As I noticed a lot of chess players here play poker also, so I'd like to ask your opinion about the poker sites...

First of all, please I want to clarify I'm not moaning after having lost a fortune, because it's not the case here...

 I've been playing online poker ( and chess ) for a long time and I'm registered with most of the main poker sites!

I love the fun and excitement and only play on small or medium stacks and well within my bankroll...

I'm seriously inclined to think that some of the poker sites are rigged in the long term and you would lose your money ANYWAY, unless you are a poker genius or something...

In some occasions, how would you KNOW for sure, you are not playing a machine, instead of a real person?

I've read some cases like this on the internet occasionally, but I guess we will never know for sure unless some whistleblower release this information to the general public... 

where do you get your information? can you back your statement up with these allegations

Sorry but I haven't done any statement here!

I'm asking for your opinion about this matter!

Online poker is rigged:

http://2holecards.com/archives/2004/12/03/online-poker-scam/

I would pretty much say what most are saying on this thread based on a couple of months playing at Party Poker. I've seen lots of improbable hands. One week I was beat by a royal flush, the next week I had a royal flush ! A professional OTB player may never have this hand in his life !

It's a shame because poker's a great game.

Agree! Thanks for the very interesting link!

Well, it's probably not indicative of the pay sites, but I played on the (slightly pointless) Facebook poker game and over the course of a couple of months, I got two royal flushes. Unlikely in the most extreme.

Thanks Gabriel! My point was exactly not to debate if the online poker sites are rigged or not, but how to prove it, either way?

In my opinion they are, but apparently the only "proof" an outsider can obtain is analyzing tons of data from the  hands played on the sites and compare it with the normal outcomes to see if there is any significant statistic difference... Not sure if this is good enough to prove it... 

Just keep googling away.

I put together a blog called something like "Online Poker Is Rigged" about 18 months ago(Whatreallyhappened.com posted a link to it) . Can't find it now, but it linked to various stat info. If I find where I put it, I'll post a link.

As I say, if you google you will find the info you are looking for. (of course don't trust the opinions of anyone with a poker advertising banner on their site :)  )