Online poker can be a scary proposition for first time players, and one of the big concerns many have concerns poker cheat software.
Poker cheat software comes in many forms. The most well known, infamous kind of poker cheat is the poker bot, which is essentially poker cheat software designed to look and perform like a real person at an online poker site, but one that is programmed to cheat at poker.
People have enough to worry about real people who cheat at poker, but the idea that poker cheat software is out there is enough to keep many away from playing online poker. A poker room cheat is almost always going to be a poker bot, but there are some exceptions. Online poker cheating can be done by real live humans, but typically only those who have some special access, using something often referred to as a “super user account.” The most infamous example of that was when a poker room cheat surfaced at CEREUS poker, the company behind online poker rooms UB and AbsolutePoker. This online poker cheating rocked the poker world and got a lot of poker players upset that poker room cheating was becoming prevalent.
The fact is that recently more poker cheats have shown up in the form of poker bots, but the online poker rooms have gotten much better at finding these poker room cheats. They know that they will not have any customers if they don’t do something to curtail the actions of those who cheat at poker, so the punishment for online poker cheating is severe.
In most cases online poker cheating is subject to banishment from the poker room and the seizure of funds. In this way poker cheats are hamstrung and kept from hurting the legitimate poker players. However in some cases the poker cheats can simply create another account - but with IP address tracking and other sophisticated tools, poker cheats can be caught again and again.
Poker room cheating happens in live poker as well, often taking the form of collusion between players. Casinos and poker rooms are very well versed in catching poker room cheats, however, as those who do cheat at poker often follow very similar patterns. Online poker cheating can be more challenging in some regards, and easier in others to detect. When poker cheat software is employed it will leave a tell-tale trace, leading the poker room detectives to those scoundrels who dare to cheat at poker.
But for the most part the rooms are free of online poker cheating. There are so many failsafes and rules in place that the odds of running into a player or a bot cheating at poker are very slim indeed.
