| Introduction | | | | government among other organizations. |
| It is common for a poker player to directly accuse or | | | | Possible Rigging |
| insinuate that online poker is rigged. This is usually a | | | | The poker industry is an incredibly tough market and |
| result of a player receiving a "bad beat". Phrases are | | | | one that is definately not easily entered. The large |
| jokingly made such as "jokerstars" referring to the | | | | businesses such as PokerStars, Full Tilt and Party |
| popular poker network, PokerStars. However, a lot | | | | Poker have swallowed their competitors and taken a |
| people share the common theory that the poker | | | | huge majority of the market between them. |
| sites rig their software as to encourage action; | | | | Smaller poker sites may have an incentive to rig their |
| increasing their profit. The theories and conspiracies | | | | software as profits might be low and security |
| cannot be proven, and many an investigation has | | | | standards/regulations may be of poor quality or even |
| been made into the credibility of these accusations. | | | | non-existent. These companies may get a slight edge |
| Logic and reason | | | | over their competitors as they have very little to |
| Rigging a poker site would be like cheating at your | | | | lose and a lot to gain by rigging their software. |
| final exams - the costs outweigh the gain. If a poker | | | | Absolute Poker Scandal |
| site is caught rigging their software then it is likely | | | | Sept. 13th. Potripper won a $1000 buy-in tourney, |
| that the said site will lose all the credibility and loyalty | | | | Absolute Pokers largest tournament. The player |
| of its customers; customers that it has taken many | | | | CrazyMarco, who finished second, insisted that there |
| years to gain the trust of. Rigging a poker site, | | | | had to be cheating involved in Potrippers win. One of |
| according to Game Theory, would be irrational and | | | | the most obvious signs was when Potripper bet |
| illogical. | | | | around 20k with T-high, got pushed all-in by |
| Human Behavior | | | | CrazyMarco, and called the sick 180k to beat |
| Human nature is a strange thing; psychologists | | | | CrazyMarcos 9-high bluff. |
| Jean-Paul Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard were a | | | | CrazyMarco demanded the hand history released, and |
| couple of the first to look into human behaviour and | | | | to his surprise, Absolute Poker was more than willing |
| more recent psychologists have studied the minds of | | | | to help him with this matter. Feb. 21st, APs support |
| poker players. One thing that has been discovered | | | | send him a file, but this was far from the ordinary |
| about online poker is that humans are naturally very | | | | hand history he had requested. The file he recieved |
| suspicious. Reasons for this natural suspicion lie in the | | | | was huge, and after a short peak he turned of his |
| fact that the mechanism controlling the outcome of | | | | computer and went to bed as he was unable to gain |
| an event cannot physically be seen. Unlike in a live | | | | any information from the data file himself. |
| game, you are unable to see the cards being shuffled | | | | Two weeks later rumors are heating up at |
| and cut. | | | | PocketFives, and Marco posts in the forum that he |
| Preventing Rigging | | | | has this enormous file from the Potripper tournament. |
| According to Poker Stars, there are | | | | The moderator of the site, adanthar, offers his help, |
| 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different | | | | and Marco sends him the file. It turns out the file |
| ways to shuffle a deck of cards. | | | | covers the entire tournament, all of the players' hole |
| Amazingly, the site uses the players to choose the | | | | cards, and other normally highly confidential |
| order of the cards using "user input, including | | | | information. |
| summary of mouse movements and events timing, | | | | - Potripper folded the first two, then saw all flops, |
| collected from client software". In the event that | | | | unless the times where an opponent had two queens |
| there are problems with this as a RNG (random | | | | or better. |
| number generator), they have a backup: "true | | | | - Potripper won all showdowns in the tournament. |
| hardware random number generator developed by | | | | - Potripper folded on the river every time he was |
| Intel, which uses thermal noise as an entropy source". | | | | behind - and raised every time he wasn't. |
| Furthermore, the RNG is certified by 2 independent | | | | - Potripper only bluffed when the opponent(s) had |
| organizations: Cigital and BMM International. | | | | weak hands. |
| Cigital: An independent software risk management | | | | Conclusion |
| organization working with such companies as | | | | The online poker (and casino) industry is a multi-billion |
| Qualcomm, Visa International, Texas Instruments, | | | | dollar industry. Credibility, respect and loyalty are at |
| AOL, MasterCard, General Electric, Motorola, Pfizer | | | | the top of the agenda for any of these businesses |
| Health Solutions, and Ericsson. | | | | and therefore rigging would most likely have |
| BMM International: A global organization that provides | | | | detrimental affects on the business. |
| independent computer systems assurance and | | | | Rigging of a poker site may be rare and unheard of, |
| compliance certification testing services, the | | | | however there is the possibility that a freak incident |
| Australia-based company is a client of the Australian | | | | such as the Absolute Poker Scandal may occur. |