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Skillpoker Response to Inquiry on Anti-Collusion Measures
This is cross-posted on Internet gambling, where there is a thread dicussing potential for collusion on the new tournament site (uses "double-blind" strucutre similar to bridge where players compete against other players who receive the same cards)
http://www.skillpoker.com FWIW, response received a day after I sent inquiry (below) --- Skillpoker Support <support@skillpoker.com> wrote: Dear Jayco, Thank you very much for your e-mail,and for voicing your concerns in a manner that allows us to respond toyou and the entire online poker community. SkillPoker.com (TM), like any pokerroom, online or off, is extremely concerned about the authenticity andsecurity of its poker room. Without this no player could feel confidentin playing at a particular site. I understand your foremost concernis with collusion between a set of players. This is something thathas been planned for since the outset of developing our patent pendingtechnology, and we have several layers built into our product to preventplayer collusion. At SkillPoker.com, we take a threepronged approach to prevent fraud of this nature: 1) Before the game even starts, we’re working to prevent collusion. a. Eachplayer is provided a unique identifier. This identifier is link toa massive amount of historical data which can be analyzed and linked toother players. Great lengths are made to prevent illegitimate accessto our system. b. Playersare not able to choose which table or table position they’d like to join. 2) Duringthe game there are measures implemented to prevent against player collusion. While I’d prefer not to divulge all of our methods, it should beobvious to see that the order in which the cards are dealt, the suits ofthe cards, or even the number of the cards need not be the same for eachtable or player in order to maintain the fundamentals of the SkillPokersystem. Moreover, this is not like traditionalpoker in that it takes a significant and set amount of time in order tocompete in our tournaments in comparison to a traditional poker table,where collusion can occur when and how the players choose it to be. Additionally,while fraud must never be permitted to occur, the nature of the tournamentfee structure prevents massive abuse to the players by limiting their potentiallosses. Additionally, it may not be economicallypractical to collude in the first place. This is especially the casein tournaments which involve a large number of tables and/or table groups. You must be aware that these SkillPoker tournaments can be configuredin so many different manners, that even without some of the measures eludedto above, collusion is impractical from a purely monetary point of view. 3) Lastly,during and after the players have completed the tournament there are significantchecks and balances in place such that colluding players are caught andnot allowed to benefit from their misdeeds. I encourage any playerconcerned about the authenticity of a tournament to e-mail our investigationsdepartment at abuse@skillpoker.com,and all matters will be dealt with in a diligent and efficient manner. I realize that we’re a new systemof playing poker in a well established traditional market, but as the onlinegaming community surely realizes the environment in which they operateis about to drastically change with the introduction of several piecesof legislation. We strive to make our poker system compatible withall of our players concerns and look forward to hearing from you. I’d urge anyone with a concernabout the system to e-mail us at info@skillpoker.com,and you will be replied to at the earliest possible convenience. Yours Truly, Mark Glusing President, SkillPoker.com Subject: Anti-Collusion Measures Message: To: SkillPoker support From: Concerned online poker community I plan on posting this inquiry as well as your reponse on several popularonline poker forums, including twoplustwo, rec.gambling.poker,and UnitedPokerForum. As I hope you are aware, one of the mahor threats to the Online Poker industryis its vulnerability to cheating and collusion. A large forum of onlinepoker players, while interested in the unique concept you site offers,are extremely concerned you have potentially failed to deal effectivelywith this problem. I am confident that Skillpoker.com, like other major online poker sites,has taken the appropriate steps to create both a secure site and a cutting-edgeRNG. These are not the concerns I am highlighting. The SkillPoker format is ideal for players to gain an unfair advantageby colluding. If hands are played in the same sequence and/or atthe same time for multiple tables, cheating players could effectively knowEXACTLY what hole cards and/or board cards will appear simply my conversingover the phone or through Instant Messaging. Let me provide a very simple HoldEm example: Colluding Cheater #1 (CC1) sits at Table A in seat #1 and receives Ace-Ace Colluding Cheater #2 (CC2) sits at Table B in seat #2 and receives King-King The flop appears for both table A and B: Ace-King-3 of three suits CC1 informs CC2 that seat #1 has 3 Aces The ramifications of this should be obvious. For your site to succeed, you will need to convince the public you canand will prevent this type of collusion. This is true particularly to themost frequent (and typically more informed) online pokers, as they willprovide the bulk of your play and generate the most potential revenue foryour venture. The online poker community looks forward to your reply. Regards, Jayco |
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