Here is the link to the description for the Stars shuffle. It describes their process for setting the entire deck before the deal starts.
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/features/security/
Below is a copy of an e-mail I received from the Stars tech department last year when I asked the same question directly (with a portion deleted that related to a second question). It confirms that the Stars deck is fully set and locked during the play of that hand.
-------------------------
Hello xxxxxx,
Thanks for your email and for your intriguing questions. I will do my
best to address them completely.
First of all,
as in a real life casino, the cards are shuffled, the deck
is set and the hands are dealt.
If a player folds the next player will
get the card that WAS coming. It does not change.
<snipped>
Regards,
Patrick K.
PokerStars Support Team
------------------------------------
I don't think it's "silly" ... it's just a fact of life
playing online. Stars is the ONLY site (that I am aware of) that uses a set deck. All other sites use the 'constant shuffle' method.
One minor reason is that software using the constant shuffle demands less in computer system resources.
Since I've played live since '69 (sometimes it feels like
1869
) I would prefer Stars method on ALL sites and may be why I prefer Stars over all other sites. But in reality, "IF" we care to believe that no constant shuffle site would EVER manipulate results of the deal, the 'odds' are the same as to which card/s would be dealt next.
The amount of time it takes to 'click' (as mentioned before) DOES change the entropy input used to influence A next card. Problem is, we're dealing in what is probably nano-seconds. If YOU wait 3 seconds more to click, you aren't influencing YOUR next card, but rather the next card at some other table. It's somewhat complicated, but the delay or speed of clicking at a DIFFERENT table may/will influence YOUR table's next card dealt.
From an 'odds' perspective, the method is really irrelevant as WVH suggests. It's just the
idea that pulling cards from 'anywhere' in the deck during a deal is acceptable.
No site uses a burn card. Burn cards really would not serve a purpose online. Burns are used to eliminate card reading the marked face of a card next to be dealt. (limits/deters one form of cheating at live tables).
If preset decks are a concern, then by all means, stick to playing exclusively at Pokerstars, or any site that presets the entire deck. If you find one, let me know ....
I don't ever play much at UB, but when they switched to Cerius software, they announced that a 'rabbit' feature would be available. What IS a joke is how sites treat online poker players as being ignorant. Cerius uses a constant shuffle, therefore a rabbit feature would produce a false result. We still see players being results oriented, NOT understanding that their 'next' card or seeing the 'quads they missed' would never have happened. They still chat "I had a feeling that I shouldn't have folded".
See you at Stars,
Casper ... or Saturday night while we are all out trick or treating ...
(j/k ... I do prefer Stars because it IS a preset deck)
Hard to teach old dogs new tricks ...