Everyone who has ever played poker online has wonder is there a way to
cheat online. They might have had what is normally an unstoppable full
house only to be destroyed by 4 of a kind, more than once. Complaints
of poker sites being rigged or is a scam is pretty common among poker
forums. The most common way to supposedly cheat online is: Poker
cheat and hack software, poker
bots, online
poker collusion, and disconnects.
Read about each to learn more about each method, and hopefully you will
be able to protect yourself from any scams.
Poker Software Cheats or Hacks
In 1999, a flawed shuffling algorithm at PlanetPoker.com leaked out, allowing
players who'd studied it to win at will. The irony of it was that it was
posted in the PlanetPoker's FAQ to help demonstrate their software's integrity.
Software cheats ads are pretty common on poker sites. They claim to be
able to know your opponent's hand for only $9.99 to $29.99. The software
claims that you only need to enter your cards, and the community cards.
By the time you enter all the cards, and let it SLOWLY computes, you already
lost your betting turn. To make matter worse, the "supposedly"
opponent cards was wrong! Other software will try to trick you out of
your login and password to the poker sites. With these software cheats
and hacks, the only person getting cheated is you . If there was really
poker cheats and hacks, then online poker wouldn't last much longer.
Poker Bots
For those that are too lazy to play poker online, there are programs that
plays for you. These bots are indeed real, and could be at your table.
The main thing is that they're not really consider cheats, as they do
not know what cards you or anyone else has. They're just there playing
a preset way using pots odds and other things to calculate if they should
bet, call, or fold. Poker sites are trying their best to block poker bots.
When they do detect it, they will close the account along with the money.
An easy way to detect if the players are bots is to engage in small talk
with them, but remember that some are playing multiple tables and might
not answer anyway.
Online Poker Collusion
This is the most common form of cheating, in which several players at
the same table (or one player using multiple computers) share their card
information. But there's a catch. Good colluders have to be able to play
their combined hands well, and they have to win enough for it to be worthwhile
after dividing their money throughout the group. Experts say you're more
likely to find collusion in lower-money games with empty seats—places
where cheaters can make up a larger percentage of the table and are less
likely to face experts. As a result, their takes are bound to be smaller.
Poker Disconnecting
This is the digital equivalent of pretending to faint on the table: Some
players disconnect their Internet connections upon realizing their cards
won't hold up, hoping the house will let them keep their wager. Others
make a large raise, wait for a call, and then disconnect, hoping to claim
a portion of the pot on protest later on. This doesn't affect the other
players, only the house.
Not all Claims are Real
Frustrated by their own losses, some players throw the charge of cheating
back at the house, alleging that the sites themselves use bots and rig
games to heighten excitement. Some accuse them of hiring ringers who fleece
novice players. Poker forums are filled with tales of frequent "bad
beats" hands lost despite holding a full house or better, and insane
defeats on the river card. You have to remember that the rate of play
online are much faster than off line. Since you're playing so many hands,
you will bound to see more bad beats. The poker sites are making so much
money each day, so what would they rig it just for a little extra money.
Be sure to check out our other poker
articles. Talk about this poker article at our friendly poker
discussion forum. Write a poker related article, and get it read by
thousands of poker players. Get credit for it. Click
here for more details on submitting an article to us.
Pro
Poker Guide's Online Poker Cheats