Online poker is rigged and I have the proof. The problem with my evidence is that it resides only in my mind.

This problem has ruined the game for me. At least the online aspect of it. You see it doesn’t matter if I am right or wrong. It only matters what I believe and perceive. The possibility of being cheated is always in the back of my mind. Am I sitting at a table with a team of players? Did that guy just dump his chips to a friend? Am I playing in a tournament where some people have 3 or 4 entries going? Is the site itself cheating me? The answer is almost always at some point.. YES. Call me paranoid but just look at some of the scandals that have rocked the online community over the last couple of years. Absolute Poker, JJ Prodigy, WCOOP Main Event winner, & Justin Bonomo come to mind right away. These are just the bigger stories that made the headlines. How many other cases go unknown and unreported? I am going to say the problem is rampant. And you can bet the target games are the lower limits… While it may seem like the higher limits are the smarter targets.. They aren’t. The higher you go in limits on any site the chances you have at running into the same players. They are too smart at that level and it wouldn’t take long to pick up on it. The lower limits are filled with average people having fun and not paying attention. It just makes sense. The games we play in are polluted.

I think we can now compare cheating in poker to cheating in baseball. Jose Canseco came out a few years ago on the problem of steroids in the MLB. At the time you had everyone from high profile players to the commissioner himself denying there was a problem. Nobody cared. We figured there was something going on but no where near the scandal we have today. Slowly over the years things start to come out. Suddenly it’s gone from just 1 or 2 players… to a handful…. to an all-star at every position! At least 1 player from every team is cheating!

How many of you have ever received a refund from a poker room after they have discovered cheating during a game/tournament you have played in? I have and more than once. We have only begun to scratch the surface of problems that plague online poker. And nothing is being done about it. Sure you have a few people who continue to keep the stories in the public eye, but as a whole it doesn’t matter.

Here we sit a few months out from the Absolute scandal and what actions have been taken by Kahnawake Gaming Commission? None. The investigation is still “ongoing”. Come on! It isn’t like they have a lot of work to do. I suspect it will remain “ongoing” for a long long time. They need distance between the event and the penalty. After all, Kahnawake has stake in Absolute.. The penalty is going to be laughable. Just like the penalty was against Golden Palace Casino for the stunt they pulled at the 2004 Olympic Games. Golden was supposed to never partake in that kind of advertising and make a “donation” to the commission. Yet they did the same thing again in the 2006 Winter games without penalty.

Having Kahnawake regulate online gaming is like having put the Mafia in charge of John Gotti’s trial. Other than one other penalty against Golden Palace there has been no action taken by the commission against any online gaming entity that I am aware of. I guess all other sites have been completely problem free over the years and the poker sites have spotless records. Do they ever do any investigating of claims? Has anyone asked Kahnawake to open their own records? I mean after all, this commission is THE name in online gaming regulation. The idea is, we see that symbol and we are supposed to think, “ok this site must be safe, Kahnawake is on the watch!” When in reality they will grant any shmo with 10 grand a license to run an online gaming outlet, while they sit back do nothing and collect. Who is regulating the regulators?! And it makes no difference what they do when the penalties are minor and non-criminal. In my mind the KGC is a scam/fraud and should be investigated by our FBI and Canadian authorities. Oh wait.. Indians… damn..

I like to think there are a few sites out there where we can feel safe but the truth is, the popular sites are probably the worst. The more people you have the harder it becomes to watch for cheating. Now there is even some stink being made about suspicious play on Ultimate Bet. I hope that from now on the “poker media” does a little better of a job than they have been doing. Because it really seems like there are no journalists covering the game only writers and gossipers. There is no hard-hitting investigative reporting happening whatsoever. Nobody is “breaking” any big news or having whistle blowers approach them. Maybe because the poker media is made up of poker players.. Who knows…

Where there is money to be had, will always be groups of people trying to manipulate the system. And these are not stupid people. The cheaters are some of the smartest people on the planet. It should really alarm us when the only people who have been caught are mental midgets.. Justin Bonomo, JJ Prodigy, both those guys are complete idiots. But Potripper by far is the moron poster boy. He could have still been using his method to cheat players out of millions. One only has to be reminded of the real schemes that have brought their participants the most money. ie. The M.I.T. Blackjack team. Now I don’t consider the MIT team cheaters.. It is just an example of what happens when you get smart people who like money…together. Online gaming is the perfect target for this type of activity and I think it is more the norm rather than isolated incidents.

Congress needs to get off their asses. It makes absolutely no sense why the US is allowing BILLIONS of dollars to flow untaxed into the hands of possible criminals. Just think what that money could be doing for various social programs. Now I am not saying that US regulation will stop cheating but it will at least allow for a transparent system. One where reputable American companies can set up shop and be regulated by our laws. How nice would it be to load up the Caesars Palace poker room on your computer? If something like the Absolute scandal were to ever happen under US regulation, you could bet someone would be going to jail. And these scandals would make real news.

I know there are those of you who will say the same thing about live poker. Teams are not a new thing, nor is chip dumping. But at least I have the potential cheater in front of me and I can look him/her in the eye. And I certainly don’t worry that the casino itself is cheating me. Until real regulation, how can I enjoy playing or ever feel that I am getting a truly fair online game? I can’t. You see my dilemma? The power of the mind is pretty strong.

There is no question that you are being cheated when you play online poker… the only question is by who and when…. Will it be the room, the players, or both? And would you ever know?

- Frank

Sat-4:24 am EDIT: It appears as if the “investigation” into the Absolute scandal has been completed as of yesterday. I was unware of this as I posted my rant. But just as I suspected it is a total joke. Slap on the wrist and more money in the pockets of the Kahnawake commission. Sickening.

Tags: , absolute, cheating, comics, golden palace casino, jjprodigy, jose canseco, justin bonomo, kahnawake, mlb, poker, rigged, steroids, ultimate bet

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 2:48 am and is filed under Poker Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.