Cheating in any activity is a huge no-no. However, studies cited on LinkedIn reveal that online games may see more rampant cheating, with 71% of survey respondents admitting they think it’s more acceptable to cheat in these mediums. This stems from wanting to increase their personal enjoyment, even if it’s at the expense of those they’re playing against. Additionally, the remote nature of online games typically provides players with a false sense of bravado that leads them to think they can get away with it.

These temptations are even more pronounced in online poker games, considering they can deal out real money. As it is, the general poker landscape is constantly trying to stamp out cheaters who want to take advantage of the system. This even extends to physical poker games in prestigious tournaments like the World Series of Poker (WSOP). As recently as 2024, the poker event was marred by controversy following speculations that the Main Event champion was involved in cheating and collusion.

In light of this, leading online poker platform Americas Cardroom has dedicated itself to developing and rolling out interventions that even the playing field. As such, players of all backgrounds and levels can engage in fair games virtually anywhere and anytime.

A look at Americas Cardroom

Established in 2001, Americas Cardroom is widely considered the US’ premier online poker site. A trusted platform within the poker community, the operator has fostered its solid reputation over the past decades by investing in relevant initiatives. These include providing 24/7 secure access to huge tourneys, safe banking methods, generous promotions, such as a 100% welcome bonus, and creating its team of poker stars, which includes poker icon Chris Moneymaker, whose prowess and credibility are further evidence of the site’s commitment to excellence. This is all on top of Americas Cardroom’s regularly updated measures to preserve the integrity of poker games.

All in all, these have helped make the site an industry leader. According to a recent report from Zion Market Research, Americas Cardroom is even a key company globally. In this capacity, it’s largely responsible for boosting the overall online poker sector, which is estimated to reach a valuation of over $237 billion by 2030.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at Americas Cardroom’s aforementioned efforts to ensure that every player enjoys only honest and fair games on the platform.

The latest in the site’s fair play measures

Anti-collusion technology

One common problem many online poker sites face is players working together behind the scenes to skew games in their favor. In response to this, Americas Cardroom introduced its anti-collusion tech, ACR Reshuffle, in 2023. Made in collaboration with GTO Wizard, which is a leading poker training software, the technology works by dealing cards to only one player at a time. If the player previously dealt to folds, their cards are immediately reshuffled into the deck. As a result, this makes collusion impossible. To date, this initiative is available on select PLO 4 and PLO 5 games, although there are plans to expand this in the near future. 

Player protection

Reading your opponents for their weaknesses while in game is a natural part of poker; however, chip predators take this an unfair step further by purposely targeting “weaker” players before they even join a table. This can be done multiple ways, but online, chip predators usually do this by intentionally looking for player profiles or avatars in virtual card rooms, whom they may identify as less skilled than themselves. Americas Cardroom nips these intentions in the bud with their Player Protection feature that keeps names hidden until a participant has paid their big blind. Since this feature cannot be disabled and is active across all games, player anonymity is consistently observed.

Random number generator

To prevent card or deck exploitation, Americas Cardroom partnered with SJH Studio to create a state-of-the-art random number generator (RNG). Using this, every hand dealt on the platform is always random and unbiased. That said, since some RNGs can still be somewhat predictable given the equations, they work off, the site uses a more sophisticated algorithm that creates “true randomness.” This has even been certified by iTech Labs, which the operator onboarded to test the RNG against Marsaglia’s diehard tests for statistical randomness. Passing with flying colors, the RNG was proven to create card sequences that are unpredictable, non-repeating, and equally distributed.

Program restrictions

External Assistance Tools (EATs) are an acceptable part of a poker player’s arsenal during training, since they can offer valuable insights and tips. For instance, one popular EAT is PioSolver, which is designed to help compute a player’s optimal plays. Understandably, though, using these on a poker table provides an unfair advantage, which is why they’re not allowed in active games. Unfortunately, prohibiting EATs online is harder given the remote setup. This is where Americas Cardroom’s exclusion software comes in. Since 2021, it has been updated to prevent players from opening any EAT while on the site.

Anti-bot solutions

In online poker, human collectives often run bots that use these programs to overwhelm opponents and take-home sizable cash prizes. These bots have proven to be such a threat that some entities even use other technologies like AI and machine learning to spot them. As explained in our previous article “Top Trends in Digital Identity Verification,” these work by rapidly recognizing patterns that signal anomalous behaviours. On Americas Cardroom, the site has rolled out its own bot detection plan, which includes using Captcha, tweaking table appearances, and recording gameplays to throw off bots and spot questionable actions. This enables the operator to effectively shut down bots, including those trying to capture live game data.

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