Natalie Teltscher claims she struck lucky on the Pokerstars.com website, insisting she won an online world championship tournament in September last year and was owed $1.228 million in winnings.

>> Pokerstars.com in court over $1.2m disputed winnings
30 June 2008

But now she has withdrawn her High Court claim against Victoria Street-based Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and agreed to contribute a sum towards PokerStars' legal costs incurred.

PokerStars maintained Ms Teltscher was not entitled to the winnings as she was disqualified for breaching tournament rules because she did not personally play the game but had an agent play it on her behalf.

Douglas High Court heard that the plaintiff had a Pokerstars user account known as 'the VOid' which, along with 2,997 other user accounts, was entered into the World Championship of Online Poker No Limits Hold'em Main Event tournament on September 30.

London-based Ms Teltscher said she agreed with a third party that they should play the entire tournament on her behalf.

After 22 hours the VOid was left as one of only two users left in the tournament. They entered a split prize agreement and VOid won but did not receive the $1.228 million pay-out.

But PokerStars insisted she never entered or played in the tournament and it was entitled to disqualify both the plaintiff and the person who purported to play under the user name the VOid for breaching tournament rules.

In a statement, PokerStars said the decision of Ms Teltscher to withdraw her claim fully vindicated the company's decision to disqualify her from the tournament and subsequently defend the claim, actions which it said were taken in order to protect the integrity of the games on offer at PokerStars.

It said that internal investigations demonstrated beyond doubt that she had not played on the account, despite Ms Teltscher initially claiming that she had.

Upon her disqualification, all other players were moved one place higher in the prize table and the money confiscated from her account, 'TheV0id', was redistributed in full, according to the amended tournament placings.

Paul Telford, PokerStars director of legal affairs, added 'This case was PokerStars' first exposure to the Isle of Man's judicial system.

'We were extremely impressed with the standard of legal advice available on the island as well as the court's management of the case.

'Our experience in this litigation has underlined why the Isle of Man is recognised as a premier jurisdiction for online gaming regulation.'