Player Support

Poker - Software & Connection

Firewall Issues

I can't connect to any games when playing from an office or University/College.
If you can't connect to our game server through our webpage, or through the downloaded Poker4 application, you may be behind a firewall. If you are behind a firewall, then you must configure the firewall to allow communications on our ports.

See below for all the current ports used by the games at PokerSouls.com

Chinese Poker - 5400
Poker4 - 5700-5709, 5720, 5724
Poker4 tournament - 5750-5759

If you were able to access our Poker games in the past, but not now, please reconfigure your firewall to allow our new ports.

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Why do I keep getting the message that "The server does not respond" when I try to log in from my office?
You are most likely behind a "firewall" used to protect your company network from unauthorized access. It limits the communication with the outside world to a few standard channels -- and the PokerSouls.com client-server solution is apparently not on the approved list. Try configuring the firewall to accept traffic on our game ports.

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What can I do if I am behind a firewall?
If you are behind a firewall, you must configure the firewall to allow communications on the following ports that PokerSouls.com uses.

Chinese Poker - 5400
Poker4 - 5700-5709, 5720, 5724
Poker4 tournament - 5750-5759

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Disconnections

What occurs if I'm disconnected in the middle of a hand in a ring game?
If your internet connection breaks, you will become All In, which means that your cards will stay in the game and participate in the Showdown, but you will not be eligible to win more than what was in the pot when you last made a move. This also happens if you run out of money during a hand.

However, if you don't acting in time while connected, we automatically check/fold your hand. Our system distinguishes whether a player has an actual connection problem or if he/she just isn't acting in time.

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I was disconnected / kicked out of a tournament. Why? What can I do?
If you were kicked out, it probably means that your internet connection to our server broke down for some reason. In order to get back, simply reload the game in your browser. You will automatically be taken back to your table.

If you are not taken back to the game, please make a note of any error message and send this and the last hand number played to support@PokerSouls.com.

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I sat out for a few hands in a tournament, but it doesn't allow me to sit back in?
This means your session has expired. Close the game window (table) quickly and restart the lobby (game client).

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If I restart the game client, will I forfeit the tournament?
No. You should try to restart it immediately if your game window freezes on you. You will be able to rejoin the tournament quickly enough.

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Playing from your Web-Browser

Why am I not allowed to see the list of tables? All I get is a gray area.
This generally means that you need to clear your "cache" (temporary internet files) and lacks the latest version of Java plug-in. You may download the Java plug-in by visiting the Java website.

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What are the advantages of the "lite" Java version?
It loads faster from Lobby to each Table. Since it uses less memory, it should also work faster on older and slower computers. It takes a shorter amount of time to load for players with slower internet connections and the colours used cause relatively less stress on your eyes.

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Why am I seeing "ghost cards" on the table?
You may be seeing leftover images from previous hands if you do not have the latest version of Java plug-in for your web-browser. You may download it by visiting the Java website.

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Why were my cards folded when I clicked "raise"?
You may have been timed-out of a hand. It is not unusual that players sometimes experience lags from their ISP, and you do not see your turn coming to you until it is in fact over.

It is not likely that our system will automatically check/fold a player's hands otherwise. We will be happy to investigate the incident further for you if you provide us with the hand number or a specific date and time, and the description of your pocket and board cards.

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How do I clear my cache?

Internet Explorer
1. Pick "Tools" from the menu at the top of the Internet Explorer window.
2. Scroll down the list and pick "Internet Options".
3. Pick "General" under the sub-menu of the new window that appears.
4. Under "Temporary Internet Files", select "Delete Files".
5. Check "Delete all offline content" and press the "OK" button.
6. Close all of your Internet Explorer browsers and start a fresh one.

AOL 9.0
1. Go to "Settings" on the task bar.
2. In the "Essentials" tab, choose "Internet Properties".
3. Go to the "General" tab and within "Temporary Internet Files" select the "Delete Files..." button.
4. Check "Delete all offline content" and hit the "OK" button
5. Select the "Advanced" tab and scroll down to "Security".
6. Check "Do not save encrypted pages to disk".
7. Also check "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed".
8. Finally, click "OK" to complete the process.

Netscape
1. First, make sure that every instance of Netscape is closed, you should have ONLY ONE browser window open on your desktop or in your task bar.
2. Pick "Edit", then "Preferences".
3. Select "Advanced" and from there, "cache".
4. On the right hand side of the page you should now see "Clear Memory Cache". Click "Clear Disk Cache".
5. When this is done, click "OK" to exit the Preferences dialog.

Mac OS X with Safari
1. Pick "Safari" from the Safari browser tool bar.
2. From the drop-down menu, pick "Empty Cache".
3. In the new window stating "Are you sure you want to empty cache?", select the tab marked "empty".

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Playing from the Downloaded Application

I can't use the downloadable version
The Windows downloadable Poker 4 games for Hold'em, Omaha and 7 Card Stud are appropriate for Windows 98, 2000 and XP. It is also appropriate for Windows Me. If you are using Windows95 or NT, you cannot use this feature.

If you are have problems using the downloadable version of Poker 4, restart the program until you encounter the problems and cannot go any further, then send an email to support@PokerSouls.com attaching the file "WPCLog.txt". It can be found in the folder C:/Program Files/PokerSouls.com in your PC. This file could hold important information that will help our support team resolve the problem faster.

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Why is my Windows XP is asking me to verify my PokerSouls.com client?
If you have a firewall or are running Windows XP and updated to Service pack 2, the security level on your computer has increased. XP will ask you to verify a range of programs, including ours.

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Why am I not able to see my stats?
You must "Enable Statistics" under "Statistics" before the game client starts to log the hands you play.

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I am using the Poker 4 download version but I am not able to connect to the server.
If you are receiving a message that you are not able to connect to the server, but you do have access to the internet, one thing that may cause the problem is if the system clock is incorrectly set. Please check that your clock settings are correct (date, month, year).

If this does not resolve the issue, please restart the program until you encounter the problems and can't go any further. Then send an email to support@PokerSouls.com attaching the file "WPCLog.txt". It can be found in the folder C:/Program Files/PokerSouls.com in your PC. This file may hold important information that will help our support team solve the problem faster.

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I got the error message "12029" while starting the software. What was wrong?
This can happen when an old copy of the server certificate is stored in your default browser. To solve this problem, please try the steps below.

1. Make sure that your system date and clock are correct and reset them if they aren't.
2. Clear your temporary internet files (cache) and cookies.
3. Clear your browser certificate cache. For Internet Explorer, you can do this by going to "Tools", "Internet Options", "Content" page, and clicking the "Clear SSL state" button.
4. If you still can't access our games, please go to "Tools", "Internet Options", "Privacy" on your Internet Explorer, click on "Web sites\Edit", enter "PokerSouls.com/" in the dialog box and click "Allow".

If none of the above works, please send us the wpclog.txt file to help our technical team diagnose the problem.

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Why were my cards folded when I clicked "raise"?
You may have been timed-out of a hand. It is not unusual that players sometimes experience lags from their ISP, and you do not see your turn coming to you until it is in fact over.

It is not likely that our system will automatically check/fold a player's hands otherwise. However, we will be glad to investigate the incident further for you if you provide us with the hand number or a specific date and time, and the description of your pocket and board cards.

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If I reinstall the software, will it erase my stats or player notes?
Not as long as you reinstall it into the same folder.

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What does this mean: "There can be only one instance of the program running..."?
Occasionally, the application may still be running in the background if it is not closed down properly. It will then prompt you with a message that "There can only be one instance of the program running.. " when you try to restart it. To close the program in the background:

1. Go to "Task Manager" by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE
2. Select "Processes" from the menu
3. Look for the item "poker.exe". End the process and you should be able to restart it after that.

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Why does the Downloaded application run very slowly for Win 98 users?
Unfortunately, some versions of Win 98 lack certain important system files needed for our application.

By downloading the following file and placing it into the PokerSouls.com installation directory ("C:\Program Files\PokerSouls.com" by default) the application should run more smoothly (note that the file needs to be placed in the directory before starting the poker software).

MSIMG32.DLL

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I'm having problems when I try to open the links (like my account) in the download client. It is giving me the message that AOL couldn't handle the file size. What can I do?
It is out of our control to make the AOL browser as we would like it to be. We just request for a web page to be opened by using the most common way to open web pages. Unfortunately, the solution is to try to set another browser (IE, Netscape, Opera, etc) as the default browser.

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General Trouble Shooting

Why is the game sometimes slow?
You could be suffering from internet lag which is often caused by a poor connection between your ISP and our server. This is something beyond our control, but your own connection is often improved upon if you close out other bandwidth-consuming applications such as internet browsers, file sharing programs, chat programs, etc.

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I get the message "Unable To Connect To Patch Sever". What should I do?
You should try to uninstall the downloaded application and re-download/install it.

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Why can't I access your games?
If your problem is not described or answered by the other help answers, please contact our support team with the following information:

1) The date and time that you were trying to play.
2) The type of game you were trying to access.
3) The operating system you are using.
4) Whether you were playing through your web-browser (AOL / Internet Explorer / Netscape, etc?) or through the downloaded application?
5) At which stage of accessing the game did you encounter problems and what actually happened?
6) Did you see any error messages?
7) Your connection speed. (Dial-up / DSL / Cable?)
8) Do you experience similar problems when you try to play from your web-browser/the downloaded application?

The more information you provide, the sooner you can get a resolution from us.

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I have problems playing your games after I upgraded Windows XP with "Service Pack 2". What can I do?
Your Windows XP security settings should have increased after upgrading it with "Service Pack 2". Try to access our website directly, and confirm that you want to continue when asked "You are accessing a site with non-secure items. Do you want to continue? (Yes/No)".

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Playing from a Mac

How do I get it to work on a Macintosh using OS9.x?
The software has been tested with Mac OS 9.6 together with Internet Explorer 5.1.7. (It might also work with earlier versions of Mac OS9 and maybe even some versions of Mac OS8, but that is not guaranteed.)

Two things are required to make it work:

1. The Macintosh Runtime for Java (MRJ) 2.2.5 needs to be installed on your computer. Do a file search for "MRJ" and see if it is there. If not, you can download it from Apple .
2. Your browser needs to be configured to use the MRJ to run Java applets. This is done from the "Java" controls in the "Settings".

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How do I get it to work on a Macintosh using Mac OS X?
The software works with Mac OS X 10.2.8 or newer, together with Safari 1.0.2 or newer, or Mozilla 1.5 or newer. No special settings are required for Mac OS X.

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I am a Mac user. How do I right- click?
The equivalent for "right-click" for Apple users is to hold down the (Ctrl)+mouseclick. This works on our site for removing casino chips from the table, etc.

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Features on the Download Software

How do I hide/display lobby chat?
This feature is only available for the download software. You may hide/display lobby chat by changing the settings under "Options" -> "Preferences" -> "Lobby".

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How do I turn on/off the countdown time bar?
This feature is only available on the download software. In order to turn it on/off, you can change the settings under "Options" -> "Preferences" -> "Table".

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How do I categorize the players I play against?
This feature is only available on the download software.

In order to set your own definitions to player categories:
1. Go to "Options" -> "Preferences" -> "Player Categories".
2. Enter the category descriptions beside the respective coloured icons. Eg.
green - good player
red - bluffer
yellow - average player
etc...
3. Click on "Apply" and then "OK".

To categorize a player:
1. Click on the player while at the table, a category icon will appear above the player's avatar.
2. Click on this icon as many times you need to change it to the colour you want.

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How do I customize the type of messages that appear in the table chat?
This feature is only available on the download software. You may customize the type of message you want to see by going to "Options" -> "Preferences" -> and "Game Message".

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How do I make player notes?
You can keep notes about a player by clicking on his/her avatar and entering the text you want to remind yourself of him/her in the pop-up field.

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