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How To Avoid Being Cheated Online

Like with all activities that involve financial transactions, you can never be careful enough while playing poker online. While most poker players have never been and will never be a victim of online fraud, those who have, know how serious the financial consequences can be.

So, to ensure that you stay safe while grinding online, we have prepared some tips to help you avoid getting cheated.

Pay Attention While Playing To Avoid Collusion

If you have been playing online poker for a while, you probably know what to expect, so one of the ways you can keep yourself safe is by paying attention while playing at the tables.

You should be carefully watching the action either way since it helps to increase your bottom line, but pay extra attention to unusual hands or activities between players indicating collusion.

Collusion is one of the most common ways in which players cheat online, and it might not always be easy to spot it. That said, there are certain behavior patterns, and the most common ways you can notice it is:

• When players are soft playing and never busting one another
• When they are dumping chips in tournaments to help short stacks stay alive in situations where it is mathematically unjustifiable
• When they constantly try to squeeze other players out of the pots by re-raising each other and players trapped between them

Of course, if you notice any of these patterns, it does not guarantee that players are cheating, but it is also not worth playing such games if you have the option to leave. If you suspect something out of the ordinary is happening, but you are not sure, the best course of action is to notify your poker site and ask them to check the hand or hands in question.

Learn As Much As You Can About Poker Bots

Poker bots have become a probable option to cheat online in the last decade. And the worst part about this way of cheating is that poker bots are becoming increasingly sophisticated as time passes.

In addition to winning more money, they are now much harder to spot than a few years ago.

However, there are still some patterns of behavior that will help you recognize bots at your table. While poker bods randomized times they take to take action and bet sizing to the extent it is not actually possible to notice, you can still see how many tables the guy is playing and for how long.

No bot will play just on table, and on the other hand, few humans can massively multi-table for extended periods of time, so it might be one of the red flags to notice. If you see someone playing 8 tables 16 hours per day, that is unlikely to be human.

You might also try sending them a message over the chat to see if they can respond. While not a direct indication, this can also help you identify some of the potential risks.

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ALSO READ: Online Poker: Too many cooks spoiling the regulatory broth?

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Regularly Review Your Poker Sessions

Poker session reviews not only represent a great way to improve the game, but they can also help you discover if you are being cheated.

You might be too focused on your hand when playing poker to see that something suspicious is going on. However, you have nothing else to focus on when reviewing your session other than finding irregularities.

Protect Your Computer

Your computer is your bread and butter when it comes to playing poker online, and you should do everything you can to protect it. This means installing security software such as antiviruses and VPNs and keeping your login data hidden from third parties.

Taking these precautions will minimize the chance of getting viruses, malware on your device and becoming a victim of a DDo’s attack.

Don’t forget that your protection from online cheaters begins before you even login onto your poker site, as potential scammers can find a way to your poker account through your computer.

Be Careful Not To Get Ghosted

Another popular method online cheaters use is ghosting to win money from poker players. This term is used to describe an activity in which one poker player is helping another poker player to beat his opponents.

As you can see from the description of this cheating method, ghosting is probably one of the hardest things to spot if you are an online poker player.

With this said, some signs might help you determine if you are getting ghosted. One of the most obvious is a sudden change in the style of play and results.

For example, if you have been playing against an opponent who is a losing player for a long time and he suddenly changes his style of play and betting pattern and starts crushing everyone, this might be a sign that another player ghosts him. This is way more likely to happen in tournaments than in cash games, so just another thing to be aware of.

Final Thoughts

We hope that this article won’t get you paranoid and stop you from playing online poker but will help you learn the different methods online poker cheaters use and how you can avoid becoming a victim.

Remember, it is better to be safe than sorry, so if you doubt that you are playing fair games, you should notify your online poker room.

For more news and updates about poker platforms, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com. Follow us on our social handles Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram.

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