Wow. After years of LOLing at the "online poker is teh RIGGED" brigade it is really quite shocking to read this news and watch this bubbling over on the 2+2 forums the last few weeks. This could be hugely damaging to Absolute, and by association, all the other online poker sites.

I really hope it doesn't scare the fish away, although it may explain why no-one folds to my river bluffs.

These two threads have more detail about the scandal:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=12523179&page=0&vc=1

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=12523924&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

Why is this a surprise ?

Can't see why anyone would give their trust re their hard-earned cash to a system where they have no visibility of how the game is being run. It seems like the desire to gamble overrules the common-sense, no ?

At least when you all sit down at a table, you can watch what's going on, see where the cards come from etc. Plus, if you get roundly beaten, you can turn the table over and shoot the other guy (so Hollywood tells me).

Always had a deep-seated suspicion that the game that ran on my Spectrum was cheating. After all, the computer knew exactly what cards I had as it was of course the dealer. It's that reason alone that I was awful at it and nothing else.

Hrumph...

If, when you sit down to a game of cards you can't spot the sucker, then it's you.

I've always wondered how anyone knows for sure that you're not playing bots or even employees of the poker site.

It's good to see that the authorities have jumped on it and investigating.

Whenever people tell me a site is rigged I tell them to go practice and become a better poker player. If you can't handle the bad beats (sometimes several on the run) you should really be playing the game.

I have been following the threads about this on 2+2 forums and this is the first time I've actually believed that there was dodgy going on in online poker. It is important that the authorities handle this well to maintain the integrity of online poker as a whole.

The thing that strikes me here is that the cheater didn't do a very good job at it. It wouldn't have been too difficult to hide the cheating by playing a few bad hands and letting themselves get beat. To go and win virtually ever hand made it very obvious.

I've recently taken up Texas Hold-Em myself. You know, the kind that works in front of actual people.

I have NEVER believed that online poker would be safe to play, and would never do so. This news only ascertains my opinions.

There are several factors why -

-Firstly, everybody who wants to win will be using, at the least, software assistance during betting, ones that tell you your odds based on your starting hand, and possibly statistical software over lots of games. If you're sat at home and nobody can see, wouldn't you if your money was on the line, and knowing that other people will be, hence reducing your chances?

-Secondly, won't the servers who you entrust your credit card to be very vulnerable to external hackers, over long periods of time, vulnerabilities will reveal themselves. Also your online poker accounts are likely to be open to attack, a la Ebay.

-Thirdly, Has nobody watched Scarface!!? It all smells a bit dodgy, esp if they can hide behind a webserver on the other side of the planet.

-fourthly, this current shit happens!

-etc.

-etc.

-etc.

Dont trust em as far as I can throw em.

Visual representation of the hands being played.

http://www.highstakesreport.com/video-reports/absolute-poker-cheating/

So you are saying both that, "...this is the first time I've actually believed that there was dodgy going on..." and, "It wouldn't have been too difficult to hide the cheating..."?

It has then be demonstrated that cheating does occur, and that it wouldn't be hard to conceal it more effectively. Strikes me as a reasonable point at which to be 'put off'. But then, I consider gambling and speculation poor methods of wealth acquisition.

Shouldn't "LOLing" be "LingOL"?

Using statistical analasis programs to help you improve your poker play is not cheating, it just stops u having to work out the odds in your head, in fact a lot of sites encorage the use of these programs, some program writers even get kickbacks from the sites for advertising and such.

Is it cheating if u'r a maths genius and can work it all out for yourself?

If you think using stats programs will make you win at Poker you have a way to go. Yes - the stats programs help. But in no way do they define a winning player! I used them for some time - and learnt the odds of the various hands. I dont use them any more (if you go for conspiracy theories what about the one that says the stats program knows your hand and could be sending it back to a server?).

As for online poker being rigged - I see very little evidence of it. No doubt there are bots, and no doubt there is collusion. These are inevitable but the big operators are aware of the risks and have in place solutions. The AP thing certainly looks dodgy and I would say shows up a blatant security breach at AP. But I do think this is an isolated (and stupid) thing. In general when a poker network is taking in vast amounts in rake and tourney fees every day there is really no incentive to cheat. They make money anyway!

Enjoy the game and gamble with what you can afford to lose.