Online Poker Labs

This article goes over the most common ways people cheat in poker rooms, the policies most poker rooms have concerning cheating and gives advice on how to protect yourself from cheaters.

Unfortunately this is quite a common problem in online poker rooms. Poker rooms spend a lot of time and money fighting this problem, along with constantly improving their security systems. Obviously this is not just a concern of the poker room, but also the players who could potentially be swindled out of a great deal of money.

Team play

One of the most common ways people find to cheat the house is by team play. Some people play commercial games or tournaments in teams, letting each other know their cards through icq, Skype or even by phone. Obviously, knowing others’ hands gives an advantage to those who chose to cheat.

A particular method of team playing is called “stairs”. When one player from a team has a good hand, the rest of the players, regardless of their hands, also get in the game and constantly raise. Continuously raising like that creates the “staircase” and makes the pot grow considerably. Players with poor hands usually fold in the last stages of betting without a showdown.

Team play is also used to attempt to get rid of the other players vying for the pot. For instance, one of the team players raises in an early position and you call, but don’t have very good cards. Then his accomplice re-raises a lot of money in a late position, forcing you to fold. If you see this style of play often from the same players at the table, you should write down their screennames, inform the support service and leave the table. The support service will check these players, their IP addresses and all their hands to see if they participate in team play. Then it may block their accounts and take their money.

Chip dumping

Chip dumping is one more method swindlers often use. Using money that has been stolen from someone’s account or credit card, one player loses to his accomplice. This method is usually used on the private tables to prevent casual intervention in the game. But sometimes swindlers play on regular tables, which could potentially get a fair player in trouble and cause your account to be blocked. As there seems to be a large number of cheats from certain parts of the world, online poker rooms are very cautious about people from those areas. They may block your account if you happen to be from an area where many cheaters have been found. Chip dumping is closely connected with credit card theft and small time identity theft. Most often they hack into the system to steal a password, but also attempt to unlawfully get bonuses in online poker. The mail-box is likely the weakest link in a poker room’s safety system. If you can’t get into the poker room with your password, you should inform the support service by phone and ask them to block your account. The sooner you do this, the safer your money will be. Don’t mention your mailing address on the Internet and make sure to create a separate email address for poker room registration. You also should have an anti-virus program on your computer. Viruses are often sent to online poker players’ email addresses disguised as emails from friends/family. Downloading a suspicious program is never a good idea, whether for poker or in general.

Bonus “Hunting”

Bonus hunters are players who get profit from various bonuses, which poker rooms give. Some may consider them to be fair players, because they use bonus offers from a great number of various poker rooms. Nevertheless, there are unfair bonus hunters who break the poker room rules and try to get the same bonus several times even though this is strictly prohibited. They also falsify documents and use chip dumping for cash-outs. Poker rooms use many means to figure out who may be bonus hunting - by IP addresses, by looking at their documents, etc. Some poker rooms may even refuse to give bonuses to players from certain countries with a history of producing a large number of cheaters. Fair players are sometimes accused of bonus hunting or cheating in general and may have their accounts blocked for a certain period of time while it’s being investigated.

Poker rooms are well informed of the types of cheaters out there and are typically successful in getting rid of them. Though it is practically impossible to punish them by law, poker rooms can prevent them from profiting off cheating. Usually when a poker room has caught a cheater, it blocks the account and takes all the money.

When registering with a poker room, learn the rules of the site and be prepared to send copies of documents proving your identity for your financial safety. Don’t hesitate to contact the site if you notice any suspicious behavior or if your password has been changed. You can protect yourself with good antivirus software, by not opening unusual emails and never downloading files from strangers. Remember, cheaters never win. Good luck!