Do you think Pokerstars is really rigged?

Question

I hear a lot of people complain about it being set up to induce more action through ridiculous hands in order to increase rake. And people call it "jokerstars" and so on...Do you think there is any truth to it or that people are just bitter? Some crazy things sure do seem to happen a lot but I don't know if its just perception because you play a lot more hands online or if there really is some validity to it.

If you do think pokerstars is rigged do you think any other of the online poker sites such as full tilt are better?

Answer 1

I don't know how it happened, but the other day I wound up watching bad beats on YouTube. Some people record their play, and if they get aces cracked or something they post the hand and cry and moan about how terribly rigged PokerStars, FullTilt, or whatever site they're playing on is. Seriously, search YouTube for "bad beats". And then Sharkscope the player name of the person who posted it. Out of a dozen videos I watched I did not find a SINGLE person who had better than a -20% ROI. They were all losers, every single one. I know that doesn't take into account cash games. But real card players, those that have seen tens of thousands of hands and profit on a regular basis, know that crap like that happens, and they don't gripe about it (at least not much). Look at the WSOP Main Event this year. Quad aces vs. a royal flush. Countless runner runner beats. Case cards hitting on the river. Guys flopping the nut flush and losing to full houses. That's poker, and if you cry that the game is rigged then you probably just haven't seen enough hands.



The question I always ask is, if you're so certain the game is rigged then why are you still playing? If the game's a cheat and you still play then you're an idiot. I had a guy on Pokerstars call the moderator on me once when he started grousing about a "bad beat" and I pointed out that he was only a 53% favorite when he got his money in. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Answer 2

Poker Stars would be the last place that would be rigged this way. This kind of complaint has been around since online poker started and will probably be around forever. People use this as an excuse for their losing. The sites do not want this sort of thing even being imagined although there's really no way to stop it. No site would intentionally do this as it tends to drive players away and the net rake goes down.



King Cobra Poker

http://kingcobrapoker.com

Answer 3

If anyone types something like 'jokerstars' or talks about the site being rigged, I get excited because it means I have spotted a fish. A fish who is paranoid and more likely to be on tilt and ready to give me his money.



The rake on all the decent poker sites is capped on each pot. So even if 10% of big pots were 'rigged' to produce more action it would not be a very good increase in profits, versus the risk.



When you have a poker site that ordinarily has over 100,000 players online simultaneously during most peak times, it makes no sense to try and cheat. If they are caught, they face a major and costly backlash.



On top of all that, it would take a serious conspiracy to make this happen. Programmers, management, staff, customer service people, you name it. At least a dozen or more staff who knew it was going on.



What are the odds that so many people would know about something like this and keep quiet? Slim to none.



Human nature is such that people will make a fuss about things like this. Either someone who feels it is their moral duty to expose a scam, or a disgruntled employee bent on revenge.



So I just don't accept that a major company like this, operated within the United Kingdom (they are on the Isle of Man), is going to writer software to stiff players, when they could simply offer a straight and legitimate game and still make a fortune.

Answer 4

yes they have set rake at but when no good hands come out they make nothing so they use really small random number generators which fact is it does produce unbeleiveable hands so more rake is made these sites need to be governed by goverments that will look into it not ones who stand back