Rat Holing

Internet Poker / Marcus Bateman / 19 April 2010 / Leave a Comment

The term 'rat-holing' refers to a style of play where a player sits down at the table with the minimum buy in, and generally just plays push/fold poker followed by leaving as soon as they double up.

There has been a huge controversy in recent weeks over the online player 'Stoxtrader' being accused of multi accounting and colluding with other short stack players. In much of the discussion they have frequently been termed 'rat-holers' for their style of play, and here I want to explore a little what this term means, and why it is a relatively recent and damaging practice that has now marred the game slightly through these cheating allegations.

The term 'rat-holing' refers to a style of play where a player sits down at the table with the minimum buy in, and generally just plays push/fold poker followed by leaving as soon as they double up. This style of play is used to take advantage of deep stacked games due to the fact that those playing deep stacks end up calling against each other with weak hands due to the huge implied odds of deep stacked poker, and this is a point that rat-holer's use to shove over the weaker ranges without having to play much post flop poker (where they would struggle in skill terms against good deep stacked players).

They are a true online phenomenon, as only online have players been able to sit in a new game instantly. In live games, players are not allowed to take chips off of the table or sit back down at a table with less chips than they left with inside a certain time period, and due to the relatively small number of tables in live arenas, this policy always effectively stopped large scale rat-holing. Online however, so many tables are available, and so many tables break and re-start quickly, that rat holing became an immensely profitable way to take advantage of deep stacked games. It looks like 'Stoxtrader' and others had not only been looking to habitually play this style in many high stakes game, but to also collude amongst themselves to minimise their losses against each other and maximise their returns.

This is a new phenomenon in poker cheating (much like having multiple accounts in the same tournament was when online poker first started), but one that is important to stay observant to. If you suspect anything about this form of collusion do not hesitate to contact Betfair security.

Related Entries

Security - Online and Live
Cheating and Collusion

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