Among your many concerns, perhaps, whether as a beginning player or pro, is how safe from fraud or cheating poker sites are? How do online poker rooms guarantee that computer dealers are as random card shufflers as human dealers?
If computer dealers are possible, is it no less possible to have these computer dealers designed to make hocus-pocus in dealing cards?
The obvious answer is no. If poker sites do practice fraud and cheating, online poker gambling wouldn't have attracted millions of poker players worldwide.
There have been scattered claims of fraud, of course, by an insignificant number of gamblers. They are ones who are likely always out of luck, or do not know how to play well. The thing is, no claim had ever been supported by hard evidence up, and online poker fairly continues to attract more and more players worldwide.
Online poker rooms use several measures to guarantee that they employ secure and fair dealing methods.
For one, online poker rooms use random number generators. Poker sites spend thousands of dollars to get the best in the market. Poker sites fairly understand the concept of integrity. They earn through rakes and entry fees, not by beating players by cheating in card distribution. Online poker is a game among players, not players against house or dealer. If any poker site has been evidenced to have practiced fraud, it would be out of business by now. No poker player would be moronic enough to give this site a visit.
So, if online poker room operators do not commit cheating or fraud, how safe are poker sites from hackers?
Poker sites spend a lot for advanced technology that would guarantee the RGN safe from hackers. This way, no online player would cheat every other players and the sites themselves.
Poker sites are audited by external body of auditors like Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Pricewater Coopers, and BMM International. These firms check and ensure that the site's RGN do shuffle and distribute cards fairly and randomly and securely. Regular site audits are done by these firms, again, to ensure that players are getting fair deals out of their bets.
Like wood-and-cement casinos, it is the aim of online poker rooms to provide their players fair play and fair chance at winnings. Poker site operators know that, like any product, they get their customers' loyalty by maintaining integrity. The more loyal customers they will have, they more revenues they will generate from rakes, entry fees, and buy-ins. This is why they spend thousands of dollars to ensure that poker sites are fraud-free and secure.