99 per cent of players will one day be cheating...? Party comments.

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Online poker 'rife with cheats'

Notorious casino cheat claims 99 per cent of players will one day be cheating...
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By Will Sturgeon

Published: Friday 4 November 2005

The boom in internet gambling may be about to hit its greatest hurdle with one of the world's most famous casino cheats claiming the online world is far more at risk from cheating than the casinos in which he made millions.

Richard Marcus is among an elite of casino cheats and during a 25-year reign he and a small team took casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, London and Monte Carlo for a reported $5m.

And yet Marcus, who now writes books based on his experiences, claims the boom in internet gambling which has come along since he went into early retirement offers even more rich pickings for the criminally-minded who no longer even have to show their faces to claim their ill-gotten gains.

Marcus says he knows of systems operating online currently which are evading detection and making serious money, including systems which in some online casinos will reveal the other cards on the table.

"There is so much cheating going on," said Marcus.

"Within a short amount of time we are going to see about one in a hundred people playing honestly. The rest will be using bots or it will be computers playing against computers."

However, that's a suggestion one online poker provider was quick to dismiss – though others in the same industry remained tight-lipped in the face of silicon.com's enquiries.

A spokesman for PartyPoker.com told silicon.com: "I can't speak for other sites but the people sitting there on our virtual poker tables are very real."

He admitted there will always be those who try to cheat the system but said he is "pretty confident" his company is able to detect them with a dedicated team and technology working round the clock monitoring any suspicious activity.

"When it comes to bots we are able to detect them and when we do we will close down the accounts and seize the funds," he said.

However, while Marcus agreed "the people with unsophisticated bots can be caught" he added "the really sophisticated stuff has a mind of its own".

The PartyPoker.com spokesman told silicon.com: "Of course we are aware that there are going to be increasing levels of sophistication with these things but we're also developing greater levels of sophistication to combat them."

Marcus, whose next book, entitled Dirty Poker, is published in the UK next year, told silicon.com he expects his revelations will draw angry fire from the online casinos.

silicon.com's own enquiries into Marcus' claims were met with a wall of silence from a number of major players in the online poker industry.

Of those contacted, only PartGaming.com was willing to co-operate with this article.

silicon.com is also running a more detailed interview with Richard Marcus in which he discusses the technology used to combat cheating on the casino floor for our 'Tech's Big Gamble' special report.


[/ QUOTE ] Marcus says he knows of systems operating online currently which are evading detection and making serious money, including systems which in some online casinos will reveal the other cards on the table.

[FlFishOn]

I don't buy the 99% thing. By the time 70% are cheating online poker will have collapsed. Is 70% possible? Maybe. Human nature being what it is, it's possible.

[Synergistic Explosions]

70% would suck the same. I can't cheat because I believe in karma and I would die of thermal shock or something insidious. So I wouldn't be able to play at all then.

I wish that guy would have given some details on what he supposedly knows for sure about others seeing opponents hole cards. We keep hearing about this, but nobody has actually proved it is possible. He says it is a reality right now. I hope he's just trying to sell books.

[crazy canuck]

I wish that guy would have given some details on what he supposedly knows for sure about others seeing opponents hole cards.

Yes it is possible with a Trojan.

I was playing on Stars about a month and a half ago on the .25nl tables and had 2 guys telling me exactly what my cards were when I won without showdown. I'd like to know how they were telling me this, as they told me the suits of the cards as well. It was more than just a little worrisome, and I left the table shortly thereafter. I didn't like when 2 players at the table knew that I was bluffing at half the pots I picked up.

[Niediam]

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I was playing on Stars about a month and a half ago on the .25nl tables and had 2 guys telling me exactly what my cards were when I won without showdown. I'd like to know how they were telling me this, as they told me the suits of the cards as well. It was more than just a little worrisome, and I left the table shortly thereafter. I didn't like when 2 players at the table knew that I was bluffing at half the pots I picked up.

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You couldn't win with a bluff if your opponents knew you were bluffing.

It was after the hand was over. Apparently after I mucked they could detect my cards.

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I was playing on Stars about a month and a half ago on the .25nl tables and had 2 guys telling me exactly what my cards were when I won without showdown. I'd like to know how they were telling me this, as they told me the suits of the cards as well. It was more than just a little worrisome, and I left the table shortly thereafter. I didn't like when 2 players at the table knew that I was bluffing at half the pots I picked up.

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So supposedly someone has planted a trojan on your computer which allows them to see your hole cards, and then they were stupid enough to tell you they had done so?

This is probably actually the typical case of many players failing to realize that all players hands at showdown are available to be seen by clicking on the hand history afterwards, even if they "mucked" them.

I have no idea. It was just unsettling to have a guy say "Yeah, I would've cold-called that" after I picked it up with a bluff on the turn when it was checked to me. I asked him what I had cold-called a raise with, and he told me Big Slick, diamonds. he could have been IMing the other guy people's cards and he was also telling people their cards after mucking before showdown.

[solucky]

in fact the most 2+2 ers are cheaters, including me. Why did we use PT GV or some winholdem. Because we want have an edge/ bigger edge. Ask someone that never heard about these things...and he will agree. In backgammon its usuall since years that a few use great bots.....and i am 100% sure that non commercial bots still play higher than any guess.