==Possible Rigging==
The poker industry is an incredibly tough market and one that is definately not easily entered. The large businesses such as PokerStars, Full Tilt and Party Poker have swallowed their competitors and taken a huge majority of the market between them.
Smaller poker sites may have an essentive to rig their software as profits might be low and security standards/regulations may be of poor quality or even non-existant. These companies may get a slight edge over their competitors as they have very little to lose and a lot to gain by rigging their software.
==Absolute Poker Scandal==
Sept. 13th. Potripper won a $1000 buy-in tourney, Absolute Pokers largest tournament. The player CrazyMarco, who finished second, insisted that there had to be cheating involved in Potrippers win. One of the most obvious signs was when Potripper bet around 20k with T-high, got pushed all-in by CrazyMarco, and called the sick 180k to beat CrazyMarcos 9-high bluff.
CrazyMarco demanded the hand history released, and to his surprise, Absolute Poker was more than willing to help him with this matter. Feb. 21st, APs support send him a file, but this was far from the ordinary hand history he had requested. The file he recieved was huge, and after a short peak he turned of his computer and went to bed as he was unable to gain any information from the data file himself.
Two weeks later rumours are heating up at PocketFives, and Marco posts in the forum that he has this enormous file from the Potripper tournament. The moderator of the site, adanthar, offers his help, and Marco sends him the file. It turns out the file covers the entire tournament, all of the players' hole cards, and other normally highly confidential information.
- Potripper folded the first two, then saw all flops, unless the times where an opponent had two queens or better.
- Potripper won all showdowns in the tournament.
- Potripper folded on the river every time he was behind - and raised every time he wasn't.
- Potripper only bluffed when the opponent(s) had weak hands.
==Conclusion==
The online poker (and casino) industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Credibility, respect and loyalty are at the top of the agenda for any of these businesses and therefore rigging would most likely have detrimental affects on the business.
Rigging of a poker site may be rare and unheard of, however there is the possibility that a freak incident such as the Absolute Poker Scandal may occur.
