Online Poker Rigged??? We're about to find out...

[bikedocjoe]

I think you're using a whole lot of time for an endeavor that will prove very little. I'll leave it to the statistical experts to accurately point out the intuitive problems with your experiment.
The only answer that can be given to the question "is it rigged?" is, "who knows?". Noone can really claim they know it is rigged for a certainty, the evidence is anecdotal. But on the flip side, anyone who denies it could be rigged is just plain ignorant of human nature. Anytime money and an oportunity present itself..........
If it were rigged, I would believe it would be a subtle form of "cheating", not necessarily unabashed cheating for house players. The house makes money with player count and pot size. A computer programmer would probably have a few ideas on how to stimulate these factors with the deck. If you don't think this is possible you are fooling yourself. The thing is, if you are going to get cheated this way----YOU WILL NEVER KNOW IT----.
Plus you obviously have 2 or more players colluding at a table. If you deny this is going on you live in a dream world also. This kind of thing would worry me more than the house having funny cards.
But, with the small stakes I play for, these issues don't bother me a bit. It's all for fun and I win a little, big deal. You won't find me playing for serious money where I can't see and hear the deck.
If these issues bother you, you shouldn't play online.

[byronkincaid]

Hi BeanCounter

My name's Ken Brockman, Executive Vice President of Marketing for ActionFlops Corp. You may have read about us in the financial press when we took over our main competitors WTFRiveredAgain Inc. As the market leaders in flop enhancing software technology we would like to thank you for letting us know when you are going to start your little experiment. All our research has indicated to us and our clients that our software packages can improve their revenue streams by up to 30% but of course we would not want this to become public knowledge.

We estimate that your "agreed-upon procedures engagement" may take in the region of 3 weeks. After reading your message we have decided to turn our software off for the duration and go instead on a company holiday to the Bahamas. This decision will cost our clients around $3 million in lost revenue but it will also prevent you from coming to any conclusions which may affect our business.

Thanks once again for the heads up.

Happy New Year from everyone at ActionFlops.

[Tosh]

We have a very late contender for post of the year.

Guys he's obviously kidding, I applaud it as a good joke.

[LinusKS]

Hi Beancounter.

I didn't actually read your post, because I'm too busy, and I don't really care. However, I do have just enough time to heap scorn on you, and to tell you there are numerous flaws, although I can't be bothered to tell you what they are.


Haha.

Seriously, though, if you're able to supply actual data on the is-online-poker-rigged question, you'd be doing poker players a service. I'd be very pleased to see what you come up with.

For what it's worth, consider memphis' suggestion about Shackleford. He's the a smart guy, and if he was involved it would go a long way toward authenticating any results you came up with. I don't doubt he'd be interested.

[BusterStacks]

How would he be doing poker players a service? I can't imagine winning players really caring if it's rigged. I personally would continue to play even if it said it was rigged right on the home page, because I'm still pushing an edge.

[EliteNinja]

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This year, I have won $12,822 per hour in cash games.

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Whoa. That rules.

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El Diablo beat me to it.

If only I named myself: El Hombre de los Moleculos!!

[fyodor]

I wish in the new year that 2+2 posters would become more accepting of others. Instead of beating everyone down with snide remarks perhaps we could be a little more constructive.

If you think there is something wrong with this guy's idea try saying why without attempting to make yourself look superior. It's not working.

I agree that the way he and his friends are going about it is unlikely to prove anything to anyone. If you bothered to read his post though, you would find this line near the bottom:

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I would prefer that any possible leaks or holes be exposed now, prior to the engagement, rather than at a later time.

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[byronkincaid]

Why give a serious answer to a troll?

[Freudian]

You need a much larger sample of hands. People have huge pokertracker databases and I suspect that for a fee you would get access to millions of hands.

Contact Shackleford (http://wizardofodds.com/general/consulting.html) instead of an accounting firm. He has the competence to design a study that will fit your needs, and will also be able to help you interpret the results.

I don't think it's worth spending your money on this, but it's your money to spend as you please. If you have enough doubt about the fairness of online games, quit playing online. Even if your study find the games to be fair, how do you know they didn't start rigging it after you concluded your study? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Luv2DriveTT]

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Why give a serious answer to a troll?

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Because in this situation I don't think Beancounter is a troll.. he may be just misinformed and trying to do the right thing.... which is always admirable.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]