Online poker plagued by scandals in 2010

It’s been an interesting year for online poker in regards to cheating and scandals. On the one hand there have been a number of incidents including several incidents at major online poker rooms.

First there was a large group -rumored to be several dozen players-of online poker players in China were caught colluding at PokerStars in the Double of Nothing Sit & Go Tournaments, bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting players.

 There was also the recent discovery of winning Poker Bots on PokerStars at the $50-$200 NLHE tables. The bots were able to win some $58,000 over roughly 8 million hands of poker, and this is the first known case of WINNING poker bots -a truly scary prospect for online poker players, and one the online poker rooms will definitely have to deal with to alleviate the fears of their customers.

And earlier this year we were informed of Nick ‘StoxTrader’ Grudzien’s multi-accounting on both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and the even scarier prospect of his possible collusion in the highest stakes online games.

 This is all in addition to the usual poker forum scams, nitwit colluders and cheats, in addition to the other foolishness that has become a part of the online poker scene.

However, not everything is as bleak as I just made it out to be! The good news is that these incidents are being caught with some regularity now-and don’t kid yourself into thinking this behavior is new -thanks mostly to the vigilance of online poker players who bring forth evidence to the entire community.

We are also seeing much faster response times by the online poker sites to deal with any allegations regarding suspect play; as well as poker players coming to the realization that online poker is in need of some house-cleaning -where just a few years ago the idea of winning poker bots, hundred-player collusion teams, and collusion in high-level games would have been greeted by a dismissive wave of the hand, and shouts of conspiracy theorist, then with the person burying their head in the sand.

Perhaps the worst scandal in online poker history -the Ultimate Bet Poker and Absolute Poker Super-User scandals-were precisely what online poker needed: A Wake-Up Call. So, while the online poker games are far from rigged, or laden with cheating, it’s important for online poker players to realize they can’t just play blind, thinking every player is on the up-and-up.

I’ve always felt that any long-time player will have been cheated in some form or another over the course of their career, and you have to consider this in the same way you do the rake -its money you’ll never get back, but not enough to turn you from a winning poker player into a losing poker player.

That said, players need to protect themselves to the best of their abilities by being watchful, skeptical, and informed. It’s ok to be taken advantage on a small scale from time to time, but you don’t want to become an easy mark for these unscrupulous cheats.