Online poker sites have come under suspicion of being rigged almost since the start of online poker. There have invariably been rumours flying around the web that the tables were rigged. Folks that played on the poker sites online (usually individuals who lost of course) moaned that there was a much higher chance of suffering a "bad beat" online than there was in a real poker game.

Well the truth is they're right on one count but wrong on the other.

Firstly, there isn't any way that the major online poker rooms are rigged. They are multi-million dollar over a year industries that do all right the way they can be, there is absolutely no requirement for them to be fixed or rigged within any way. Can you imagine what it would do for the business if it was to emerge that one of the main poker sites was fixed? Their customers would disappear like snow off a roof, and you'll find nothing surer than the fact that if one of the sites was rigged, the information would find it's way out eventually. If there is anything dubious going on it would happen to be completed by a person and they tend not to be able to keep secrets forever!

Secondly, yes it is true - there is more chance that you'll get a bad beat within an online poker game than in a regular table game at home or in a safe casino (inquiry). The main reason for this however is not that you'll find "bent" tables, the reason lies with the players themselves. The internet poker player is a different breed from his real table counterpart and bets in another way. You will discover a number of possible reasons because of this, but whether or not it is really because the game doesn't seem as real because there is nothing that is actually tangible, or even it's just that the conventional of play will be much lower online, the truth remains that people playing online tend to bet more and also on worse hands than those offline.

People will play almost any hand online and often the entire game will be one of bluff and bigger bluff. Almost everybody - especially on the lower money tables - desires to be linked to every hand. So the very fact that more individuals are in to find out the flop means that there's far more chance of you picking up a "bad beat". That 2 7 which the majority of people would throw away as if it was burning their hands becomes a whole lot more attractive in the event the flop is 7 7 2!

So the bottom line is the fact that the internet poker sites are not fixed or rigged in almost any way, it is just the players that can be a bit unpredictable!