Is online poker rigged?

[rhino47]

I play poker stars and I have found some weird stuff going on.
I noticed every third hand is either a flush or a straight.
I also notice at times short stacks win no matter what their cards are.Other times
the big stacks win no matter what.
I heard there are robots that play poker rooms.Is this true?
I have noticed that flopped two pair only hold roughly 17 % of the time.Live play it holds 73%.

[undeterred]

1. I don't know

I did have a co-worker who played it a lot and won a trip. He was a smart guy, a computer programmer. He said he won money online and won a trip to Vegas or some such thing. But it may be that there are some legit sites and others which are not. He seemed to know quite a bit about it. Sorry, I'm not in touch with him any more and I don't know which sites he used.

[pokerfan]

2. Well, since my state made it a felony

to gamble online, I don't play for real money online anymore.

But I don't think its rigged any more than a B&M casino would be rigged. What would be the point? It's a license to print money and they win either way.

There is software that allows you to cheat and see your opponents cards. Honest! I was curious so I looked into it once. Here's how it works. It's basically a spyware program and you have to get your mark to install it on their computer. That's kind of a rough step with millions of potential opponents.

But I think your analysis needs to be a bit more thorough that noticing that "short stakcs seem to win a lot; other times large stacks win a lot."

I have noticed that flopped two pair only hold roughly 17 % of the time.Live play it holds 73%.

Need more information. Real money or play money? How many opponents? What's the nature of the two-pair, split or a pocket pair.

I'm not dismissing your concerns out of hand but the topic has been beat to death on the 2+2 forums. I think a casino (online or not) would have so much more to lose than gain by running a crooked poker game.

As far as bots go, I don't believe the technology is quite there yet to beat a good player. A good player plays the person, not the cards. I think a good player would eventually figure out the bot. I've thought about it a lot. Like Sklansky's use of game theory for optimum bluffing attempts. A bot could implement that perfectly.

[Mojambo]

3. I've noticed that people stay in for draws FAR more frequently when playing online.

Maybe they don't feel as afraid that someone will read them like when playing in person.

I think that's part of the reason that a flopped two pair don't hold up as well. Although 17% of the time seems VERY low to me. What kind of sample have you taken to get that number?

[sniffa]

4. the computer aLways cheats

i hate that shit.

[Joe Fields]

5. It isn't rigged . The players are just idiots.

The reason you notice so many flushes is because there is so much incorrect play going on. People online will hold any two suited cards.

No, the deal is not rigged. Ask yourself this question,..,.Why would these major poker sites like Poker Stars, (which I play on) kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

[SOteric]

6. It is indeed rigged.

It's rigged to separate the players from their money.

[Redstone]

7. It's ONLINE. Do you need any other answer than that?

Redstone

[cobalt1999]

8. probably depends on the site...

but no matter what the site, there are computer programs or "robots" playing.

[pitohui]

9. it must be rigged, stars let me win :-)

not legal to play in louisiana any more but i certainly won money on stars when i did play

no reason for stars to rig the game, they make the money off the rake and give a good flying fuck-all who wins

i'm really sorry i can't play online any more, i used to make a nice part time extra money playing on a couple tables while surfing the internets, sigh, but i wasn't much of a thinking player, i was a "bonus whore" just taking the easy money off the table

[SPKrazy]

10. yes, all proceeds go into my bank account

:D

[MonkeyFunk]

11. No

I've played on many sites for many years. There's absolutely no reason for a site to be rigged. Similarly, there's no reason for a casino in Vegas to cheat - they already have the built-in advantage. All they need is customers and they make money.

In poker, especially, there's no incentive to cheat. It's players playing against each other, not the House.

The sites are audited regularly by outside firms, who confirm that the results are perfectly within the expected statistics.

You have to play tens or hundreds of thousands of hands before you can start to make any statistical judgments about your own experiences.