Online Casinos, Sports Betting, Gambling Reviews

"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, 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

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. 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:

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:

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

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 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:

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.

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