Poker players continually ask me, are online poker sites rigged? My answer is an emphatic, “no”. It may seem to you that online poker is rigged. Perhaps you’ve been struggling to make money playing poker online or have been told online poker is rigged. I’m here to tell you that this simply isn’t true. Online poker – at least on legit poker sites – is 100% legit.
Think of it this way. If you owned an online poker site, would you consider rigging the game a smart long-term business model? Cheating customers out of money is not a good business approach. Sure, maybe you could get away with scamming them out of money for a little while. That’s all fine and dandy, but once word gets around that you aren’t operating a legitimate business, your business is doomed.
What is the Point of Rigging a Poker Site?
Let’s again assume you are the owner of a poker site and are contemplating whether or not to rig the site. The decision would be based on if there is a benefit to rigging the site or not. As already mentioned, this isn’t a smart long-term business model. What about in the short-term? Maybe, but probably not.
There really is NO point in rigging a poker site. The site makes money regardless of which players win. When you buy into a poker tournament or SNG online, you pay a rake. When you win a hand in a cash game online, a rake comes out of the pot. Online poker site’s get paid no matter what. Every game that is played, they make money. Why rig it?
There’s really no point in rigging a game in which the house always wins. When players make a deposit and play games, the house makes money. It doesn’t matter which players win to the house. It’s all the same to them.
“I lose so many bad beats that it must be rigged”
Are online poker sites rigged because of the high number of bad beats dealt? This is the argument that most players use to “prove” online poker is rigged. Here’s the thing. You are going to see more bad beats on the Internet than live poker because there are far more hands dealt. Therefore, it just seems like the hands are rigged for action.
If you play just one poker game online at a time you will see about 4 times as many hands per hour as you will playing live. Now, imagine if you’re playing 2, 3, 4…10 games at a time. See what I’m getting at? It seems like there are more bad beats online than offline, and that’s because there are. However, there are more bad beats because there are more hands dealt and more players chase draws.
In conclusion…. are online poker sites rigged?
Are online poker sites rigged? No they are not. It may seem like they are at times, but the legitimate poker sites would never consider rigging the game. It’s a poor business decision. Are there poker sites that aren’t legit? Absolutely. However, if you play on the sites we recommend here at Mac Poker, you won’t have to worry about the game being fixed against you.
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