xp8bg - the way you collect hand history statistics would work, though as someone mentioned, it seems the suspicious deck activities occur selectively. That means in the long run, all the stats we collect wouldn't be sufficient enough to call PS rigged. I started collecting past hand histories as well, with columns that also have who has the big stack, who called an all-in situation, etc since I think those have a huge factor on why suspicious hands occur.
I was playing a $1 no limit tournament, and I was placed at a table where everything was smooth and fine. Then I was moved on to another table where the most suspicious things began to happen. There was a player who kept on killing everyone going all-in with mediocre hands. I was dealt QQ and after having raised preflop, he went all-in again. Though I had more chips than him, I said "watch this
pokerstars moment" after I called, and he won with a flush with A8 of spades. It's not the worst beat (though unlikely) but hand after hand, he slaughtered other people with garbage all-in calls.
At another $1 SNG, I made an all-in bet with nothing (trying to bluff another player out) but he made a spectacular call. However, I won the hand hitting the turn and river, and I was pretty shocked. For the rest of the game, I played how I would normally play, though there were times where I would hit excellent hands with inferior hole cards. It's like all the luck I have was all shoved into one game.
It just makes me think why PS would do this if they do have control of favoring the deck. I realize that tournaments are a LOT faster with these all-in situations that pop up way more often than usual, but selectively enough to not be recorded as rigged.
It is also a myth that players who are profiting from PS won't say the game is rigged. I happen to have a pretty good positive ROR and am profiting (just a little), but I still notice the suspicious deck that occurs with the same situational pattern to me, but moreso
other people.
To those who still play on PS, check sharkscope for statistics on a player that seems to bad beat everyone on a table. So far for me, the ones that continuously reaped other players with garbage actually have a bad record with losses and such. My theory is that they keep on playing because of these sudden "bursts" of luck.