[Pokerjoe]

Originally posted on 12/23/2010:

People who gamble have weak morale anyways, so cheating isn't a big deal for them.

Brilliant, Mr. Bunker.



As to cheating: it is so rare in casino poker as to be a dismissable concern. The podunk, pathetic crap you might see at low-stakes games is so lame, done by such idiots, that they pose no problem. And don't be a nit about it: a husband who checks it down with his wife isn't costing you anything.

At higher games, it isn't marked cards and such you need to worry about (some of you may have seen too many bad movies), it's team play. But most of the time, you're wrong. Most of the whining about team play is sore losers who are so bad at the game that their testimony has to be thrown out.

Really good collusion is undetectable. So if you can detect it, it isn't good, they aren't good, they're idiots, and they'll lose more than they can steal.

In fact, really, if you can detect it, it isn't collusion, it's people not betting each other, which isn't the same thing. Those are, by definition, weak players, and you should be happy to have them in the game. Strong players bet their mothers heads up.

This is where it's a problem: good collusion. Collusion undetectable except by appraisal of results. Like the old 80/180 limit game at the Commerce. Were the Vietnamese there ganging up? Undetectable, and irrelevant, actually. The only question anyone should ask themselves of a game is, does it feel beatable? Personally, by instinct, I was never comfortable in that game. In fact I specifically remember thinking, WTF is going on here, these guys are trying to make me comfortable? Trying to make me comfortable? Why the hell would anyone try to make a known local grinder comfortable? That was so suspicious I didn't spend much time in it, LOL.