PokerStars Tightens Up On Cash Game Collusion

A few months ago, a gang of 38 Chinese colluders caused major embarrassment to online giant PokerStars, which then had to pay out over $2 million in compensation to the victims of the online scam.
At the time, groups of 5 or 6 Chinese players would often sit down at the same Double or Nothing (DoN) Sit and Go Tournaments on PokerStars and proceed to con their way to victory at the expense of their unfortunate victims.
Following the discovery of their cheating, PokerStars announced at the time the implementation of a security function to stop more than one player from certain countries from playing in the same sit-and-go tournaments together.
For security reasons, however, PokerStars has now extended that criteria to include cash game, and recently issued a statement to its Chinese players saying:
“PokerStars.com has introduced a new security feature that prevents players from certain countries playing at the same ring game table.”
The statement then continues: “This restriction means that only one player from each of these countries is able to play at the same ring game table. You are able to play at any ring game table you wish but once you are seated no other player from your country will be able to join the table. Similarly, if another player from your country is seated, you will be unable to join that table until they leave.”
PokerStars didn’t elaborate on whether the move was due to a new collusion threat or merely a response to the old one, but either way it left its customers in no doubt that it would continue doing all it could to protect and enhance the integrity of its games.
The decision is likely to disappoint an army of Chinese poker fans who in the past might have enjoyed playing against each other. However, it would seem PokerStars was left with few options in order to protect its customers and business. In addition, many other poker rooms do not allow any China-based players whatsoever.
Online poker security is likely to continue being an ongoing battle between offense and defence, and as PokerStars commented recently:
“This case has highlighted the need for us to improve our proactive systems and to improve the rule set that we will use to monitor the games in future.”