Disclaimer: The author is in no way condoning cheating of any shape or form, purely explaining how it may happen. Ever since time began, man has tried to get the edge over his opponent by whatever means necessary. Whether it was blunting his tools before he went out hunting, wetting his gun so the gun powder wouldn’t light or playing with his brakes so he couldn’t win the race, every place in time has seen cheating happen. So why should online poker be any different?
At first, it may seem impossible to cheat. It’s a fully computerised system with people monitoring the games all over the world. Anti-fraud policies and procedures and put in place and in the most, cheating is pretty much ruled out in all online poker casinos.
This doesn’t mean it doesn’t take place.
Small time cheating is very easy to get away with and I suspect many online poker players do. For example, get a few of your buddies to join a table and talk via an Instant Messaging program. Within a few minutes you can be teaming up against the other players and with a little bluffing and structured bets, you can be reaping the rewards. Whilst cheating at online poker is completely forbidden and against all Terms and Conditions (agreed to prior to playing poker), it cannot be completely outlawed, meaning this type of small time cheating is going to happen for years to come. Thankfully, for the most part, it generally only happens between a group of young guys who are looking to make extra drinking money.
When looking at cheating on a larger scale however, it becomes much clearer that it is difficult thing to pull off.
The most recent ‘large scale’ poker cheat was back in late 2007 and is now known on the online poker circuit as the ‘Absolute Poker Scandal’. In it’s most basic form, for those who are unaware, an employee of www.absolutepoker.com was able to view each other player’s on the table hole cards, giving him an unprecedented advantage over his other players – to the extent that unless he misread the cards dealt, it was impossible for him to lose. With the help of another colleague, the pair managed to dominate each and every hand they played, reaping in the rewards to the tune of thousands.
Like all crimes – which is what this was – the pair were eventually discovered to be cheating after a variety of players complained about their suspicious behaviour. Receiving the statistical data, the cheats were brought into the day light by several poker forum members who teamed up to prove their point.
Cheating at anything is generally not a good idea. Whether it’s a major sport or fun game of bingo at your local town fete, the cheat almost always ends up being caught. For the small time cheats, are warning may simply be enough, but for the larger cheats? A lengthy prison sentence and a hefty fine is on its way, leaving most people to simply say - is it really worth it?