Friday, November 28, 2008

Was there something shady going on at Full Tilt?

I am playing online at Full Tilt at one of their no limit MTT events. At the same time, I'm reading an article about the Golden State Warriors on my Firefox browser.

As I'm reading, that buzz sound at Full Tilt goes off indicating it's time for me to check out my hand and decide my play. As I'm about to click over to Full Tilt, my Firefox screen changes to the following:

On this mostly white screen, is the name Full Tilt, my name, some numbers and I think a folder icon. Frankly, I only glanced at the screen, because I was being rushed...I didn't want to lose my article and I had to make a poker play.

So I quickly hit the back button and then folded my hand.

Of course that's when I realized I should have saved that screen, and taken a photo of it.

Being the skeptical guy that I am, it makes me think that maybe just maybe something fishy is happening. Why would this poker program send a signal to my computer which would appear on my browser? And why would this happen while I am playing?

I already think that online poker sites are not 100% fair and unbiased. For example, I am convinced that poker sites have programs that provide intermittent rewards so you get hooked on their poker site. It's like a slot machine, where many people stay and play because they hope for a big payday while getting small payoffs on an intermittent basis. Sound familiar?

Was this just some malfunction or was something else going on?

I have decided to stop playing at Full Tilt Poker for now.

Trust but verify. I can't verify, and now I'm not sure I trust them.

FYI: I am a Full Tilt Poker affiliate.

2 comments:

OhCaptain said...

I would like to see the screen in question. I would be highly skeptical that they did anything through the software. It's hard to do for one and the long term ramifications for being labeled adware would be hard to shake.

Mitchell Cogert said...

Thanks for you comment.

I know. I wish I had taken the time to read it and save it.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with adware, though.

I just don't know why that would happen, and I've played thousands of hands of poker on Full Tilt. For perspective, I've got over 30,000 Full Tilt points.

I'm going to be playing at Poker Stars and Bodog for the next month or so.

What's Your Poker IQ?