> It's strange to me that the fairness of these on line games is not
> questioned by anyone on this list. Particular after the many
> discussions about possible rigged VP machines. What about the possible
> collusion of players in contact by phone during an on line poker game?
> [etc]
On 4 Dec 2004 at 1:21, sresnick2@comcast.net replied:
The big answer is... all doubts about the fairness of online sites
(player cheating, owners cheating, etc) are perfectly reasonable
theoretically. But I've been playing for years, & making money.
My thoughts and experience also.
the practical evidence suggests that
whoever is cheating must be doing so at higher limits than I play, or is
cheating very poorly.
I'm sure that collusion happens all the time, but it's very
tricky to do right, and I believe the effort would be better
devoted to playing one's own hand better.
On the more theoretical note... the sites have an interest in appearing
legit, since customers have many competitors they can switch to. One of
the more obvious ways to appear legit is to be legit. They also have an
interest in policing player cheating. In a Real Life cardroom, catching
coluding players is practically impossible. Online, it'd be much easier,
since the site owners can simply look at the suspected cheaters' cards &
actions & discover cases where their play would be unreasonable without
assuming cheating.
The sites take cheating very seriously. They have
sophisticated programs constantly monitoring for
cheating and also thoroughly investigate any
complaints from players. Cheaters are banned and
their account balances are confiscated and distributed
to victims.
And as Stu says, the larger sites have a cash cow,
are very content to get their fee, and wouldn't want
to jeopardize their business by cheating. Charges of
non-randomness etc. have been aired on the poker
forums for years, but I'm convinced that the major
sites are honest.
I have several good friends that are with Poker Stars
and they are good people.
vpFREE Administrator