Introduction
The question of rigging on online poker sites has been a major concern for most poker lovers ever since its inception into betting sites in the mid-2000s.
This is because of the surge in the number of people playing online poker rather than live poker today. Also, online poker critics have assumed that if there is no presence of a live dealer and physical cards, then it is most likely that the online poker site is selecting distinct cards to deal with some players.
With that in mind, this article is aimed at knowing whether Online Poker is rigged or not.
Can Online Poker be rigged?
No. This is because the operators of some of these online poker sites understand the need to depict integrity or be at the losing end when they rig the poker game.
After a certain amount of losses, many gamers, whether they are playing online slots or poker, may start to suspect that the house is manipulating the results. It is practically difficult for any reputable online poker site or online casino to cheat due to the restrictions that are in place.
It is true that the company running the poker site paid dearly for the former employee’s criminal activities, even if there have been instances where unhappy employees have hacked into the system and profited monetarily.
Since then, even more care has been taken to prevent this kind of criminal activity from happening again.
Reasons Why Online Poker Cannot Be Rigged
Hands Can Be Tracked
The extensive poker database software that can keep track of every player that played a hand on some poker sites is available to recent players. Even though some websites forbid the use of tracking software, a genuine website will still provide you access to some relevant hand history that will help with your study.
You always get the same outcome when you study these databases. In any database with a substantial sample of hands, pocket aces consistently appear as the biggest winner. Sets that are lost win far more frequently than they lose, and so on.
These abnormalities would appear in databases if internet poker was rigged, however no poker player has as of yet appeared with a sample of 500,000 or million hands to support conspiracy theories.
The Poker Sites risk losing everything
Cash games are the only ones where there is a motivation to rig the games for action.
This is because every time a player buys into a tournament or sit and go, the poker room is charged a predetermined entry fee.
Additionally, since a lot more individuals participate in tournaments, rigging has no financial benefit for the poker room’s majority of the games that are being played at any given moment. Why even try to increase the smallest portion of your income by risking your entire reputation?
Apart from the fact that each cash game hand has a rake cap. In other words, it doesn’t matter how big the pot gets after a specific amount has been reached. As a result, they lack motivation to take more activity since, for the most part, it does not increase their income. Additionally, players can see how frequently they lose with a set or the flush, respectively. After playing a lot of hands of poker, you can review a player’s statistics and see that every statistic corresponds to the theoretically predicted value.
Each reputable online poker site was designed to allow players to enjoy the best user experience while playing the game. To keep the reputation of their sites, rigging is intensely avoided. These poker sites understand that there is a lot at stake once their reputation is tainted.
You need to play A LOT of Poker to actually make this claim
In order to determine anything in poker, whether it is someone’s 3-betting range or if the game is actually fair and random, you need a very high sample size, which is something that those who question the authenticity of online poker sites fail to comprehend.
You might witness 400–500 hands each month if you play live poker once a week for a few hours, which is essentially inconsequential from a statistical standpoint. When playing online, you frequently play at many tables simultaneously and watch twice as many hands at each table.
The likelihood of receiving pocket aces is 1 in 220. Therefore, there won’t be many opportunities in the real world for them to be first cracked. During your session, you can easily obtain them online multiple times, and it is practically a given that some of them will lose. Because you can’t always win with aces, you occasionally have to lose.
And this is where all claims that online poker is rigged originate. People feel as though they are having several terrible beats quickly. They overlook the fact that they play anywhere between 5 and 20 times more hands during an online session than they do at the live tables.
The Legitimacy Of Random Number Generator
Most online poker sites use random number generator (RNG) software to produce cards. In other words, RNGs are often shuffled through billions of numbers before using one to generate a card.
This only proves that RNGs used by poker site operators creates only fair games and cannot be rigged.
Random Number Generator
Most online poker sites use the random number generators (RNG) software to produce cards.
The RNG, which can be regarded as the most significant aspect of online gambling, is at the heart of all online software, slots, and video poker at an online casino. Random number generators employ mathematical formulas or algorithms that continuously transmit numbers; because they never stop, they cannot decide who will win on their own. Software cannot generate a hand with a predetermined winning combination. Like in real poker, everything depends on luck of the draw.
A completely unbiased, random distribution of hands is produced by the RNG. The purpose of the Random Number Generator is to prevent pattern recognition and RNG control by hackers, thereby safeguarding both you, the player, and online casinos.
It all sounds complicated but that is how every non-rigged poker site is built. The deal is completely automated and is not controlled by a guy sitting there watching you play. And it’s not like poker sites have artificial intelligence that can tell if you’re winning or losing. It’s just a never-ending stream of random numbers. 3Nobody but you is keeping track of your success.
Vetted Poker Sites
If you play on a big online poker platform like PokerStars, GGPoker, or Partypoker, you should be aware that these sites are not free to operate as they want.
Each of these platforms must get and maintain a license from authorities like the MGA, the UKGC, and others.
These licenses clearly say that the operator must provide an equal playing field for all participants, meaning that the games cannot be manipulated.
To achieve this, authorities will examine any software used by the operator prior to launch and during the license term.
Operators go out of their way to pay for additional audits from third parties and display their stamps of approval on their websites, all to ensure that players are as comfortable as possible when playing.
Winning Players and Poker pros Ascertain That Rigging Doesn’t Take Place
If you are uncertain about your hand history or a game operator. We recommend that you observe or examine the big winners on any poker site. Tons of them have been consistently winning and making money for years.
After scrutinizing millions upon millions of poker hands, many online poker experts determined that there was no evidence of rigged games among the online poker giants. They included scientific research and broad-spectrum data analysis, as well as meticulous data disaggregation and additional in-depth data release over time.
The findings of the bad beats tests indicated that all games were fair when looking exclusively at bad beats for flop all-ins.
The Site Operators Charge Rake
All online poker sites charge their players a certain amount which in turn earns revenue for them. The rake is charged on every game, hence it exhibits that they do not need to rig to make money.
The operators are at an advantage when the games continue to run and no player loses too much of the bankroll as opposed to a highly rigged poker game.
What is a rake?
Casinos, like any other for-profit enterprise, must generate revenue. In poker, this is accomplished through the use of a rake system, in which a percentage of the pot is taken out after each hand and set aside for the cardroom.
In cash games, this amount is typically 5% to 10%, depending on the site or casino. Cardrooms usually have a set maximum amount for rake per hand, which is usually between $5 and $10. In tournaments, however, the rake can be as high as 10% of the total tournament fee.
Who Wins Doesn’t Matter to online poker sites
Who wins on any poker site is not important to the site’s operators. In other words, who the big winners are, or if there are any big winners at all does not bother them. This is because the most crucial thing is that the money keeps flowing and that everyone comes back to play, which they wouldn’t be able to accomplish if they were to make games unfair or rigged.
The substantial fact is that the games on these sites cannot be rigged, and there will always be a winner in the long run, while other players might end up circulating their money around.
The fact that you see so many bad beats dealt on several poker sites doesn’t mean that the games were not played fairly.
Examine The Number of Hands Played During Poker Games
You should consider the number of hands you play during any of the game rounds.
Several poker lovers tend to multi-table online poker and put hundreds of hands per hour. This is correlated to only a few dozen hands played at a live poker table
Getting a lot of bad beats does not mean online poker is rigged
Many online poker professionals have laboriously analyzed any potential fraudulent activities. According to the argument, there are more terrible beats online, hence the game is rigged.
In actuality, there are more games being played simultaneously online than in any live casino. The RNG is continually in operation, and online activity moves much quicker than any live game could.
Although it looks like something is wrong, the fact that you are not sitting face to face with your opponent prevents you from being aware of the numerous characteristics that give birth to diverse methods to dealing with terrible cards, or bad play in general.
Also, saying online poker is rigged just comes off as you making excuses because you can’t win. You might be just an unwise player who looks to blame the system for your bad beats rather than their lack of skill and the variance that exists in the game.
Even If Games Were Rigged, it may not affect you at all
What would it look like if the games were rigged to add more action, then? Theoretically, players would be more inclined to participate and contribute more money to the pot if the flops connected with hands more frequently. More draws, good hands, and partnerships would come your way. In other words, everyone would find the games to be more thrilling.
The question now is, who would gain if more players participated and reached out to later streets? Common reasoning dictates that the more skilled players would benefit from larger pots with wetter flops, turns, and rivers. The money would probably flow up the food chain much more quickly and empty the coffers of the recreational gamers more quickly as a result.
What should you actually be afraid of playing online poker?
Aside from voting, there is nothing we can do to influence the political factors that surround online poker. Worryingly, there is precedent for governments interfering with our ability to play online poker. Then there was the 2006 UIGEA, and then there was Black Friday.
Hopefully, the mainstream powers that are will formally acknowledge poker as a game of skill, and we will be able to get past the severe prohibitions.
Account Hacking
This has happened a few times before, notably on Doug Polk a few years ago.
Fortunately, most poker rooms take this matter seriously. So, even if your money vanishes overnight due to some hacker, it is very probable that your cash would be restored.
The Games Will Be Completed
There is a minor possibility that as game theory develops and more and more things are discovered, the general understanding of poker may become so complete that there aren’t enough losers in the games to allow profit. With sit n gos, this has already happened to some extent.
Unbeatable Bots Will Be Invented
Poker bots have already defeated top players in isolated matches over a wide sample size. Nonetheless, these systems are currently designed solely for heads-up play and are unlikely to be useful in 6-max or full ring games. But we have to worry if the days of knowing we’re not playing on bot-infested tables are limited.
Known online poker scandals
The major purpose of this article is to let you know that Online Poker is not rigged by websites but at the same time, there are different ways in which poker players can come to harm online, as we have listed previously. Now we want to show you some famous incidents where online poker players and sites have been involved in scandals.
Black Friday
You can’t write about significant poker scandals without bringing up Black Friday, despite the fact that it has been widely covered in innumerable blogs, articles, and op-eds.
This, in my opinion, is without a doubt the largest scandal the poker world has ever seen, and it had an impact on many players all over the world. Its aftermath had a significant impact on how the game evolved as a whole.
PokerStars, Absolute Poker / Ultimate Bet, and Full Tilt were three of the biggest poker sites at the time that the US Department of Justice unveiled indictments against them on April 11, 2011. The DoJ confiscated the sites’ domains after accusing them of breaking the UIGEA, shocking everyone in the poker community.
Many professional players who had their bankrolls locked on one of these sites experienced a very difficult time in the weeks and months that followed when they were cut off from their funds. The future seems gloomy after they were robbed of their money and denied admission to the games.
The first and ultimately the only venue to fully recover from this setback was PokerStars. Soon, players from the rest of the world were able to access the website and their monies, and everything continued as usual. However, US players had to wait a while before receiving their money back, but PokerStars eventually put everything right.
This was the end of the road for Full Tilt, a huge brand that had formerly been backed by some of the biggest names in the industry, as it emerged the room didn’t actually have money on hand to reimburse players. The site was running a sort of Ponzi scheme, which the DoJ investigation found abruptly ended on Black Friday.
Russ Hamilton, Chris Ferguson, and Howard Lederer, the main players behind the operation, were formerly well-liked figures in the community but have now come to represent all that is wrong with online poker.
The Full Tilt executives will never be forgiven by the poker community for what they put them through, even though all players were eventually compensated when PokerStars bought the Full Tilt name.
They never really recovered from Black Friday, and gamers continued to wait in vain for their money. Finally, in 2017, funds from the Full Tilt payback pool were used to start the repayment procedure.
Although it has been a very slow process and it appears that many of the AP victims will never see the day when their money is paid back, some fortunate players have been able to get some of their money.
Black Friday continues to be the biggest and most significant poker scandal in history. Along with all the financial difficulties, it basically blocked off the US from the global player pool and forced three of the largest online poker rooms out. The environment for online poker has never been the same since, and little has changed.
Players from the US are unable to play with anyone outside of US borders, or at least they cannot do so legally, despite the fact that some US states have authorized online poker. There are other smaller rooms that still serve the US market, but they are dwarfed by PokerStars and what was formerly Full Tilt Poker in terms of scale and significance.
Absolute Poker And Ultimate Bet Super-User Scandals
A few years prior to Black Friday, a second poker scandal that rocked the community to its very foundation occurred, and unsurprisingly, it featured the first two rooms to go down following April 11, 2011. The concerned rooms are, of course, Absolute Poker (AP) and Ultimate Bet (UB).
Players began making claims in September 2007 that someone using AP had access to a super-user account and could view the hole cards of other players. Soon later, in January 2008, UB was the target of comparable charges. Players examined the hands of the player using the now-famous “POTRIPPER” alias in the AP incident in great detail.
Reviewing hand histories made it very evident that “POTRIPPER” was able to somehow see “through” the cards because many of his choices didn’t appear natural or regular. When their opponents had solid but second-best holdings, he always knew when to bluff, when to throw away a hand, and when to bet heavily.
They eventually acknowledged the existence of super-user accounts and agreed to pay back $1.6 million to players. It was a significant amount, to be sure, but it was nothing in comparison to what came to light later. Similar red flags were raised for a player using the alias “NioNio” in the start of 2008, but this time at UB.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission launched an inquiry after finding enough evidence, and their findings were pretty startling. The Commission came to the conclusion that there was cheating taking place and that it had been going on since January 2005.
Additionally, it was discovered that Russ Hamilton was responsible for the entire super-user scam at UB, and the harm caused by his actions was estimated to be worth over $20 million. Later, a phone conversation tape surfaced in which Hamilton acknowledged being the mastermind behind the entire plot. He never attempted to recoup any of the money that was taken, which effectively put an end to his poker career.
Players’ trust in online poker was significantly shaken by the AP and UB scandals, which caused a huge outrage in the community. How could you ever be certain you’re playing in a fair online game if it was that simple for someone to steal so much money from the tables and almost get away with it? The events on AP and UB were unquestionably a major setback for online poker.
