Is online poker rigged or fair? New light on an old debate – bad beat tests part 1.
In this new series of posts we’ll have a look at some exciting methods that are being used to monitor online poker sites and try to answer the question ‘is online poker rigged?‘…
Look on any internet poker forum and you can see threads with heated debate on the subject of online poker being and potential rigging. The arguments have been going round in circles since online poker began.
What you can expect to see:
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Very strong opinions from both camps.
Tilted players venting steam after having their aces cracked or losing to runner runner 5 times in a row.
Trolls.
The occasional well thought out argument as to why or why not online poker is fair or rigged.
Hilarious put-downs
Downright abuse!
What you don’t expect to see:
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Real Evidence
So, it’s a breath of fresh air to see some new tests being carried out by Online Poker Watchdog. In the last few months they have analysed millions of hands from some major online poker sites. In these tests, which have been dubbed ‘bad beat tests’, hands that are all-in pre-flop have been selected and the number of times the hands won in reality has been compared with the number of times they should win in a perfect world.
Also, they have made it possible for anyone who uses Poker Tracker to test their own hand histories for evidence that their poker site is fair. This is possible because the bad beat test has been made available for free download on the Online Poker Watchdog home page.
BAD BEAT TEST, SHORT VIDEO SERIES
Detailed information and full reports on each test are available at Online Poker Watchdog. However, those who want a quick user friendly explanation of these bad beat tests should view the series of short videos as they take you through a hand history analysis from start to finish. These videos will be very useful for anyone who wants to test their own hand histories as they provide a step by step tutorial of how to do so.
In part 1 you see a quick explanation of the bad beat test, how to download the test and how to import the test into Poker Tracker
In the next post we’ll be showing Part 2 of the series.
Thanks for this post. It gives a better prospective as to how the testing are done and in my opinion are quite detail in your explanation. However I’m theory of rigging is quite different than the one stated. My theory is that I would play a few tables say 3 to 6 max. I would win say 300% of my initial investment, I would catch all the gut shots, the single outter and the miracle river cards.
But then, I go to different game/s or tourneys and sng’s, then all my winnings would then get eaten by the same bad beats I was first experiencing when playing ring games my aces and kings cracked by say a bingo hand of 84 suited to the river and sets by other players. Is there any explanation to this as this is what I see as rigging. They suck you in just to build confidence and then they take more than what your initial investment was and a lot more.
Rigging does not mean the probability of hands to win, but the time a player has been playing and the balance he has on his account versus the amount he had deposited.
I play at Titan and Mansion which I have really made a good profit but not enough to quit my day job. Than playing at Hollywood Poker which all I have been doing is just give them my hard earned dollars to lose on hours on end.
Also if you check on Hollywood Poker’s home page they claim that their card dealing system is overseen by eCogra which I contacted but said they don’t oversee them, and if you go to security Hollywood claims that Kawahnake governs their software and open querying Kawahnake they also claim otherwise. Another interesting fact at Hollywood saying that Canada is where they are from but upon further investigation it turns out Malta is where they are located which is really confusing as Malta’s online gaming laws are none existent.
Can you do an investigation on this allegations, and thanks
Any comment on this theory?
Hi Poker Joker,
I think what you are referring to is the theory of rigging known as the ‘boomswitch’, where the deal is biased towards new players as this will encourage them to play more in the future.
It is true that the tests for online poker watchdog do not test the ‘boomswitch’ theory – they test the ‘bad beat’ theory. In the future it is hoped that a test of the boomswitch will be carried out.
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Thanks for posting – these videos were actually made by Online Poker Watchdog. They do have a donate button on that site – http://www.ispokerrigged.com. I’m sure they’d be happy for the support!