[Thinkerbell]

So, I'm wondering how much cheating you think is going on in online games...

I start getting the heebie-jeebies when I see a couple of people from the same town at a table. I've thought several times that players may be working together for a win. Does anybody else ever notice this?

And what about local tourneys? I've played in some where people were caught dealing from the bottom of the deck. How much cheating do you think is going on? And what should an honest player watch out for?

Please help a good but naive poker player wise up!

[TriptreysNJ]

Online poker is not rigged. Its just that simple.

As far as playing live, if you don't actually see the cheating, how can you know? Kind of like that saying, if a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is around, does it make noise? I suggest playing live with your buddies, or in a casino, thats the only sure fire way to know your safe.

[ScottMc]

I dont think he/she (thinkerbell is unisex right?) is tossing the onlie poker is rigged theroy out there. I think that the question is are people online working as a team to take down games and, do you thing people cheat live games?

The answer to both is yes.

It is easy to think that 4 guys can get togther in a $200 SnG and fire up the old IM or YahooIM and talk about hands. If you dont think it is happening please go to the store look on aisle 8 and pick yourself up a big box of A CLUE and eat it quickly. Any time money is involved there will be people trying to find a way to get it with out having to work for it... period. It does not have to be 2 guys from the same town sitting at a table togther online either, they could be anywhere. There are several threads on other forums that talk about this daily.

Live game cheating 100% yes. It does come from the movies where a guy is dealing at the bottom or using special marked cards. It comes in a very easy way most of the time and if you know what you are looking for you will see it. It will be 2-3 players at a table and they will be using signals to indicate hands ( YES THEY DID THIS ON THAT SHOW TILT ). This will tell the others at the table what they have and i 3 ppl at the table know 6 of the cards preflop and the 3 flop cards it is real easy to know when to push and when to fold.

Signals can be any form as well. Look for people staking chips on their cards certain ways. Look for sounds and facial experessions between players but the most important is the easiest to spot.

3 guys that play togther are talking during the whole game. cards are dealt and they are chit chatting between each other and one says"

"Wow I really like this hand, it is my favorite!" This could be him telling his buddy that he has a certain hand.

The next guy says something like:

"I almost want to play this because it is suited." This could easily tell someone that he has a mediocre hand maybe made up of unsuited big cards.

The best part about this these guys are stupid. If you pick up enough info on them in a live game you become the unknown guy that can pick them apart.

Look for little things. It is really important that your pay attenion to everything going on in the game at all times. Focus on the tells the other guys give away it makes playing them seem like they have cards that are facing up.

playing in a casino does not even begin the assure that you are not being cheated.

[Lytspeed]

Originally Posted by Thinkerbell

I start getting the heebie-jeebies when I see a couple of people from the same town at a table. I've thought several times that players may be working together for a win. Does anybody else ever notice this?

It is definitely possible that two or more online players are in collusion, though as Scott says, they don't have to be in the same town. Yahoo! Messenger solves that little inconvenience, and if they have figured out how to use webcams to transmit their screens to the other cheating players, it can even be very dynamic. (I haven't actually seen evidence of anyone doing this, but I'm sure someone has thought of it.)

I worry about the guy who has two accounts at the same online site, with two computers right next to each other, playing both hands. If he can play both hands tight enough to make it to the final table in a tourney, he can pit his hands against each other on the same table and always push the better hand.

I would say that if you are playing online and you see something suspicious about someone's play, pass it on to the site admins. Give them the game number, and they will check the logs (they record every hand of every game in detail.) I suspect they also record the IP addresses that players connect from, too.

With enough of this evidence, sites can nail cheaters, and it's in their best interest to do so. Trust is a difficult thing to foster when it comes to online gambling; they want people to trust their site enough to deposit money, just like a live casino. If they allow the cheaters to run rampant, their reputation (and therefore their income) will suffer.

Just my $.02

[Thinkerbell]

Thanks for the tips! I really appreciate you guys sharing! (Awwww, how about a group hug??)

[Thinkerbell]

BTW, Scott, Thinkerbell is definitely a girl. At least, last time I checked.

[ScottMc]

good to hear

[oohsexypenguin]

I don't know how they do it here, or anywhere else on the internet, but I'm guessing you could just check that the guy is using two computers in the same room by seeing if his IP address is the same. I've heard of people being banned for playing while connected to the same router and on the same table. In fact some places don't even let you get on the same table if you're on the same IP address.

[Thinkerbell]

It would be interesting to know more about the behind the scenes aspects of online poker. There are so many people playing on some sites. I guess reporting suspicious play is the only way to try to keep the playing field level.

[dovla]

i don't know.. i never played texas hold'em live, and i don't know the tricks about cheating there (the all i know i learnt from "Rounders" movie) .. about cheating online, i was suspicious many times (ussually on those one table S&Gs, that 2 players are doing together,but how we can be 100% sure) ? you can see sometimes whole table from USA or UK, but when you see two players on 500 players tourney from my country - we're suspicious..

sometimes when i was suspicious about two players working together i won those tourneys, but you can't know for sure...