On-line Cheating

[bulldog1964]

I've been reading about the Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker cheating scandals via "Super Users" who were former employees or had previous relations with these sites. These players were reported to have unrealistically high win rates at high stakes games that defied the laws of mathematics.

After several complaints by players at both sites, investigations were launched by 3rd party KGC and they found in both cases that there were previous owners or former affiliates of the company that had access to these superuser accounts that allowed them to see the hole cards of their opponents. Both sites are now owned by the same corporation. Seems like after the Absolute Poker scandal was proven that the owners would have looked at the sister company, but they initially stated on both sites after allegations were made that they were confident the allegations were unsubstantiated, later to have to eat those statements.

The internet reports that I read stated that the sites have refunded all monies lost to these super user accounts whether or not the superuser account was active against them. They claim the perpetrators were not always using the superuser account while they were playing, but they were refunding all monies anyways. The perpetrators were also frequently changing their screen names on these sites in attempt to keep focus off of them and it is obvious that the sites security systems never would have caught them because the trigger of the investigation were numerous customer complaints, not a trigger within the security systems. I'm hard pressed to believe every cent lost against these folks were refunded.

I play on ft exclusively and previously on party poker and have always wanted to believe that the sites were fair and the cards were random. I play live poker 2 - 3 times per week and see some of the same sick beats or worse from human dealers that I see on the internet, but after reading the articles I read tonight I am convinced that everything is not on the up and up.

Up until the last few month's, I was playing cash games quite frequently on ft and found myself losing lots of hands that I should never lose. I get big hands cracked occasionally in live play, but it does not seem to be the percentage that it happens on the internet in cash games. For the limits I play, it wouldn't make sense for someone to be cheating for these low stakes but who knows. There is a lot of greed in this world.

I have a small private tourney on Monday nights on ft that is very competitive and open only to those for which I give the password, I am sure that there is no corruption involved in this game. I also play the TRR open which is another private tourney and some other $5 - $10 SNG's or token events. Other than these type games, I will probably stick to some of the local live games that I can participate in. Luckily, I live only about an hour from the casino's on the Ohio River in Indiana so I don't have to always settle for on line poker.

Based upon these cheating scandals from these 2 sites I read about tonight, it will be hard for me to believe that there is not corruption at the other sites as well.

[SOBESKATER]

I still have hope.1 friend of mine sry can't give name.works at the state department told me that there been reports of cheating on every site but that most sites take there security very seriosly so that they don't lose the millions in revenue.but you never know.HE also said we should stay on our toes and keep an eye out for those wierd calls by people who always win,and report them to the site right away.even in the low stakes games.these sites will investgate or start losing money and there freedom when the feds finally step in.they can only go after fraud though anything else would have to be done by the site themselves.so in other words if you don't report it nothing will happen.sry to ramble on I JUST HATE THIEVES.only way they could win was by cheating.F-ing donkeys

[overtop69]

One thing you must be aware of though is that you should not make a complaint about every uncertainty you see. Make sure you have a good basis for the complaint, such as repetition of bad plays that win, or the site will eventually get overloaded by these complaints and maybe even ignore them.

[SOBESKATER]

Originally Posted by overtop69

One thing you must be aware of though is that you should not make a complaint about every uncertainty you see. Make sure you have a good basis for the complaint, such as repetition of bad plays that win, or the site will eventually get overloaded by these complaints and maybe even ignore them.

now thats a good post.true to beware of false reporting.

[jolub]

It's a good idea to report a cheat or some one who seems like a cheat. Just be sure you're not reporting a donkey.

[LouiseW]

It is quite frightening when you think that cheating at this level was going on and I am sorry to agree with Bulldog1964 - how can you trust all the other sites?

[trclopay]

Bulldog,
Good info. One possible reason for low stakes cheating is that there's more players and less likely to be spotted. I tend to agree with your comments, stick with live games. Did you see anymore follow up on this article?

[jolub]

Live games aren't always an option. There's an old saying, "Everyone knows the game is crooked but it's the only game in town."

Stick to freerolls and games with low buy-ins. These are less likely to have cheaters. Less likely but not impossible. You can also trust some of the forums who only allow their members to play.