1.
New York Times profile of online collusion
"When
it Comes to Poker, Working Together Is Against the Rules"
In this article from November 5, 2001, Matt Richtel
looks at how online poker rooms, such as Paradise, are
handling questions of collusion and other such unfair
methods. Richtel does not draw conclusions for the
reader as to his opening question of "where is it
easier to cheat?" (in-person at a casino or on-line?).
The issue remains open since online poker makes
certain common cheat methods impossible (e.g.
manipulation of the physical cards via
sleight-of-hand) but physical poker rooms point out
that collusion is still possible by exploiting holes
in the technology (and the inventiveness of human
minds to beat the system). Ironically, although the
debate of safeguards and protection is far from
settled, MGM Mirage (a brick & mortar casino) has
recently been granted a license to enter the online
gambling world (which one assumes will probably
include poker in some form). Thus, they'll have to
confront the same problem on both fronts. Note: access
to the NY Times article is only available to members
(meaning you'll have to sign up) but membership is
free.
2. Best
comprehensive guide:
Pokercheat
page on Homepoker.com
You know you've got great content when others try
to copy you. This page can be found in various places
on the Net but this is the original source. Squeege of
Homepoker.com did his research right. He summarizes
what he's learned about basic cheats from books on
poker, magic, and Usenet discussions. Various sleights
(of hand) are discussed, as well as commonsense ways
to protect yourself.
3. Wikipedia's
Poker
This collaborative free online encyclopedia has two
excellent sections on cheating entitled
"Mechanics" and
"Collusion".
4. Basic cheats and fears
about online cheating:
Steve
Badger's Play Winning Poker
Badger has archived his RGP (rec.gambling.poker)
posts and quite a few of them are useful regarding
poker cheating. In this
collection from late 2000, he addresses how
Paradise Poker dealt with a cheater as soon as they
were informed and at the end of the post, proposes a
payout restructuring for tournament poker so as to
diminish the motivation behind deal-making and
haggling that occurs these days.
In
posts from January 2001, he argues that cheating
occurs in poker everywhere but that he believes it to
be more prevalent in ring games (real-world) than
online because it's easier and more effective. Under
the topic
"Collusion Online or Poor Strategy" from April 2001,
he talks about how the first two cheats he tends to
suspect online are either collusion or timing-out
cheating (where a player deliberately times out to
misuse their "all-in") but also why he continues to
play online despite the assertions of others that it's
a losing game.
In another
collection of posts from August 2001, he addresses
both online cheating and debunks many typical myths
regarding online poker. Badger has been a strong
proponent of online poker (which should not be taken
as an endorsement by PokerTop10) and he responds to
many concerns about online poker such as collusion as
well as the belief (erroneous, in his mind) that one
can't "read" tells online (his argument is that you
can but it's very different from live play). He also
agrees with Annie Duke (one of our
top-10 women players) that it's easier to observe
a player's betting patterns online than it is at a
casino.
In his
Winner's Guide to Online Poker, his section on
cheating discusses the one kind of cheat you should
fear the most and both what you and the online poker
rooms can do about them. Basic advice: walk away and
contact Support.
Finally, in this
collection of posts from September 2001, he
addresses the fear that online poker rooms cheat
either by using bots (instead of real humans) or a
human who, with the online room's help, has knowledge
of all the cards. He argues that the diversity of
winners, the existence of real humans who post and can
be met in person, and the consistency of good players
winning (and bad players losing) are all proof of the
honesty of good online rooms. Whether you agree with
him or not, many of his arguments are compelling and
at least, food for thought.
5. Best columnist on poker
cheating:
Maryann Guberman of CasinoGaming.com
Luckily for us, an archive of Maryann's columns for
2000 and 2001 is available. She discusses
shills, props, and backed players in one article
and
collusion in tournament play in another. (Note:
this second article is hampered by formatting problems
which place black text on a dark blue background,
making it more challenging to read.) More articles
include
how "chatter" can be cheating,
deal-making at tournaments, a
poker-ethics test in the form of what-would-you-do
scenarios (also challenging to read due to format
problem),
why a great poker player might cheat, and
cyber-cheats (collusion).
6. Best capsules on
cheating in pro poker and cardrooms:
Gary
Carson's Cheating Page
These summaries are primarily taken from posts on
the rec.gambling.poker (RGP) group and anyone who's
read or been an active participant of the group will
not be surprised by these accusations. The credibility
of the group leveling the accusations is in question
and the charges are highly controversial. No
substantial evidence except anecdotal memory has been
provided thus far. If you wish, you can decide for
yourself what's smoke and what's fire by reading the
actual posts and threads on RGP. One quick way to do
this is to search
Google Groups for keywords "poker cheating" or
some such variation.
7. Basic cheats in a cardroom:
Linda
Geenen's Pokerworks
Linda discusses various cheats including collusion,
sleights, pot-stacking, and those you can't explain or
prove. Her basic advice is one you will read over and
over again: get out of a game you suspect is
corrupt, then decide whether or not you'll inform
management.
8. Best general comprehensive:
Cardshark.com
(requires sign-up which is free)
While not specifically tailored to poker, Igor's
site covers card cheating in general and has a lot of
detailed information on sleights, deals, and scams.
9. Darwin
Ortiz' Gambling Scams (Book)
Recommended by gambling experts such as Mark
Pilarski and Howard Schwartz, Ortiz' book is
considered the definitive work on gambling cheats, the
mechanics of how they're done, and how to protect
oneself.
10. Steve
Forte's Gambling Protection Series (Video)
Sometimes, reading about something doesn't carry
the same impact as watching it. Seeing sleights and
cheats in action- can be a better learning aide to
recognizing it in real life. Recommended by Mike Caro,
this series of four tapes covers many of the moves
such as "peeking", false cuts, stacking the deck, etc.
mentioned on places like Homepoker's Pokercheat page
above.
Miscellaneous links of interest on cheating in the
poker world:
The line between what defines cheating and what defines
slippery but acceptable tactics- can sometimes appear to
be one of interpretation. Maryann's take on "chatter" of
a particular kind (see Item #4 above) can be contrasted
with the sort of
advice Mike Caro offers on selective and appropriate
chatter that can give one an edge.
Roy West points out that "anything goes" in poker
short of cheating but then muddies the water by saying
ethical conduct is relative to time and place such that
"sandbagging" (check and raise) is ok in public card
rooms but often frowned upon in home games. Last, Mike
Sexton takes on possible collusion and chip
abuse/pot manipulation during poker tournaments and
offers solutions to prevent such cheating.
Ivan speaks up:
Defining what constitutes cheating and accusing others
of cheating are seldom uncontroversial acts. Thus,
cheating in poker remains a difficult and complex issue
to address. We recognize that the Internet is a great
place to share valuable information and yet, this can be
abused to spread disinformation.
In posting the above info, are we inadvertently
providing some unscrupulous folk with the means to
cheat?
After giving it much thought, we decided to place faith
in the belief that open access to information is
better for the majority of people because an informed
public has greater opportunity to make the best choices
for themselves, even if this increases vulnerability on
some level. This is a live debate (over both access to
information and civil liberties) happening right now in
a country which cherishes and distinguishes itself on
its principles of freedom and rights as spelled out in
the Constitution.
PokerTop10 despises cheating because it corrupts both
the trust of the poker community and joy of the game.
We're already watching with interest the impact of
online poker rooms- which in our opinion, make it more
difficult to cheat (with the majority of methods found
above). The two methods of cheating feared most by those
new to the online poker scene are 1) collusion and 2)
the House cheats. However, online poker is distinct from
most online gambling in that you don't play the House-
you play against other humans and the House takes its
cut. And while cheating isn't impossible, most of these
concerns are directly addressed by both the New York
Times article (Item #1) and Badger above (Item #7).
No one is ever guaranteed absolute safety or protection
from cheats- whether online, in a casino, or at a home
game. But we hope you'll learn from the above resources
the sort of things to watch out for- and decide for
yourself where you enjoy playing the most, with whom,
and when to exit any game you suspect is corrupt.
As always, let us know what you like, dislike, or would
like to see on PokerTop10.
*****
"Fear is the mindkiller." - Frank Herbert, Dune.
Harness fear.
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