Simple Collusion Via Powerful Technology

In online poker, collusion, meaning player-to-player cooperation, is much easier to pull off than in a live game where you can look your opponents in the bloodshot eyes.

With telephones, instant messaging programs, Skype, and the online casinos' complete inability to control such communication methods, it is patently impossible to stop collusion from happening.

Trust us, online poker players regularly work together to take other players' chips. In fact, many online poker players wouldn't even see collusion as cheating! For a technology-obsessed culture, collusion may be in the process of becoming just a part of the game.

When people are teaming up against you, this obviously puts you at a great risk of losing your money in the online poker world. Collusion is the most common form of online poker cheating and while it is not the worst crime in the book, it can hurt you.

back to top of page

An Example of Collusion in Online Poker

Let's talk about a specific example of collusion, though, because in poker, it's never wise to stay shut-up in the Ivory Tower of Abstract Theory.

Suppose you are playing Texas Hold'em and you are in middle position and the players surrounding you have shown no aggression pre-flop.

The flop comes 2-6-Q and the player before you bets.

You then call, or raise, with your Q-K.

The player behind you then re-raises, the betting gets capped by the original bettor, and the remaining players call.

The turn comes a 9, a very safe card, and again, the first player bets. You call, or raise, and the player behind you re-raises again, the betting is again capped and the remaining players again call.

The player behind you must have a very strong hand to be re-raising in this situation since there were no good draws on the flop and no semi-bluff opportunities. He is not trying to get a free card, he is trying to get the most money in the pot, indicating a very, very strong hand in this scenario.

On the next round, after a K falls on the river, the first player again bets, whereas you call fearing trips from one of your opponents. The player behind you again re-raises, the first player again caps, and you call.

The last player now folds.

What!?! How can he fold here?

Easy, because he didn’t want to show his nothing hand and prove that he was cooperating with the first player, who yes, did have trips Qs--but did not want to give that away by betting aggressively from early position.

This is one instance where it can be quite obvious that collusion-based cheating is occurring.

back to top of page

Middle Limit Hold'em Cheaters: Look Out For'em

Since there are very few poker players playing at the world class level online, these high limit games are heavily scrutinized and the appearance of a bunch of nobodies taking the game by storm would raise suspicion.

It is thus somewhat safe to say that the majority of online poker cheaters hide in the middle depths of online poker, never to be discovered, but still, potentially, reaping a handsome profit.

These cheaters are smart enough to never be at the top of any leader boards or money rankings, so there may be no indication that they even exist; they are truly "off the radar."

This is not to say online poker is rigged or that you can't win playing it. You can win at online poker. But you must play informed.

Online poker rooms are a virtual treasure trove of information and you would be wise to read everything that you can get your hands on. Poker is a game of information, albeit incomplete information, that can be used to reveal the true nature of your opponents.

The more you know about your opponents, the better off you'll be.

That's why the scariest thing about playing online poker is the amount of information that your opponents and their computers are able to gather about you.

Counter this threat by using poker tracker software effectively. Not using poker tracker software while playing online poker is like playing poker blindfolded:

You could do it but why on earth would you ever want to?

back to top of page

So What Can You Do About It?

This brings us to our and maybe your next question, perhaps the most important: Let's say you witness or fall victim to online poker cheating--what can you do about it?

Well, to be honest it is not easy to prove online poker cheating and we cannot lie to you and say that it is. As a player, you will never have access to all of the information that the poker sites do. We can't track players by their IP addresses, telling us their exact location in the world, and we can't see which players commonly play with which other players.

However, we as players do know when something fishy happens at the table, and the poker sites do have the information noted above.

By combining forces, players and sites, we can create fairer online poker rooms.

Do your part. Make a note of the players who participated in a hand like the hand we talked about before, that's obviously cheating. Send a message to the poker site, asking them to analyze the hand for themselves.

Make sure to send them the hand numbers in question and be specific about why you believe a player, or players, to be cheating. If the site is committed to hosting a fair game of poker, they will look into it with all the available knowledge at their disposal.

If they agree with you, they will ban the IDs from playing at the site. Never mind that a player can establish another ID and start the process over again. Still, it is our responsibility to inform them when we are confident that cheating is occurring.

We only hope that the sites are fair, and not lazy, when analyzing the data. The poker sites are the only ones with all the information and it is their responsibility to use that information to provide us with a game that is fair.

back to top of page