They are legit. A lot of people say they are rigged, but these folks probably don't do too hot in casinos either. Just go with the big ones, stars, party, etc... and you will be fine.
Well I didn't exactly mean rigged, but excuse my ignorance here -- what stops two or three guys from sitting at the same table all the while chatting on an IM???
I'm sure that happens, but it is usually obvious and there are so many bad players that it is still worth it to play.
I guess there's nothing that stops people from doing this - the sites say that they are constantly on the lookout for patterned behaviour which would betray collusion, i.e. correlations between players seating choices and winning sessions. I used to see the same two guys together whenever I looked at different tables, and I just avoided sitting down with them. One day I found one of them alone and I said "Where's ______?" He immediately asked me who I was and when I laughed, he left the table I can tell you that as an absolute beginner when I started, I do very well at the low buy-in NL tables at Stars and Party. IMO, there are enough fish out there that you will be able to get heads up with them without worrying about which players at the table are colluding. Tight aggressive play wins at these tables. I hope Hank is right when he suggests that we might expect a few more months/years of this kind of action. I saw a CNN bit on Hold-Em last night... featured Ferguson. I would tend to worry more about props/ house players than I would about independent attempts at collusion. After all, there is never a guarantee that someone else can't see your cards.
The sites watch for this pattern. You will get nailed trying to do this. Easily detectable with some simple stats. peace axeman
I take it only one poker room identity is allow per credit card # (and you can't invent a new nickname for each session), so that would eliminate the ET phenomenon of some people with 100s of IDs. Also you can probably, write down and track the people seated with you at each session. If there is a pattern, it would be apparent to you.
For MANY detailed threads about collusion, do a search on collusion at the twoplustwo.com message boards. Basically, yes some guys cheat, but you can still make a nice fat profit by playing fair....and I speak from experience. You can use my bonus code TRADER for a first deposit bonus at Party, but I just need to warn you that Party software & support are a nightmare. I only play there because they've got the finest selection of fresh juicy fish.