So why do good players, bright intelligent people who I respect and admire, insist on trying to convince me that their latest conspiracy theory is true? It almost seems that if they can persuade me, a true unbeliever, that they are on to something, it would be tantamount to proof.
Last week at Walsall is a case in point, three normal, sensible people, above average players both live and online, took me to task, almost insisting that I see the light, they all made their case separately, without the others knowledge
Player one, a big online cash game player told me that he had stopped playing a particular site because of continual outdraws, a couple of days later they ring him up and ask why he’s not playing, he tells them. They ask him if he will re-consider if they deposit $500 into his account, and he agrees to give it another go, after all, what has he got to lose? Now comes the part that proves online poker is fixed, since then he has never had a losing session on that site, he rests his case.
Player two tells me that if he continues to play at any site after a good win, he will lose it all back, no matter what cards he gets or how well he plays, this, he says, is to keep the money circulating and maintain the inferior players so that they continue to play and contribute to the rake. After a win he switches sites and continues to win, he eventually goes back to the original site and they are glad to have him back, so they let him win again, irrefutable proof that online poker is fixed
Player three insists that if he makes a withdrawal from his account he will automatically lose until he has to deposit again, this, he tells me, is so that the poker sites can keep millions of interest free pounds in their coffers. “What a scam,” he says, “and so obvious.”
They all seem nonplussed when I refuse to admit that online poker is fixed, how can I be blind to such incriminating evidence?
Why can’t they see that online poker doesn’t need to be corrupt, there is no motive, the risk of scandal would be too great, and the rewards too small. Online poker is a money making machine, who in their right minds would kill the goose that lays the golden egg?
Come on guys, even if they could monitor the progress of thousands of players, hand by hand, 24 hours a day, why would they flop you a straight, or let you hit your set before causing someone to outdraw you? Surely they could think of something a little more subtle than Mateyboy hitting his two outer.