Is Internet Poker Rigged Column

[Gata Kamsky]

Take this with a grain of salt, I find it funny and yet half realistic...... I can relate to only 1 part of the whole article but I'm sure someone will find it interesting.
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Question: I was reading another on-line poker advice column and one of the statements the writer made was that "some" on-line poker sites use BOTS (i have no idea what this means, except I understood it to mean the site wasn't random) - It did not list any of them, but said if we played on any of them we would "know they were fixed" - I know poker is a game of tough beats, and bad players getting lucky, but I have had days where no matter how I seem to play, the other guy catches the only card to save them, or I will miss what seems like 20 draws (when i've read that i have a 1/4 chance to hit on a flush or open ender straight) - I've also been on the other end when i've caught the only card in the deck that could have helped me...But these things don't seem random - At least, they don't happen as often in real card rooms (for me) as i've seen on-line - (my favorite is how a bad player seems to catch the only thing in the deck that will save his all in just 1 last time...He tends to lose it eventually, but they seem to get lucky a couple times before they go broke)

I guess my question is, how do you know if a site you are playing on-line is legitimate? And do you know what BOTS are? (My thought was Buying Out Too Soon - like cashing out your chips that you are ahead - I've noticed my "bad" online days seem to be after I cash out some profits...This could be totally random, but I wanted to ask -

Answer: First of all let me say that I still play online poker and win; I can't vouch for their legitimacy though. What has kept me playing online poker is the fact that it is convenient and since they do make so much money it seems like they wouldn't want to risk cheating. There definitely could be some funny business going on. I have noticed some odd things with online poker and I'll list a few here.
1. Just about everytime I play someone will make really strange plays that end up working out. For example, I have KK raise and someone three bets me with 45 preflop and then catches two pair on the river. That just seems really odd and I don't see that kind of stuff offline. And if this sort of thing happens a lot online, where are all those times when the person doesn't catch his two pair? I never see it. I should have another 10 times where they call on the river and lose. The same goes for long shot draws like gutshots. If I get nailed by one now and again fine but I should have a 10x that many that don't get there where I win. And note that most of the pots at my limits are heads up or three-way. Where are all the times when they draw for 4 outs and miss? Do they only draw when it will hit?
2. I just noticed something else recently that had to do with a player going all-in. One player only had 22 bucks left and bet $15. The other player just called the $15 and then called the remaining $7 on the turn. That's really odd as well considering this is $15/30. I'm sure most players would just put them all-in right then. If you see that more then once you begin to wonder if a real person is playing.
3. Something else that has caught my attention is what I call the selective bad play. You'll have a guy not play 30 hands in a row and then for some reason 94 peaks his interest when I have AA and the flop is 993. It just seems hard to imagine that the only time he decides to play a bad hand is when I'll get nailed by it. Once or twice if fine but everytime I play I see this sort of thing online. Offline there is consistency: a bad player will continue playing badly.
4. I've noticed a type of player that I don't see offline. This type of player plays literally every hand but when up a rack or so just leaves, never to be seen on the site again.
5. Lastly, what seems most unusual to me is when I play in games online where everyhand is heads up, yet I still lose half the pots with the best hand. The only way I make money is if the hands I win are more then the hands I lose. You would think that if you have KK or AK heads up and the other person has QJ that you'll win more then half the time -- not so. If they have any pair they call till the river and for some reason that gets me enough to make me wonder.

Some people may have their doubts as to whether I've seen enough online poker to make a judgment. Maybe I haven't taken a large enough sampling? Well I still play 20-30 hours/week of online poker and have for the for the better part of 5 years. What I have done though is to adjust my style. I play a much more passive style of poker then I do offline. Forget about bluffing anyone. If you check raise the turn as a semi-bluff, they are guaranteed to call. If they have any pair they are guaranteed to call which is why I don't push AK if I miss on the turn. Also, I don't raise a lot of hands I normally would offline. For example, if I have top two pair and someone check raises me on the turn when a straight could be possible, I just call. They will have it. If I have the king high flush and I get reraised, I'll call only because once again, they will have the Ace everytime. I just expect to lose half my hands. If you play in really loose games then winning half your hands would be huge but if everytime you are heads up then it isn't. Let me give the classic example that just happened last night. I was dealt the same hand twice in a row: red Kings. The first pot I won, the second pot somebody raised me on the flop with middle pair, called till the river and caught trips. So instead of winning a few hundred I was $50 up for having KK twice heads up. That's how it goes.