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I'm sure this won't be here long
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PokerSt...f_Staged_Hands
from wikiobviously written in by OP)
Admission of Staged Hands
On May 23, 2009, PokerStars finally admitted what had been suspected by most players of online poker sites for some time: The hands played out on the site are not random, but are instead rigged to create the most dramatic wins and bigger pots. PokerStars officers stated they see nothing wrong with this policy, claiming that they are a "business, and like any business, we need to make a profit."
Legitimate, random poker does not offer the sort of action, in enough quantity, to constantly create the large pots and correspondingly larger rakes that online poker sites need to turn a profit. In the press release issued by PokerStars, the operating officers stated:
"Anyone who plays poker regularly knows that a high percentage of hands are folded, just aren't played. We can't operate a site that simply has a bunch of people sitting at a table folding all the time. We need to make money. So hands are engineered to create large amounts of betting, where we can collect a high rake. If we didn't do this, we wouldn't be able to operate at a profit."
Examples of these "engineered" hands are a much higher than normally probable percentage of hands which are won on the "river", or last card; higher than statistically probable instances of two or more people in the hand both having what looks to be the best hand, and subsequently betting big against each other; never giving someone the second-best possible hand without someone else having the best possible hand; etc. PokerStars also rewards highly aggressive betting, and will make sure that anyone playing aggressively, no matter with what cards, will catch the cards they need to win. According to the statement released by PokerStars: "We have a program that handles all of this."
When questioned as to why they are releasing this now, PokerStars responded, "It's been obvious from the start to anyone who plays for any length of time on the site. We've frankly gotten tired of having to defend it."
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