Suspicious Behavior

[AnteGravity]

Don't worry. This isn't a sob story about losing big to a massive suck out or anything like that. I was up for the day so no complaints there.

A character entered the room, posted, and on his/her first hand cracked a solid pair of Kings with 7/4o. They raised and reraised preflop, on the flop, turn, and river. Thing is, he/she didn't catch his bottom two pair until the turn/river.

Ok, so a maniac. Not bad, love these guys in the game. Cash cows right? Well no, he/she then proceeded to fold every hand for two orbits until he pulls this r/rr/catch on the turn/river stunt again, this time a house vs a striaght.

Ooookay. Weird. Usually maniacs play lots of hands, not 2 in 2 1/2 orbits. So this pattern goes on for a few hours. Turns 10BB into 100BB, not by playing good hands or even playing lots of hands and catching stuff, but by playing a few hands(all junk/semi-junk) and cracking big pairs/two pair/striaghts/flushes. No leaks, no aggressive play with solid pocket cards, etc. All money gained by raising strong hands and catching.

Naturally the room is pissed by this point, everyone spitting fireballs at him/her in chat. Not a peep. In fact all he/she does is fold or crack big hands. No hesitation either, every action is auto-pilot speed.

Now if I was looking for a case of hacking or something, this is what I would look for. I'm not going to say who or where becuase this could all turn out to be a simple, one time fluke. But doesn't it sound strange?

[imitation]

Selective memory.

[AnteGravity]

No, it wasn't that, I was looking for specific behaviors from this guy, not just noticing this stuff here and there. I pretty much eyeballed him/her the entire time.

If he/she had done anything different, like playing a big hand from the beginning, overplaying a bluff, playing way too many hands, etc, I would have just nodded and move my focus elsewhere, but this was just queer. Not something I could dismiss as coincidence or selective memory.

[Baulucky]

That was perfect use of an state-of-the-art Pattern Mapper by yours truly. After that session, I changed ID's and proceeded to do the same at other tables.

[bigpooch]

Are you implying that cheating is possible? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[RydenStoompala]

That was me. I was drunk. I wont do it again. Sorry about the chat, but I could only type "dflkajfn" which nobody really wanted to see.

[Bytestream]

All along you were following this "suspicious behavior", but you didnt think to collect the hand historys did you?

[Freudian]

Hand histories, schmand histories! It is worth nothing compared to anectdotal evidence!

[imitation]

Full hand histories of the entire session or don't post about it again.

[GrannyMae]

Now if I was looking for a case of hacking or something, this is what I would look for

so would the sites. one of the things they look for are unusual winning patters. what site was it?

[Mike Haven]

some maniacs raise every hand and sometimes catch ten played in a row

your maniac raised one in every 25 and he caught ten he played in a row of one in every 25

it's called luck

[Gata Kamsky]

It's impossible to crack the hardware rng generators. If it was possible the Federal Government would be the first one worried followed by nearly every gambling site and any company who does any business on the net including big banks. It's not happening, period. Secondly, nobody is going to risk someone finding out after they cracked a hardware RNG by playing on some crappy 10-20 or 20-40 table. It would be reserved for much higher stakes for instance tournaments with big prizes. The suspicious behavior you saw counteracts any possible chance of anything being hacked. Sometimes luck works in mysterious ways. Just remember nobody hacked the system to steal your lousy 40 bucks.

[CORed]

Was he always doing the raising and reraising when the same player had a good hand? If so, it could be collusion: He was raising to pump up the part for his partner with the good hand, and happened to get lucky and outdraw him a few times.

[Punker]

Maybe its a stupid question, but you're not the real Gata Kamsky are you?

[MicroBob]

Are you the real Punker?

[Punker]

Sorry, but given the connection between chess and poker, its not impossible...Gata Kamsky was ranked in the top 5 in the world at chess at one time and played for the world championship (chessplayers lets not start the FIDE/PCA battle) before mysteriously retiring.

[lorinda]

But doesn't it sound strange?

Not when you've read the same post hundreds of times, no.

Lori

[lorinda]

you're not the real Gata Kamsky are you?

This guy only recently stopped playing chess.

Gata arrrives in the zoo (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=inet&Number=1088648&Fo rum=f14&Words=gata%20kamsky&Searchpage=0&Limit=25& Main=1087804&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&dater ange=1&newerval=3&newertype=w&olderval=&oldertype= &bodyprev=#Post1088648)

Lori

[MicroBob]

I thought it was just a name he chose but it appears he really is claiming to be THE Gata Kamsky.

I think there was a guy named AAlekhine who posted here and I've played against an Alekhine or two on party and/or stars. Capablanca and Morphy have yet to make appearances on my poker tables though.


There's also a poster here named 'Pirc Defense'. I thought it was just a name....now I wonder if it is THE 'Pirc Defense'.


Used to play a bit more chess but I kind of suck (1400 USCF or so). May get back into it though as I really enjoy it.
Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that 1999 championship thing in LV was.

Gata is correct that you can be really mediocre at poker and make about as much as a top level chess player.

[AnteGravity]

Okay, let me address some issues that popped up on this thread.

1. I have the hand histories, names of tables, etc. If I see this person and/or this behavior again I'm going to send it to the support staff. Right now I'll just err on the side of 'strange, but not cheating'.

2. I didn't lose any money to this person, and was up for the day, so I wasn't 'venting' or just posting to left off steam from having my hands cracked. I was an observer for this event, not a victim.

3. Luck, extreme improbable draws etc, I've seen before, I'll seen it again. That wasn't the issue. It was his/her behavior that really caught my eye, not the outdraws.

4. The thing is, this guy wasn't a manaic. Its one thing to get lucky 10 or 25 times in a row, thats typical action junkie rushes. But he was playing very few hands yet raising with what no tight player would play with. This isn't usual behavior. Its natural for some people to be tight or loose, passive or agressive, or try to be tight/aggressive, but when tight players show down they usually show quality hands, not junk that stayed junk until the river, THATs the weird part.

Like I said before, if he had the typical action junkie patterns, or similiar behavior I wouldn't even bother posting this thread.

I don't have unrealistic expectations here, I've played enough to know that your monsters get cracked or junk wins, even a great deal in the short run. But it was the behavior of this one individual that was unsettling, not JUST the results of the hands.

5. I know about the security measures in place and the dilligence that the sites try to maintain their integrity, thats why I'm not going overboard here naming sites or names. If its nothing its nothing, no need to blow it out of proportion, I just wanted to get some feedback on my experience.

6. I didn't think about collusion, I'll go back and check the hand histories and see if someone was pumping a 2nd party and just got lucky.

[imitation]

POST THE [censored] HAND HISTORIES OR SHUT THE [censored] UP

[AnteGravity]

Calm down. I have nothing to prove here. I'm not trying to get someone in trouble or besmirch the reputation of a site.

All I wanted was some feedback and I think CORed has pointed me in the right direction. I've already sent the email to their support.

[BreakEvenPlayer]

[ QUOTE ]
cracked a solid pair of Kings

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm... My pokertracker stats say that I only win 41% of the time when I have one pair at showdown. My pairs must not be that solid.

[AnteGravity]

Better then my 37%. I wouldn't complain.

[jaeon]

[ QUOTE ]
All I wanted was some feedback and I think CORed has pointed me in the right direction. I've already sent the email to their support.

[/ QUOTE ]

so you've decided it was collusion?

[AnteGravity]

I can't be sure, but thats my best guess. I haven't gotten any reply back yet. I'll just wait and see.