[BPA234]

David:

There is no doubt that there are teams playing online. From college students in a dorm who are cheating by happenstance to the group of hardcore players who are dedicated to the effort fulltime, online poker is easily exploited.

In order to reduce and hopefully eliminate this threat, I believe several actions need to be taken.

1. Online sites need to continue to invest, develop and implement better security measures. Stronger anti-collusion and anti-cheating programs need to be put in place to keep pace with the growing number of players.

2. When people are found to be cheating the information needs to be published on the website. In the two years I have played on Stars, I have received two refunds after players were found to be colluding in games I played in. Although I am grateful that I received the refund, I was not informed of any details.

Online cheating should not be a site's dirty little secret. We are all aware it takes place, and if we were not, we surely are now. Since we, the players, are the primary victims, we should have full knowledge of the offenses and the offenders.

Perhaps that would help drive the next action I recommend, whistleblowing.

3. Whistleblowing is not "snitching." Whistleblowing is the action of a responsible, honest player. If a player suspects others of cheating, the player should report the offenders. Players should take an active role in maintaining the ethical and finacial integrity of the game.

Further, I think the sites should put up rewards for whistleblowing with value based payouts. I would happily pay a percentage of my refund to a player who had reported the cheaters. Additionally, I think a general whistleblowing fund should be created from a neglible portion of the rake (.01%) that could be used to reward players who help catch cheaters.

For both player and site, cheating is bad for business. I think the only solution to the problem is to actively work together to reduce the exploitable aspects of the online game.

Brian