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    Online poker. Myths and reality.
    December 24, 2007  Email This Post Email This Post  

    Recently poker has become hugely popular. It has become the most widely played online game. It is not surprising, that there are many rumors connected with poker. This article serves the purpose of dispelling most of these rumors. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in online poker and, of course, there many people desire to win. Money is electronic here. During a game it is displayed as chips of different colors. Due to the nature of online poker, it is easy to not take the game seriously or be nervous about its legitimacy. This feeling is intensified when you see poker sites using whimsical characters such as a charming donkey or a battered hockey player. The other difficulty is that there have been online thieves and cheaters. Naturally, rumors arise from mistrust.

    So, we shall start exposing these myths.

    Poker, as any gambling game, can lead to a person feeling demoralized.

    Gambling has been proven to be addictive and, with any addiction, it has the power to override a person’s values and integrity. Because of this you may often hear negative responses about poker. Sometimes, people unfamiliar with poker misrepresent the game by telling stories about losses on slot machines or on the casino “floor”. People often wrongly think all gambling will lead to addiction and/or involves organized crime. Also, films about thieves and card-sharks influence people’s opinion.

    Club poker has one major difference from the majority of games casinos have to offer. You play against contenders, but not against a casino. It all depends, first of all, on your skill, but not on luck, as in a game against a casino.

    Playing against a casino or with slot machines, the player is doomed to lose money. Frequently, people like this can become dependant on the highs and lows of the game and can lose everything. The same could happen to a poker player if he plays as carelessly as a roulette player. People like that don’t demonstrate any qualities of a professional poker player.

    True professionals, as a rule, are well mannered, even-tempered and have integrity. If a player is belligerent, you can be 99% sure he is an amateur and most likely a weak player.

    Online poker rooms steal money.

    This is a common stereotype, but like all stereotypes, is not the general rule.

    There have not been any accusations of cheating proven true with any of the largest online casinos. They earn so much money, receiving a commission from each bank (up to 5 %). Also, they collect interests from tournament payments (as a rule, up to 20 %). They earn this commission fairly and all players are aware that a percentage will be taken from their earnings. They have absolutely no need to behave illegally since they receive a large, stable profit through lawful means.

    It is common to commercials on TV for most of the best known poker rooms. Certainly, a TV station is not responsible for the honesty and moral character of the advertiser, but it can be an indirect influence on a company by refusing to air their advertisements due to company misconduct.

    Internet poker forums offer the opportunity to learn about online casinos. All popular forums have one important thing in common - it is difficult to hide the truth. Of course, there will also be negative opinions expressed on forums regarding each site.

    Generally, the people who are most concerned about what they hear are those who are not yet familiar with online poker. Even when you begin playing and learn more about various poker sites, you will still hear a variety of rumors.

    The deck has been stacked (Fixed games).

    GRN - generator of random numbers. Every poker room, in its description, declares that cards are distributed at random. Nobody can prove or deny this statement. There are many people who doubt that this policy is followed. The weaker the player, the more often he complains about GRN. People have one common characteristic - seldom admit our failures and weaknesses, especially when an outside source can be blamed for a negative result.

    Each and e very professional player encounters obstacles while playing and will lose at some point. Nevertheless, the player will still come out ahead. Losing like this is absolutely normal once in a while. Since professionals play 20-80 thousand hands a month and situations like these are possible during a long period. The main thing at these times is to keep self-control. Some people lose self-control and start to make mistakes and blame GRN.

    If you are serious in your intention to learn how to play poker, I would recommend avoiding the GRN theme on forums.

    Likely, at some point when you are on a losing streak you will question the honesty of a poker room and its GRN. Try to remember that only a small percentage of poker rooms have turned out to be cheats.

    In every poker hand, the most important aspect is not the result, rather the quality of your decision.

    Accept the legitimacy of GRN. It is necessary to do so, because you want to learn how to avoid your own mistakes. If you lose, most likely the reason is in quality of your game. Luck and bad luck come to everyone equally and just as often.

    Bots and readers.

    Lately, people have been talking a lot about the honesty of computer programs. They certainly are very complex, but do not overestimate them. Many people think that it is possible to write a program which will play better than a person. As of today, there is only one known program which plays as good as player in poker, but only heads-up and only in the limited poker. In no-limit poker there are many nuances with a psychological nature. There are no programs which would be capable of beating players even on small limits.

    Readers are people who are able to see the cards of their contender, or the cards which will be dealt. Believing in readers is similar to that of the belief in problems with GRN. Frequently, playing with a weak contender who was very lucky will make some, players blame him for reading. You will seldom come across this type of accusation from professional players.

    The basic criterion of software reliability of the for large poker rooms is the impossibility of reading it. Rooms are engaged in serious business which brings them millions which is why poker rooms try to safeguard themselves against those things which could affect their reputation.

    If you are lucky in cards.

    Oftentimes inexperienced players will assume that the deck is stacked, someone is cheating or reading the cards. They start to make strange conclusions when luck comes it is necessary to play more hands and if not you should stop a game. Frequently a player who has bad luck loses a great deal, one hand after another. It happens because the player is nervous about losing and makes a lot of mistakes. This brings a player into tilt. If a game develops successfully, a positive mood promotes further good play. The illusion is that a player has a wave of luck. Though such waves are possible, they are not intentional. Every time you play a hand, you could have good luck or bad luck with a 50-50 shot. It is very easy to understand this fact but sometimes it is difficult to understand it properly. Even professional players depend strongly on the previous hands.

    After you make a cash-out bad luck comes.

    One more interesting myth which is frequently can be heard on forums is players describing that they have cashed out and after that, only fail in the game. They think that a poker room wants to return this lost money. The most amusing thing is that they don’t think about the fact that no one has taken any money from the room because the money was that of their contenders. Rooms only receive their income from commission and can not lose anything.

    A period of bad luck is quite possible after a cash-out, but it is connected with your outlook. Usually the player has just reduced the size of the account and wants to bring it back to its former level, as soon as possible, which is why huge mistakes are possible on large banks when a player loses a game with medium combinations (when he chooses to continues a game instead of passing).

    Poker as a source of easy money.

    Here is some food for thought which was recently presented on an online poker forum:

    In your career, you know that you are rewarded based on hard work and merit, which is the same in poker. You cannot expect to earn a fortune based on luck alone. Sometimes you come across poor quality work and, in this case, we are paying a person, not for his work, but for his unprofessionalism, greed and laziness. Poker is the kind of job in which a person pays a hefty price for unprofessionalism, greed and laziness.

    Keep this in mind if you are contemplating a career in poker, as its not as easy as it’s often made out to be.
    Good luck!

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    13 Responses to “Online poker. Myths and reality.”

    Comment by test | Link to comment
    July 1, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    test blablabla

    Comment by Dispellthemyth | Link to comment
    November 30, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    First of all, you need to update your site. A lot of things have changed in one year; namely the increased amount of cheating that goes on in the on line poker games. The REALITY is that you have no idea what happens on these UNREGULATED sites. If you play on a site like Absolute Poker or ultimate bet; where they don’t share a network with anyone, you are suspect to hackers or people that can easily get that software from a former employee or even purchase it on the black market. Even if you play on a “network” for example like Bookmaker, 5 dimes, and DSI share- you are still subjecting yourself to collusion/chip dumping. All one has to do is get 3 different computers (which of course will have 3 different IP addresses) and put them side by side and create an account with each of those three poker sites I referenced that are in the networrk and just use different screen names. The only way you have a chance to DECREASE the risk of cheating is to play heads up poker in a “network” site.
    What is most dissapointing is that the people in Costa Rica, etc…could care less if there is cheating going on. If they did, they would constantly change their software and update it to prevent this from happening. It’s a shame because it’s a fun game….just too many risks out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts, though,,,,,

    Comment by Robert | Link to comment
    January 20, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I have been playing for a few years and thousands of hands on line on numers sites and I have noticed that in some games the hands are absiluly un realistic, as you get closed to the end game the hands get progressively better to get players to bet more and complete the game faster, a lot of PP start to show up with one person hitting the set taking out two or three players. Every player has a personaly picked handle but really you are just a sequce of numbers and letters under that handle, this enables the site to keep track of you and your number can be programmed to hit a lot of good luck or bad luck, I have played some games and basily no matter what I playerd I won and other times just playing preimum cards and lost every hand, I also notice when you type in “are poker games fixed” 99 % of the information about why they are not is posted by the sites them selves, which in its self is very suspisious. My spelling is not great but I think you can get the drift

    Comment by Top15Poker01 | Link to comment
    March 2, 2009 at 2:20 am

    Poker as a source of easy money. The more interesting myth which is frequently can be heard from the people is players describing that they have cashed out and after that, only fail in the game.

    http://www.top15poker.com/

    Comment by Pokermaniak | Link to comment
    April 12, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    The Black side of online poker room’s by me in my short gambling carrer. One is fee , some platform still 10% other 20% this is not right. Second , look at operators they still money , not everybody but someone yes. Posibility to still money whan somebody sign up no deposit bonus do that situation. Like no deposit bonus on Titan . I say 50+100$ but for Poland players is 5+10$ , and not for all in same time !! Are you know who still money - operators i thing. Pokermaniak Regards

    Comment by Christopher Ronk | Link to comment
    April 13, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    A good friend of mine recently won $40K from an on-line gambling site. Until then I thought they were all scams. I still kind of do.

    I mean it would be so easy to change the programming to make it easier or more difficult for you to win. It just common sense. I guess the trick is to find sites that are US based and are monitored regularly.

    If you need money, I would suggest credit card factoring

    Comment by Peter Abbate | Link to comment
    June 21, 2009 at 10:20 am

    It is my opinion that the random generator distributes random hands and not random cards. The game is not fixed but is controlled by creating competition between players. I don’t expect anyone to admit this but there is no better way to explain the manner in which cards tend to fall.

    Comment by kevykool | Link to comment
    June 29, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    I’ve heard all the stories about online poker and after playing for a few years the fact is the sites are rigged. but in whos favor? the problem is that the people who keep bad beating you could just be the beneficiaries of the sites need to create action hands or possibly they are set up to win. the whole idea that i can now predict with about 70% accuracy the outcome of close or all in hands tell me that these occurences are not random. the problem is that even though i know what is coming it doesn’t help me win because decisions were made and cards were dealt before the opportunity to predict the outcome arises. the truth is that it can save you some money by knowing what not to do in certain situations. Now those of you who don’t believe me i’m going to share THE SECRETS TO ONLINE POKER with you. Let me know after youv’e played at least a 1000 hands or more and track what happens in these situations… 1. THE BIG STACK WILL WIN. It doesn’t matter if you have the best hand or not if you get involved in a pot especially all in the big stack will win 80% of the time.
    2.WATCH OUT FOR THE RIVER. If you are involved in a pot and you look good all the way through but someone keeps calling you with what has to be garbage, you will lose to the river about 60% of the time especially if the person is playing a hand with an ace. these sites LOVE TO RIVER ACES.
    3. HE COULDN’T POSSIBLY HAVE THAT CARD. Yes he does! 1 outer, 2 outer you better believe he has it or he will get it on the turn or the river.These sites deal the hands that they know will create action pots.
    4.ACES, KINGS, QUEENS and JACKS. Whenever you get one of these big hands you are maybe 40% to win.Thats because it may be your turn to get cracked! so the actual percentages of wins with these hands NEVER HOLD UP. If you win with them the first time I promise you will get cracked the next time around by some crap that should not have been played. 4 RAISING WINS. These sites tend to reward the raiser, so if you wonder why that guy keeps raising every pot, its because he knows or has figured out that he’ll win about 70% of the hands that he plays when he raises. 5. CASH OUT? only if you are truly dilligent. These sites will do anything to keep from giving you your winnings. They will stall and stall, even redepositing your money with a bonus in hopes that you don’t leave and get the online fever again and end up losing the money you were trying to cash out plus more. and if its true that they don’t lose any money when you cash out why is there always a problem?( Which leads me to.. 6.THE CASH OUT CURSE. its real! period.first of all any “MYTH” that has been perpetuated year after year and has literaly thousands of believers has to have some truth in it. Stereotypes may be bad but you can’t create a stereotype without some truth. The sites don’t want you to keep winning and take your money away instead of continuing to play and lose it back to one of their schills or even just the rake. if you cash out they lose!!
    Now i know i’m going to stir up some mess with these “SECRETS”, but i dont care. i’m getting tired of trusting these people with my money only to get screwed on a regular basis. and as for those proponets of online poker I promise you that EVERYONE of them is somehow associated with or benefiting from the sites. Now those of you who don’t believe me, again, track the situations and let me know what happens. As for the poker sites if they truly want everyone to believe they are legit and they want to be legalized in the us. then allow an independent(government?) team to go in and inspect, monitor, and regulate them the same way land based casinos are and then there won’t be any questions as to legitimacy.

    Comment by Tom | Link to comment
    July 13, 2009 at 1:53 am

    cash out truth, I was a winning consistently for 5000 hands, then I cashed out, then keep losing with AA, 3 bets before flop, and some guy call 3 bets cold with KQ, guess what the flop AJ-10. and AK lost to A6 river 2 pairs, more and more, I start out with 300 and won 3000, after 1500 cash out, playing 5-10 limit 6 hands, I lost all the 1500. and all to underdog cards. It not happen before I cash out.

    Comment by Jerry | Link to comment
    October 21, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    Cash out curse absolutely right, always losing with AA, KK, QQ, AK but when you hold say 82 and you fold you\\\’ll see two or three 8 or 2 on the flop ,and this comes so often just to make you steammy and you\\\’ll begin playing too many hands and losing your overall bankroll hahaha, that\\\’s happen to me twice on the diifferent poker room after make a cash out, you\\\’ll never ever win anymore so my advice is cash out all not some of your money and make a new account at new poker room..

    Comment by Barry white | Link to comment
    November 12, 2009 at 7:51 am

    rIgged? what a bunch of idiots you lot are

    Comment by matt sanders | Link to comment
    December 31, 2009 at 2:55 am

    u talk a lot of garbage, firstly i have been playing poker online for years and without fail evertime i make a cash ,the next deposit i lose, you dont fold packet kings, pocket aces pre flop i dont care who you are. then get hit by lower pairs hitting sets or or someone calling with say 7,9 ,6,8 whatever combination and bingo hiting there straight. . .i would love to watch you play and see if you folded aces or king preflop, its amazing how i can call cards before there even drawn who am i mystic meg.exhplain me why time after time after winning a big pot , The next hand is usually either a massive ppocket pair or a,k a,q and either for example u have queens an ace pops up with out fail or a,k a,q the deck produces nothing higher than 9 high and then u lose all the profit you just made. i fold pocket queens a,k next hand cos i know u aint gonna win niche. People like you write these blogs who are probably working for one of the big companies, to try and justify the rng on these site. i suggest people play online and study patterns of rather than really think they are randomly produced,by the way i am a winning player (just)should be much more .Sure everyone gonna get busted with aces now and again, by the way aces get busted more than any other pair so be warned rather go allin with 4,s , but after a cash take note of how many times you get busted by 2-3 outers, also all the book doyles super system ,negranaus book are good and valuable but have no relevance in the world of online poker ,only live games, treat online poker as the same as a online slot machine because there all predemined before your even dealt the cards sometimes u hit 3 bells on the reel sometime u hit jack, never rely on rng or think its truly random. if u ask them they give u tosh about algorithims and how you press the mouse button , when they first told me that i thought they were taking the p….. . so be careful how hard or how soft u make that make that click on the mouse because it could up costing you a fortune, never heard such garbage in all my life,anyway still paying and stil scraping by but i have no illusions about what online poker is, and dont bother listening to this author cos he talking out of his ass, cos i,d challenge him to a competition 100 dollar lay down and one hrs play and see who made the most based on the scenario i stated above, on a random site and not logging in under his companys poker site username, bring it on

    Comment by bazza | Link to comment
    January 24, 2010 at 4:28 am

    I have to say that lately I have been thinking that these sites are rigged, reading some of the comments above and I’m in the exact same situation. Only thing with me is I have a friend who won 80K recently and he was a small stake player on the same sites as I play so I keep playing in the hope of geting a “dream run” of luck and hitting it big….but I think now I’ll start going to casino’s instead of online cash games.


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