Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Online shuffle

I've occasionally wondered what technique is used for the online shuffle at Party.

From what I understand there are two main techniques that online poker sites use: 1) the shuffle of the deck is completely finished at the beginning of the hand, like in a bricks and mortar casino (the 5 board cards that will come out are already determined by the time the first hole card is dealt) OR 2) the rng is applied to obtain a new card whenever one is needed.

In a hand I was dealt last night in the $10/$20 game, if technique #1 was used, a technical glitch probably cost me ~90% of 7BB. If technique #2 was used, I saved 1.5-2.0BB.

Since we moved about 2 months ago, I have been experiencing intermittent but brief internet outages. I have done no investigation of the cause. e.g. perhaps 1 day a week, I will have 3-4 interuptions of internet service for 3-20 seconds in duration over the course of 2 hours.

hand #1
preflop: UTG folds, hero is dealt JsJd and internet connection is lost..... connection resumes about 18 seconds later, hero has been folded, folded to semi-lag in MP+1 who raised, absolute Rock (9/2/2.0) 3 bet, everyone else folds, semi-lag calls. (2 players, 7.5 small bets)
flop: Jh3h6c, semilag check folds.

I have over 2000 hands on Rock, so I'm 90% sure he had Aces, and 99% sure he had Aces or Kings, so I just wonder if my internet outage cost me $122 or saved me $30?

No comments: