Feeding the conspiracy theorists...

[puckman80]

I've been playing online for about three months now (all at PartyPoker), and I just wanted to share some of the odd (and extremely frustrating) things I've seen in that time, and hopefully get some feedback.

Let me start by saying that I play weekly in a ring game, where I win consistently, and though I'm relatively new to Hold'em, I collected a nice chunk o'change on my last trip to Las Vegas (my first time to play Hold'em there). Unfortunately, my success in live games hasn't translated into success online. I know all too well that the cards can run hot and cold, but...a three month cold streak?!?! I can't help but think that something's rotten in the state of Denmark. Allow me to present the fishy evidence:

$10 buy-in, Limit Hold'em, Single Table Tourney- I lost four consecutive hands, all on the river, to the same player! In each case, he had 10 or fewer outs, and he beat me every time. I nearly threw my computer out the window.

$5 buy-in, both Limit and NL Hold'em, Single Table- In the past two days, I've alternated between finishing 9th or 10th (getting knocked out without taking a single pot) and finishing 4th- just short of the money. In 3 of my 4 4th place finishes, I went all-in either before or on the flop and lost on the river. In those losses, the winner had 10, 2 and 6 outs, respectively. In the most recent misadventure, I was short stacked and went all-in pre-flop with K9s and was called by QJs. Nothing but blanks on the flop and turn, and a J on the river. Bad luck, perhaps? For the 3rd time in two days? When, going into the river, I'm (at least) a 77% favorite to win the hand each time?

Last, but not least, am I the only guy who sees, on a regular basis, the turn or river card improve my hand AND give another guy the nuts? For example, the K on the river that gives me a set gives some bozo with A10o the nut straight. Or, I've got pocket 3s and the flop of 6-3-2 does wonders for Mr. 45o. Better yet, the J on the river that gives me a set also gives 42s a flush.

I know that some of it is simply morons who don't know enough to fold getting lucky. I just question the frequency of bad beats, since I don't seem to experience them nearly so often in the real world. At this point, I'm wondering if you have to know some sort of secret handshake in order to finish in the money on a PartyPoker tourney.

Enough of my rant. If anyone knows the secret handshake, I'll gladly pay them to teach me.

[Nighttrain]

i know your pain....but think of how many more hands you play online vs the live games. online poker deals 100 hands an hour where as a live game deal like 35-40........so the online game you see more hands and take more beats....anyways just something to think about

[karasz]

well how about stop playing online for while... then after like a week come back and see what happens... you obviously pissed off some online poker god at some point.

[Tralfaz]

Hey:

The point about playing more hands is very true. Also, you must remember that there are alot of CRAPPY players online. The impact of this is that they will play many more hands (that someone who knows at least basic poker strategy wouldn't). Consequently they have far more opportunities to get lucky and beat you (at least in the short term).

For example, I was playing in a Satellite on Poker Stars for a place in their new WPT cruise event. I was doing better than average (around $8000) after the field had been narrowed by more than 50%. (I should explain that this is where I tend to get more aggressive because most of the morons have been knocked out. Well, here I am in the big blind looking at QQ. A guy in mid position raises the blind by $500. ( I think blinds were at 150/300). I go over the top all-in to try to take the pot right there because he only had around $100 more than me to start. Well, he hesitates as the 60 second counter winds down and then calls me. . . with K8 offsuit. he risked all but $100 of his stack on garbage. And, of course, not one but two kings hit the board.

That was a bad beat, but it did not make me think that cheating was going on. Remember, just because you are a statistical favorite that does not guarantee that you will win. I've seen AA cracked by everything from AK offsuit to 22.

Honestly, I don't think that it is worth it for these sites to cheat you. They make so much money whomever wins that its not worth their trouble. Anyway, My advice is take a break so you don't go on tilt (in my opinion the worst thing you can do is start playing trash consistently just because you see a couple of people win with trash). Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

Tralfaz

[K-rug]

Actually, a friend of mine was playing Omaha Poker at Pacific Poker the other day and had a flush called a two pair. He was delt four spades two being KsJs in his hand and KJ on the board with one more spade (I forget which ones). I'll never play with real money any more niether will he. He still won with his KJ two pair but the but the flush never registered.

[puckman80]

Since my original post, I played four more $5 buy-in, single table tourneys at PartyPoker. One 6th place finish, two more 4ths, and (drum roll please)...one 3rd place finish!!! It's only ten bucks, but at least it's money coming in, not going out.

Now, for my PartyPoker conspiracy theory, please consider the following factors:

1. The astounding number of bad beats, due to improbable draws on the river, which knocked me out of multiple tourneys (usually in 4th place- just out of the money).

2. The fact that PartyPoker doesn't get a rake on tourneys- just the entry fee.

3. The *assumption* (as I'm not a computer whiz, I can't say for certain) that there is a finite amount of space on the server, which means that PartyPoker can only run a finite number of tourneys at any given time.

4. The fact that anything that could be done to speed up a tournament would mean that PartyPoker could host more tourneys in a given period of time, which would mean greater profit (from additional entry fees collected).

All these facts/assumptions have led me to wonder if PartyPoker "tweaks" the program occasionally to knock out players who are all in, in order to speed up the game.

Obviously, I welcome any and all feedback.

[karasz]

Actually, a friend of mine was playing Omaha Poker at Pacific Poker the other day and had a flush called a two pair. He was delt four spades two being KsJs in his hand and KJ on the board with one more spade (I forget which ones). I'll never play with real money any more niether will he. He still won with his KJ two pair but the but the flush never registered.

in ohama you have to use 2 of you 4 hole cards... and have to use 3 of the board...

being dealt 4 spades means he can only use 2 spades to make a hand...

the one spade on the board gave him 3 spades since he was using only 2 of the hole cards... which is how oyu play ohama...

[Poker_Vendetta]

Yeah exactly. In Texas Hold'em you use ALL of the board, but in Omaha you only use two from your hand and 3 from the board. Please correct yourself.

[K-rug]

Ahhhh welll hell that I did not know and neither did he or he forgot. I have never and don't plan on playing Omaha Poker so that would explain my ignorance. Wait until I give him crap about that. Fires up the IMer. Thank for pointing that out.

[HalfSugar]

Hehe, nice story

I would not write off Omaha Krug dude, it's a good hybrid of holdem and is well worth taking some time to learn if u can. Any games that make u a stronger all round player have got to be worth learning in my opinion.

[K-rug]

LOL I told my friend who is actually the founder of our weekly holdem game and he said "Ohhh I feel like an ass now." I laughed. I won't write it off been my passion is holdem.