Cheating in Online Poker  

Cheating in online poker is a sticky subject.  You probably ask yourself all the time if you are getting cheated after a bad beat when playing online poker. Does cheating really happen in online poker? There is little doubt that cheating in poker does occur, but it doesn’t happen as often as some people might think.  (photo by D.A. Peterson)

There are two main types of cheating that occur in online poker. You can really term the two types active or passive. Active cheating is where players work in teams to raise other players out of the pot or raise the pot for each other. This type of cheating does occur, but it is far less common than you might think. Online poker sites usually have automated software that tracks if a person is engaged in this type of betting. There have been people caught at online poker sites at cheating when they were part of a team.

The other type of cheating in online poker is "passive cheating" also known as "collusion". This type of cheating is the more common type and is also more difficult to catch. This is when players share their cards with one another to help them make better choices when it comes to the game. Even though this cheating does occur sometimes it is not extremely helpful unless multiple players are involved. Some online poker sites might be able to detect this type of play, but again it takes more than just a couple of people to make this work for a lot of money and it is usually just a couple of players doing it. Those situations are harder to notice and hardly worthwhile for most people.

Most online poker sites have sophisticated software that keeps track of a person’s individual poker play. Online poker casinos are very well aware that cheating can happen and they usually have many safeguards in place to make sure it does not happen. If an online poker site has tracking software in place they can analyze people’s play and they can also analyze deck shuffles and hand probabilities. For example, through tracking software, a poker site can easily keep track of all the hands that are played by a person and notice any deviations that occur.

Cheating at online poker really doesn’t happen that often. You hear all the time that people feel they got cheated but more often than not it is a complaint about a bad beat. Some people think that there is software out there that lets other people see you cards, but if that type of software did exist it is unlikely anyone would be told about it. Cheating will always be part of poker whether it is online or at a local cardroom, but it usually doesn’t happen very often and is not something you need to worry about when you are at the table.

Also See:

Online Poker Tells
Poker Strategies: Intelligent Texas Holdem Poker Raises

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Byron Badd, Gambling911.com

Originally published February 15, 2007 11:03 am ET