firewalls

[David]

OK, I finally installed a firewall on my computer. I played at Pokerstars right after installing it and guess what.....9 attempts to access my computer in the first hour. Hmmmmmmmm what does this mean? The attempts were all made while I was playing 2/4 PL Omaha Hi. I was playing in a tournament later and never got 1 attempt message. I have long suspected there were players at stars who had to be able to see my cards. Probably unfounded, but who knows. Any comments? By the way stars was the ONLY program running while this was happening.

[rusty JEDI]

If you downloaded zonealarm, you will see many many possible incursions. But 99.9% of even the high risk attempts are likely not what you think. Ports throughtout the internet that have ever had a virus run through them i believe will have a high risk setting from zonealarm. Other than that many of what zonealarm shows as attempts is just random "noise" bouncing around cyberspace.

I really think you have nothing to worry about. But better safe than sorry and having a firewall is worth while.

[Dr.Kimble]

The best is a Hardware Firewall [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
[img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] i use a Router with Linux

[David]

I honestly am not sure what this all means, but here goes......

Playing PL O8 at UB for about 30 minutes-no access attempts


Playing 1/2 limit at ACR about 20 minutes-no access attempts

Playing PL Omaha Hi at Paradise about 1 hour-1 attempt

Playing a multi table tourney at Pokerstars-no access attempts

Playing 1/2 limit at Pokerstars about 30 minutes-no access attempts

PLAYING PL OMAHA HI AT POKERSTARS A TOTAL OF 2 HOURS OVER 2 NIGHTS-23 ACCESS ATTEMPTS!!!!!!!!!

Any comments? I am not bashing Stars here I am just getting a real scary feeling about the place. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Pokergood]

First things First.

I like PokerStars, It is competitive, which helps me become a better player. I recommend PokerStars to anyone. I play there and nowhere else, except live. (NO PLUG HERE)

Im just trying to clarify that Im not bashing PS.

--- My Reply to the IP attacks, or strange observation about playing on PS website and noticing many "ATTACKS".

Using a program similar to "ZONE ALERT or Tiny Personal Firewall, can log the IP addresses of computers requesting data from your machine at any time the software is running. "Requests for data from your computer are almost always constant when connected. Mostly to your Internet Service Provider, but not limited to Potential Hacker Attacks, Popup advertisements, any programs you currently have running, ect. ect. If you want, you can verify the IP addresses of the computer that was requesting the data, you can find out the location of the computer that routed that particullar signal. At least you could know, If you wanted.

Im probably gonna set-up my own experiment.. as Id hope to catch some pokerhack.. Then, its one call to Vinny, U know the story.

Whats even more strange than that possibility?

What IF the "Dual Random Number Generator blah, blah, blah." was acting like a card mechanic? Dealing the "NUTS" to you and the "semi-Nuts" to the next guy. (that would be great, yeah, execpt when its vice-versa.)

Here are my observations.. over 20,000 hands in just over 3 weeks of play on PokerStars.

#1 weird. I know I folded that card on pre-flop. Why did it get drawn as the "RIVER CARD"? Isn't it supposed to be a dead card?

#2 Anytime I fold the "would have been" Nuts preflop, It gives me the same hand next time..(sometimes different suits)

#3 The winning hand on last pot, always seems to be in the flop somehow.

I got more of em.. I just can't remember now

All others are similar to these examples:

This one I saw in a 3 player game..
EX1: Player "X" (Ah3h).... Player "Y" (KhJh)
Flop is all Hearts... Continue to bet each other All-In..

EX2: Player "X" (Jh10s).... He is all-in on a 1K blind very late in the tournament. 20 players left.
Player "Y" (Ac,Qd)...Calls the blind (only one to call)
Flop is Js,Qh,10c...2c...4s... Big 2 pair winner.

3 out of 7 times.. Ive been knocked out of these tournaments with a Pair of Kings.. Each time, somebody had Aces. "OMG.. Im happy he raised me all-in or vice-versa", That feeling only lasts for a second.

So, My point you may be asking yourself.

Pokerstars "RNG patented shuffling program" seems to have sprung life out of silicon. I actually have some feelings of suspicion.. (I think that is totally hilarious and outrageous. But yet, the feelings are still there)

Im an Electrical Engineer, Ive never seen such a patterened randomization before. I eat, sleep, and now play numbers, always finding a pattern, If any.

Ok, Ok.. so maybe it just seems patterened because I've played over 20,000 hands in about 3 weeks. In those 20,000 hands, you can imagine I've seen anything beat anything.

But with good players, and large tournament play. I notice that the "showdown" hands are almost always very close in Value to the board.

Don't say anything.. There is no cheating going on..

But, has anyone ever watched the movie PI? Or yet, War Games, Maximum Overdrive, and even the Lawnmower Man.

We all say sometimes that our computers have an attitude, What if your shuffle did?

[mbpoker]

>#1 weird. I know I folded that card on pre-flop. Why did it get drawn as the "RIVER CARD"? Isn't it supposed to be a dead card?

>#2 Anytime I fold the "would have been" Nuts preflop, It gives me the same hand next time..(sometimes different suits)

>#3 The winning hand on last pot, always seems to be in the flop somehow.

I bet you invented all of this (and likely most of the other things you say). But it's easy to prove that you are not lying. Post hand histories for each of the above.

[ZManODS]

#1 weird. I know I folded that card on pre-flop. Why did it get drawn as the "RIVER CARD"? Isn't it supposed to be a dead card?

If i saw that i would definately get the hand history to prove it and DEMAND an explanation from them. At least i know not to play at poker stars now.

[Pokergood]

How about I send you the 20,000 hands and u find em?

Yes, I remember thinking those above things. Exactly when in the 20,000 hands? another story.

good luck Finding em,

[beernutz]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Ok, Ok.. so maybe it just seems patterened because I've played over 20,000 hands in about 3 weeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Congratulations, you've averaged playing about 120 hands an hour for 24 hours a day for 21 days.

If I had done that I think I'd be seeing pictures of the virgin mary on the backs of pokerstar's cards so I'm not surprised at what you are reporting.

[Jimbo]

#2 Anytime I fold the "would have been" Nuts preflop, It gives me the same hand next time..(sometimes different suits) Over 20,000 hands you should have seen back to back similar hands about 120 times. That you folded some of these hands and that it would have won the pot is not too surprising. In fact it would be surprising if it had not happened.