If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.
(Matt Damon in the film Rounders).

About cheating

After a paid on-line Bridge lesson, my teacher said to me about the opponents who had left after he queried their strange bidding: "Those guys were definitely cheating but why they would want to beats me. On to more important things...".

Some people indeed do wonder why people would cheat at on-line Bridge when there is no monetary reward, and some even question if it takes place at all.

As to why someone would cheat, I believe reasons might be to gain respect of other Bridge players, to be a sought-after partner, and the spectacle of defeating an expert. Though a cheat should be careful of the latter: I heard of an expert making the statement "Opponents, in all the games I have played I have never seen such perfect bidding and play from anyone as you, and am therefore leaving this table.".

As to if it happens, I think it surely does not only from the many complaints of people who have witnessed it (and personal experience), but that an on-line Bridge provider such as OKbridge found it necessary to put in place a Conduct and Ethics function to deal with it which suspended and even expelled (paying) members for cheating.

How it is done

In explaining how cheating can be done opens one to the accusation of facilitating the practice. To which my response is, as Robert Houdin (magician that Houdini respected so much that he named himself after him), said:

"Enlighten the dupes, and there will be no more knaves".

Leaving aside for now the murky areas of unethical play such as homing in on weak opponents (a cruel sport known as "bunny bashing"), unsporting conduct such as leaving the table immediately after the first bad result, or even abandoning a game where you know you're going to get wet (although the latter practice is now monitored by okbridge), there are, I believe, three main ways that you can get cheated:

  1. By the opponents telling each other their hands.
  2. When one or both opponents know all four hands in advance.
  3. An opponent making use of reference materials for bidding or play.

How to spot it

The three tell-tale signs of cheating are, in my opinion: Results, Results, Results. No-one is going to bother to cheat unless they get a good score out of it at the end. Even if they follow the sucker tactic of losing once or twice to begin with the overall result will invariably be painful to you.

So if you find you are getting hurt, then check the following:

  • Are the results inconsistent with the opponents purported skill (check their ratings) and with yours and partner's mistakes? i.e. are they playing like experts but have only intermediate ratings? This may only be a short-term check since a short burst of cheating will soon give an intermediate player an expert's rating, but still worth a look.
  • Is the tempo of an opponent wrong? It may be too fast on a difficult decision where you expect them to be thinking (after all even the experts pause for thought). On the other hand it may be too slow on an obvious bid or play and this may be because the player is busy exchanging information with partner or checking everyone's hand.
  • Do the opponents seem to make too many lucky guesses that work out? Examples are finesses that always succeed, pushing to game with less points than they should, (or stopping below game when they do have enough points but game can't be made), and going for the drop when the odds favour a finesse.
  • Are the opponents skill inconsistent? Opponents that know each other's hands but not yours and partner's will be expert at bidding and defence but only average at declarer play.
  • Are the opponents reluctant to discuss their brilliance after a hand is over? If a great play is inexplicable by honest methods then the cheaters will indeed have trouble explaining their cleverness.
  • Does an opponent seem to have photographic memory of what cards have been played, or never makes a mistake in a bidding convention? If so then he may be recording the cards in the tricks or referring to bidding notes.

    I was first startled by super accurate card-counting in a game where I accidentally did not open 1NT though I had 15 points, and at the end of the game one opponent rated of intermediate skill apologised to his partner with: "Sorry partner, I didn't think will could have the Jack since he didn't open 1NT" i.e. the opponent had 'remembered' every single other honour in my hand.

    And it's not too hard to find an on-line card counter program to do the hard work for you.
  • Does an opponent or opponents regularly have the same buddy spectating them i.e. someone who can see all the hands? The buddy may be sending information back to them even though the okbridge software prevents this happening directly through private chat.
  • Do you occasionally have someone unknown to you join your table and spectate without asking? They may be learning - or they may be "harvesting" hands for use with another account or to swap with friends. Throw them off and see if they complain.
  • Do the opponents seem to know each other? If so then it is more likely that they will be telling each other their hands than if they are a pick-up partnership. If you controlled the seating at the table and had a choice of opponents then you will be safer on this count.

What to do if you suspect

Okbridge gives good advice: "Whatever you do, don't make public accusations toward the person. Such accusations are against OKbridge rules, and are a bad idea in any event".

First, check and recheck your suspicions. There are often innocent reasons why someone may seem suspicious:

  • The opponent is simply better than you, better at remembering what has been played, able to count the cards (legitimately) to work out a fail-safe finesse, or the only way a hand can be made, that may be against the "book" line.
  • Strange tempos may be due to Internet delays or interruptions at the opponent's PC.
  • If English is not your native language then you may be reluctant to discuss a hand, and not explain your reasoning well. (Though a non-native English speaker made it perfectly clear to me once in a tournament when she said "I psyche". Will: "Director!".)

But if you are still convinced something evil is going on, then I recommend to record the names of the suspected cheater(s) and to turn on the recording of the games as evidence. If you need to see more to be sure then track where they are playing, and try and spectate if you can. (You can also record a game when spectating.)

Even if you are not sure you can then report it to the OKbridge Ethics Office, as they will collect evidence and investigate.

Then, obviously avoid playing with these people, and consider switching to Non-Competitive games where cheaters will rarely bother to use their skills since winning there will not boost their statistics.

Some examples

These examples come from a lesson that I paid for. Since the games did not affect our statistics I think the cheaters did it only to humiliate my expert teacher. Their method was to inform each other of their own hands.

Example 1 First hand, some quite wild bidding from the opponents where I doubled their 5H overcalled contract - and then they redoubled me and made it plus one! You can see the hands, bids and play here as a text file (rename to .rec to be a BridgeVu file).

My teacher's comments: Board 19: I took out 4 hearts x'd to warn you of no defense so you should pass 5 hearts. Why didn't you ruff the opening lead and play a trump we hold them to 5.

So maybe I was in the wrong and they weren't cheating, though I still think they were awfully daring.

Example 2 Later on, a peculiar 2D opening bid from them eventually ending in a 3 Club contract by me which I made (just). I suppose the 2D could have been a weak Flannery. But if the Diamonds were conventional then the lead of K from Kx in that suit was inexplicable, I feel. See here.

My teacher's comments: Board 24: Not sure why you didn't open 3 clubs

Well by then even I was suspecting something and decided to stop-start my Clubs bidding to confuse the opponents.

Other Examples Not recorded unfortunately was the hand where one opponent in defence ruffed his partner's winner in an expert manner totally inconsistent with his statistics, in order to make a devastating return through declarer (me).

Nor the final game where they had a Spade fit but stopped lamely at the 2 level for no reason since they couldn't know we had the Spade honours. That's when my partner finally challenged them and they left straight away.

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