» Cheating in Online Poker
A common question that a lot of newer poker players will ask is can I be cheated in online poker? The answer is yes. Unfortunately, the incidents of cheating get so sensationalized that many live or amateur players fear playing for real money online. The reality is that cheating in online poker occurs in relatively few circumstances compared to the large number of poker sites and players that play.
There are two general types of cheating that can occur; the less frequent incident of being cheated by the poker room and the more frequent incident of being cheated by other players. While it is in the long term interest of the poker room to create a safe and secure environment for its players, there have been instances of poker rooms that cheated players. Poker sites, like AP, UB and Cake have had security lapses in the last few years. These vulnerabilities in their software allowed people associated with the sites to see hole cards and take advantage of the security lapses. These lapses were ultimately repaired, but not before millions were stolen from players on their sites. It has been quite costly for the poker rooms, in terms of money and reputation to recover from these oversights and fraud. It is a huge risk for the poker room to not provide SSL encrypted technology to ensure a safe and secure environment for its players. They risk losing their entire customer base. Another way that players can be cheated by poker rooms is when they close suddenly without returning all player funds. Over the years, there have some instances where smaller poker rooms have closed up suddenly under a suspicious cloud without refunding players all of their funds. Reassuringly, the biggest poker sites (e.g. PokerStars, Full Tilt, Party Poker and iPoker) have never been accused of any direct cheating of their players. They have the most to lose if any security lapses occurred and they invest considerable resources to detect and thwart fraud and collusion.
Sadly, people’s greed leads to numerous incidences of individuals or teams of players trying to cheat other players. Relative to the millions of hands played by hundreds of thousands of players, it is a smaller concern for the average player than suggested by some fear mongers. The latest uncovered cheating incident to get widespread attention was discovered on PokerStars. It involved a Chinese led group of players that collectively coordinated and soft played thousands of Double or Nothing SnG’s to gain an edge. That type of highly organized and coordinated systematic cheating is more rare than more casual efforts involving fewer players.
The more typical instances of cheating to be on the lookout for are chip dumping, soft playing, and squeezing. Chip dumping in cash games is sometimes done as a means to transfer funds and relatively harmless to uninvolved players. When employed in tournaments, chip dumping has a more harmful effect. While one player is eliminated, his co-conspirator now has twice as many chips and can wield power and control over his opponents.
Soft playing in cash games involves two or more players not playing aggressively against each other for whatever reason. They may be friends or have decided that they would rather pick on the weaker players at the table. In their confrontations, they will often check down hands that they would otherwise raise to keep the pots smaller. In tournaments, a similar dynamic occurs which delays elimination of one of the colluders making it harder for the honest players to fairly earn money and eliminate players.
Squeezing involves two or more players teaming up on an unsuspecting player forcing them to fold by coordinated strategy. One or more of the colluders doesn’t have a strong hand, but they coordinate their aggression and raising to eliminate the other player and then one of them folds at some point so the hands aren’t ever shown down. Most of these cheating methods involve some sort of instant messaging, communication or coordination. No one should share their hands with any other player at the table.
If you ever suspect a player of cheating, feel free to contact the poker room to make them aware of the situation. They are trained to detect collusion and fraud and to determine when it might be an isolated incident or an egregious pattern. Active poker forums and individual player databases have also worked with database sites like PokerTableRatings to sniff out potential cheaters. Given enough data, you can usually sniff out the statistically unlikely probability scenario from those mistaken for cheating.
One final thought regarding incidences of cheating in online poker. Most, if not all, of the online poker cheating incidences occur at higher levels of play where it makes much more financial sense for the cheaters to gain a significant payoff through their illegal play. So while low stakes players and amateurs are most fearful and wary, they are least likely to be targeted. Small stakes players just aren’t worth the time of most organized cheaters. It is always prudent to be vigilant of all your opponents and their patterns of play.
Thankfully, if you are disciplined about respecting your established poker stop loss, whether it’s due to running bad, playing bad, or running into some cheating situation, you will always minimize any potential damage. They can’t take your money if you stop playing. You can be cheated when you play online poker, just as you can be cheated playing live poker, or by your stock broker, a scam artist or even your bank. The more information you have, the better precautions you can take. It shouldn’t scare you away from playing online poker; only make you more vigilant and aware of what to look for and how to protect yourself.
