Is PokerStars a Total Joke? (What You Need to Know)

Many people ask me these days, is PokerStars a total joke?

And believe me, I get it!

I have taken an unbelievable amount of bad beats on this site. 

So much so, that at times I am left wondering how it is not totally rigged for action?

But is there some real treachery going on behind the scenes these days at PokerStars? Is PokerStars truly just a complete and total rigged joke?

That's what today's article is going to explore.

Let's jump into it!

Is PokerStars a Total Joke?

So let's just get right to the point, is PokerStars a total joke or not?

Well, not really, and here's why.

While I have taken an ungodly amount of bad beats and coolers on this site (often right before the final table!), I have also won a ridiculous amount of money playing on PokerStars, tens of thousands, in very low limit games.

In fact, in a recent post I talked about how I made $44,341 (before bonuses) on this site. Most of this was taken off of the numerous bad poker players who play on Pokerstars by the way.

And yes, while it is true that they seem to hit their miracle river cards on me over and over again, I found that by simply playing a solid tight and aggressive strategy against them, I am able to win big in the end.

Making sure that I don't tilt (get frustrated and play bad) when they hit their suckouts against me is another big key to my success.

So while it was very difficult to handle all of the insane bad beats I got from the fish, I found that by staying strong mentally, and sticking to my game plan, I was able to overcome this on PokerStars.

Therefore, I would have to conclude that PokerStars is not a total joke.

By the way, if you just want to learn my simple no BS system for exactly what hands to play, when to bet, raise and bluff, I cover this in extensive detail in my brand new training program, Play Fearless Poker.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

My new Play Fearless Poker training program includes 12+ hours of advanced poker lessons, 100+ step by step example hands and "cheat sheets" below every single video.

If you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

Enroll in Play Fearless Poker

Get $100 OFF Use Code: 100OFF

PokerStars Big Stack Advantage in Tournaments

Now while I am admittedly much more of a cash game player than a tournament player, I will admit that I have seen the big stack seemingly dominating a lot in tournaments on PokerStars.

So is there a big stack advantage at play in PokerStars tournaments?

Well, we would need to analyze the data over millions of hands in order to properly address this. But from my limited research in PokerTracker, I would have to say no.

While it definitely appears sometimes that the big stack gets the "breaks," it is also a proven fact that it is better to have a big stack than a short stack in a tournament.

Because it gives you a bigger buffer between staying alive and being eliminated.

So it is not surprising therefore when you see the big stack seemingly getting "lucky" again and again because they have put themselves in a position to get lucky in the first place!

This is why I constantly harp on playing elite level poker in all my books like Crushing the Microstakes.

Because when you are the best poker player at the table then you will naturally build up a big stack which is going to give you more chances to win, and get "lucky" later on.

So while it does "appear" at times like the big stacks on PokerStars get a bit of an advantage, I haven't seen any evidence which conclusively proves this either way.

In any case, my advice is just to build a big stack yourself!

Don't rely on getting lucky to win a tournament by sitting around waiting for a big hand like everybody else does.

Go make your own luck by playing the aggressive style that I teach in my free poker cheat sheet.

Make $1000+ Per Month in Low Stakes PokerStars Games With My Free Poker Cheat Sheet

Are you having trouble beating low stakes poker games on PokerStars? Are you looking to make a consistent part time income playing these games?  

That is why I wrote this free little 50 page poker cheat sheet to give you the exact strategies to start consistently making $500 (or more) per month in low stakes poker games on PokerStars right now. 

These are the exact poker strategies that I have used as a 10+ year poker pro by the way. And I lay them all out for you step by step in this free guide. 

Enter your details below and I will send my free poker cheat sheet to your inbox right now.

 

Name

Email

PokerStars River Action Cards

Now another common complaint I get when people tell me that PokerStars is a total joke is that they employ river action cards to force big pots.

This is why some people even call it "JokerStars" or "RiverStars" now.

For example, one player will make a full house on the river card whereas the other player makes a flush. Therefore, it is going to be very hard for the player with the flush not to lose all his/her money.

Now once again, I haven't seen enough clear evidence to indicate that this is the case either way on PokerStars.

I can say that I have encountered many river action cards in my playing career though and the way that I have been able to overcome them is by simple learning how to hand read better.

For example in Modern Small Stakes I talk about how to read every single player type and understand their betting tendencies and range on every single river action card.

Do they like to bluff a lot or will they only bet big when they have a big hand? What range of hands does their bet sizing indicate?

Because, once you know this information it can definitely be very possible to fold a big hand on a river action card when you know for example that your opponent isn't capable of bluffing.

These are the subtle tips and tricks that allowed me to win a small fortune in low stakes poker games on PokerStars. 

And superior hand reading is what most poker pros also employ in order to overcome a lot of river action cards.

So while there might be river action cards (I haven't seen enough evidence either way), once you learn how to hand read better, it is fully possible to play these river cards much better.

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. 

Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.

Enroll in BlackRain79 Elite Poker University

Get $100 OFF Use Code: Elite100

Too Many Coolers on PokerStars? Joke or Legit?

Another common complaint about PokerStars that I hear is that there are too many coolers, you know trips vs full house, AA vs KK and so on.

Here is a recent hand I reviewed for example on my YouTube poker channel:

Now, please tell me. 

Could you fold this hand? Be honest.

The issue with cooler hands like this is that (as the title suggests) pretty much nobody ever is going to get away here unless you can read people's souls like Phil Ivey.

So the bottom line is that in the end with cooler hands like this, it will basically be a neutral EV (expected value) wash in the end, where both players essentially trade money back and forth between each other.

This is why I have said many times before on this blog and elsewhere that you shouldn't focus too much on big cooler hands like this, because they tend to play themselves.

As I mention for example in The Micro Stakes Playbook, it is better to focus on hands like Ace King in a 3-bet pot on a dry board.

Learning how to outplay your opponent in these spots, and take the pot away from them when you both have nothing, is the key to winning poker.

PokerStars Pocket Aces Losing Too Much

Many people also tell me about their pocket aces losing too often to hands like pocket kings on PokerStars and often many other even worse hands. This is yet another reason why some call it JokerStars now.

Now in this situation it is important to know the math.

In fact, just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a big article explaining the exact odds of your pocket aces getting cracked.

So I don't want to rehash all that here. 

But the bottom line is that your pocket aces will get cracked often in poker, as almost all hands have a decent amount of equity against them (odds to win).

For me personally, I have been extremely frustrated at times with having my pocket aces cracked over and over again on PokerStars.

But I have also run the data in PokerTracker over enormous samples sizes (millions of hands), and sure enough, pocket AA is by far my biggest win hand.

Also, the evidence told me that my pocket AA was winning about 80% amount of the time, as it should versus pocket KK.

So as painful as it is every time I lose with my pocket aces on PokerStars, the bottom line is that the cold hard data (the facts) over very large sample sizes, tells a different story.

This is why very famous poker players like Daniel Negreanu talk about how to play pocket AA better in his advanced poker training program.

And that is because while your pocket aces will lose from time to time, if you learn how to play them like the pros, you can really maximize your value and win big with this hand.

Final Thoughts

So is PokerStars a total joke? Well, I am going to have to say no.

I personally have not seen any conclusive statistically valid evidence at this point that there is any widespread rigging going on at Pokerstars. 

In fact, in one of the most popular posts I ever wrote on this blog, I already discussed whether PokerStars is rigged or not.

While the amount of bad beats and coolers that I have taken on PokerStars over the years has been difficult to believe at times, I have also made a lot of money on this poker site.

And all I really had to do was use a solid proven winning strategy against all of the bad poker players on PokerStars, especially in the low stakes cash games and tournaments.

The most important lesson that I learned is not to go on tilt when they hit their miracle river card against you. 

It is going to happen sometimes and a big part of learning how to win at poker consistently is being mentally stronger than your opponents when this sort of thing happens.

You can't afford to get all emotional about it like they do!

Real poker pros have a short memory. They are already focused on the next hand.

If you want to know the complete strategy that I used as a 10+ year poker pro to beat the low stakes games on PokerStars for some of the highest winnings ever recorded, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Is PokerStars Rigged? Here Are the Facts [2025]

People still ask me all the time if PokerStars is rigged. Or if online poker in general is rigged.

And I have never written an article about it before because I think this just legitimizes what to me seems like a pretty ridiculous question.

But here is the quick answer.

PokerStars is not rigged. It just appears that way sometimes due to the incredible speed of online poker. Because online poker sites like PokerStars typically deal hands 3 times faster than a live poker game, you should expect 3 times as many bad beats. This is even more pronounced in Zoom Poker which can deal hands up to 10 times as fast as a live poker game.

Is PokerStars Legit? Is it Rigged?

But believe me I get it, some people are still not convinced that PokerStars is legit and not rigged.

I even have a free cheat sheet which literally shows you exactly how to win on PokerStars (including what hands to play!), but they still complain it's rigged.

You can get my free cheat sheet right here by the way.

And I know that the emails and the comments I get almost every single day about online poker being rigged won't stop. 

Anyways, my hope is that this article will help solve the Great Debate once and for all!

Is online poker rigged? Are we being invaded by Russian bots? Are there mysterious ninjas hired to create another rigged river card just for you right before the final table?

I gotta be honest. I can't possibly answer all of these earth shattering questions in a tiny little blog post like this.

However, a little bit of common sense should tell us that of course there is some nefarious behaviour going on when anything important (such as money) is on the line.

Humans rig the stock market, they rig elections, they lie on their resumes and they cheat on their high school exams as well. Heck a decent chunk of them even end up cheating on the person that they swore their wedding vows to!

So in short, yes of course there are certain poker sites and individuals out there who are trying to rig the system in their favor when it comes to online poker. You would have to be incredibly naive not to realize this.

But is PokerStars legit? Is there widespread cheating going on across the entire industry, and specifically at the biggest online poker site in the world, PokerStars?

Probably not. Here are 5 reasons why.

1. PokerStars is a Money Making Machine

The first and most highly obvious reason why PokerStars is probably not rigged is because they are an absolute money making machine.

As I have said many times before on this blog the house is always by far the biggest winner in poker. And PokerStars takes this to an entirely new level.

They are estimated to be bringing in $500 million dollars in pure profit each year. And therefore god only knows how much they were hauling in 5-10 years ago when poker was really booming.

And I personally have made a lot of money on PokerStars as well over the years by using a few proven winning poker strategies.

By the way, if you just want to learn my simple no BS system for exactly what hands to play, when to bet, raise and bluff, I cover this all in my brand new training program, Play Fearless Poker.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

My new Play Fearless Poker training program includes 12+ hours of advanced poker lessons, 100+ step by step example hands and "cheat sheets" below every single video.

If you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

Enroll in Play Fearless Poker

Get $100 OFF Use Code: 100OFF

I also just made a new YouTube video showing you exactly what hands to play (simply memorize the charts!)

Never miss my new poker videos, join 150,000+ who are already subscribed.

As a 10+ year pro, having played most of my hands on PokerStars, I have had a lot of success over the years.

In fact, I literally started with just $60 on PokerStars many years ago and have built my entire professional poker career upon that small initial amount.

Never having to reload even once.

And yes, I started at the very bottom on PokerStars in the 1c/2c game building my way up the stakes progressively.

So this just goes to show that you can win big on PokerStars by using the right poker strategy, which I show you exactly how to do in my free poker cheat sheet.

Back to the discussion at hand here though...

$500 million dollars!

Common sense should once again beg the question:

Why on earth would PokerStars possibly want to screw that up? Why would you do anything that could potentially risk your huge $500 million dollar per year cash cow?

When you are already making absurd amounts of money and dominating the entire industry what possible incentive could you have to want to rig something?

PokerStars is one of the most successful and profitable poker sites the industry has ever seen. Nobody has been able to rival their dominance for over a decade now.

And no matter what you think of their new ownership, they continue to crush it in every possible way from a business point of view.

So there is simply no plausible motive here.

In fact they have every reason in the world NOT to rig it and just keep playing a winning hand over and over again.

2. You Can Simply Go Check it For Yourself

The second most important reason why PokerStars is probably not rigged is kind of a biggie as well. And that is that you can actually just go and check it for yourself!

PokerStars is one of the few poker sites out there who are very open about what they do. They will in fact actually send you every single hand history that you have ever played on their site.

I know this because I did it myself once. I requested close to 8 million hands that I had played on PokerStars from them. Within 24 hours I had the links to download them all.

This means that I could then go stick those 8 million hands in a tracking program like PokerTracker and run extensive analysis and tests looking for statistical anomalies.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I am not a big fan of a recent trend in online poker towards anonymous poker sites and/or those who do not provide hand histories.

"Open source" poker sites like PokerStars are much better for the industry in my opinion because they allow us to essentially police the games for ourselves.

Any legit online poker site like PokerStars is not going to hide anything from you. All the hand histories are available for you to see for yourself.

My Free Poker Cheat Sheet Teaches You How to Make $2000+ Per Month on PokerStars

Are you struggling to beat the low stakes games on PokerStars? Do you want a simple step by step guide to show you exactly how to start winning consistently right now?

That is why I recently wrote this free little 50 page no BS guide to teach you exactly how to start crushing these games right now.

As a 10+ year poker pro I give you my exact strategies to start consistently beating low stakes games on PokerStars for $2000+ per month.

You will learn exactly what hands to play and when to bet, raise and bluff!

Enter your details below and I will send my free poker cheat sheet to your email right now.

Name

Email

3. There is No Actual Evidence that PokerStars is Rigged

So given the fact that we can actually run our own tests and search for statical anomalies over massive sample sizes you would think that all the people who are so certain that PokerStars is rigged would have overwhelming evidence to support their claims.

Nope, nada, none.

There has never been one conclusive study that I have ever seen, based on a statistically relevant sample size, which actually proves that there is any rigging going on at PokerStars.

Their standard arguments instead usually go something like this:

"OMG...My AA got cracked 3 times in a row by some stupid fish!!!...I told you JOKERSTARS is rigged, rigged rigged!!!"

The main problem with these "arguments" is that they fail to account for even the most basic variance in poker and they are completely lacking in a statistically significant sample size.

A sample size of 3 hands is completely meaningless in poker. And so is a sample size of 300 hands, 3,000 hands or even 30,000 hands.

This is why most advanced poker training programs these days focus exclusively on long term results based on solid decision making at the poker tables in the short run.

To put it quite simply, you need to be working with millions and millions of hands in order to get to the point where you can mathematically rule out variance.

Anyone who has actually played this many hands of poker knows exactly what I mean by this.

I have never seen a real legit study based on this many hands which conclusively proves that there are widespread statistical anomalies going on with the RNG on PokerStars.

Because if such a study like this actually did exist, believe me you would have heard about it by now. And it would be an absolute bombshell within the poker industry.

Most of these people who think PokerStars is rigged would do better to simply focus on increasing their poker winnings instead, rather than worrying so much about all their bad beats.

For example, it would be a better idea to simply use a good free poker HUD. This way you can quickly get reads on all the bad players and increase your profits rapidly.

4. Human Bias and Defence Mechanism

The next reason why some people are convinced that online poker is rigged is because most people lose at this game. 

And that unfortunate little reality isn't likely to change any time soon.

You could just watch my free poker course on YouTube and start winning quickly.

Never miss my new poker videos, join 100,000+ who are already subscribed.

Now, sure.

There are ways to make $50 or $500 or even $5000 a day on average in poker.

But on most days your results will be all over the place, both positive and negative. Hopefully more positive days than negative days, which is the entire goal.

But unfortunately, once the poker sites and the winning poker players take their cut there just isn't much left over for everybody else. 

In fact I would estimate (conservatively) that 70% of poker players lose over the long run, which is honestly just insane.

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. 

Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.

You will get 17+ hours of advanced poker lessons, hundreds of step by step example hands walking you through my strategy and downloadable "cheat sheets" below every video.

If you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level, enroll today.

This is for very serious poker players only, who are looking to take their game to an elite world class level.

Enroll in BlackRain79 Elite Poker University

Get $100 OFF Use Code: ELITE100

And the other thing that we know about poker players is that virtually all of them think they are pretty good, or at least above average. Poker is kind of like driving, nobody will ever admit they are bad at it.

So this naturally leads to a situation where many losing poker players will look to either repress this reality or simply shift the blame to something else for their lack of success.

In fact, Sigmund Freud (the father of modern psychology), even created a name for this very common unconscious process. He called it a defence mechanism.

When you aren't winning at poker the easy solution is just to blame it all on your bad luck or convince yourself that the whole game is rigged against you.

This is an absolutely crucial reason why poker continues to be so profitable.

So, losing poker players have an easy out. They can just continually convince themselves that their lack of success is due to some outside force beyond their control.

And therefore, they never even think to address the real reason why they keep losing, which is their own lack of skill and lack of tilt control among other things.

There is no other game on earth that I have ever seen that inspires such incredible levels of self delusion. And quite frankly, it is an absolutely beautiful thing.

5. Variance and the Speed of Online Poker

The final reason why some people swear that online poker is rigged is because they don't realize how the speed of the online game changes everything.

Daniel Negreanu actually touches on this specifically in his new poker strategy course.

A lot of the people who claim that online poker is rigged come from a live poker background. Or they have played a statistically insignificant amount of hands online (less than 100k).

Therefore, they simply do not understand that the speed of online dealing (often 3 times as fast as a live game), coupled with the ability to multi-table, means that bad beats and coolers are simply bound to happen far more often than what they are used to.

This doesn't mean that anything is actually rigged. It just means that you are now experiencing the acceleration of a Ferrari instead of your old Toyota.

Yes it is going to feel weird at first. It won't even seem believable at times in fact. This is why many people do not feel that PokerStars is legit.

And if you try your hand at something like Zoom Poker (which deals hands upwards of 10 times as fast as a live poker game), it might just blow your mind completely!



You really have to understand that online poker is a completely different experience from live poker. Yes it is the same game with the same rules, but all of the similarities end there.

The speed at which the online version of the game is dealt means that you are going to get to the long run far quicker than you are used to. This also means that you will see the true depths of statistical variance much more vividly.

And when you add in the ability to multi-table into the mix as well, you better buckle up. Because it is going to be downright crazy and quite simply not believable at times.

By the way if your are curious how I am able to play 20+ tables of online poker and still keep track of all my opponents, yes I do use several poker software tools and aids.

For the complete list of all the poker software and tools that I use as a pro, click here.

Should You Use the New PokerStars All-In Cashout Feature?

I do also want to mention that PokerStars recently added an All-in Cash Out feature that people ask me about now all the time.

Basically, this feature allows you to "cashout" your equity in the hand when all the money goes into the middle, instead of just letting the cards fall as they may (and potentially taking a bad beat).

As far as I know the Pokerstars all-in cashout feature is only available at the lowest stakes (NL2, NL5 and NL10) and only on regular tables (i.e. not Zoom).

Now do I personally use this feature? No.

I honestly think it is pretty silly. However, I do think it is a very smart "gimmick" feature by PokerStars though.

Because now all the people who write them angry emails every day claiming it's all rigged against them can just "cashout" their equity and avoid taking a dreaded bad beat.

For me though, this isn't poker and this isn't how winning players think about the game in my experience. I don't play poker for the results of individual hands or day to day results.

I instead play poker for the long term (months and years) and focus on my results over hundreds of thousands of hands. This is how I have been able to create a career out of this game.

Therefore, since I know that my equity is going to be realized over the long term, I can stop focusing on short term results, like so many amateurs do, and just focus instead on consistently making good poker decisions.

However, for all those people who take it very personally every time they receive a bad beat in poker, this new All-in Cashout feature might be an option for you to consider when playing on PokerStars.

How I Became the Biggest Winner of All-Time on PokerStars (Micro Stakes)

The debate about online poker being rigged or not will rage on no matter what I say here.

And I know a few people will probably even accuse me of being a "shill" for PokerStars after writing this article.

The most hilarious part about that is anyone who actually reads my poker blog regularly knows that I have been actively recommending that you DO NOT play at PokerStars for many, many years now!

And that is not because I think there is any rigging going on at PokerStars or that PokerStars is not legit.

It is simply because there are many far easier online poker sites (softer games) available these days to play at in my opinion.

But hopefully some of the points discussed in this article will help bring some sanity back to the discussion. Obviously online poker faces many challenges and the integrity of the games will always be questioned as well.

Humans like to cheat at stuff after all. The sky is blue as well!

But the idea that there is any widespread rigging going on at PokerStars in particular is pretty absurd in my opinion.

I have made a lot of money on PokerStars over the years as a 10+ year poker pro by simply using a solid fundamental tight and aggressive strategy and focusing heavily on my tilt control.

This is in fact why I originally wrote what is now the best selling poker strategy book of all-time for low stakes PokerStars games, Crushing the Microstakes.

And then I also included hours and hours of optional videos with the book of me personally playing Zoom, 6max and full ring on PokerStars.



I have made tens of thousands of dollars in these low stakes games (some of the highest in PokerStars history), and I wanted to show people exactly how I did it with a video series.

I also wanted to prove once and for all that you can absolutely crush these games when you use the right poker strategy and focus on your tilt control.

However, I can't lie.

After playing millions and millions of hands on PokerStars, I have also taken an enormous amount of bad beats over the years. So much so, that it seemed completely unbelievable at times.

And there have been many times when I felt like just giving up completely. Throwing in the towel and quitting.

But I realized that this is the time when you find out what you are really made of as a poker player. When you can't win a hand to save your life for weeks or even months on end.

This is when you separate yourself from all the other amateurs out there. This is when you get to prove that you are a professional.

And this really is the critical point.

Winning at poker over the long run is really hard. It takes an unbelievable amount of work ethic, discipline, self control and patience.

Me multi-tabling on PokerStars

And as a 10+ year poker pro I can tell you that the vast majority of people who play this game are simply not willing to put in this level of dedication and work.

After all, it is so much easier to shift the blame onto somebody or something else than to actually put in the hard work every single day both at the poker tables and away from them improving your game.

Look guys, if being a big winner in poker was easy, then everybody would be doing it. The bottom line is that you will get exactly what you put into this game.

You can keep choosing to believe that it is all rigged against you like most people do, or you can choose to finally address the real root causes for your lack of success in poker.

Having coached 100+ people myself to finally start winning big on PokerStars, I can tell you that the #1 reason most people don't win is because they are bad at poker.

I found that many people *think* they are good at poker, but in reality they do not really understand how to play a fundamentally sound tight and aggressive poker strategy.

This is something that Phil Ivey even discusses in his new advanced poker training program.

And he has won $20,000,000 playing online poker. Enough said!

They also typically suffer from an appalling lack of discipline and tilt control in most cases, both of which are absolutely vital components of any winning poker strategy.

To put it bluntly, it is only when you finally decide to start approaching this game like a professional that you will start creating the real consistent profits you have always dreamed about on Pokerstars.

In any case, I wish you all the best at the poker tables no matter what your poker goals are. Thank you for reading.

Lastly, if you want to know the strategy I use to consistently make $2000+ per month on PokerStars as a 10+ year poker pro, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.