Firstly I will clarify what most people mean when they say that online poker is rigged or fixed. This idea is suggested because a lot of people believe that the cards are dealt in set patterns so that certain hands will be specifically chosen by the site, resulting in numerous bad beats for players.
Therefore due to this frequency of bad beats, a player may claim that the site is rigged and that no hands and cards are dealt out at random.
List of best Honest and Trusted Poker Sites Reviews and comparisons by Adrian Sterne Finding the right poker room is a more difficult task than what you might think, as there are hundreds of online poker sites advertised out there, and all are hailed as the best. Shocking poker truth – all players get screwed! Mike Caro Exit. Note: Not at the old Poker1 site. Originally published (2007) in Bluff magazine. Okay, it’s time for some tough love. I can’t keep teaching you winning poker techniques unless you grasp the ugly truth that governs every bet.
So anyway, is online poker is rigged?
No.
Every site uses a RNG (Random Number Generator) to randomly choose cards from a 52 card deck on every singly hand. Rigged online poker is just another one of the many online poker myths.
Theories for online poker being rigged.
I could end the article at that, but now you will be asking the question of why I am so sure that it isn’t rigged, so I will continue and hopefully explain why it is not rigged and dispel some common rumors about Internet poker at the same time.
Many people have different suggestions as to why Internet poker is rigged, so I will address the most popular theories in the next few paragraphs and give the reasoning to why they are incorrect.
- There are too many bad beats.
- Cards are fixed to keep people playing.
- Cards are fixed to build bigger pots.
1) Too many bad beats.
Theory: The number of bad beats online is substantially greater when compared to the number of bad beats in live play. Therefore, if online poker isn’t rigged, then why are there so many bad beats?
Explanation: I will admit that it is true that you will see far more bad beats online than you will during live play, but this is not because it is rigged. There are two reasons why you see such a high frequency of beats online:
- The action at an online poker table runs much faster than the action at a live table. More hands = more beats.
- You are not sitting face to face with any of your opponents whilst playing online.
To elaborate on point #2, players are happier to call down large bets and raises on unlikely draws, as they do not have to worry about being berated by other players at the table (except for a few words in a chat box). If a player is playing at a live table, they are more likely to avoid calling with terrible odds for a draw because they would not like to be criticized because of their bad play.
Because online players are calling with worse hands and worse odds, you are likely to suffer more bad beats.
Top 2 safest online poker rooms.
In all fairness, if any of the rooms on this site were rigged or unsafe I would not link to them. Nonetheless, I would say the following rooms are the safest of an already incredibly safe bunch.
1) PokerStars - This is the biggest online poker room by quite some margin. I'll eat my hat if this poker room ever goes south. Amazing support at hand to answers questions too.
2) Cards are fixed to keep people playing.
Theory: The online rooms fix the cards so that the bad players will get luckier to stop them from losing too much money and leaving the room. The rooms want to keep as many players as possible so that they generate more rake, so by fixing the cards to make it ‘fairer’ for the bad players, they will able to make more money for themselves.
Explanation: The chances of a room fixing cards to help the bad players save money are almost non-existent. Only when you start to think about the side effects of such a system can you appreciate the absurdity of such a theory.
If a room is helping a bad player from losing money, at the same time the room will be taking this money from the good players to compensate. Therefore there would be no such thing as the online pros that make a living from playing online poker, because they will find it too difficult to win money due to a ‘fair’ system.
In addition, the site would have to scrap the use of its RNG and design a system that is able to detect a losing player and be able to deliver ‘good hands’ to those players. Not only would this be incredibly difficult for the sites to create, but it would also be illegal. If a site were found to be utilizing such a system to help make them more money, they would incur a staggering amount of fines and be heavily prosecuted. The poker rooms know this and so it would be dangerously unwise for them to even consider using such a system.
3) Cards are fixed to build bigger pots.
Theory: Poker rooms have pre-set ‘action hands’ that give two or more players very strong hands. This helps to create larger pots, which in turn generates more rake for the room.
Explanation: As already mentioned above, the poker rooms would have to knowingly break the law to achieve this system. With so many people involved working with the rooms, there is a high chance that information of such a system would slip out into the public eye and scar the integrity of the room.
Furthermore, the room would be forced to close and they would face large fines and legal action due to their exploits. If a room were using a system like that, you would know about it by now. As far as the poker rooms are concerned the juice just wouldn’t be worth the squeeze, and they would rather invest their time in making the room more attractive to new and old players.
Is online poker rigged overview.
These are the most popular arguments for why online poker may be rigged. As you can see the explanations make it incredibly unlikely that the poker rooms will ever rig poker for the online player. If you browse through a poker room’s homepage you should be able to find information on how each hand is randomly generated. If this is not available on the website then you should be able to request information about it by emailing the poker room.
If you really wish, you can test the RNG of the rooms by tracking the results of your play using tracking software and comparing the statistics you obtain against the mathematical likelihood of each situation over a large number of hands. However, you must obtain a large amount of data if you intend on doing this to make sure the results are fair and accurate. If you are still unsure about the room you are playing at, simply move onto a different room.
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Online Poker Sites For Money
Last week, I claimed the Doug Polk and Fernando ‘JNandez87’ Habegger YouTube feud revealed an ugly truth about the business of online poker training.
I said the very public battle revealed that poker training is a business. And that while those in the business of teaching others poker strategy may want it to look like they’re in it to help players, the true motivation is money.
Habegger claims Polk’s Upswing Poker owes him close to $100,000 for sales of the course he quit on. Polk showed financial information claiming the short-lived course did close to $1 million in sales and he’d already paid Habegger over $200,000 of it.
The big business of poker training
I used this as an example to show just how big of a business poker training has become. Plus, I said it made it quite clear at least these two aren’t in that business for anything more than money.
While I said this battle over bucks should tell us what most coaches and training sites are really about, I never said all coaches and training sites are the same.
Regardless, Steve Blay, who co-owns AdvancedPokerTraining.com (APT) with his brother Allen Blay, wrote me to object to that characterization that all poker training sites are run purely for profit, with no regard for their customers:
“Yes, APT is a business, and as with all businesses, we need to make money to survive. However, my brother and I care very much about our customers, the players. To say that we are only in it for the money is unfair and completely incorrect.
“Allen and I designed APT with a clear goal of helping others achieve their poker goals while making a living ourselves. APT enables me to work from home and support my family while doing interesting work and assisting others in pursuing their avocation.”
Going above and beyond
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The truth is, not all training sites and coaches are the same. Many sites go above and beyond simply uploading poker training content to the internet in an effort to turn a profit.
Blay believes APT is one of them:
“If our only interest in poker training were to make a profit, there would be much easier ways to do so than to create a high touch product with constantly expanding features. We make personal connections with our players and constantly solicit feedback as to how we can better help them. We support our players in our own community forum, on Facebook, and via email. When any of our players indicates that something is not working for them, we work to find a better way.”
Two bad apples spoiling the bunch
Blay also mentioned numerous other professionals who offer poker training and coaching are simply trying to support their families while helping others to achieve their poker goals. He said just because they need to make a profit, doesn’t mean that they don’t care about the people who help them do it.
Blay said it should be made clear that while the feud between Polk and Habegger makes them look bad, it doesn’t reflect on the poker training and coaching community as a whole:
“Yes, the (Polk and Habegger) feud is ugly and reflects poorly upon Upswing Poker and the individuals involved. However, implicating the entire poker training community because of the bad behavior of two individuals is going too far and unfair to those of us who sincerely care about our players.”
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In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you I worked with Blay on a series of articles leading up to the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event final table.
It became very clear to me at that time that APT is not your average poker training site. And the Blay brothers are not just poker pros leveraging the success they’ve had into a new and more consistent revenue stream. They are academics and software developers.
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The motivations behind poker training
I said in my previous column that the content on Upswing Poker, Habegger’s own PLO Mastermind course, and many other training sites can help make you a better player. I also said it may even be worth the the cost.
The column also included a warning to consumers not to be fooled into thinking many of the people behind the sites are in it for anything more than money. And while I should clarify that I never meant to paint all poker training sites and coaches with the same greedy capitalist brush, I stand by it.
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Not all poker training sites and coaches are the same. Savvy consumers should do a little research to find out exactly what the motivations are behind the site and coach they are interested in working with before they buy in.