GPS is being used for many things across the globe, revolutionizing the way people live their lives.
These days, people rarely go out without a sat nav, and even when they’re on foot around a city, they might have Google maps on their phone, navigating from place to place. Athletes use GPS to track how far they run and how fast, mapping their personal best times and ensuring they prepare adequately for distance running.
The outdoor adventurer also uses GPS, again for navigation to get from one peak to the next, across wilderness landscapes without fear of getting lost or stranded. Of course, should the worst happen, the same technology can help find them and affect a swift rescue.
Even the online world is affected by GPS. Location services on your mobile provide targeted adverts and experiences from websites based purely on where you are. They might be frustrating, but have you ever visited a website and seen an advert claiming certain products available in your local area? If so, then you’ve seen the power of GPS at work in marketing.
We bet you didn’t know that GPS technology is also being used to combat cheating in online poker; here’s how it helps.
Firstly, cheating in online poker is not easy. Cheating in poker certainly happens, with some cheating almost considered legal. This type of cheating is called a poker angle shoot and is predominately about misdirection. For instance, a player hides some of their chips to misrepresent how much they have when it comes to a big bet or trying to get players to ditch their cards once the round is over by pretending to have a better hand than you do. These are both frowned upon but not entirely outlawed. However, when playing online poker, you can’t do either.
Instead, people stack online poker in their favor by teaming up on a table. This is where someone opens an account to play on the same provider as their friends, and both sit at the same table and in the same room of a house. They can then compare hands and gain an advantage. If they’ve agreed to share any winnings, they can help drive a pot up, bully other players and weigh the game in their favor. Some people do it without friends; they open two accounts on different IP addresses to play the same table twice.
This is where GPS and location services come in. By using the technology available to them, poker companies are identifying the location of players, which helps fight the cheats. It isn’t as simple as banning accounts in the same house; a husband and wife might play in different rooms and not cheat, so the technology is paired with different software that spots illegal play patterns. If two people are located close to each other on GPS, and their game pattern raises suspicions, they can be banned from future games.
Cheating at online poker is not easy, but people will always find a way to try to beat a system. Thanks to GPS, those looking to scam you at online poker won’t find it so easy the next time they try.
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