Does anyone have any links to concrete evidence that any online poker sites are fixed?

Question

I saw that Ultimate Bet had a scandal when a consultant exposed a weakness in their security (although since he was an insider, it was a lot easier for him to do what he did than it would be for a hacker to get into their server, at least I hope that's the case!). I have been playing mostly on Poker Stars, and I've gotten used to the fact that there are a LOT of idiot donkeys who play a lot of bad hands and they are bound to get lucky from time to time, but I have had periods when I am losing hand after hand after hand when I am a solid to huge favorite. I don't mean I have the better half of a coin flip (although I have lost a statistically improbable number of those too) and I lose, but I'm talking about hands where I'm a huge favorite and then the other guy hits a 2 or 3 outer. Is it just normal run of bad luck or is the site not on the level?

Answer 1

Absolute Poker is where the insider cheating scandal was.  As for a link, every poker blog out there, just about talked about it, and for that matter "Bluff Magazine" also covered it pretty good.  There has also been a cheating scandal at Poker Stars, but it involved multiple accounting during tournaments, ie, playing under two accounts and getting knocked out with one but went on to win with another.  Both Poker Stars and Full Tilt aggresively go after double accounters and I am not worried about playing on either of those sites, however, you won't catch me on any other site, especially Absolute because I just don't like them.

Answer 2

Barring an admission of rigging poker games by executives of online poker sites themselves, it would be nearly impossible to prove sites are or aren't rigged.  However, rigging sites doesn't make too much sense business-wise for more than one reason.  First, poker sites make money from tournament fees and rake.  When you lose your money, they can't make money from you anymore.  Second, payment processors cost money.  The more a payment processor is used to make loads of deposits, the more it costs the poker site.  

Also remember that you see triple the hands per hour online than in person.  Your odds of seeing bad beats are increased, and the anonymity of the Internet allows people to play bad poker more comfortably.

Answer 3

It was Absolute Poker, not UB.  Those sites would all die, losing millions if they were rigged and got caught, so it's not worth it for them to take the chance.  Isolated incidents like that case are going to happen, but they happen in brick and mortar casinos from time to time too, where a dealer is helping someone cheat.

The more people who are in a hand against you, the more likely it is that someone will beat you.  If you have AA, and 5 people are in it, the odds of you losing sky rockets.  If you can isolate it to where you're up against 1-2 people, you're going to win more often than you lose.  Even then people go on runs where they win everything.  I was playing a live game yesterday.  One guy was playing 80% of his hands and won almost all of them.  he caught runner spades to beat me one hand, and hit a 3 outer to beat someone else.  Those are on;y the two I can remember off the top of my head.  I only lasted about an hour against him, because he just never lost a significant hand he played.  If he plays 5 more times, he'll likely lose all 5 times.  When you have a table full of donkeys, chances are one of them is going to have a run like that.  That

s why I don't play on-line much anymore.

Answer 4

Some good answers...nothing more to add but a link to one article covering the scandal.

Answer 5

I heard there was a big scandal where the community of a large poker site found out that ex employees of the site (can't remember the name) were actually giving select players information that was effecting their playstyle. After reviewing the logs, and seeing that these players sucked bad until certain players known to be ex-employees and one an ex-owner started watching the game, then they started cleaning up. IDK online poker has always scared me, something about actual paper money I used to hold being exchanged in 0101101's always gets me worried lol.

Answer 6

Nobody complains when they win.

I won a 90 man tournament yesterday (4/20)

I went to showdown 20 times and won 18 of those hands.

Of the 18 hands I won I was a favorite in 16 of them. In the other 2 I won with AQ vs 99 AIPF and AJ vs AQ.

I've been on the other side too.

Varience is a mutha.

Answer 7

Normal bad luck. Long story short, here's some of the losing streaks I've had:

1. Lost $250 over one weekend almost solely because my big pairs (JJ or better) went 0 for 20.

2. Lost 18 out of 20 hands with AA, and none of them were because of 2 pair. Almost all were either a lower pair hitting trips, hitting trips on the board, or a 4 card straight or flush. Of the two I won, one was a fold around, the other was when my a's stood up to j's for the first time in 4 tries.

3. Lost 12 coin flips in a row of the small pocket pair vs 2 over card variety. It alternated between either me having pairs and losing and me having overcards and losing.

I just played a series of about 5 games. I went out on JJ, KK, AK, and others. AK lost to 23 os. I just lost a game when my KQ lost to Q2.

However, in the face of these, I am currently up over $600 on a $5 starting bankroll. My roi is usually around 20-25%. What I found is that by playing solid poker, the higher payouts when I do win tend to cover losing streaks. For example, if I lose 10 games in a row, and the 11th one I win, the payout is usually 14:1. Sometimes, I get hot. If I win two back to back, and then lose the next 27, I'm still ahead.

And then, don't forget you are handing out bad beats as well.

Answer 8

Let me tell you that you are going to get yourself in some real financial problems gambling online. For that matter gambling period you will more than likely lose more money than you will ever win. I know believe me because I lost a lot of money and have now not gambled in 4 years. I enjoy having my money to spend on things I enjoy to do and things that will last. Good luck now, Paul.