Well... I'd agree that it is certainly sleazy, and probably cheating.

I had a guy pull it on me when I placed a very big bet into a very big (heads-up) pot at the turn. He had plenty of money to call (and then some), but just went off-line. My big turn bet was returned, and the river played All-In style with no more betting. I won the hand, but not as much as I should have. He came back on-line a couple hands later.

I've only seen it twice at micro-levels, but would expect as the stakes get higher, the behavior gets more prevalent.

I'm just curious what others' experiences are. I assume all on-line sites have some similar "protection", and not all players have the same sense of "fair play", lending the feature to abuse.

And much as I'd like to think the sites monitor players' use of "protection", I'm doubtful that they really do.

What happens if you are "banned"? Do they keep your money? It takes just a few minutes to re-register with a new name even if one does get banned... right?