Re: Absolute Cheating
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[T]he risk of crooked games is still higher in casinos and home games than online.
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How can this be true? I agree that maybe the risk of running into collusion is the same in a B&M, but there is absolutely no risk in a B&M that you will be playing with someone who is wearing special X-ray vision donk-goggles that allow him to see through the back of the cards and know the hole cards of everyone else at his table. That is a completely different level of a "crooked game." You cannot win against someone who has that much of an edge on you, whereas you can still win at a table that might have 2 or even 3 people colluding. I have been at ring game tables and satellites at B&Ms where it was fairly obvious that certain people were colluding. That sort of thing is fairly easy to spot if you are observant and know the game. Once you know it is happening, you play accordingly or change tables.
But if these allegations are true and certain people have the ability to hack into these websites and see other players' hole cards in real time, then in my opinion that is "lights out" for online poker. In the hands of a skilled and savvy internet poker player, who would know that he could not use his edge to win 100% of the time, and would have to lose every now and then and make -EV plays to cover up, that edge would be insurmountable and virtually undetectable by other players. That is much different than encountering collusion in a B&M. You would never know you were being cheated and would just think that the other person is better than you. Once the integrity of the game comes into serious question, you will see people stop playing.
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