B
BitznBites
Rising Star
Bronze Level
This is long but I just gotta get it off my chest.
First let me say right up front, that I DO NOT think online poker is rigged to favor any one player. I think that poker sites are rigged to juice the pot, thus making for more rake and more profit.
There are several reasons why I think online poker is rigged. They are both from observation and from real world logic and experience.
Any company or corporation is in the business of making money, as much money as possible, in any way that it can be made. If Company A can make $50 million a month that’s great, but if it can $50M and 50 cents that’s better. If it can make that extra .50 cents in some unethical or illegal way without getting caught then it’s all good. The larger the company or corporation, or the more money involved, the more likely it is that this sort of thing will happen. There will be some underling out to impress his boss (who is out to impress his boss) that will come up with a scheme to boost the company profits. The chairman of the board or any celebrity spokesmen may have no idea, and may not care to check, if anything unsavory is going on. Can we spell “plausible deniability” boys and girls? It may also be that the chairman may not be able to detect that anything is wrong, as in the case of companies whose business is entirely computer generated. It would be very easy for an enterprising underling to twiddle the code for the desired results and unless there was an INDEPENDENT auditor that part of the code would never be seen. There could easily be multiple programs, one that you would show to outside verification firms that would put their stamp of approval on it, and another that would actually run on the site. There would have to be independent and unannounced spot checks to prevent or at least deter this sort of thing. I do not see that this sort of independent auditing happens. That would probably need to be a governmental or possibly a trade group process.
How might some one be able to detect that things are not quite right? By observation of course. I have heard and read in several places statements by the companies themselves, their celebrity spokesmen, and various pundits about “why would poker sites do such a thing and risk killing the golden goose”, or “you play many more hands online that there are bound to be more suck outs”. To that I would say just observe. If you play multiple tables watch to see how often a hand on table A would win on table B or C. How often is there some kind of coordination between tables? How often do you get the same cards at the same time on 2 or more tables? Just look for patterns. If you see patterns IT’S NOT RANDOM!! If it’s not random there is a reason for it.
I have played a lot in casinos and home games. It is strange to me how often in online games that what ever cards I am dealt, I will pair the flop or get 4 to a flush or straight. I do not see this in live games. There is a tendency for low to mid limit players to call the blinds with almost any 2 cards. Low and mid limit players make up the bulk of players online. Could a poker site exploit this tendency by making sure the flop hits the most players in some way thus encouraging more action? I know…more hands per hour and all that but I have watched and kept track of how often this happens live as opposed to online. The percentages online are higher than live. That means that online is NOT random. If it’s not random there is a reason. I do not think this happens every hand but 5, 10, 15 percent......Hummmmm.....10 percent of $50M is some serious cash.
Again I state that I do not think that poker sites favor any one player. Also if you play good solid poker you can win online but you better have the nuts by the river ‘cause some donkey will suck out and beat you with a 2 outer.
Until and unless there is some sort of independent ongoing oversight of online poker sites I will not trust them. I will still play there ‘cause I love to play poker so much but I will not put very much if any real money in them. Hopefully we can get the government to see the light on poker and we can get some sort of regulation but I’m not going to hold my breath.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
First let me say right up front, that I DO NOT think online poker is rigged to favor any one player. I think that poker sites are rigged to juice the pot, thus making for more rake and more profit.
There are several reasons why I think online poker is rigged. They are both from observation and from real world logic and experience.
Any company or corporation is in the business of making money, as much money as possible, in any way that it can be made. If Company A can make $50 million a month that’s great, but if it can $50M and 50 cents that’s better. If it can make that extra .50 cents in some unethical or illegal way without getting caught then it’s all good. The larger the company or corporation, or the more money involved, the more likely it is that this sort of thing will happen. There will be some underling out to impress his boss (who is out to impress his boss) that will come up with a scheme to boost the company profits. The chairman of the board or any celebrity spokesmen may have no idea, and may not care to check, if anything unsavory is going on. Can we spell “plausible deniability” boys and girls? It may also be that the chairman may not be able to detect that anything is wrong, as in the case of companies whose business is entirely computer generated. It would be very easy for an enterprising underling to twiddle the code for the desired results and unless there was an INDEPENDENT auditor that part of the code would never be seen. There could easily be multiple programs, one that you would show to outside verification firms that would put their stamp of approval on it, and another that would actually run on the site. There would have to be independent and unannounced spot checks to prevent or at least deter this sort of thing. I do not see that this sort of independent auditing happens. That would probably need to be a governmental or possibly a trade group process.
How might some one be able to detect that things are not quite right? By observation of course. I have heard and read in several places statements by the companies themselves, their celebrity spokesmen, and various pundits about “why would poker sites do such a thing and risk killing the golden goose”, or “you play many more hands online that there are bound to be more suck outs”. To that I would say just observe. If you play multiple tables watch to see how often a hand on table A would win on table B or C. How often is there some kind of coordination between tables? How often do you get the same cards at the same time on 2 or more tables? Just look for patterns. If you see patterns IT’S NOT RANDOM!! If it’s not random there is a reason for it.
I have played a lot in casinos and home games. It is strange to me how often in online games that what ever cards I am dealt, I will pair the flop or get 4 to a flush or straight. I do not see this in live games. There is a tendency for low to mid limit players to call the blinds with almost any 2 cards. Low and mid limit players make up the bulk of players online. Could a poker site exploit this tendency by making sure the flop hits the most players in some way thus encouraging more action? I know…more hands per hour and all that but I have watched and kept track of how often this happens live as opposed to online. The percentages online are higher than live. That means that online is NOT random. If it’s not random there is a reason. I do not think this happens every hand but 5, 10, 15 percent......Hummmmm.....10 percent of $50M is some serious cash.
Again I state that I do not think that poker sites favor any one player. Also if you play good solid poker you can win online but you better have the nuts by the river ‘cause some donkey will suck out and beat you with a 2 outer.
Until and unless there is some sort of independent ongoing oversight of online poker sites I will not trust them. I will still play there ‘cause I love to play poker so much but I will not put very much if any real money in them. Hopefully we can get the government to see the light on poker and we can get some sort of regulation but I’m not going to hold my breath.
And that’s all I have to say about that.