PokerStars Gives an Insight Into Its Game Integrity Team
Protecting at the tables is one of PokerStars’ top priorities according to a video released on the world’s biggest online poker site’s YouTube channel.
Sadly, cheating and poker go hand-in-hand like eggs and ham. Cheaters will always look to make a quick buck whenever money is on the table. It’s one of the downsides of human nature.
Thankfully, the PokerStars Game Integrity team is on hand to prevent its players from all forms of cheating, be that collusion between two or more players, the use of banned software, and even tracking down “bots.”
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PokerStars claims to spend millions of dollars every year keeping its games fair. The vast majority of online poker players adhere to the rules and have no intention of ever cheating their fellow players. The small minority, the unscrupulous section of the community, spoil it for everyone else.
A team of 60-programmers, analysts, and even ex-professional poker players make up PokerStars’ Game Integrity team. They work around the clock, 24-hours per day, seven days a week, using machine-learning algorithms on super-powerful computers.
This team has full access to every single hand PokerStars has ever dealt, all 200 billion of them.
The majority of cheaters are detected by the Game Integrity team, approximately 95% of cheating cases are dealt with without them needed to be flagged by PokerStars’ customers. The fact they deal with so many cases without you ever knowing about them is a testament to their efficiency.
PokerStars’ holds its cards close to its chest when it comes to letting people know what methods it uses to catch cheaters and review the cheaters’ play. Making that public knowledge would allow those cheaters to develop new ways to evade detection so it is counter-intuitive.
The site does, however, state every case of suspected cheating undergoes a rigorous review process where no stone is left unturned. There has been more than one historical case where PokerStars has made suspected cheaters stream their play for them so they could make sure they were able to play as many hands per day naturally without the aid of any banned third-party software.
Once a player has been categorically confirmed as a cheater they are banned from PokerStars. They also run the risk of having their account balances removed, depending on the cheating offence.
Every email sent through to the Game Integrity team is fully investigated by the team. We love poker here at PokerNews and want everyone to play in games that are fair. With that in mind, we implore you to contact PokerStars with any suspected cheating. Don’t waste their time complaining that Player A cracked your aces for the third time in an hour, but anything you suspect looks off should be reported so the perpetrator can be dealt with.
