[Peter McDermott]

[ QUOTE ]

But he also is saying in this TV news-story that all the sites rig their games, that there are many bots out there that can beat you, that their hacks that allow you to see all your opponents cards, etc etc.


[/ QUOTE ]

You know, I really quite enjoyed this book -- and found it fairly plausible, albeit somewhat overwrought, until I reached this section.

I could buy that collusion happens, online and off. I could even buy that people could design bots that, at the lowest limits, might even make money.

However, when I reached the section where he describes visiting the home of an online poker player who has a card reading programme, that allows the cheat to see what cards his opponents are playing, I just couldn't figure out who was the bigger sucker -- him for buying this story, or me for buying his book.

If he'd wanted to be taken in any way seriously, then he would have at least offered some account of the way that such a programme is purported to work. Presumably, the cheat would need to have software installed on the server that revealed the hand history for a game in progress. How does the cheat gain access to the server? How does he defeat the intrusion detection methods that the gaming sites have in operation?

Just saying that this stuff happens, and it must be true because I've seen it in action is about as credible as the National Enquirer saying that Elvis is alive and well, and living in Hitler's bunker on the moon -- and that this must be true, because a Florida psychic saw it in a vision.