Skillpoker Response to Inquiry on Anti-Collusion Measures

[JayCo]

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