The recent negative media coverage about online poker and security problems at major poker sites shows that the operators of these sites need to take a more serious look at the issue. This has been a problem that has started to affect the level of trust players have in their chosen site.
Party Poker and Poker Stars are the most secure online poker sites. They have been able to define the level of safety its players can expect when they deposit and play with their money online.
Full Tilt Poker, another major online poker site, has lagging behind the other two market power units in terms of its security policies. A public audit is one of those policies. This allows anyone to analyze the distribution of cards and determine whether the Randomizer Program at Full Tilt was fair. Another security concern is the absence of policies regarding third-party “black hat” data mining software being used to make money on Full Tilt tables against unsuspecting participants.
Full Tilt enjoyed a boom in business last year, when Party Poker, a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange was forced to withdraw from the American market. This joker388 apk was to avoid a possible legal battle with the Government of the USA. Full Tilt was a dominant player on the market within weeks of the legislation. It left behind other sites like Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet that were comparable in size. These sites are now in trouble with their “soft” security, and must make big decisions if they want to see future growth.
Full Tilt could have been experiencing some growth pains. However, they may have had other priorities than security. However, in a recent communication with Full Tilt, I was informed that at least some of these issues are being addressed.
A Full Tilt representative said that an external audit is being considered. “A third-party independent audit (of our shuffling or dealing processes) is something we are currently looking into and will make an announcement shortly. An external audit would be a great help in drowning out all the drama in forums about bad full-tilt hands.
Next comes the crackdown and enforcement of data-mining activities by third-party software like Poker-Edge. This software is the enemy of Poker Stars, Party Poker and Poker Stars. These sites scan your hard-drive to see if you’re using it. If you’re using the software, you will be notified about account deletion and possible confiscation within a matter of minutes.
Full Tilt only recently put up a list that prohibited Poker-Edge software. It is one thing to list prohibited software but do something about it. Full Tilt did not “prevent” it from being used up until recently. Full Tilt changed all that when Poker-Edge operators boasted that Full Tilt didn’t care about the Poker-Edge being used on their tables. They also claimed that Full Tilt has a b2b relationship with Fulltilt so that, if you sign up through the poker-edge link… poker-edge will be yours for three months. It is hard to believe that fulltilt would care about this prohibited list. ”
That little tidbit annoyed the sleeping giant enough to identify Poker-Edge in breach of their affiliate contract. They have since cut off all association with Poker-Edge and, further, as stated by the Full Tilt rep, “As far the data-mining problem is concerned, we are currently evaluating our options, which could include countermeasures that will prevent and/or stop the use of such programs or databases.” Full Tilt Poker is committed to the integrity of our site as well as the security of all our players. This has been true since inception. “