KISS principal: Virtual Canadian via Remote Desktop?

[jackflashdrive]

Much of the discussion on becoming a virtual canadian has involved VPN/router config/etc., but for many of us technologically knowledgable non-experts, using Windows remote desktop might be a better (simpler, less fallible) option.

Can someone please point out any potential problems in the following:

1) Find a trusted friend or relative in canada (or use another country and substitute it throughout this example). Obviously this might be a non-starter for many, but for many others it will not pose a problem.
2) purchase a computer for ~ $1000 and install windows xp pro or windows server 2003. Set up this computer at the home of the trusted friend/relative. configure software (basically two clicks of a mouse) to allow incoming remote desktop connections. install software for all poker sites (e.g., party) on this computer.
4) from the states, connect to the canadian computer via Windows Remote Desktop and play poker/withdraw to neteller/etc. to hearts content.

Is this setup likely to get detected by the poker sites? Are there other issues such as will this setup be too slow to 8 table, etc.

I've left out the part about getting a canadian bank accnt. and related things because these are covered in other threads (if you are willing to go to canada to get the account and provide your friend/relative's address then no problem).

[LeapFrog]

[ QUOTE ]
Much of the discussion on becoming a virtual canadian has involved VPN/router config/etc., but for many of us technologically knowledgable non-experts, using Windows remote desktop might be a better (simpler, less fallible) option.

Can someone please point out any potential problems in the following:

1) Find a trusted friend or relative in canada (or use another country and substitute it throughout this example). Obviously this might be a non-starter for many, but for many others it will not pose a problem.
2) purchase a computer for ~ $1000 and install windows xp pro or windows server 2003. Set up this computer at the home of the trusted friend/relative. configure software (basically two clicks of a mouse) to allow incoming remote desktop connections. install software for all poker sites (e.g., party) on this computer.
4) from the states, connect to the canadian computer via Windows Remote Desktop and play poker/withdraw to neteller/etc. to hearts content.

Is this setup likely to get detected by the poker sites? Are there other issues such as will this setup be too slow to 8 table, etc.

I've left out the part about getting a canadian bank accnt. and related things because these are covered in other threads (if you are willing to go to canada to get the account and provide your friend/relative's address then no problem).

[/ QUOTE ]

I would assume that any program run from within a virtual machine would have a tough time determining if the pc on which the VM is running is being remotely controlled. Anyone more knowledgeable care to comment?

[BiPolar_Nut]

[ QUOTE ]
I would assume that any program run from within a virtual machine would have a tough time determining if the pc on which the VM is running is being remotely controlled.

[/ QUOTE ]

It'd be trivial to tell the machine is being controlled by RD (and btw, it is NOT a "virtual machine" in the example used). the output of the command netstat -n | find ":3389" would not only show if the XP/2k3 machine is being controlled by RD, but also by what (US) IP address. This is something any poker client could determine if they wanted to...not necessarilly by running netstat...standard system hooks can get the same info.

edit: I've also heard not all poker sites play smoothly enough via RD although I have no experience in that area. Why redirect everything that happens on the screen when all you need to do is redirect your network traffic? You'd still need to do router/firewall configuration to allow RD, so to me, a VPN still fits the KISS methodology.

[LeapFrog]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would assume that any program run from within a virtual machine would have a tough time determining if the pc on which the VM is running is being remotely controlled.

[/ QUOTE ]

It'd be trivial to tell the machine is being controlled by RD (and btw, it is NOT a "virtual machine" in the example used). the output of the command netstat -n | find ":3389" would not only show if the XP/2k3 machine is being controlled by RD, but also by what (US) IP address. This is something any poker client could determine if they wanted to...not necessarilly by running netstat...standard system hooks can get the same info.

edit: I've also heard not all poker sites play smoothly enough via RD although I have no experience in that area. Why redirect everything that happens on the screen when all you need to do is redirect your network traffic? You'd still need to do router/firewall configuration to allow RD, so to me, a VPN still fits the KISS methodology.

[/ QUOTE ]

BPN, what I'm referring to is a say XP machine running VMWare that has an virtual Win2k instance that is running a client. So in this case, can the client inside the VM tell that XP is running remote? Just double checking here that we are on the same page.

[BiPolar_Nut]

[ QUOTE ]
BPN, what I'm referring to is a say XP machine running VMWare that has an virtual Win2k instance that is running a client. So in this case, can the client inside the VM tell that XP is running remote? Just double checking here that we are on the same page.


[/ QUOTE ]

k, I saw nothing in the OP that mentioned VMWare.

VMWare machines can't tell much of anything about the external environment other than the fact that it is a VMWare machine (due to unique traits used for networking to the host machine). If the host OS was RD'd into, and the VM was run inside it, then there would be no indication of where the machine was being controlled from. The only indication of the source of the RD connection would be on the host OS (XP in your example), the VM running 2k would give no tells other than that it is a VM.

[LeapFrog]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
BPN, what I'm referring to is a say XP machine running VMWare that has an virtual Win2k instance that is running a client. So in this case, can the client inside the VM tell that XP is running remote? Just double checking here that we are on the same page.


[/ QUOTE ]

k, I saw nothing in the OP that mentioned VMWare.

VMWare machines can't tell much of anything about the external environment other than the fact that it is a VMWare machine (due to unique traits used for networking to the host machine). If the host OS was RD'd into, and the VM was run inside it, then there would be no indication of where the machine was being controlled from. The only indication of the source of the RD connection would be on the host OS (XP in your example), the VM running 2k would give no tells other than that it is a VM.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I wasn't very clear in my first post. Anyways the VPN solution is probably more elegant, just throwing some ideas out and checking to see if my understanding was correct.

Also, I am not super familiar with remote pc control via windows/pcanywhere/whatever -- is there some way to adjust the rate at which the desktop is refreshed? For example if you are using macro express to control mouse movements you wouldn't need that frequent of screen refreshes. Just curious. Again, the VPN solution sounds like the way to go if one has sufficient technical knowledge.

Thanks for your replies.

[jackflashdrive]

Thanks for the helpful comments in this thread. I assume that if I tried to set up VPN that I would get most things right but probably one small thing wrong that would give me away and I could KISS a few grand goodbye.

Is there anything less technical than VPN? For example, I've seen it mentioned that a person might purchase a canadian ISP dial-up account and connect to it through vonage (which has free long-distance US to Canada). It would certainly be...ironic if I was paying for a cable internet connection (as i do now) and scaled that down to dial-up to play poker. But would it work?

[BiPolar_Nut]

Dialup over vonage or other VoIP system may or may not work reliably. Converting analog modem signals to digital for VoIP transport then back to analog either won't work at all, will only connect at low bit rates, or will drop more often than a plain ole telephone line. If you're lucky, then it could be stable enough to work, but it's a real sketchy method.

If you had a good long distance plan to Canada over a standard copper telephone line, then the dialup route would work as well as any other dialup service to the US. You may need to disconnect your local network cable to ensure the dialup gateway gets used as the default and not your cable connection.

[jackflashdrive]

Thanks for the heads-up. I think I will purchase a verizon unlimited long-distance plan (US, Canada) for $61 per month, and purchase a canadian ISP dial-up account for probably about $15/month. Dedicate a poker computer to this line (no high-speed line attached) and I am good to go, right?

So this setup costs app. $1000 per year (hell i pay over 10K per month just in rake). I recall that someone asked percula a question about the cost of setting up a reliable VPN and it seemed the costs far exceeded that. So why aren't US poker players simply going the (apparently) foolproof route of long-distance over copper-wire to canadian ISP? It just doesn't seem that important to have a high-speed connection to poker sites, which transmit relatively small amounts of data back and forth. Or am I wrong?

[BiPolar_Nut]

Although the setup would be higher for a VPN, the monthly runs $59/mo so it's actually cheaper in the long run, and faster...likely more stable, less lag than dialup, and just plain cool lol. Dialup should work fine tho....as good as it did before most everyone had broadband, anyway.