Are we
as online poker players getting a fair game
or are the poker rooms themselves cheating
you out of your money? Are your leary of
playing online poker for real money because
you don't know if the game is fair? Here
is a real look at cheating at online poker.
For as long as people have been playing
poker, people have been cheating
at poker (or at least trying to).
We've all heard the stories from the early
days of poker in America of a cheater getting
caught with an ace up his sleeve in a cash
game at a local saloon. Today's world of
online poker is no exception. Let's not
be naive and fail to realize that somewhere,
sometime, someone has cheated playing online
poker. Players cheat, they have, they do
and they will continue to do so...
The good news is that the really
scary types of cheating are probably
not as bad as bad as you might think as
long as you are playing at a trusted
online poker room then most of your
online poker games are fair and honest.
If you are not interested in reading this
article but are just looking for an online
poker room you can trust, visit Poker
Stars and check out our PokerStars
Download Guide
They have extensive independent auditing
by Citigal
and BMM
International. These guys are the read
deal as far as trustable online poker rooms
plus the customer support is top notch.
Stars is not the only trustable online room,
check out our poker
room reviews for more reputable and
trustable places to play online.
The scariest version of online
poker cheating is that the card rooms
themselves are 'in on it'.
The Online Poker rooms are doing some shady
and underhanded things to maximize their
profits and get a bigger rake... A lot of
people make this accusation, we've seen
it in our own forum and in forums all across
the net.
People claim that they recieve such terrible
beats against idiots calling their bets
and hitting a miracle gutshot on the river
that the card rooms must be rigging the
cards so the 'idiots' win and the pots are
big. The bigger the pot, the bigger the
rake and that means more money for the poker
room.
This, afterall, benefits the poker room
in two ways. First, it causes larger pots
meaning larger rake, plus it means that
the bad players lose money slower. If the
bad players lost the money they deposited
to a winning player, and that winning player
withdraws his winnings on regular intervals,
like all winning players do, then the poker
room looses the chance to make rake money
off of that money.
The loosing players are going to most likely
stay and play until their loose all of their
money anyway, so the more money they have
to lose, the more they will play, and the
more that they play the more that they will
rake in total.
This seems like a respectable argument on
it's face, and very intelligent, coherent
and quality poker players have made this
accusation, but most of the people you hear
making these claims in online forums and
especially at the poker tables are bad poker
players who are blaiming their poor poker
deicsion making ability on a scapegoat,
the online poker room.
These players blame their bad luck on the
online poker rooms and claim that surely
the poker rooms must be stacking the deck
to create big hands that they happen to
end up second best in. The rooms are cheating
to maximize the rake as much as possible,
not that you misplayed your pocket aces
by limping in pre-flop when four earlier
players had limped in and the flop came
89J with two hearts and you raised all in
from middle position and got called by QTh
who flopped the nut straight.
While you certainly see exceptional bad
beats and big hands online, you also see
them live. If you've never been outdrawn
by a two outer gutshot then you probably
haven't played at one of the Atlanta Poker
Club weekly tournaments (or much poker at
all). Suckouts happen in poker at the highest
levels to the lowest levels. If you can't
handle the swings then do not bother playing,
Texas Hold 'Em is probably not for you.
Here is the deal - The
reputable online poker rooms would
not risk their
hugely profitable business
by cheating and being exposed. The poker
rooms are not cheating, they wouldn't start
cheating and my confidence level in that
statement is very high.
Here is a major reason I believe that the
poker rooms do not alter the outcome of
hands to maximize rake.
Statistics support the trusted online
poker rooms. Thousands of people
use various poker
tracking software to track their hands
and analyze their play and the play of their
competition. Each and every hand is tracked
and added into a database where tons of
querys can be ran and statistics analyzed.
People play tens of thousands of hands over
long periods of time (years). No one has
shown any statistical evidence that the
reputable card rooms are dealing hands that
wouldn't be randomly dealt. There is no
evidence other than the ancedotal "I
lost to a 2 outer twice in a row" complaint
from a disgruntled online poker player to
support the claim that the poker rooms themselves
are cheating.
If this is your concern then just look for
a reputable online poker room, especially
those that have their shuffle algorithm
verified by an independent source such as
THAWTE.
Online Poker Cheating that is
real - Collusion
The most common form of online poker cheating
is collusion. Collusion is when
two or more players share their private
cards with one another and act together
as a team. Knowing more than just your own
cards is an advantage over the other players
at the table. Just call up your buddy on
the telephone or instant message, get him
to join the same online poker table as you
and play together as a team by sharing your
cards.
Collusion occurs and is probably the most
common form of cheating found in online
poker. This isn't to say that every single
online poker game is full of colluding cheaters,
most are not. The majority of the games
at the reputable online poker sites are
straight up.
The good news is that the poker rooms keep
track of who is playing together. If two
or three, or a whole ring of players, are
playing together on a regular basis, hand
histories will be looked at and scrutinized.
If collusion is detected these players will
no longer be allowed to play together and
their funds will possibly be frozen.
Combating Collusion
Most colluders are probably
weak poker players and will
still lose money. Pay attention. Be on the
lookout for two players building the pots
for one another and then one player folding
at the end. Or if you notice a hand being
announced in the chat box, this could be
a key that someone is colluding via instant
messenger or some other online communication
channel.
If someone types in Ad5d into the chat box,
it is likely that the player is colluding
via an instant messenger type program and
has accidently typed his hand into the chat
box on the poker room instead of his instant
messaging program. Pay attention, make sure
he isn't telling his hand from the previous
hand, check the hand history if possible
and make a note of the time and table number
and the player name. You can send this information
to the poker rooms and they can investigate.
Report colluders to the card rooms when
you're pretty sure someone is colluding.
There is not really a whole lot you can
do to prevent collusion at your table other
than to pay attention and be on the lookout
for what seems like odd play. I don't really
think that it is that risky of a proposition
but I'm sure in my years of online poker
playing I've been a victim to colluders
but it is not a concern for me whenever
I sit down at a table although I do try
and pay attention just in case.
Self Collusion
Another form of collusion, is self collusion
where one player has multiple accounts at
a poker site and plays them all together
at the table, fleecing a couple of suckers
out of their cash. This is something that
very well might be possible, but is very
rare and probably only a concern at the
really high stakes. Someone who went into
the huge invesment of setting up the multiple
network / server / ip address / monitor
/ masking info would have to spend a ton
of money to get around the poker rooms security
rooms. The most common collusion is going
to be a couple of idiots on a telephone
sharing their cards and still loosing because
they suck at poker. Two Top Ranked Online
Poker Players busted for cheating! Read
the Article and see how they lost nearly
$300k combined!
** UPDATE **
Absolute
Poker Cheating Scandal breaks out! Higher
Ups within the company possibly involved
in 'super user' account where all hole cards
could be seen.
Here is an Absolute
Poker Cheating Update
Here is info on the Bogus
Poker Stars Five Aces
Online Poker Bots
I'm not playing against a real
person. A computer program designed to make
the right decision every time is taking
all my money.
Full
Tilt Busts Bots.
This is most likely doubtful, but not completely
out of the question. I'm sure that some
programmer somewhere with enough time and
enough desire could create a poker bot that
could win at the lower levels of online
poker.
If you think you are playing against a bot,
a quick and easy way to ease your mind if
you are playing is to chat. Say hello, mock
them, call them out, ask them a question..
try and get a response.
If they talk back you're not playing against
a bot. Of course if someone doesn't respond
doesn't mean that they are a bot, they might
have chat turned off or just ignoring you.
Most of the reputable online poker rooms
are actively working to ensure that poker
bots are not playing at their room. If they
detect a poker bot they will freeze accounts
and banish the player. Many people have
claimed to program a
bot that can win one big bet per hour playing
low stakes limit holdem. I think that
if the poker rooms weren't combating poker
bots that they would be more of them.
A bot that can win at poker is probably
fairly difficult to create considering you
are playing without 100% information. If
you are thinking that if you can create
a chess program then you can create a poker
program then just remember that in chess,
you see 100% of the pieces. In poker you
don't know what your opponent holds. Good
players will kick a bots ass.
Again, at the reputable poker sites the
vast majority of players are the real deal.
For more on poker bots, check out this MSNBC
article on online poker bots. Most above
average players will figure out the bots
patterns and can easily
beat a bot.
Remember, poker rooms want to keep new
real players and they know that if
you think you are playing against a table
of poker bots time and time again that you
will take your play elsewhere. Poker
bots are bad for business.
In closing, cheaters suck, don't cheat.
If you get caught by the card rooms you'll
lose your cash and get your account frozen.
I wonder if this dude cheated
on his girlfriend?
Check out how this player tried to cheat
at Paradise Poker and take home a cool
million...
 Play
at Full Tilt Poker and get a Kick
Ass deposit bonus! Full Tilt matches
deposit 100% up to $600!
Here is a 1st persons
Full Tilt Poker Review and here is a
Full
Tilt Poker Guide with a Kick
Ass Bonus and step by step
instructions on creating your first account.
Thanks, have fun and we'll see you at the
tables!
Here is a list
of reputable online poker rooms
with detailed room reviews, sign up guides
and current deposit bonuses.
Thanks and we'll see you at the tables!
KickAssPoker.com
P.S.
If you are hesitant to try online poker
because you are worried about cheating,
don't be... you can play 100% free or even
a $1 tournament so your risk is minimized...
Start out for free and if you are comfortable
with the software you can make a deposit
later. Check out Sportsbook
Poker for a good free play site and
easy deposit options.
|
