Online Poker - rigged or not?

[Spider]

If something can be rigged, I generally assume that it is.

[gla22]

Online poker isn't rigged in general because there is no reason for them to risk damaging their reputation for what would be a very marginal increase in traffic.

[uebermann]

Yeah I'm with Spider. I think if it can be rigged, it probably is.

They may not be flat out cheating, but after playing several hundred hours online and playing for who knows how many hours in casinos and in other places, I have no doubt the online sites "juice" the cards to make the hands more interesting.

And nothing to gain? Please. Why would I play poker on a site where I have to fold 30 hands in a row when I could play at one that is way more exciting where I get full houses and trips almost every play?

[gla22]

That's stupid logic. Every consumer wants to play on an unrigged site. No consumer is going to choose a rigged site because they think they will get better cards. Basically, if the consumer notices one site gets them better hands, they will STOP playing there because it is rigged.

Also, I'm not sure where you play, but many of these sites are regulated. They can't just change the formula. Honestly, if I had a nickel for every good poker player who insisted they don't do well online because of rigging, I would stop playing poker. If you can't recognize why the hands are more exciting, you probably aren't very good anyway.

[Bauce]

What is this nonsense? Anything that can be rigged is rigged? Elections can be rigged. Do you believe every election is rigged? Sporting events can be rigged. Do you believe that every football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, rugby and cricket match played is rigged? Gtfoh.

[Professor]

But, here's the question (again, assuming that the "rigging" in question applies to all players, not just a few):

If it's just as likely that EVERYONE is getting trips on every play, then why wouldn't you fold with trips?

I mean, let's say that getting a single pair in a 5-card hand is 42.3%. Getting trips is 2.11%. If you have a pair, and are playing with 2 other people, chances are good (don't know how the calculate, exactly) that someone else has a better pair or higher hand. This means that, statistically, you should fold. But, if you have trips, then chances are REALLY good that you have a better hand than anyone, so you stay in.

Now, you're playing online. Assuming they've "rigged" it so that everyone gets good hands, odds of getting a pair are 80%, and getting trips is 20%. No longer is having trips such a "sure" bet. So, why don't you fold?

Seems like it'd be pretty easy to figure out the odds. Just log everyone's hands for a few hundred deals, then calculate the probabilities. In a single night of gambling, you should be able to see if the odds are the same as physical-card poker.

[Bauce]

[Leviathan]

Exactly. Online you can't see folded hands. Now think about how many times you laughed your ass off at a friend who folded a full house. Quite often. Online, that hand would probably have been played, since way fewer hands are folded.

It's really basic math. Like I said, you can't be very good if you play a whole tournament and think it's rigged.

[uebermann]

[Leviathan]

I don't think you understand the difference between incompetence and rigging. Even in soccer, the most rigged sport of all, the only matches that are actually rigged and bullshit 3rd division games in Hungary or something. And it's policed quite aggressively, often carrying jail time.

The idea that a poker site can rig its deals is just ignorant. It's poker, it would be mathematically proven in a week if any site tried to rig it.