Am I playing a cheater?

Kleinman · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 19

I have been playing free online backgammon for a few months now and I’m thinking about starting to play for money but I have to admit that I’m a little bit worried about cheaters. I don’t want to be unfairly screwed out of my money. I have heard that there are poker programs that you can hook up to play online poker for you, do programs like this exist in backgammon and could people be using them against me? Is there any way to tell that I am playing against a cheater? Also, what can I do if I think my opponent is cheating? Please help, as I’d really like to start playing for money. Thanks…

Shaker · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 20

Online backgammon sites generally have software and people working for them to catch cheaters and boot them from the site. They analyze each game and look for patterns and signs that can indicate cheating.

You will be pleased to hear that for backgammon there really aren’t programs that can be hooked up to your computer that will play the game for you. However, there are programs like Gnubg, Jellyfish and Snowie that can be used as you are playing. Many cheaters use these programs to analyze each move of their games before choosing the best move in order to beat you. Signs that a player is doing this include if they take a long time to make their moves and if they are beating you consistently. You can analyze your matches with these programs as well and if your opponent’s moves are coming up “perfect” consistently then there is a chance that they are cheating.

If you suspect a player of cheating there isn’t much you can do besides stop playing against them. You can submit the player’s name to the website administrators but there is no guarantee that they will be able to prove anything and the player could be allowed to continue playing.

Sappertone · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 17

The online backgammon industry has gone to great lengths to ensure that players can’t cheat and that if they do they get caught. It is much more likely that you will encounter problems like whining opponents and droppers than you are to encounter a cheat. If you are still worried, just start playing in very low stakes games so that if you do encounter a cheating opponent you won’t lose very much. However, as I said, it is extremely unlikely that you will face a cheater.