that still allows a wager if it is within some "variance level" of the current line. OR at least put up the CURRENT line for us to confirm our wager at that price. This is what most other books do when the line changes... being booted out to the main betting screen is FAR too slow

**docdekay** · 12-07-05, 06:31 PM

Originally posted by bigboydan

well, this sucks ass. it looks like we gotta find a way around it now. if it's possable that is. which i'm doubting.

Dan, you strike me as a pretty bright individual. If you come up with any viable ideas, please let me know on/off line.

Thanks.

**bigboydan** · 12-07-05, 06:42 PM

will do docdekay

**Brick Tamland** · 12-07-05, 09:55 PM

I thoughy everyones ac**** was like that???????????????????????????

**Brick Tamland** · 12-07-05, 09:57 PM

sometimes i put in a bet 8 times. i have always had to be fast or lose it

**slash** · 12-08-05, 09:38 AM

It has always been like that at Pinnacle. If the line changes at any time during the betting proces you have to start over. And the line always changes automatically depending on bet size so if someone places a bet that warrants an automatic line change and confirms this bet just before you do, you will get the message that the line has changed.

**CrazyHorse** · 12-08-05, 11:54 AM

That's not true. Maybe it is account specific, but for my account when you put the bet in it "locks in" the bet for you and you have a certain amount of time to type your password in and submit it. I have never had a wager that got to the password screen that didn't end up going through. However I haven't bet for a few days so maybe they've changed it. It seems obvious to me that this "lock-in" feature could be abused, but I haven't been abusing it, and I think the solution is just to make the lock-in period shorter or at least give you the option of approving at the new line as others have suggested.

**JoshW** · 12-08-05, 06:47 PM

DrSlamm, docdekay, and Crazyhourse are all right. I have seen emails from Pinnacle were they admit is true. Just like they give some players higher limits they give some players a "grace period" and a number of players have lost theirs in the last two weeks.

**rm18** · 12-08-05, 07:36 PM

it varies for different people, I was able to bet Illinois -7 +106 after it had already moved to either +102 or +101 on the sbrlines ticker, just a scalp I like Georgetown tonight

**Quarm** · 12-08-05, 08:10 PM

Well its ok, cause the bet also gets rejected if the line moves in your favor. Fair deal imo

**Brick Tamland** · 12-09-05, 12:05 AM

i wondered why pinnacle rules said it is ilegal to use 2 browsers...never knew there was a lock in period...lucky bastards

**David** · 12-09-05, 01:02 AM

Originally posted by Brick Tamland

i wondered why pinnacle rules said it is ilegal to use 2 browsers...never knew there was a lock in period...lucky bastards

Where does it say you can't use two browsers?

**pags11** · 12-09-05, 04:07 AM

yeah, I haven't read that about the two browsers...

**slash** · 12-09-05, 07:41 AM

I have played with Pinnacle for years, and I have never ever been able to lock in a bet.

**docdekay** · 12-09-05, 08:51 PM

You could never lock in the bet.

What you could have was grace in case the line differential was marginal.

**TLD** · 12-10-05, 06:06 PM

It’s been a huge change for me. Generally I used to get the error message that the line has changed about once or twice a week at Pinnacle, and maybe 40% of the time it’s changed in my favor when I get back to the lines page, so that’s fine.

But as of a couple days ago I’m basically barred from betting halftimes there. Literally every attempted bet today, and almost every attempted bet yesterday, was rejected due to a supposed line change.

I refresh the lines and enter the bet as fast as my fingers are capable of moving on the mouse and it doesn’t matter. Every single bet rejected. And no phone betting, so I guess that’s that.

I seem to still be able to get other types of bets down, so as far as I know it’s just the halftimes that are no longer available to me.

**David** · 12-10-05, 07:05 PM

Pinnacles lines can move very fast at times. Especially on halftimes and close to game time. Maybe they should still allow a grace period but make it only a couple of seconds so people can still get their bets in but prevent abuse. Does anybody from SBR have anything to say about this situation?

**pats3peat** · 12-10-05, 10:16 PM

welcome TBD

**TLD** · 12-11-05, 12:27 AM

Thanks pats3peat.

Well I can no longer say I didn’t get any halftime bets in today. I tried to place bets about fifteen more times and was accepted twice. So if I enter all the info and click through in the absolute shortest time I’m physically capable of (thereby maximizing the chances I’ll make an error) maybe I can get 10%-20% of my bets in.

For the most part I’d say they can run their book however they please, but here’s the part I object to, that I think actually crosses the line to being crooked:

As an experiment, I picked a halftime line at random to track. I switched off the automatic refresh in case there was some bug or delay or something in that, and I manually hit the refresh button at ten second intervals. The line stayed unchanged for five refreshes like that. Only then did I enter a bet of $500 and click to go to the next screen.

What a surprise, it can’t accept my bet because “the line changed.” OK, maybe that was a coincidence. Maybe it really did remain unchanged at each ten second interval and then by a coincidence changed precisely in the few seconds it took me to type “500” and make one more click.

So I repeated the experiment tracking two other halftime lines. Exact same result. If I just refresh to see if the line’s changed, it hasn’t. If I go to actually bet the line, it has.

Pretty clearly the software waits to see which way you intend to bet before deciding what line is available for you. To me this is exactly the same as calling a book, being offered a line, and then when you state which side you want and for how much, being told “Oops, the line just changed.”

Rescind the offer BEFORE I tell you which side I’m taking, not after. I always thought that was Honorable Bookmaking 101.

There’s a lot to like about Pinnacle, but they pull some crap sometimes too, and this is an example.

**CrazyHorse** · 12-11-05, 01:01 PM

So have you tried "attempting" to bet on the side you don't like, and then taking the improved odds?

**TLD** · 02-02-06, 04:16 PM

Just as an update, I’m not sure if other people’s accounts have changed, but Pinnacle is no longer playing this game with me, at least not to the former extreme.

If I’ve attempted, say, 200 wagers at Pinnacle in the last few weeks during halftime or other times that lines tend to move most quickly, probably 80% were accepted. That’s at least close to what it used to be, as opposed to that stretch where I was getting virtually no such wagers accepted.

It’s easy for people to say that all that’s happening when one’s bet is rejected is that the lines happened to move, but once you’ve experienced this you’ll see that it’s simply untrue.

It has nothing to do with it being halftime bets, with this being a book that gets huge volume, etc., because those exact factors are present when the bulk of my bets are being accepted, and they’re present when it’s all but impossible for me to get a bet through. Clearly there is some adjustment made to the software for certain accounts, because the difference is like night and day.

**Dead Money** · 02-02-06, 06:00 PM

Just curious what yout ISP is TBD? If you are on dial up or a slower DSL that could contribute to the problem.

I feel your pain though I've been using BETJAM for the last few weeks and EVERY bet seems to load extremely slow.

I have also been having the line change problems as well, the thing with BETJAM is it will still let you proceed with the bet( most of the time) but does not tell you wich direction the line went.

Good luck,
DM

**TLD** · 02-02-06, 06:19 PM

I’m on a cable modem Dead Money. Actually the same set-up before, during, and after the stretch where it was virtually impossible to get a halftime bet in at Pinnacle, so I doubt that’s a factor. Speed is very fast.

**raiders72001** · 02-02-06, 07:13 PM

What about live betting? Any grace period now as long as no play occuring?