Is online poker rigged?

[Alan Mendelson]

We all wonder if online poker is rigged? And there have been some documented cases of fixed and rigged games and they are well publicized in the poker media.

Well, I have a new case to report. It happened on the relatively new online poker site Cafrino.com which is a free-to-play site that offers small cash prizes that are funded by advertising.

Since it's free to play, I've laughed off the "problems" but I would not play this site if it cost me money. Let me tell you what happened in one of their "free" tournaments:

Twice while at the "first table" I was dealt cards and one of the cards actually changed after being dealt to me. In both cases a playable hand changed to a non-playable hand.

I was amazed. In one case I was dealt two clubs, and within an instant one of the clubs changed to a heart. A few minutes later a dealt pair changed.

During the course of the game I used the chat feature to ask if any of the other players saw their dealt cards changing -- and they didn't. They suggested it might be a "glitch" in the software. Well, that would be quite a glitch, don't you think?

That was my first indication that something was wrong.

Later I found out through playing many free tournaments and especially in "heads up" games that the big stack would always make remarkable draws to finish off the short stack. Sometimes I was the big stack and I would make remarkable draws to finish off the short stack. It seemed that the cards were "fixed" so that the "free games" would not run too long. After all, the more "free games" they can play on the site, the more "commercials" and "advertisements" that players would see at the start of each "heads up game" and while players at single table tournaments would see while waiting for games to start.

I'm not going to accuse this site of deliberately running a rigged game because I don't think it would be in their best interests to do that. But a company never really knows what kind of software they're buying, and what some bugs a programmer might have buried in the system.

But I know that if I want to play for real money, I'd want to play where at least I can see all the cards, watch the shuffle and the deal, and in the case of an automatic shuffler, watch the cut and the deal.

[Alan Mendelson]

Earlier tonight I played in one of Cafrino.com's free tournaments. $50 prize pool. I made the final table and was paid $2 for finishing 7th. So far my total winnings are $4.31 on this site. Yippee!!

But, there was a problem at the table just before the final table. I found myself playing against an invisible player. I'm not kidding. On my computer screen it appeared that one seat was empty, but there was actually a player in that seat. When I thought I was the only player in a hand, along comes a screen asking me to call or raise? So I asked in the chat, is there a player in this hand besides me? No one responded and I didn't call.

Next hand... before I called I asked "how many players at the table?" I was told the table was full after I explained that I see an empty seat. Then I discovered that a couple of other players have run into the same problem.

I sent an email to support at Cafrino.com and I will let you know what they say.

[redietz]

Alan,

The problems with online poker are numerous. I've run into many situations on various sites wherein I thought either technological or group-based cheating was in progress. Check out the histories of Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet, and so on. It's been a mess. And whenever people speak up on forums to expose the problems, they are inevitably shouted down by others who, in may instances, happen to be the folks making the most money on the sites in question.

It's a cesspool.

The examples you experienced are so bad, they're almost funny.

[Rob.Singer]

I agree. Online poker has been overrun by phonies, cheaters, frauds, and greedy opportunists. That's why so many who've made a name for themselves by being involved in that business have gone down so hard when it came time to play live.