Watch out for cheating when playing online poker
Although it only happens very rarely, there are still instances in the modern poker era where players are found to be cheating. If you suspect cheating is occurring, the best way to deal with it is not to confront those suspected directly but instead to covertly ask the poker room manager to monitor the suspicious behaviour. If cheating is suspected in online poker, the easiest way to report it is to take screenshots of the suspicious behaviour and email them to the poker room.
One of the most common forms of cheating in both live and online poker happens when two or more players working in conjunction sit at the same table. They then share hand information with each other, increasing each other’s chances of correctly guessing what hands their opponents hold, and have the ability to inflate the pot. If the cheats decide to inflate the pot, they will put in a series of raises with the hope of forcing any other players out of the pot. The cheats will then fold until just one of them is remaining to win the pot, with the profits split amongst the gang.
Another common form of cheating online is the practice of multi-accounting, where a player will register multiple times on different accounts for tournaments and ring games. This obviously gives the single player a massive advantage over his opponents.
A technical method of cheating in online poker is the use of pre-programmed ‘bots’, which play poker automatically without human input.