Do you trust public WiFi to play poker?

[XXPXXP]

Think that I trust it.
the problem is , yes if someone share the same wifi, he may got your account password or something.
but for the money in your poker account, at least I saw some poker room need a double confirmation PIN number before cash out.

And when sitting at table, even he got your password, it is also hard for him to find a time to use your account to log in, because you will know it is double log in.

PS: for those who has a lot of money in Poker room, use private Wifi is the best.

 

[Henry Minute]

PlayedYou73 and others are correct. A V(irtual)P(rivate)N(etwork) is the way to go, both at home and esp for public WiFi.

If you want to know how dangerous public WiFi is, and how easily it can be subverted, just load FireFox onto your laptop and get the add-in 'Firesheep'. Go to your local coffee shop, McDs or wherever and start it up. You'll be amazed!

More info :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firesheep

 

[ravpl]

I am not sure if that is safety. What if someone will disconnect us during the game?

 

[Gorak]

I noticed that TeamViewer has a VPN option. However I don't know how it works exactly.

Ideally I could leave my computer ready at home and use the VPN to create an encrypted tunnel between the 2 computers. So no snooping really possible between the hotspot and home.

Is it a good idea?

 

[zegaum]

I also played several times using public wifi and had no problems. But all is not careful and if there is a way to provide more security, we must use it.

 

[PlayedYou73]

Another thing people should seriously considering using, is a password manager program like "LastPass".

Many people use the same password over and over, use bad passwords, or even worse...they save their passwords on their PC. LastPass can create a unique password for every single one of your sites, all accessible through a "master" password that you use just for LastPass. LastPass's owners cannot even access your information because your passwords are encrypted on your PC before they are uploaded to LastPass. The site has a flawless record for security.

LastPass is free to use for PC users. A $12 a year membership will give you access to more features, plus it provides smartphone access.

I encourage people strongly to use it. You can see just how vulnerable you are to password theft when the program is installed and is setting up. It can retrieve all of your passwords that you've stored on your PC without any problem. And if they can do that...anyone else can do it too.

 

[LeanAndMean]

The scary thing is that some enterprising person could market a program like this and get someone to install it on their computer to give access to PWs. I am not in any way suggesting this is the scenario here, but it popped into my mind, maybe I have a criminal mind?

 

[Leo 50]

I think you can do it but as with anything concerning wifi, be careful.
I very rarely use public wifi for anything important and I consider playing poker important

 

[T0mmmi]

Hi !

In my opinion it is just to risky to be playing on your real account poker on Free public WiFi as it is not that hard to steal pass and too many hackers are using public WiFi just for easy access ...so don' t give them chance !

I you are really into playing poker play it safe ..at home/work or get plug in route or use your mobile phone

anyway Good Luck @TABles !

 

[PlayedYou73]

I think you can do it but as with anything concerning wifi, be careful.
I very rarely use public wifi for anything important and I consider playing poker important

"Everything" is safe until it isn't.

When things go bad, and they will at some point, I hope that individuals who read this and did nothing, assume the blame for it themselves.

It's like driving a car without a valid drivers license or insurance. You're not likely to get caught 99% of the time, but that 1% of the time is going to happen...sometime...and there's nothing to say it won't be today, tomorrow, next month or next year.

 

[Bowman]

I wouldn't trust any internet that has a huge chance of being cut off by someone at any given time. For that reason, cash tables would be fine but anything such at tournaments or sit n go's, I wouldn't trust.

Just win a few hands of poker, then buy internet service for your home. If you can't afford internet then I don't see how you can afford to play online poker. Does'nt make sense.

 

[waterboy73]

Unfortunately, I am guilty of this. Only twice, but feel very lucky to have not had any issues. Knock on wood! At the time, the security aspect of it never crossed my mind. Then the 3rd time I was going to play from a public wi-fi, while traveling, I thought about all the negatives that could come of it, and decided not to play from pubic wi-fi again. Interesting to see some of the responses as ways to get around it... Just makes me realize how non tech savvy I really am.

 

[domeburglar]

Theres always a chance someone can hack into your computer on an open or secured network.. yes public wifi would be a lot easier to gain access but its just like any other scenario that involves money.. theres always a chance..

This is the same as asking it safe for me to carry cash in a bad area.. are you going to get robbed.. most likely not but there is a chance and by going into a bad area you slightly increase your chances... just consider public wifi "a more dangerous part of town"

 

[WEC]

I am dumbfounded that the flow of this discussion would be seriously undertaken in this Forum. And the responses have shown me the crooks of this World are in good shape. Doing any poker or banking from Public WiFi spots is inherently dangerous and if you do so, you should be protecting yourself. At the minimum, you should be changing banking/poker passwords after using the WiFi services to complete your transactions/play poker. Just remember that Numerous online players have had their computers hacked and money drained from accounts, please do not be one of these.

too easy to lose sight of an even more prevalent security and privacy disaster: the public Wi-Fi networks

Free Wi-Fi would seem to have little downside...Dozens of users browsing, emailing, and chatting on a single network, whose password is displayed on the counter next to the biscotti, is about as tempting a target as there is. And make no mistake. It takes zero hacking skills to surreptitiously monitor and/or hijack communications over a public Wi-Fi network. Widely available freeware makes eavesdropping on emails and web browsing as simple as pressing a button.

 

[hrix]

I am dumbfounded that the flow of this discussion would be seriously undertaken in this Forum. And the responses have shown me the crooks of this World are in good shape. Doing any poker or banking from Public WiFi spots is inherently dangerous and if you do so, you should be protecting yourself. At the minimum, you should be changing banking/poker passwords after using the WiFi services to complete your transactions/play poker. Just remember that Numerous online players have had their computers hacked and money drained from accounts, please do not be one of these.

too easy to lose sight of an even more prevalent security and privacy disaster: the public Wi-Fi networks

Free Wi-Fi would seem to have little downside...Dozens of users browsing, emailing, and chatting on a single network, whose password is displayed on the counter next to the biscotti, is about as tempting a target as there is. And make no mistake. It takes zero hacking skills to surreptitiously monitor and/or hijack communications over a public Wi-Fi network. Widely available freeware makes eavesdropping on emails and web browsing as simple as pressing a button.

Totally agree with you!

Use only your own internet, don't trust any public Wi-Fi!

Sometimes it is easy to lose a password, but hard to get it back.

 

[Gorak]

After reviewing some comments, I think playing on a public WiFi is not worth the risks.

I would only play if I had no other alternative and I was involved in a big tourney.

Just in case, I will look into creating my own VPN with Teamviewer. I could do some tests on my friend's network.

 

[nykaktak]

no no !! this is bullshit,wi fi at any time may disconnect if at this point you play at the final table!!!
So it is better to play from home,where the Internet will be all right )

 

[PlayedYou73]

no no !! this is bullshit,wi fi at any time may disconnect if at this point you play at the final table!!!
So it is better to play from home,where the Internet will be all right )

Excellent point, and it was something that was missing from the previous discussion as well. Many public wifi servers will also cut you off after being on continuously for 30 minutes or more, just so 1-2 people are not hogging the available bandwidth.

 

[KoRnholio]

Personally, I wouldn't play poker from a public wifi hotspot. Dataplans are cheap enough that you could use your own 3G/4G/etc and it would be much more secure.

 

[Zero2Hero]

I would think scammers are more concerned about your credit card info than poker log in. How would someone take a withdrawal? All the sites I use either have my NT, Skrill info and if i would think any p2p request would have to be in my name. Seems unlikely to me.

 

[nykaktak]

Excellent point, and it was something that was missing from the previous discussion as well. Many public wifi servers will also cut you off after being on continuously for 30 minutes or more, just so 1-2 people are not hogging the available bandwidth.

Here I also speak about it). Personally I had 2-3 such cases, I already was 5 in a top as wi fi and after I managed to be reconnected suddenly vanished, I still had already absolutely small stack))

 

[bozichka05]

I still haven't got a problem with public Wi-Fi

 

[vic75]

I trust it never had a problem with it i am sure there are lots of software you can download for enhanced security but as mentioned above playing at home is the safest way GL at the tables

 

[PlayedYou73]

I trust it never had a problem with it i am sure there are lots of software you can download for enhanced security but as mentioned above playing at home is the safest way GL at the tables

Russian roulette is totally safe as well...5 times out of 6....

 

[bezobrazny]

Yes I do, I don't have some large cash on my accounts right now so I don't care a lot..