Why Some Players Believe Online Poker is Rigged
If you have been playing online poker for some time, you probably know that constant bad beats and suckouts are inevitable. You have also likely encountered some outrageous actions from certain players that you simply couldn't believe a real person would play that way. And worst of all, you still feel like these fish are constantly rewarded for their mistakes, while you continue to lose stack after stack, even though you feel like you're doing everything right.
This kind of chaos makes many players believe that online poker in best UK online casinos rooms somehow manipulate their RNGs to make this happen more often.
And although there is virtually no concrete evidence to support these claims, it still doesn't explain why so many people still believe it to be true.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the most common complaints and arguments that people have regarding alleged “rigging” by poker rooms, and discuss why, in reality, they don't need to.
Let's get started!
Online Poker: Debunking the Myths of Rigged RNGs and Bad Beats
One of the main arguments in favor of online poker being rigged is based mainly on the stories of amateur experts. And, in particular, the main complaint of most players is that the RNG (random number generator) of some (if not all) online poker rooms in Gambling is not actually random, but somehow programmed to deal cards in a way that provokes action.
In other words, the rooms deliberately devised an algorithm designed to make players invest more money into the pot, in order to earn even more from rake.
An argument in favor of this claim is the supposedly disproportionate number, unlike live poker, of so-called “setups” or coolers (i.e. spots where you have a very strong hand, but your opponent turns out to have an even stronger hand).
Some players have gone even further, claiming that poker rooms intentionally favor only recreational players, and all because of the high number of bad beats they experience.
Bad Beat Example
Here's a scenario that might sound familiar:
You open-raise with Ace-King. A bad player calls.
Flop 
: You bet, he calls.
Turn: 
You bet, he calls.
River: 
You bet, he raises, and you call.
Your opponent shows 
, and you lose!
I think most of you have experienced something similar. And it's definitely frustrating. How the hell did he end up with 5-2?!
But that's exactly what bad players do – they play poorly. And they almost always have some equity to catch their miracle card on the river (which, of course, sometimes happens).
In any case, the argument is that poker rooms make the most money from recreational players and survive solely on their deposits, so they allegedly artificially manipulate the RNG in their favor to make them play longer.
Other players claim that some poker rooms are simply infested with bots because they can't believe that a real person could make such terrible mistakes and ultimately be rewarded for it.
For example, an opponent calls your two barrels with fourth pair, hits a set on the river, and takes your entire stack. This must be some kind of room bot (superuser) that somehow knew in advance which cards would come next.
While in live poker you'll get dealt about 30 hands per hour at best, online you can receive 100 or more. And if you're dealt three times as many hands, you'll experience three times as many bad beats. It's simple math, not a conspiracy. Moreover, this is only the case if you're playing just one table. If you multi-table like most online players, you'll multiply the number of possible bad beats by the number of tables you're playing. Five tables mean five times as many bad beats. Furthermore, these bad beats can happen in quick succession, sometimes one after the other. And some of these situations can be truly discouraging, and it's often hard to believe that such things are statistically possible at all.
When this happens, it's natural to feel crushed and disappointed. In such situations in WorldCasinoSirectory, it's hard to think logically, and it can truly seem like someone is trying to screw you over.
There's hardly any other logical explanation for why you're getting dealt so horribly.
The Bias towards Negativity in Online Poker
However, there is another logical explanation as to why such horrible situations occur in online poker, but you may not like it. In psychology, this is called Finance.Yahoo a bias towards negativity.
In other words, bad things evoke more negative emotions than good things – positive emotions. From a poker perspective, losing money causes more pain than winning money. This is completely understandable and hardly surprising.
When things are going well, you can feel good, but if things are going badly, they can always get worse because you can still lose a lot of money, and that's pretty bad too.
The fact is that we, as humans, are naturally programmed to react more strongly to what we perceive as negative experiences (threat to life, resources, or well-being), and losing money is definitely such an experience.
We also like explanations for why certain things happen. We are creatures that seek patterns and causal relationships, and when someone tells us that something happened randomly, our brain is not very satisfied with this explanation. It does not understand or accept randomness.
On the other hand, saying that everything happened because someone intended it is psychologically much more acceptable to us. Hence the rigged RNG. Greedy poker rooms intentionally manipulate their algorithms against you to squeeze every last penny out of unsuspecting customers!
Poker Rooms Have No Reason to Rig the Game
Of course, it is worth noting that there have been and still are rooms with questionable business reputations, and some are even outright scammers. Stories of poker bots, super-users, and collusion are not unheard of and definitely exist.
However, these are isolated cases, and they are very few. And certainly, this is by no means a global conspiracy of poker rooms.
The fact is that poker rooms have no reason to manipulate their Gamingzion.com game. The gambling industry itself is already a multi-billion dollar business, and online poker rooms already have an almost perfect business model. They already make millions of dollars in revenue each year, and they have very few expenses that could reduce their profits.
Unlike a traditional casino, online rooms do not need to spend money on the physical upkeep of a casino, equipment, salaries for a large number of staff, security, and so on.
After the software is created, all they need to pay for is website maintenance, customer support, marketing, etc. Of course, we are simplifying things, but in general, you understand the difference.
The thing is, as soon as a poker room starts operating, it essentially starts making money. Games run on their own, almost effortlessly, and the money keeps coming in.
Just to make a few extra bucks? Well, maybe, but don't forget that they are already making money. Once you start earning huge amounts of money, you will reach a point of diminishing returns. If, for example, you were homeless and someone gave you a thousand bucks, you would be thrilled. But if you are a multimillionaire, a thousand bucks plus or minus will hardly affect your wealth.
For a successful company, there is no logical sense in risking their license and reputation by falsifying the game. The advantage of a small increase in income does not justify the associated risks.
Moreover, the writing and creation of an algorithm “to heat up the action” itself is a very complicated task, which in the end is simply not worth the trouble.
It's easier to believe that the RNG is rigged than to admit you're a bad player
It is curious that discussions about the rigging of a particular poker room are always heard from bad players.
Presumably, this happens because winning players already know a proven winning strategy that brings long-term +EV. So they have no reason to worry about every bad beat, as weak players do.
Successful players understand that if they get bad beats, it means they are investing their money with a mathematical advantage (+EV), and that is the best you can hope for when playing poker.
If this advantage is not realized at that specific moment, then so be it. In the long run, they understand that they will win much more than they lose, and therefore they will quietly continue to play within their means in CompleteSports.
Bad players, on the other hand, will quickly recognize spots where they were unfairly taken advantage of, but they will not be aware of their own mistakes and how they contributed to their poor results.
It is also important to understand how variance will affect your short-term results.
If you have a full house and your opponent shows you four of a kind, it's damn annoying, but if you play poker long enough, you know that it happens, although not often. That's the nature of the game, and it has nothing to do with a rigged RNG.
To achieve long-term success in poker, knowing which cards to play in each situation is only part of the task. A slight advantage in technical skills over opponents is not enough to crush the game. You also need to know what makes you a better player than your opponents and how to best use your advantage in a given situation, even if the cards are not in your favor.
If you are able to recognize the faces of opponents in the game, you should show the same attentiveness to your own game. You haven't thought of everything because no one ever does.
The ability to recognize and deal with variance, both good and bad, is also a kind of skill, and it is as important as technical knowledge of strategy.
If you sometimes get the feeling that the room is rigged against you, it is perfectly normal because from time to time you will indeed be dealt very badly. But if this kind of thinking takes root and becomes a habit, it can become a serious problem. Be careful, the choice is yours!
