Teamwork at cash tables

This is a thread mainly for anyone who doesn't know this is possible, just to give you a heads-up. but Im also interested in other poeples opinions and experiences.

Firstly IT IS VERY EASY
As a logical person, I always assumed that two players would not be able to play on the same table behind the same IP-address. This is not true, out of interest me and a friend tried this at PS and it works without fault. We were sat right next to each other, both connected to the same router and behind the same external IP-address and were still able to play at the same table. Neither of us are cheats so we quit very quickly (without seeing a flop if my memory is right).

Second IT CAN BE UNTRACABLE
Since that day we have had this debate many times, and as a PC engineer I have discovered a scenario where you could be sat at a table with 8 other players, all of whom are the same person, but behind different IP addresses (making it impossible for the sites to detect) I wont divulge how to do this but it would be quite simple, and Im sure its a technique some con-artists are already using, and involves very simple technology which most IT pros use daily.

Thirdly IT CAN BE VERY SIMPLE
And then ofcoarse theres the old MSN cheats. This just means two or more players on the same table who are sharing their hands with each-other over an instant messaging network. This goes on all the time. Have you ever been sat at a table and someone has typed their hand into the chat box? Goes unoticed most of the time but to me this is a sign to get off that table asap. To Me what has usually happened is they intended to type their hand into MSN, but it was their time to act which brought the room infront of the msn window.



Bit of a ramble, but if you thought it was impossible.. its anything but

Thank you for all the information and your thoughts on this subject, a very interesting post.

It's certainly possible, even probable. And easy. I don't worry too much tho. I play mostly tournies so it's not so bad. Ring game cheats at low levels can be pretty inept anyways. Not to say you shouldn't worry, just keep an eye out.

BTW live games also have all forms of cheating so don't assume live means fair.

goldog

This is old news, Many people *cough* have been doing it for years.

Ran into something yesterday that got me off a table. First a person by the name truckerred2 sits at the table and starts playing, badly at that. Shortly after this the name truckerblue sits at the table and it happened to be one of the sites that lists where the players are from. Both from Munster so I decided with the closely related names as well as being located in the same place I left the table. To many coincidences for me there.

A sad , but real truth. Where there is money ,you will find thieves, just another hazzard in this game weve chose.

Ye agreed, and MSN cheats will never suprise me. MSN Cheats aren't the biggest worry either as all players involved would still need a good knowledge of the game to make the extra info work for them.

The last scenario is the scariest. One poker guru, a few pc's spread across a few sites and a simple vnc connection would make for an unbeatable opponent(s) and there would be no way of knowing.


Goldog, you make a very good point about live games. The only difference being that to scam online you wouldnt need the extra skills needed to scam live, just extra hardware/software.

Anyway Strongbower you're right, old news, just wanted to make sure everyone is aware how easy it is to be scammed online.

i have noticed people from the same town before. i assummed they could be friends .didn't know they could share same isp. thanks for the heads up....

No you CANNOT have the same IP address at the cash table. It will let you go to the same tournaments, but not the same cash table. Me and a friend did try it and it would only let the first person sit down, the other person it wouldn't.

My thoughts on this is> If you have to Cheat, how good of a player are you< i would say No good,, if anyone cant win on there own then they should just quit playing,, buck

People don't care if they are good or not, as long as they are making money. I don't think our opinion of these people will change what they do.

I know they dont care and cheating can be done,, But how much Self Esteem can a player have to go so low that he has to be a cheater?? IMO not much of a Man,, buck

Ya but all they see is "haha look at all the money we're making". Money corrupts man....

This is why many medium stakes players decided to rely on HU matches since you cannot cheat in them. High stakes, everyone knows each other and a con-artist getting exposed will soon be taken care of by the other players/site (not giving any action, leaving, etc.).

And this is a game that was first popularized by outlaws and thieves: people always tried to cheat and will always try to cheat.

PokerStars doesn't let 2 people on the same IP address join the same cash game table. That really wouldn't be too hard to get around though.

just the fact that this can and does happen is a reason why im not crazy about investing my own funds into any site. live poker baby! lookem in the eyes. or sunglasses. that works too.

Live poker can also have cheaters and collusion, especially in home games. It is far from unheard of.

i know some peaple who play online 6 max and go on aim and chat online about what hands they have. so you get to know if they got aq or ak or aa its alot easier then doing in live!

Give cheaters time and slowly but surely they will die a slow painful death(KARMA'S a BITCH)

Good heads up!

Good post and nicely thought out. Yes, cheating is occuring on every internet poker site at this exact moment. I've also run into collusion on live tables several times...between players, and even more frightening, between the dealer and a player. I really like how Barry Greenstein addresses this problem in his book "Ace on the River." He says that if you are playing in a game that you can normally beat, if you are playing well, and if you are still losing, or if it just doesn't feel right...GET UP. Our gut instincts are the best defense we have against cheaters.

so I guess we should play only tournaments on the net