How To Spot Online Poker Cheating

How To Spot Online Poker Cheating Identifying and avoiding online poker cheats If there is a game to be contested, you can bet there is someone out there who is trying to circumvent the system. It is no different in online poker. But, some players who want to get into online poker are also concerned about the online poker sites, and whether they have stacked the deck in their favor. Players can take solace in knowing that the reputable online poker sites aren’t cheating, and if they are, no one can prove it. There have been numerous unfounded accusations of stacked decks, luring players in with a great string of hands, only to take their money from them with a string of bad hands, and other rumors. Online poker sites work on a RNG (Random Number Generator) to generate the hands that appear on your screen. Most have a RNG that can produce over 200 million different combinations of cards. You are going to have to play quite a few hands before you get a repeat. In fact, I’ll bet that in all of the time you play online, you will never have the exact same cards turn up twice on the flop. Many of the bigger poker sites are audited annually, or more often, to make sure they are not generating too many hands in the house’s favor, and to make sure the odds of turning up certain hands (flushes, straight, full houses) are typical odds. For instance, the odds of turning up a flush by the time the river card turns up if you have two suited cards on the deal, and then two come up on the flop are about 35 per cent. An audit will tell you whether those percentages are staying in line with where they should be. As far as other players cheating, well that’s bound to happen. This happens a few ways: • Two people can bet all of the other players out in order to increase their chances of winning a big pot. This is one form of collusion. • Two or more people can work together and show each other cards. They can then decide their options or ‘outs’ in a particular hand, making them bet accordingly. • Then there are those ‘concerned’ people who inquire about whether or not a poker sites system can be hacked. These questions are usually unanswered because they are often posed more by the ones looking to cheat than the actual concerned cheaters There is a move to protect legitimate gamblers from those who cheat. There are check and balance systems in place at the reputable online poker sites that can detect some cheating -- but not all. The more passive cheating, like the players who sit in the same house and share hands, can’t be detected as easily as the player who is going all in with an unsuited 2, 3, with his partner who has an equally poor hand and matches his bet. Poker sites monitor hands regularly and you can gain some peace of mind knowing that players are caught when they use these underhanded tactics. You can also keep track of the hands yourself, if you are that concerned about cheating by other players. Unfortunately, unless you have hard evidence, most online poker sites don’t do a lot about complaints of this manner. When in doubt, you can always leave the site and go to one where you feel more comfortable. Do your research on the online poker houses and pick the ones where you are more confident about the safety of the users.