You've heard it all too often before. Players crying foul at sick coolers and the 2 outer bad beats playing online. The notion that the games online are rigged has been around since online poker came into prominence almost 2 decades ago.
Although only a small minority thinks this way, the vocal ones tend to be highly effective in convincing other players that their illusion is actually real and it spoils the game for everyone.
This article aims to dispel any myths you or anyone might have on online poker once and for all. We're serious about this because too many idiots out there have been whining and moaning about a few hands and jumped to silly conclusions that they've been cheated out of their money.
1. The Bad Beats and Coolers
Our minds are programmed to remember the moments that hurt us the most. In poker, it's the suck outs and the coolers. You hardly ever remember a sick hand that you won, or the times where you dished out a bad beat.
You play 5 to 10 times as many hands that you play online compared to live games. That means that if you play 20 hands an hour live, you'd play at least 100 hands online. That number is probably more because most online players play multiple tables concurrently.
Another factor is simply variance. You play thousands of hands online and there will inevitably be patches where you just run bad! It's called downswing, even the most seasoned pros are not immune to this.
Here's a reddit post where someone accused PokerBros of being rigged from someone who's only played 20 minutes on the app and jumped to a conclusion right away about the app being rigged for action.
The reply is gold. Need I say more?
2. Online Poker's RNG Simply Can't Be Tampered With
RNG stands for 'Random Number Generator' which all card rooms use to provide fair and completely random dealt cards and results for every single hand. Tampering with the RNG means that you are changing small codes within the RNG system which could affect the whole system and could easily render the whole mechanism useless. Simply put it, rigging the RNG is quite nearly impossible.
Moreover, many reputable online poker rooms will go through a rigorous third party screening process to certify that its RNG is legitimate. Once they pass the tests, they are subjected to frequent inspections in order to have their licenses and certifications remain.
PPpoker and Upoker are certified by Gaming Labs while PokerBros is certified by both Gaming Labs and iTech Labs. These are simply just a few examples to go by.
Here are some of the reputable gaming certification companies:
3. Bots That Will Crush Your Soul
The existence of bots in the online poker world is well documented. We're not denying the fact that there are third party providers that sells bots to players in order to 'bot' at poker sites. However, these bots very rarely win! The bots see the exact same hole cards a player will see and simply plays poker for you with the standard bets and folds according to your pre-set. We've even tested out a few bots just to see if we could win. After more than 1,000 hours of testing 3 different botting system, the answer is a resounding NO. Bots are machines that act according to what they are told. They do not respond to tells and different situations during a poker hand.
Now, the idea that poker sites have in house bots to crush you is simply ridiculous based on the above mentioned points and also because of the fact that these big companies running legitimate apps do not have the need to do it. They make money from the rake you generated pure and simple.
4. Super Users Who Can See Your Hole Cards
Again, baseless accusations just because of players were on the bad end of a suck out. We've seen countless hands posted online about the unusual plays by opponents and thus, the player who lost cries foul. You've got to remember that no 2 poker hands play out the exact same way. Human beings are involved and you can never predict what a person on the other end is doing. Have you ever played in a live casino where someone drunk just randomly sits and donks all his chips away? What if that same guy gets super lucky that day and wins with all his trash hands? Would you complain to the casino that they have rigged the game?
Conclusion
It's easy to understand why people think that online poker is rigged. It's a convenient excuse for not putting in the time and effort to learn the game and to get good at it. Never have I met a skilled player complained about a site being rigged. The companies have invested millions into providing you with a poker software, in some cases these are even listed companies on the stock exchange in their respective countries. It's simply unfathomable that huge companies will do something like this to risk everything just to make some small money.
In closing, forget about any doubts you have about the fairness of the online game and invest your time into honing your skills and beat the game!
Good luck and may the flop always be with you! To get more information on how to start playing poker, contact us at
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