Do you think online poker is rigged?

[Coltron]

Hi guys, like to see what people think on this one. You hear arguements for this about how certain sites have played around with there RNG so it gives out more big hands etc. I didn't give this much time but over the last few days when I finally got some time to clock up a few hours I was left scratting my head. I played on the Cryto server before but have since been playing on the Paddy Power/VC/BluesSQ/GoldenNugget one, which is where I was at work over the last couple of days. Here are some examples, Playing in 5c/10c cash games, 6 and 9 handed; I lost to Four Aces twice in the space of a couple of hours on sat, My nutfull house lost to a straight flush, There was another straight flush again two hours later, 6 handed, One afternoon it seemed everytime I got a pair I would hit a set on the flop this included, Kings twice, Aces once, Jacks onces (lost to a set of Qs also on flop), Tens once, 77s and 88s, I aint complaining here just saying. It is strange didnt think it was so bad on Betfair. There was also alot of other situation, like a guy keep raising me, I assumed he had it, when I finally did see one of his hands he flopped a straigh and did so again 15min later. On another occasion I had 84o in the SB, flop comes 854 rainbow, as it turned out BB had 84 also and UTG had 85.... I could go on all day here but you get my point. I would seem to be naive to dismiss it out of hand especially with the money that is at stake, or do you not mind aslong as your making a profit? Thats the stance Im at at the minute, although not making to much :lol . Saw a tread on Cardplayer too about this, one guy reckoned Party Poker was the worst for it, so where do you guys stand?

[slapdash]

Re: Do you think online poker is rigged? No, I doubt very much that it's rigged. It's in the nature of human beings that we notice when things are out of the ordinary. So when you play a session where there are a lot of big hands, you tend to remember that and forget the dozens of sessions where the hands are boring and normal. Another point is that incidents that are a thousand to one chances (four aces twice in a couple of hours, making trips several times, lots of straight made on the river, lots of flushes, etc., etc.) are actually quite common. There are hundreds of such incidents, so it's not so unlikely that one of them will occur. Of course, it's possible that an online poker site could rig the random number generator like this, but it's hard to see that they have much to gain. It's a very complicated thing to do, and although they might make a bit more money by increased rakes, they have a huge amount to lose if they get found out (e.g., by a disgruntled employee grassing on them). One thing I'd like to know is why people are so hung up about what happens on the river. Several times I've been in an all-in situation where I have the better hand, say AJ against K10. He flops a king, and I beat him with an ace on the river. Then he moans about how he's been "rivered", forgetting his luck in flopping the king. Why do people pay more attention to the luck you get on the river than the luck you get on the flop or on the turn? Or in your pocket cards? Whenever I beat pocket aces and my opponent complains about my luck, I'm always tempted to say "Well, you were a lucky bugger to be dealt pocket aces!"

[Markpl1]

Re: Do you think online poker is rigged? Now i have had a rant on here about vc poker before after suffering some stupid situations which i didn't believe to be random at the time. I question myself over it now and am half convinced that i was just on tilt. I decided to stop playing vc and play at about 5 different sites now, which i am happy at. I don't believe that it is rigged but in vc situation if you have your doubts get out and play somewhere where you aren't 2nd guessing the dealer. I am now happily in profit at other sites and will keep making my money there.

[stekinguk]

Re: Do you think online poker is rigged? Online poker is not rigged.

[staffy]

Re: Do you think online poker is rigged? This has been discussed lots of times before so please check out other threads for answers but basically my opinion is this. If you can imagine that on your table you will play roughly 50 hands an hour. Each site can have at least 100 tables playing at a time. (using easy numbers). Thats 5000 hands an hour. Thats without tournaments etc. So in reality each site could be playing 10000 hands an hour if not more. Therefore you are bound to get people who win on the river. Bound to get people who win with 4 aces. Bound to get royal flushes. Ask youself these questions. How many royal flushes have you had? Then ask yourself how many times have you won with a small pair? You can probably answer the first question because it is unusual. But cannot answer the second question because it happens all the time. Does this not prove it is not rigged. IMO yes it does. I can play online poker 10 hours a day at times and play 3 or 4 times a week. I have never had a royal flush. have never had 4 aces. however i can make a nice healthy profit. (although going through bad patch at moment). Just remember one thing. When you know you have the best hand beofre you see turn and river and you make a big bet. You want someone to call you. If you end up losing on the turn or river accept it and move on but just always remember you cannot make any moey if noone calls you. If your still not convinced try this experiment. Write down all the times you win a hand on the turn of a river and with what hand it was. Also write down how many times you lose on the river and with what it was. I would be interested to see the results to this. The best players on here would lose more on the river than they win on the river because they only play thir very best hands and will often not chase flushes and straights for high stakes. (maybe I am wrong but worth thinking about).

[Jezza]

Re: Do you think online poker is rigged? Many good points have been made above but just to add my 2p worth... Nah, there is absolutely 0 chance that online poker (at least any site worth its salt anyway) is "rigged" for several reasons 1) The sites have too much to lose. Imagine the headlines in the papers if ladbrokes had been found to be rigging their online poker site - they would be destroyed over night - any company putting its branded name on anything public is putting its reputation on the line. Bear in mind also many sites get 3rd partys to verify the RNG as being fair and random - Price Waterhouse Coopers (beefcake accountancy firm) do ladbrokes for example - there is no WAY that lot would have anything to do with a crooked RNG 2) The money involved. These sites are making phenomenal amounts at the minute. This is from the game of poker and not from rigging the cards. They make the most money by offering an honest game. If a REAL suspicion came out that a site was fixed then who would play there? They make so much from rake as it is with super low running costs it makes more financial sense to be straight rather than crooked. 3) There is a huge amount of proof in favour of the RNG's. Many players (myself included) have logged millions of hands with software like pokertracker etc. Personally I have 300,000 hands of net poker logged on there and everything is bang in line. If there was even the slightest proof of the mildest hint of fixing it would have been noticed long ago. Staffy made a good point when he said that the good players are 9/10 looking for the river to help no-one whereas the bad players are just hoping it helps them. Remember if you are going in infront all the time you will naturally experience more bad beats than someone who only goes in ahead half the time as you have twice as many chances! It's just human nature to remember or notice all the bad beats and forget all the good wins/times your hands held up - probability and the laws of chance are crazy at best and hold em is a very volatile form of gambing - just take your pals furious statement that ladbrokes is a fixed piece of shit right after he bubbles on the 30k guaranteed with his aces losing to kings with a pinch of salt..... Jez