by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
The most common aversion that people have to playing poker online is the prospect of other players cheating. With the instances of cheating found within online poker sites, especially those involving staff members, this is becoming a growing concern within the industry.
To say that there isn’t the likelihood that you may be cheated out of your money would be dishonest. While there has been an enormous effort on the part of poker room operators to eliminate the possibility of cheating, the probability is still there. It is rare, but it does exist. This is no different than any other sporting event, or even offline poker for that matter. When you gamble, you also try the odds that someone may take advantage of you.
Let’s be honest; it’s easier to cheat in online poker than it is in offline for the simple reason that there is a computer screen to hide behind. There’s no sleight of hand involved and no signals back and forth. The cheating parties are communicating with each other out in the open some thousands of miles from where you are. Therefore, it is important to equip yourself to pick up signs of cheating while at the virtual table.
That being said, there is a growing paranoia about online poker cheating software (which is said to allow users to view others’ hole cards), and any concerns you may have about them should be extinguished. The only recorded instance of a player having the ability to view another player’s hole cards, outside of an implanted computer virus, was in the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet “superuser” scandals. Those involved were staff members who used their ability to view all users’ hole cards to cheat.
Fortunately, because of the controversy that surrounded the aforementioned poker rooms, there have been greater efforts in blocking such software from being used, and staff members from having the ability to view others’ cards during game play. Moreover, it was inevitably the regular players who discovered that this cheating had occurred – having detected some of the major signs of dishonest play – and have been reimbursed for their losses.
To dispel the myth that this cheating software can allow anyone to view other players’ hole cards, you must understand that this software is blocked from being used in nearly all online poker rooms. Additionally, if you search hard enough for such cheating software, you will find that most of what is available on the internet is a scam. There are hundreds of sites that promise they can help you cheat. Some go so far as to say that using their software, you can change other players’ hole cards, or give yourself AA every time - and they all want your money. Obviously this sort of activity, if it were possible (and it’s not), would be easily detected by your table mates, and you’d be facing some punitive charges for sure.
There are Poker Bots out there, such as WinHoldem, which is an auto playing poker program. These bots are not always effective, as there are unique situations where a skilled player can best the program. Such programs do NOT have the ability to view hole cards; they are merely allowing a computer to play for you. Fortunately, most online poker rooms can detect that these bots are in play using sophisticated software that is constantly searching for them. Sooner or later these users will be caught, their accounts frozen, and they will be banned from playing. This type of cheating is very rare and ineffective, and in most cases these people will police themselves.
It is better to focus on methods that people can use to cheat, and how to avoid them. The most common situation would be two players, or a group of players, that play at the same table and discuss their cards with each other via the telephone or perhaps an outside instant messenger program. Should this occur at your table, there are a number of ways to detect it.
1.) A group of players may attempt to “steamroll” others at the table. That is to say, these players will constantly re-raise each other to convince other players to call multiple bets at a time. This is obviously something that does occur regularly when playing poker, however you may notice that this is happening much more frequently than usual and between or among the same group of players.
2.) Should you suspect foul play, be aware of how long it takes certain players to react before every round of betting. Obviously, if there are a number of players in league with each other, they will have to take time to discuss with each other what their hole cards are, and what their strategy will be for the flop, the turn and the river.
3.) You might notice that two players who re-raise each other constantly in order to increase the pot constantly have poor hands when it comes time to show. This is known as colluding, and it is one of the most difficult forms of cheating to identify or prove. It may seem as though a player were trying to bluff, but when it happens frequently, especially between or among the same players, the red flag is a’wavin’.
4.) Some players will fold on the river, despite there being a huge pot at stake. This is usually because they have a poor hand, and their accomplices do not, and so they will pass the pot to their partner to split later. As it has been said before, there is a time to bluff and a time to fold, and a time to fold, and most players known the difference, even when on the tilt.
5.) A group of players is soft-playing. I.E. These players may be aggressive with others at the table, but not with each other. Intentionally soft-playing another user is considered a violation of the rules, although it can also be difficult to detect.
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