Fraud in online poker

The majority of fraud methods, which exist in off-line gambling, are not dangerous in online, because dishonest players can not manipulate a deck online. However some methods have become available in online games. So the first is command game ("silent signal cooperation"). Players have a signals system, which cards they have got and they communicate, playing in coordination, increase the profit and divide money after the game. In online poker they can communicate by phone or through Internet Messenger. Card-shapers know, which cards they have, creating the advantage over fair players who play round game.

One of tactics, applied by shapers for maximization their profit, is "clipping" the players by raises (sandwiching). Each of them lifts the rate in turn and the extraneous player does not have choice, except equalizing all rates on each circle of trade in order to see the cards or to be sloughed. In most cases, if the player does not have "nuts", he chooses fold.

Sometimes there are conversations at Russian-speaking online poker forums between players who have stepped or would like to step into this slippery road. The same conversations or even "reports" about this fraud you can see at English-speaking forums. Fortunately for fair players of low limits it is not so bad.

First, the majority of members of such low limited team are not able to play. They simply have heard, that there is such a game - poker online, where they can deceive everyone into parting with money. However, they can’t play apart, otherwise as a single player they are losers. I will not confirm that they are loss-makers, when they sit together at one table, but their silent signal cooperation is usually noticeable. Of course you will not be able to see it at first, but they are given out by repetition of such situations:
1. Planned chain of check-raises-re-raises and "clipping" by raises those of the players, who are not in the team, to intimidate and force to slough cards. One of team members usually has strong cards, and the second-third can not have anything.
2. Members of team with weak cards stop playing aggressively against each other for lack of the extraneous player and try to slough cards not leveling the last rate on last trade circle not to show "anything". By the team presence the most aggressive cards distributions on flop-turn come to an end with "zilch" on river – everyone is dumped, not having balanced last rate and not having opened a card. Sometimes inadequate cards of members of a command all the same remain before opening and if you see, that usually economical player did unjustified raises with 7 2, and someone the third during this moment had AA – it is also a suspicious situation.
3. If the above described situations regularly give off the bank to the same players.

When similar situations repeat several times, and alternate with more or less quiet delivery, and some players alternate adequate and inadequate behavior it is possible to suspect command presence at the table. Though, if they do raises with feeling, pauses and remarks in a chat the essence thus masks a little. Further you can leave and write the letter to service of investigations of this site (for example, alerts@partypoker.com if you play on PartyPoker) with the message of numbers of distributions and names of all suspects. During the game you do not need to speak absolutely anything about your suspicions in a chat since usual players can not believe or understand what they are talking about, and the command can be disturbed and they take away money from accounts. Whether it is necessary to remain at the table to receive benefit from tactics of game of the command opened by you is quite a difficult question, the relative position here is important and it will be better to leave in most cases.

Opinions of fair players on prevalence of this phenomenon disperses - from full "impregnation" of club online poker by command game, to its full absence. In one of programs of storage and the statistics analysis (PokerStat, it supports broad gulls ParadisePoker and PokerStars) even possibility to analyze base of players and the played distributions on presence of commands is given to the player. In my opinion command game in the obvious form occurs seldom enough. Probably any less appreciable forms of the crooked gambling and information interchange meet more often and are simply less appreciable, but they don’t damage.

Poker clubs understand danger of silent signal cooperation for the industry of online poker and do everything possible for its detection. Their own closed program algorithms come to be the helping hand, helping to find out a command, experts are involved for consultations and the help of usual players is welcomed. On a signal of the player they from their part estimate a situation, having considered also cards of other players invisible to you (to club full reports of all played games are accessible). One of ways to confirm command game is comparison of time which suspects spend in joint game with average time of crossing of other players of these limits. After disclosing of commands their money will be confiscated, and accounts of dishonest players in this club are closed, though in doubtful cases easier decisions - for example, prohibition of joint game behind one table are also possible. I heard about existence of the black list of sharpers which poker-clubs exchange among themselves.

Just in case an example of that was not command game, but looked similar: the player did raises easier each distribution and continued them to do before opening of cards, sometimes being however dumped on river. Everybody who could make money on it - earned, they did re-raises to it on a circle, places helping each other, but it was hardy like a command game. 8-9 of its opponents in this case received the increased banks. If there two or more maniacs for whom adrenaline is much more important than money, at the table it becomes difficult enough to distinguish it from command game, and it is necessary to look whether suspicious tactics give the bank in charge of the same players, and the service of investigations should check whether there were any contacts, how often they play with each other etc.

Some people, having learnt about this party of poker online start to search for possibility to play a command. Their arguments about such are "everybody does it, the club catches them not so well and frequently, therefore it is necessary so to do it to return money which was stolen by me". Let's transfer a scene of action on railway station: we have turned away and we have the suitcase stolen, and police is searching it too long or it seems not to search it at all. On the turned logic it will be necessary to filch to yourself someone's suitcase for indemnification. I do not agree with such approach. It is not necessary to play in general online poker if you consider the game to be dishonest. Anther category of command players simply claim to have an integral right to live without rules or they consider, that concerning usual people, "fish" in their terminology, it is not necessary to follow any rules. There are "ours", and another side is “fish ". Well, it is not treated at the adult person making such choice consciously. We need to operate in own way within the norm - to catch, close accounts, to bring them in the black list etc. Approximately the same life outside poker rooms is arranged.

Still, as the justification for your own failures, silent signal cooperation is often mentioned by those who actually does not want or cannot learn how to play club online poker profitably. I can answer, that even if commands are extended more than I think, games are now arranged in such a way that the good player anyway remains with profit, despite negative factors. If you cannot tell that about yourselves yet I would like to wish you success in future.