Do you trust public WiFi to play poker?

Gorak

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Do you trust public WiFi to play poker?

Some public places offer free public WiFi and my guess is it that those are not the most secure places to play poker.

Is there a way to play online poker in public places and be relatively secure about it?

I was thinking about using something like Teamviewer to control my PC at home?

Or about a VPN; is it easy to use and secure?

Any suggestions?
 
dd_decker

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I agree with you. I don't think it's really safe to enter passwords on public WiFi. Most of the time nobody will be trying to steal information but there is always a chance so better to be safe than sorry. Sorry I couldn't answer your question though. I'll be watching this thread to see if someone has a good answer. :confused:
 
Poker Orifice

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What if you have auto login (so you don't need to type in the pw)?

I was going to take a laptop up to the hospital today so that I could play in a few tournaments while visiting my partner but then decided not to bother with it. I figure its such a small town where I live, I'd assume it'd be safe (but what do I know).
I've also thought if I lost my connection I'd rip down to McDonalds & get online there to finish out a tournament session but it's only happened once & was a long time ago.
 
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PlayedYou73

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A VPN is the only way to be really secure about things if you're using a public wifi. In fact, if you want to cover up any file sharing you might be doing on your home PC, a VPN is the way to go as well.

They're not free, there's a monthly service charge.

An auto login wouldn't matter. That only prevents people who might be physically watching your screen from knowing your password. The bits'n'bytes would still be easily viewable.

I would "never" do anything that included 1st or 2nd tier access to any financial transaction programs (online poker, payment processors, banks) on a public wifi.

Privacy protection is part of my regular job-job. It's amazing what I see on my laptop while sitting in McDonalds, sipping on my mocha. And I don't live in a large city either.
 
left52side

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I spend alot of time travelling and with layovers and hotels and such things I find myself playing on public wifi quite often and have never had a problem,knock on wood.
Most times I will try to make sure it is secure such as hotels airports or etcetcetc.
I am not sure I would purposly play on an open network such as mcdonalds walmart that type of places.
 
Gorak

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I guess a "thief " could just have a computer sitting there with a snooping program and record every activity on the public WiFi. Then go back home and analyze it to find the best way to use the information and extract the most money from it.

So unless I "really" need to use a public WiFi, I will stay away from it.

Some VPN are free but I guess the performance is not as good as the paid version.

Check: CyberGhost VPN

By the way do poker sites allow a player to play when connected through a VPN?
 
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Kibic1302

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Depends on what you're talking about public places, if I play wifi in the pub, a pizzeria, a restaurant that does not fear for my safety. The more I fear for networks such as neighbors. It is not known where he is a 'hacker'
 
punctual

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VPN's are the way to go. In fact, you can use a VPN to encrypt your web activity such that even your ISP would not be able to track your activity. One VPN that has gained popularity in recent years is bolehvpn. For less than $100 a year you can ensure that your activities will be encrypted and kept private insofar as you can trust the operator of the VPN....this is to say that while your activities will be kept private from your isp and from public wifi administrators, it will not be kept private from teh VPN operator itself. In the end, you will have to trust somebody with your information; doing yoru research on VPN's may help you better decide which VPN is most trustworthy.
 
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t4nkk

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Yeah, im trust, i think they cant hijack you, how they can do it? I think its impossible for normal peoples. But our world has one or two OP hackers maybe, and they can, but on theirs lvl not need to hijacked your pocker account, they have fish much more bigger.
 
wanderingthehall

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I do it fairly often. I haven't worried about it and haven't had any problems.
 
LeanAndMean

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Wow, I never even thought about this. I am so glad you brought it up. How about other activities like checking emails. Can hackers get into your computer while doing that on a public WIFI? Or is my security program good enough to stop that?
 
rickypr18

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I don't. I even cashed a freeroll for $1.35 and no one stole the money from my account. I take that as proof that no one can steal passwords in a public network.
 
kidkvno1

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I don't. I even cashed a freeroll for $1.35 and no one stole the money from my account. I take that as proof that no one can steal passwords in a public network.
If you have a WiFi at home it can be hijacked and they can get into your computer. The same thing can happen with public WiFi.

No one cares about your buck 35.
 
olfabiolo

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I think yes and safe but I think where I live foul over public place with internet and quality of internt be better
 
rickypr18

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If you have a WiFi at home it can be hijacked and they can get into your computer. The same thing can happen with public WiFi.

No one cares about your buck 35.

that-awkward-moment-when-your-sarcasm-is-so-advanced-people-actually-think-youre-stupid.jpg
 
WeenieSVK

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I would never use free public wifi with something related to sending money, recieving money, logging into platform where I have some money etc... But I think you dont even have to they can get your passwords anyway on public wifi I bet :D
 
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itrade

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I was always curious, can people get my info if i use public wifi?
 
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DonkeyH3AD

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not long time ago I have played in KFC free hotspot and win cash on EPT freeroll on mobile :D I think there is no reasons to be afraid to connect foregin wi fi
 
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mitea2013

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is easy to pass the wifi passwords, for me it's ok to play on wifi network
 
gattusoleon

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i am playing poker with the wifi of my neighbord, a im not in the city, haha
 
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PlayedYou73

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not long time ago I have played in KFC free hotspot and win cash on EPT freeroll on mobile :D I think there is no reasons to be afraid to connect foregin wi fi

Your single example is not sufficient evidence to say that it's a safe thing to do on a regular basis.

No one cares about a few cents or dollars that a person might have won in a freeroll.

There's way more valuable information that can be gleaned from someone using an unsecure public wifi with their laptop. Banking info, passwords (since many people use the same poor password for everything), selfie porn that can be used for blackmail...all kinds of stuff.

It's a russian roulette game basically.
 
rytciaq

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Never do such thing like entering your passwords on important sites like poker client. It's unsafe, it's easy to hijack. About Teamviewer, I wouldn't reccomend, because it's kinda "sloppy".
 
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awmm83

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Obviously this is a risk but I think your worries are just a result of this paranoid
, big brother culture we live in. Just focus on your game :)
 
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guutox

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Almost all times play poker with public Wifi (university) and never had problems with it.
 
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rugby0

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Never do this, it is very easy for your passwords or the total contents to be hijacked.
 
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