A poker sign in looks like one action, but it runs four separate checks, and each one can stop you for a different reason. Knowing which check you are standing in front of saves most of the guessing — and the rest of this page covers what to look at once you are through.
These two are the only pair that will tell you plainly that they failed. Whatever the wording, it means the account record itself did not match — so the fix lives entirely on your side of the screen: the wrong one of your two possible identifiers, or an input that picked up a leading space or an auto-capitalised first letter.
What to re-check first →The third check asks whether this machine has been seen before. A new one gets an extra confirmation, and once it clears, it stays on the list until you take it off. That list is the one piece of account access that is entirely under your control, which is why it is worth reading more often than the password is worth changing.
Why the list matters most →The last check is about how many devices may hold a session at once. Some rooms allow two, some allow one and push the earlier device off. Neither is a fault, but if you do not know which applies, being dropped on your phone the moment you sign in on a laptop reads as a bug rather than a rule.
How to find out which applies →
Two things travel with the account: the record of hands you have played, and the settings you chose for the interface. Two things do not: the session itself, and anything you only stored locally. That split explains most of the surprises — your stats follow you to the laptop, but the replay file you saved on the phone may not.
The practical consequence is small but worth knowing. Treat the interface settings as something you set once and forget, because they come with you. Treat local replays as something to review on the device that recorded them. And treat the session as the thing that does not multiply — one sign-in somewhere may be one sign-in everywhere.
The first hand of a session is the one played on the least information. You have no read on anybody at the table, the action timer may be shorter than you remember, and the urge to do something is at its highest. All three push in the same direction, which is why the first hand is so often the loosest one of the session.
The fix is not to play tighter out of caution. It is to decide the first few hands from the table information rather than from the cards: how many seats are filled, how deep the stacks are, how long the blinds have been where they are. Those three are readable before any card is dealt, and they are the only facts you actually have.
Identifier, secret, device, session — four checks, four different responses. Read which one stopped you and the rest takes a minute instead of an evening.