Video News Story on Dirty Poker

[MicroBob]

I posted this link in a NVG thread titled 'Attn Memphis Poker Players'.

I suspect that many who might be interested won't see it because of the subject-line and hope nobody minds the x-post.

Go ahead and lock or delete or whatever as necessary.


When you get to the link you can then find a little box in the upper-left with a little video-camera icon so you can see the actual video-version of this news 'story' which is really just a promotional piece for Richard Marcus and his book Dirty Poker...which may be another reason to nix this post...I just thought it might be of interest...and I certainly am not terribly intrigued by the book.


link to text version (to get to the link for the video version)

[MicroBob]

I now see that there is a different half of the story.

Scroll down the web-page some to 'featured videos' and about 6 or 7 stories down there is 'Poker Cheats Online' where the same guy talks about collusion, seeing everyone's hole-cards via hacking, multi-accounting, and bots.

And how the sites let you win on the play-money tables so that you will be more inclined to play real-money.


It should be noted that this is almost definitely a syndicated story that this channel in Memphis picked up. That means that this story probably ran on other local newscasts (with some of the subject matter changed for locality).

I think it's kind of alarming that this guy can promote his (at least partly) nonsense book via supposedly legitimate news outlets.

And it certainly doesn't help poker's image at all (think about all those congressmen looking for more ammo for their legislation).

[MicroBob]

the part of the story about online-cheating is under featured-videos at this link


wmctv.com

[WalkAmongUs]

i heard this guy interviewed on a DC/Maryland radio show and he seemed a little bit crazy.

he was convinced that everyone was cheating everywhere. according to him, you get cheated all the time online...play money and real money, and all of the top name pros just play with each other to give the appearance of a game and they wait till a rich fish comes along and then fleece him...but if they're just playing each other they give everyone their money back at thge end of the day.

he said that GSN's High Stakes Poker was all bogus and they all get their money back afterwards because "none of them came to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on tv." thats only something a crazy person would do according to him...

[LeftyRuggiero]

It is sort of aggravating that players now dilute the possibility of getting cheated. It seems as if that now the game is on T.V. it is perfectly legit in some eyes. Whenever there is money to be collected there will be foul play. We have saw this with the stock market, union pension funds, etc but we assume that most are legit when they sit down at the table. I'm sure that many have heard the rumors of Men Nguyen's cheating. I am not in a place to say it is true but, let's face it some of these guys CHEAT! There are big name players out there that are most likely cheaters! I really hate to say it because I love the game, the television shows, and most of the players. Do any of you think that Amarillo Slim was a totally honest guy and has never cheated someone? If you cannot see that this man is a hustler in every sense of the word you are putting blinders on. Cheating exists in poker, sports betting, casino games, stock market, etc. ANYTIME MONEY IS ENVOLVED THERE WILL BE CROOKED FIGURES OUT THERE TRYING TO MAKE A QUICK BUCK.

-LR

[MicroBob]

Some of the cheating methods he describes clearly take place.

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.


He's mixing fact with stuff that he is completely making up.
And this news-story (and the book to a lesser degree imo) hurts online-poker. Anyone seeing that story will be significantly less likely to try online-poker...and they will be more likely to tell anyone online-poker playing friends they have that they think they're crazy because everybody knows the games are rigged, etc etc.


I think it's incredibly irresponsible of the TV stations to air this flawed publicity piece for this guy's book and call it an actual news-story.

[CrayZee]

[ QUOTE ]
Some of the cheating methods he describes clearly take place.

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.


He's mixing fact with stuff that he is completely making up.
And this news-story (and the book to a lesser degree imo) hurts online-poker. Anyone seeing that story will be significantly less likely to try online-poker...and they will be more likely to tell anyone online-poker playing friends they have that they think they're crazy because everybody knows the games are rigged, etc etc.


I think it's incredibly irresponsible of the TV stations to air this flawed publicity piece for this guy's book and call it an actual news-story.

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems pretty clear that the guy is an opportunistic hack. Nuff said. People are also generally retarded when it comes to gambling...so I guess you can't blame TV news. They're also trying to make a buck.

[UATrewqaz]

Bob, the worst thing about this is that losing donkeys will eat this up.

"HA! I knew it, that's why I lost my buy in. I was being cheated. I'm too good to lose like that." ~ 60 VPIP .5/1 player

B&M players can convince themselves they are "break even" players when they lose, due to the nature of physical cash being harder to keep track of.

Online players have no such fantasy. They know they deposited $200 and now their account says $14.00, it's painfully clear that eveyr single dime was lost playing poker. Thus the part of the brain that can't accept "Gee I suck at this, that's why I'm losing" needs to invent other non-sense, so of course "The site is rigged!" or "players are cheating me!" are good ways to accomplish this.

[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.

[Phanekim]

I dont think collusion can happen online because they can track your IP. When same players play together too often they are then watched.