Suspicious Play Deep In MTT’s

Poker Tournaments
#1

Hey all,

New to the forums, well posting anyways. I’ve lurked for awhile but felt the time was right to start posting with some consistently weird play I’ve noticed in MTTs, wondering if I’m the only one to see stuff like this. There have been multiple instances in the past few months where I make it deep in MTTs, generally the final table or 2-3 tables remaining. I’ll pick up a big hand like AA, KK, AK suited etc…and make a large raise. I’ll get a call, and hit a flop that’s great for me and doesn’t connect with any sort of hand that should have realistically called me. Regardless of what I do, check or bet, the opponent will shove and of course I snap call. Every single time this happens, they have some absolute trash that hasn’t even connected with the board. 92 offsuit comes to mind, because that’s what I lost to most recently holding QQ on a 83T board. They shoved with nothing and the board runs out 92 to give them two pair, knocking me out in 11th place when in any sane world I should have doubled up (not to mention they should have snapfolded preflop). Wtf is this? The only thing that makes sense is some sort of program with knowledge of what the runout will be, though I’d love to be proven wrong by someone who has a logical explanation for this play. And again, this has happened multiple times, always deep in a tournament, always when I’m a 95%+ favorite to win the hand, and always some ridiculous runout that leads to the trash hand winning when they shouldn’t even be in the hand. Anyone else seeing garbage of this type? Cheers!

6 Likes
#2

Hi @TheBassistant,

Thank you for your thoughtful comment and the careful consideration that led you to your conclusion. I would like to clarify that when playing our Poker, you are indeed competing against real-life players. While there is a strategic aspect to the game, luck also plays a significant role. I have personally witnessed similar plays succeed in real World Poker Tour events, where bluffs can be effective. It is important to note that our system does not favor any particular player, as the Random Number Generator (RNG) ensures fairness for all participants.

2 Likes
#3

Sure, I understand the concept of bluffing, I’ve been playing poker full time for 20 years. Calling a large raise preflop deep in a tournament for 40%+ of your stack with complete garbage, then calling an all-in for your tournament life post flop with >1% equity and hitting runner runner to win isn’t a bluff. In a best case scenario, it’s idiotic astronomical luck. Worst case, and more likely, it’s a bot running some kind of scripting program. If it happened once I wouldn’t even be talking about it. I made the post because I’ve noticed this happening consistently and I doubt I’m the only one. I appreciate your take on the situation, but this simply doesn’t qualify as a bluff.

4 Likes
#4

I understand your concerns, however, we don’t allow for bots to join tables as it would undermine our integrity.

#5

Right, but not allowing something doesn’t mean it won’t happen. This whole issue could be fixed by having usernames and doing away with the anonymous number system at the tables. You have no way of knowing who’s who, having a username system is the standard and it should be implemented.

5 Likes
#6

Thanks for your suggestion. However, if a bot were to be present at a table, I believe that would be an easy work around. Please be advised that we have a security team that actively checks for bots and removes them when found.

#7

Doesn’t mean there arent bots. There definitely are. There a reason you guys have people constantly checking for them. We appreiciate that bit dont dismiss yhis as if you guys catch them the first time everytime. Simply not true. Due away with the anonymous tables. Transparency!

5 Likes
#8

The reason we have people checking is to ensure that there are no issues. It’s not because there are bots we do checkups. People want to protect their identity and we would like to ensure that it is protected so we keep in anonymous.

#9

Yes definitely I 100% agree with you

1 Like
#10

I’ve had a lot of shady hands just like that They go all in i Got pocket Aces or kings suited AK AQ KQ they trash some how always hit the one card they need. I either have the worst luck on this site or…

4 Likes
#11

Yeah it just happened to me again, crushing two tournaments from beginning to final table. I won’t even get into specifics because I know it’ll just be a copy+paste response from Mods about how the games have integrity and can’t be compromised, just suffice to say I had premium holdings on each occurrence and got knocked out vs trash that had no business calling an all-in preflop for 50%+ of their stack, and of course they both hit runner miracles again. I got 5th and 8th place respectively, so I can’t be too mad, but that’s still $2000+ I would’ve made for deeper runs if it weren’t for VERY fishy play. The kind of plays nobody would make unless they knew the cards that were coming and that they would win. Do away with the anonymous tables.

7 Likes
#15

Ramos you seem to be on to something! I haven’t seen QQ win a single time at any table at any level! It’s kinda ridiculous that 1 of the best hands in poker never wins??? And its always to a flopped flush or something stupid like that. 8-3 suited or 9-2

#16

Totally agree that it’s time they start adding user names to their games (for a large number of reasons)

4 Likes
#17

The live dealers do the same. Very very suspicious here in 2024. Ignition died off over a year ago, i have just finallly seen first hand to many things back to back that cant be explained by bad luck anymore. Not when other sites iv been to dont have that issue

1 Like
#18

For what it’s worth, I brought this issue up back in the day. I forget what Ignition used to be called a decade ago, but it wasn’t anonymous and you were able to actually chat with people at the table. Oh, how I miss talking crap at the table or expressing my disdain for absolutely abhorrent play. I used to be absolutely convinced that they used bots or rigged the system to ensure they would turn a profit. Is it possible? Yes. Can we prove whether they do or don’t? Unfortunately, no. This is sadly something we either have to take at face value (pun intended) and decide whether we want to keep playing here.

That being said, I have won and placed in the top 10 of a few 1000+ entry tournaments in the last couple of years. I still have never shaken the thought of bots or rigged randomizers, but I have adapted my play. I usually get sucked out in a terrible way, but I’ve accepted it as a reality. Honestly, I think there’s just a culture of questionable poker playing here, bots or no bots.

A new one for me, though, was getting kicked out of a tournament last night. Thankfully it was only a $10 buy in, but I was on pace to be in the money. They credited my account with what looks like would have been my prize money at the time of the poker site going down, but I was still livid. Had the site gone down 10 ish minutes prior, I would have been in about 15th place instead of 135th place, so I would have been credited way more money. Very disappointing and very suspicious. We need more visibility. Saying that “they’re experiencing issues and they’re looking into it” isn’t enough. What exactly is going on? We need to know if we should be worried about our money, our data, the integrity of the game, etc. Ignition, where’s your visibility?

4 Likes
#22