Can opponents see your cards?

[MRBAA]

Barry Greenstein mentions this as a possibility if you don't have an adequate firewall. Is it really possible for an opponent to get into your computer and see your hands? Has anyone heard of this happening?

[dlk9s]

No.

[daveymck]

Some of the cheat at poker sites mention installing a trojan or somthing on the other persons pc so you can see their cards.

How easy or hard etc it is I have no idea, but if you are on the internet you want your pc covered whether playing poker or not imho.

[mattw]

is it possible, yes. is it probable, no. you should have atleast windows firewall running. a comprimised computer can reveal everything.

[Joshssj4]

It's actually extremely possible.
There was once a trojan going around the internet that when you had it installed on someone elses computer you could view their computer screen in real-time, stuff like this still exists.

[crunchy1]

[ QUOTE ]
It's actually extremely possible.
There was once a trojan going around the internet that when you had it installed on someone elses computer you could view their computer screen in real-time, stuff like this still exists.

[/ QUOTE ]
True - but viewing a specific opponent's cards would imply that you would also need to break into the poker site's system to retrieve the internet addresses of the other players at your table and then somehow get the trojan installed on those user's computers so you could view there screen.

I'm not losing sleep over these "longshot" possibilities.

[jman220]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's actually extremely possible.
There was once a trojan going around the internet that when you had it installed on someone elses computer you could view their computer screen in real-time, stuff like this still exists.

[/ QUOTE ]
True - but viewing a specific opponent's cards would imply that you would also need to break into the poker site's system to retrieve the internet addresses of the other players at your table and then somehow get the trojan installed on those user's computers so you could view there screen.

I'm not losing sleep over these "longshot" possibilities.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or, you could design a trojan that after infecting a user's computer is designed to notify you when that player is playing online poker at a specific site, say, by sending you information via an IRC channel. You wouldn't need to target specific people, you could just move to the tables of those who were infected after you recieve the information. Now where have I heard of something like that before... (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=3761347&page=0&fpart=1&v c=1)

[ QUOTE ]
Or, you could design a trojan that after infecting a user's computer is designed to notify you when that player is playing online poker at a specific site, say, by sending you information via an IRC channel.

[/ QUOTE ]
You would still have to identify the recipient as a player, and get it to the computer. Blunt force (trying to send it to everyone who opens an e-mail or a web page) would certainly get noticed fast. I could see someone's "friend" doing this, but that's about it.

The "trojan" in the other thread has been questioned by posters with a background in security. (And others with a background in poker.)

[phish]

So why does this one guy keep following me around from table to table? Either I suck or he can see my cards.

[BruinEric]

[ QUOTE ]
So why does this one guy keep following me around from table to table? Either I suck or he can see my cards.

[/ QUOTE ]

The odds of an opponent being able to see your cards are astronomically high against.

He probably believes you play poorly and/or he "knows how best to play you."

If you are playing on the Party network, you can remove yourself from being found in a player search. Some other online cardrooms support this as well.

[sammy_g]

[ QUOTE ]
So why does this one guy keep following me around from table to table? Either I suck or he can see my cards.

[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe you use similar strategies for picking tables.

[Mempho]

It happened to me almost 2 years ago on one of the major poker sites. The cheating idiot typed into the wrong chatbox (I suppose he was running an instant message program) and tried to cover it up. Anybody that tells you it can't happen is extremely naive. That said, I play online regularly but I won't touch the site where it happened because I have more fear that there are significant security issues there than at other sites.

One other thing, I was running a Sygate Personal Firewall at the time. I was not extremely adept at using it, though. I required every outgoing and incoming program to ask for access. I may have let something that looked innocent through or they could have gotten through the firewall.

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So why does this one guy keep following me around from table to table? Either I suck or he can see my cards.

[/ QUOTE ]

The odds of an opponent being able to see your cards are astronomically high against.

He probably believes you play poorly and/or he "knows how best to play you."

If you are playing on the Party network, you can remove yourself from being found in a player search. Some other online cardrooms support this as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are very few players that know how to do it, but they are out there and they play quite a bit. Please do not use the term "astronomically high" when describing this. Everyone should be vigilant at all times.

[gabyyyyy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's actually extremely possible.
There was once a trojan going around the internet that when you had it installed on someone elses computer you could view their computer screen in real-time, stuff like this still exists.

[/ QUOTE ]
True - but viewing a specific opponent's cards would imply that you would also need to break into the poker site's system to retrieve the internet addresses of the other players at your table and then somehow get the trojan installed on those user's computers so you could view there screen.

I'm not losing sleep over these "longshot" possibilities.

[/ QUOTE ]

You would not need to break into the poker site for this information..

Ever hear of packet sniffing? Ip's are very easy to get.

[crunchy1]

[ QUOTE ]
You would not need to break into the poker site for this information..
Ever hear of packet sniffing? Ip's are very easy to get.

[/ QUOTE ]
Do you think that the packets being sent to and from your computer contain specific IP information on the other players in the games your participating in? I don't.

[phish]

I was kidding. But I do think Trojans are something to be wary of. If I do find some guy following me from table to table, I'd be paranoid enough to at least think it's possible.

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
I was kidding. But I do think Trojans are something to be wary of. If I do find some guy following me from table to table, I'd be paranoid enough to at least think it's possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Look at the lead story on MSNBC right now.

[TheProdigy]

I'd go with your play before anything else, it is more likely......has he said anything to make you think one way or the other? I follow around a couple of the bigger fish(am not calling you one, he easily could be misjudging your play or chasing you because of a bad beat you put on him) so I would guess that before the other things..

[chipbrave]

I think Many Prima PLayers have developed a software that enables them to see the turn and river before they happen. I lost 3 hands in a SNG yesterday where i was respectively 91%, 82%, & 86% favorites when the chips went in. They must know whats coming.

[sammy_g]

[ QUOTE ]
I was kidding.

[/ QUOTE ]
Doh, I'm usually pretty good at picking up on that.

A lot of multitabling TAGs sort by avg. potsize and find themselves at the same tables.

[ QUOTE ]
I think Many Prima PLayers have developed a software that enables them to see the turn and river before they happen. I lost 3 hands in a SNG yesterday where i was respectively 91%, 82%, & 86% favorites when the chips went in. They must know whats coming.

[/ QUOTE ]
This can't really happen, simply because I really doubt that the software runs the randomization algorithm before the cards are dealt. This would be inefficient because you'd have to calculate for the flop, turn and river even when the action stops before them, and there's really no reason to do so in the first place. Since randomization algorithms depend of former results, system time or whatever is used, they won't know.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

Yep, because those 8% chances you'll lose? Those are just there for show. Your hand should actually win all the time.

[wonderwes]

There is some truth. Packet sniffing is a very valid problem with the net. Now will it happen to you? Unlikely. Though people with the correct network experience, and proper access could sniff your packets to see everything you do on your connection. From a webpage you load, to any IM chat.

Everything you see on the net is traveled by internet packets. No matter what format of data.

For poker software. It still is data being sent from the pokersite to your machine. Either its an encrypted packet or a normal packet. Like when the dealer chat is all text based (dealer chat states every move). A normal packet, someone could determine what the text was. This is why every commerce website (amazon, newegg, etc) is heavy in stressing their 40bit or 128bit encryption for anytime you use the purchase form for a product.

For the trojans running on a computer, anything is possible esp now with XP boxes having remote management. A trojan can just be a registry or an .exe set to run at the right times. Once it is running in system memory, who knows what it was designed to do.

It never hurts to virus scan, and it always benefits to have some type of firewall/proxy setup.

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
There is some truth. Packet sniffing is a very valid problem with the net. Now will it happen to you? Unlikely. Though people with the correct network experience, and proper access could sniff your packets to see everything you do on your connection. From a webpage you load, to any IM chat.

Everything you see on the net is traveled by internet packets. No matter what format of data.

For poker software. It still is data being sent from the pokersite to your machine. Either its an encrypted packet or a normal packet. Like when the dealer chat is all text based (dealer chat states every move). A normal packet, someone could determine what the text was. This is why every commerce website (amazon, newegg, etc) is heavy in stressing their 40bit or 128bit encryption for anytime you use the purchase form for a product.

For the trojans running on a computer, anything is possible esp now with XP boxes having remote management. A trojan can just be a registry or an .exe set to run at the right times. Once it is running in system memory, who knows what it was designed to do.

It never hurts to virus scan, and it always benefits to have some type of firewall/proxy setup.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could you help explain what happened to me a early last spring ('04)?

WIth most major softwarem the data (ALL DATA) sent between the client and the server, and the server and the client, is encrtpted. I know for what I speak here. Packet sniffing is the least of your worries. Don't profess knowledge you dont have.

[Quicksilvre]

That, of course, assumes that one can install a trojan upon the mark's computer undetected. If they have decent anti-virus, it's easier said than done.

If they can see hole cards they would be playing in the highest limit would they not?

[tonypaladino]

Not before the flop, but once I know my hole cards and the flop, my pattern mapper can determine anyone's hole cards with 90% accuracy.

[tonypaladino]

On a serious note,

I would guess that a few of these "see your opponents hole cards" and "cheat online poker" software things around actually install software that let's the creater see your hole cards.