Do online poker sites cheat?

I preface everything by saying that I have no hard evidence that I can offer that poker gambling sites are rigged, rigged or crooked. I realize these poker sites have become household names with the advent of televised poker, but put a pig in a tuxedo and it’s still a pig.

I’m not a big player and you’ll never see me at the World Series of Poker, I don’t have to lose the $10,000 entry fee, but I really love my poker. Until Texas Hold ’em became all the rage, I was more into 7 card stud. There was a time not long ago when you could boast of having played poker in every casino in Las Vegas.

I have played poker in Tunica, Atlantic City and on various cruise ships while sailing the high seas with my wife. Some people collect stickers, bells, teacups, or other souvenirs from the different states or cities they visit. I collect poker chips from various casinos I have poker players in, just $1 chips, and have collected over 100 of them.

I’m only telling you all of this because I thought it only fair to give you a brief glimpse into my history, or addiction, to the game of poker. I have played thousands of hands of poker.

I started playing internet poker at a particular site, but then the feds got involved and shut down online poker, they couldn’t collect any taxes from the action. Then for some reason online poker was back in business and so was I.

I joined a high profile poker site because at the time I could use my credit card to deposit money into my account, which has since been stopped. It’s a hassle for me to set up an account on different sites, so when I start with a site, I stick with it, unless something horrible happens that prompts me to move.

I played poker on the site every day, sometimes 3-4 tournaments. I always played tournaments versus heads up, because if you won or placed, the reward was higher for a smaller investment. ROI I must say.

I had had a particularly bad losing streak and I chalked it up to one of those things that happens in gambling. I was so consumed with what I had to be doing wrong, players were reading me or I was tipping my hand somehow, that I didn’t really pay much attention to the falling CGI cards.

One day I was going through a particularly frustrating time, I didn’t lose any hands, I couldn’t even get cards to play a hand. This piqued my curiosity and I began to notice more the way the cards and games were played and less whether I won or not.

I detailed 1 specific day, three specific tournaments and 243 specific dealt hands. Out of these 243 hands that I was dealt, when I saw dealt I mean my two hole cards, I played 22 hands. Only 22 hands out of 243 where I was dealt good enough cards to try to play. For example, a pair or two high cards of the same suit or Ace King. I was dealt three pairs, 1 pair of 7s and aces twice. When I had pocket aces, everyone folded before I could bet, both times!

On another specific day I logged 14 dealt hands that resulted in four of a kind. I can safely and honestly say that I have seen more hands dealt in a single day than I have witnessed while playing live poker in over 12 years. You say, well, that’s the random deal of a computer. Are you saying that the cards dealt in casinos by humans are not random? That everyone knows what’s coming? I do not think.

My friendly warning to you when playing online poker at these sites, expect unexpected and impossible hands to be dealt on a daily basis and don’t put too much money on the line. You never know if you’re the only one seeing your cards.