Poker Calculator Report - Full Tilt Security Cracking Down Now

In light of the recent negative media in regards to online poker and the security issues at several major poker sites, the minds that run these operations need now be taking a more serious approach to the issue that has begun to define the trust a player has in his chosen poker site.

Suffice to say that Party Poker and Poker Stars have consistently led the way with the tightest security on the market and have certainly gone a long way in actually defining the safety that its players should expect when depositing and then playing with their own money online.

Up until now, the other major internet poker site, Full Tilt Poker has lagged behind the two power units in the market in its security policies. One of those policies is certainly being a public external audit whereby anyone who is interested can analyze the card distribution and hence being able to determine if the randomizer program in use at Full Tilt is actually fair. The other major security issue is the lack of policy with regards to third party "black hat" data mining software being used for profit on the Full Tilt tables against unsuspecting players.

Full Tilt experienced a bonanza of business last year when Party Poker (being a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange) was forced to pull out of the American market to avoid getting into a potential legal battle with the Government of the USA. Within weeks of the legislation, Full Tilt became a major player in the market leaving behind many other poker sites of its comparative size like Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker, and Bodog for example. Those sites now are suffering in their own right with "soft" security and need to make some big decisions if they can expect future growth.

So given that Full Tilt may have had some growing pains, it could be argued they had other things on their mind than security. In a recent communication with the company however, I have been informed of at least these issues which are now being addressed at this point.

An external audit is now being considered as a Full Tilt company representative stated - "As for a third-party independent audit of our shuffling and dealing processes, we are currently considering our options in that area and hope to have a related announcement soon." I really hope they follow through with this because an external audit will go a long way in drowning out the bad beat drama found in so many poker forums about full tilt hands that went terribly wrong.

Next is the enforcement and crackdown on the data-mining activities of third party software like Poker-Edge. This software has always been the nemesis of Poker Stars and Party Poker where those sites actually scan your hard-drive now to determine if you are using such software. You will get a warning of account deletion and confiscation in about a New York minute if you are actually using it.

Only recently Full Tilt actually put up a list of prohibited software that included Poker-Edge. Now it is one thing to have a list of prohibited software and actually do something about it, which up until now Full Tilt didn't really "prevent" its use. That all changed when operators of Poker-Edge actually boasted on their own forum that Full Tilt doesn't even care about using the Poker-Edge on their tables and cited mockingly that "Poker-Edge does have a b2b affiliation with fulltilt such that if you signup with fulltilt through the poker-edge link... you'll get poker-edge for free (for three months). So I truly doubt that fulltilt cares very much about that prohibited list."

Well that tidbit irked the sleeping giant to the point of identifying Poker-Edge as being in breach of their affiliate agreement and have now cut off association with that software, and further as stated by the Full Tilt rep "As far as the data-mining issue is concerned, we are currently reviewing our options, which may include the introduction of countermeasures that will deter and prevent the use of such programs and/or databases. The integrity of our site and the security of our players are of paramount importance to Full Tilt Poker, as they have been since our inception."

Given that Full Tilt Poker has now deemed these issues a priority as well, I should think that would be a wake-up call to Bodog, Ultimate Bet, Absolute, and the rest of the aspiring poker sites that want to progress in this game of capturing new players and deposits. You are simply going to need the highest security standards and policies as part of your infrastructure.

Marty Smith reviews and reports on all of the poker calculators online and shows you which ones are allowed to be used on the major poker sites like Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. He also has a FREE poker tournament video strategy series you can just sign up for.

On-line Poker Security (Part 1 of 2): Security Measures Implemented by the Poker Room Explained

When discussing on-line poker with poker players who have never played on-line poker before it seems the most common reason, or objection they give for not playing is that they fear the game is unfair in someway. The most common activities mentioned, that are included 'unfair', are 'The poker room can rig the deck', 'Players will work in teams in order to gain an edge (known as 'collusion'), and/or 'A player or the poker room can see my cards'. These types of ideas, which can be summed up with the word 'cheating', are something to be fearful of, because nobody wants to be cheated out of money. But, just because they are something to be concerned with, is the concern justified in regards to on-line poker? This first article aims to not only show that the poker rooms do not cheat, but actually, even if for self-serving reasons, have an incentive to not cheat and to prevent others from cheating.

All card rooms, whether land based or on-line make money from the rake. The rake is the amount of money collected as a fee from each pot or paid directly by the players on a temporal basis (All on-line poker rooms use the former method). The standard maximum rake per hand on-line is $3. For purposes here it will be assumed that the average taken per hand at most poker rooms is $1.50. On-line poker software is much faster than a live dealer and one table can play, on average, 60 hands an hour. This means that from one table the card room will make $96 an hour in gross profit. Using reports distributed by various on-line groups, the average amount of active tables at the medium to larger poker sites is anywhere between 200-1000 (real money only included). To make our point clearer, we can assume 200-300 tables per average. This means that every hour a poker room turns a gross profit of $19,200 - $28800. What reasons would an established company have to NOT protect $460,800-$691,200? Let's assume for a second that a poker room could manage to cheat its players out of $460,000 in a 24 hour period, how many times would they be able to get away with this before word got out that half a million dollars was missing from players? Even if the site was grossing 10% of this amount per day, they would still make more money, even after paying expenses, than they could from cheating their players. As long as the site is of medium size or larger and has a decent (not even great is necessary) reputation a players risk of being cheated in anyway by the poker room is negligible. In fact, it is safe to say, because of the card room's large profit, even if the poker player's best interests did not matter at all to them, that they actually want to protect their players from being cheated in anyway. If a site cheats or allows their players to cheat, they will lose all their current and potential profits, because their reputation will rapidly spread (by 'rapidly' we mean within a day or two) to the poker community via the media and on-line poker communities.

The idea of poker rooms actually protecting their players from being cheated and providing them with a secure place to play poker has been mentioned numerous times here, but none of the methods have actually been mentioned. As has been mentioned, the other fear for potential on-line poker players is other on-line poker players cheating in someway. The most common method mentioned is collusion. When players collude one player will be on his computer and via the phone or some messaging program, can let another player, who isn't't't even in the same city, state, etc... know his cards. The second player would then let the first player know his cards. They would then use this information to their advantage by raising the other players at the table (usually one or two others) in order to build a larger pot. Those who perpetuate this idea (myth) realize that one of the colluders will lose the pot and the other will win. Since they are partners, they will still profit off of the unknowing cheated players. This seems like it would be fairly easy to do, but it is probably safe to say that learning to play poker would be easier and less risky than colluding. All reputable poker rooms usually have a policy that players using the same IP cannot play together at the same table. It is pretty easy to get around this though and luckily the poker sites know this.

The poker rooms have software that watches the betting patterns of players. This software is made even easier to use because of the hand history poker rooms offer. When players collude, one person will usually have a good to great hand and the other player will have rags. Because of the software that the on-line poker room uses, they can easily see that these two players play at the same table together quite a bit (even if from separate IPs, states, etc...) and they are always raising and folding when one has a great hand and the other has a really bad hand. It won't take long for the poker room's software to find out if they are colluding or not. But, the fact that other players quickly report any type of strange behavior in order to alert the poker room, the time this pair of colluders has to cheat other players out of money is drastically decreased. Even if there is a huge team of colluders, lets say 20 people, the bankroll necessary to make this effective, the amount of planning that would need to go into this, and having to play high enough limit games in order to make it worth their time, greatly decreases anybody even trying it.

The poker room not only relies on other players and one type of software to track a player's history, cashout requests, and history, but they also have software and manual checks that take place when a withdrawal is requested. This software and security representative check for inconsistencies in a player's betting, to check for chip dumping, and any other 'shady' or illegal behavior. Even if the colluders were successful at the table, they still need to be able to withdraw their funds. Being that it will need to be a large amount in order for the colluders to make enough money for their time and risk, the withdrawal will be analyzed much closer and if it is proven that collusion had taken place, the funds will most likely be returned to the cheated players in someway.

There are other methods that the poker rooms use for detecting cheating, but because of the need for secrecy, they are not as public as the above mentioned methods. The purpose here was not to show all the methods used, but to help rid the fears of the sites cheating and/or allowing cheats. The large sums of money that poker rooms make is more than they could ever make from cheating. In order to protect this profit, they also implement methods to prevent others from cheating their players. These methods are usually sufficient, but there is always risk that is out of the poker rooms control, but is in the player's control. The second part of this article will discuss ways a poker player can protect their computer and spend more time learning to play poker and enjoying themselves while learning.

Shannon Gilchrist is the lead editor of Rake Tracker, a site dedicated to online poker rake tracking and rakeback.

Poker Chip Storage, Security and Transport: Function or Style

The last thing that you want to be doing when you have the gang coming over for a game Texas Holdem Poker is to be looking through drawers and cupboards to try to find your poker supplies. Your poker supplies should be organized and easily accessible so that they ready to go whenever you need them. In order to ensure this immediate availability they should stored in a container that allows for secure, organized and easily accessible storage. The obvious solution to this problem is a poker chip carrying case designed specifically for this purpose.

The primary purposes of the poker chip case are storage, security and transportability. These purposes relate to functionality and style. Obviously having chips stored in a container that provides a certain amount of order and security is much better than keeping them in a bag, a box or lying around loose. Poker cases have several different compartments to facilitate the orderly storage of your poker supplies. These compartments include poker chip trays that organize your chips by denomination or color, generally in columns of 50 chips. Poker chip cases have varying storage capacities ranging from 100 to 1000 chips. The poker case usually has a storage compartment for playing cards that will typically accommodate two decks of cards. In most instances, there will also be a compartment for the storage of smaller items like the dealer and blind buttons or dice. In more exotic poker cases you may find specialized compartments for stylish items such as cigars.

Security is another important aspect of owning a poker chip case. Security is basically preventing unwanted or undesired access to the poker supplies. This can be accomplished by placing the poker case in a locked drawer or cupboard or by the security hardware that is incorporated into its design. Many poker cases have locks. Most cases have simple, basic locks for those individuals who are only concerned about functionality. For some individuals, the poker case is an investment or a furniture item, the design and composition of the lock and other hardware may be a more serious style consideration. These individuals may desire chip cases that may have locks, handles and hinges made of brass or other precious materials.

The third major purpose of the poker chip case is transportability. The vast majority of cases have carrying hardware. For smaller capacity cases, this hardware will be a handle. For larger capacity chip cases, the hardware can be a handle plus wheels for pulling or pushing with a design similar to rolling suitcases. Transportability is all a matter of what you actually require.

The construction material used for the outside of the poker case very much relates to function and style. If your requirements are simple, that is, you want a case that is durable and provides easy access plus allows you to take your poker supplies to other locations to play poker, then a basic aluminum, wooden or vinyl case will meet both your function and style needs. If you use your poker chips more frequently, in large numbers at multi-table poker events, then you will require an acrylic or aluminum, generally cube shaped, poker chip carrier. The serious, more sophisticated poker player with a permanent home poker room or with one or more sets of expensive clay or classic chips may require cases that have elegance and class to better reflect his personal preferences and style. This person may want beautifully crafted poker chip cases made from exotic materials such as oak, maple, mahogany or leather. They may even include a compartment for his cigars. He may also want a poker case with a clear top that will allow him to display his poker chips in his home poker game room.

It is up to the individual to decide which is more important function or style. For the poker player who has very basic requirements that is storage, security and transportability then there is a large selection of lower price poker chip cases available from which to choose. If style is important, then there are more exotic poker case options available that provide the same three basic functions but at a higher price tag. It's simply a matter of personal preference and/or financial means.

Chris Massini

The main purpose of a poker chip case is to provide secure, organized storage for poker chips and other basic poker supplies. At Holdem Poker Supplies.com we offer a broad selection of top professional quality poker chip cases made in a variety of materials including wood and aluminum. These case have capacities ranging from 100 to 1000 poker chips. All of our poker chip cases feature heavy duty construction with exceptional durability that will afford many years of quality service to the owner. Because we are an online business with lower overhead and operating costs, we are able to provide the best quality professional poker supplies at the best possible prices. We are also able to provide fast, individual service with customer satisfaction a priority.