Determining if Poker Software is Legit

When you are taking a look at a new program, the first question to ask yourself is, “Is this thing legitimate?” I’m sure we’ll be hearing questions about a lot of very shady software programs and websites here on PokerSoftware.com, so I thought that a few guidelines would be useful for helping you determine whether this great new product you found is on the up and up or just a scam.

Let’s start with why it’s important not to buy shady software or download anything you can’t trust. The most important thing is that you may be installing something on your computer that records your passwords and then sends them to someone who uses them to steal money from your online accounts. This can even happen with a website because many people use the same passwords everywhere. The owner of the site may just take your user name and password from the site and then try it on other poker rooms to see if he can steal your money.

It’s also very common for the novice player to buy a piece of software that makes impossible claims and does virtually nothing. When this happens, your money and time are both wasted and you’ve just lined the pockets of a crook, encouraging them to rip off other poker players because of the success they had burning you. You can visit our Poker Cheating Software Exposed article to learn about one such scam. We don’t want you to fall victim and, if you follow some simple guidelines, you won’t.

#1 – Does it make claims that don’t make sense?

Many scam programs claim to let you read an opponent’s hole cards or win thousands of dollars every night. I won’t go in to the details of why it’s impossible to read someone else’s hole cards, but I will tell you that if someone had that capability, then they would not be selling it for $49.95. With that capability, it would be possible to make $10,000 a night very easily and selling it to everyone would ruin it immediately. If the site is going through a lot of trouble to convince you to buy something that will make you filthy rich, then they are probably just ripping you off.

#2 – Do they have a forum?

A site without a forum is typically a bad sign, especially when it is a program that might require technical support. A scam site can’t have a forum or it would be full of angry people warning everyone not to buy the product, so they don’t have one.

#3 – Use Google

Search for the name of the software and see what pops up. If there is almost nothing, then the site has just appeared and you have cause for concern. With most scams, you will also find people talking about them on forums and it will be easy to tell that the program is not legitimate.

#4 – Check with Us

We have reviewed hundreds of pieces of software. If we have not reviewed the program in question, then we want to hear about it so we can check it out. We can tell you quickly if it’s a scam and, if it’s a good program we haven’t heard of, we’ll have a review up within a few days letting you know that it’s safe to use.

#5 – Use Some Common Sense

Consider the claims the software maker makes, the look of their website, the tech support, and all of the other things that can indicate to you whether a program is real or just a rip off. Scam artists count on people who want to get rich quick and get so excited about the idea that they don’t stop to consider how realistic the claims are. No piece of software can read your opponent’s hole cards, allow you to change your own cards, or scam the system for thousands of dollars a day. The poker sites are making an awful lot of money and at the first sign of cheating, the traffic on a site plummets, so they take security very seriously.

If the guy at the gas station told you he could sell you some tires that would make your car run on plain old rain water, would you buy them? Treat poker software with the same skepticism. Don’t fall for the “What if” that the con artist sells. “What if this thing works? I could be rich!” If you are looking for a long shot at getting rich, you are better off buying a lottery ticket. Someone wins the lottery every week; at least there’s a chance of getting rich when you buy that ticket.

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