Archive for May, 2009
Playing poker online is gaining in popularity and many players log on each day to play for real money. I have played and practiced online but am still skeptical about playing for any large amount of money in games on the Internet. First let me say that there are many reputable sites offering online poker and I have been assured that they do everything in their power to make sure these games are as honest as they can be.
One operator of an online poker site told me that they have more control over detecting suspected collusion. He said all the hands are recorded and they can go back and look at the play of all the players and see exactly what hands players were holding when any suspect activity occurred. This is fine for detecting instances of players overrunning another player with raises but there are other forms of cheating that may go undetected.
There are numerous ways that players online can communicate with each other. Internet Relay Chat, ICQ, instant messaging, and telephones can all be used to relay information to each other. Several players in a game communicating with each other could share what cards they held making it easier to figure out what hand the other player may have by the cards he can’t hold. With multiple phone lines and laptop computers you could even have several players sitting next to each other in the same room while they play.
In a cardroom it is one player to a hand. You can’t turn around and ask a spectator how to play a particular hand. This is not the case online. I know for a fact that during some online tournaments some players will get together and play as a group. One player will actually play in the tournament while four or five of his advisors will be with him online offering advice as to the best play via instant messaging. A player can even have his advisors sitting next to him in the same room while he plays.
Finally, if you do play online, make sure you chose an established site with a good reputation. There have been a few instances where a site simply went out of business and disappeared along with all the players’ money.
Although the majority of players, cardrooms, and online sites are honest, you still have to be on your guard whenever your money is involved.
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This line deals with the issue of collusion when two or more players in the game secretly conspire to cheat you. Players may secretly signal their hands to each other. They may start raising every time the mark or target enters the hand. They will either try to drive that player out after he has bet or enough of them will stay in the hand until the end with the likelihood of one of them drawing out the targeted player. When the player turns over his hand, if one of them has him beat, he will show his cards and the rest will quietly muck their cards without showing what they were raising or calling with.
When I first started playing, I had heard stories about collusion but did not really believe that this would happen in a low limit game in a casino cardroom. After experiencing it first hand, I am now on the lookout whenever I play.
I entered one of the smaller cardrooms on the Strip in Las Vegas. There was a $3 / $6 game going on and I waited for a seat to open. The game seemed fairly normal as I watched from the rail. I did notice that most of the players in this game knew each other by the conversation that was going on at the table. I finally got a seat and sat down. I said hello to my fellow players and received a few grunts in response.
This particular casino allows a maximum of four raises during each betting round. On the third hand I was dealt Ah-Jd and limped in from middle position. The player to my left immediately raised the pot. The player to his left re-raised, as did two other players at the table. It was capped when it got back to me costing me an additional $12 to see the flop.
The flop brought Jc-Js-2c and I bet my trips and the betting was capped again. The turn was 4h and the same betting and raising took place. The river brought a third club on board. I checked and the other four players bet and raised. I figured that I was probably beat but the pot was huge so I called. Sure enough one player turned over T-4 of clubs and the others just threw their cards in face down. It would be easy to write this off as a bad beat, but I had been watching this game while waiting for a seat and had noticed this player had been playing solid starting hands. I was surprised that he would play a Ten and a 4 in a raised pot from middle position. I had also noticed that there was not much raising going on before I sat down.
Things returned to normal as I folded the next few hands. When I was the big and small blind the betting was again capped before it got to me. Finally, I was on the button and called with a playable but not great hand. The big blind raised me and this was reraised by a player who had previously limped in. This time I folded getting out for $3.1 then picked up my chips and left the table. It was so obvious what was being done that I had no desire to stick around any longer. It did not take me the full half-hour to determine who the sucker was in this game.
Looking back I probably should have made a comment to the floor person when I left but I was not sure if anything would have been done, as most of these guys seemed to be regulars. My advice to anyone who thinks there is collusion going on is to leave the table as quickly as possible. There is no reason to hang around even if you only suspect you might be getting cheated.
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