Wife thinks online poker rooms are rigged...

Holdfast · #1 03-11-2007, 11:56 PM

I cannot really say this is a question as I don't think anyone really has the answer, but welcome feedback. My wife thinks online poker rooms are rigged and prefers I play at a brick & mortar casino. Now, I fully understand that online poker rooms have the potential to be rigged in such a way to benefit certain players, players who play for the house, etc. This could easily be done where the house just lets favored people (even those on the payroll) play using poker clients that see all the hole cards. That is possible. The more nefarious would be letting a preferred player simply draw to the winning hand as needed. I guess reasons why a poker room would do this, if they really wanted to, would be: 1. To let the house make money off the site members (IE: Keep those big 1st place MTT winnings). 2. To let whoever they prefer (for whatever reason) to make some easy money.
I play at sites with the trust that they have some integrity. However, I'm sure plenty of people don't play online simply because there can be a breach of integrity and you would never know. Being that I'm in information technology, I know full well that it would be easy for an off shore poker room to do whatever they want with their software. So, it is in the back of my mind. Especially when you see someone go all in for $100 with pocket aces in a cash game and someone makes a quick call with 7,3 off and hits trip 7's on the flop, as if they knew they'd make that miracle hand. There are always bad beats, and there are also cheats... However, you cannot proove it in the online world.

Regards,
Holdfast

intensity · #2 03-12-2007, 12:03 AM

this thread is useless without pics of your wife

_Towelie_ · #3 03-12-2007, 12:03 AM

Are you sure it's just your wife who thinks this? You sound almost convinced yourself.

bigt2k4 · #4 03-12-2007, 12:05 AM

Online poker being rigged is so 2006.

Mitch Evans · #5 03-12-2007, 12:06 AM

Okay, we get it. You think online poker is rigged. Move on now.

Holdfast · #6 03-12-2007, 12:11 AM

No. I'm not convinced. I just spent some time during dinner last night trying to convince her it was OK to play online. I was telling her that a lot of pro players play online, etc., that "real people" do win the big online tournaments, etc. She won't believe it unless I win something big, I guess. She even thinks that when there is a $100K tournament online, with the site "PROS" in it, that they may not even be the actual people playing. Being that I'm in information technology (management, networking, security, etc.), I did have to agree that there is no way I couldn't be sure if an online poker room was not being legitimate in some way, shape, or form due to its practices and use of its own technology. Since I've been playing over a year now, I have not heard of anything in this respect. Perhaps some of you have?

Regards,
Holdfast

Municipal Hare · #7 03-12-2007, 12:12 AM

[ QUOTE ]
My wife thinks online poker rooms are rigged and prefers I play at a brick & mortar casino so she and her Argentinian lover(s) can have the place to themselves.

[/ QUOTE ]

TheProdigy · #8 03-12-2007, 12:14 AM

Sites make 4mil a day off rake

Sites cheat, risk their whole room, and add an extra 20k a day profit maybe without making it obvious?

Good idea!

Edit: Remember, I completely made up these numbers.
Enjoy!

gurgeh · #9 03-12-2007, 12:17 AM

Good god man, not only does she believe in online poker conspiracies for no reason at all, but you lucking out and winning a big tournament is the "evidence" that would convince her she's wrong? I hope your wife isn't as dumb as you've so far described her.

Holdfast · #10 03-12-2007, 12:22 AM

Ah, they make money off the rake. That was something I didn't mention during the conversation with the wife. However, how would anyone catch the site in any wrongdoing? If I could say, if a site did A. B. or C., they would get caught. Therefore, site A. is a legit site, etc. I guess, a good question to all of you then would be, what proof or information would I use in an argument to say that I can trust a given online poker room? I do like playing online. However, if I continue to meet resistance, then I'll just go play down the road at the local Bay-101 or Garden City casinos.

Regards,
Holdfast