Method and apparatus for detecting collusions in online games

Abstract

An apparatus and method for detecting situations of collusion or collusion attempt tempt in online gaming environments, wherein games are operated by an operator, and players participate in the games from remote locations. The apparatus and method detect collusion situations in the round level, session level or multi-session level, and optionally generate an alert or take an action such as blocking a user if a situation was detected.

1 . A method for detecting an at least one collusion or collusion attempt situation within an online computerized gaming environment, wherein the gaming environment is operated by an operator and an at least one player participates from a remote computing platform in one of more rounds of one or more sessions of a game, the method comprising the steps of
 defining an at least one collusion situation; and   searching for an occurrence of the at least one collusion situation in the one or more rounds of the one or more sessions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising a step of assigning a collusion factor to the at least one collusion situation. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one collusion situation is a round collusion situation. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one collusion situation is a session collusion situation. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one collusion situation is a post-session collusion situation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is associated with the at least one player. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the at least one player is associated with a username. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the game is a poker game. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is a strong hand folded before the flop situation. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is a shoveling hand situation. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is an increasing pot size situation. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is a consecutive wins situation. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is an irregular pot size situation. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is a shoveling in a session situation. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is a chip dumping in a heads up tournament situation. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one situation is the same player having coordinated wins or loses in at least two sessions. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the at least two sessions are of different games. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the at least one collusion factor is associated with a bet placed or raised by the at least one player. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising a step of taking an at least one action when the occurrence of the at least one collusion situation is detected. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising a step of taking an at least one action when the collusion factor exceeds a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the at least one action is blocking the at least one player from playing. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the at least one action is generating an alert related to the at least one situation. 
     
     
         23 . An apparatus for detecting an at least one collusion or collusion attempt situation within an online computerized gaming environment, wherein the gaming environment is operated by an operator and an at least one player participates from a remote location in one of more rounds of one or more sessions of a game, the apparatus comprising:
 an at least one computing platform;   an at least one definition component executing on said at least one computing platform, for generating a definition for an at least one collusion situation associated with the game; and   an at least one situation detection component executing on said at least one computing platform for detecting the at least one collusion situation in the game.   
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23  further comprising a storage device for storing the at least one definition. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one definition component is a round definition component. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one definition component is a session definition component. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one definition component is a configuration definition component. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one definition component is an application query definition component. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one situation detection component is a round situation detection component. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one situation detection component is a session situation detection component. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the at least one situation detection component is a post-session situation detection component. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 23  further comprising a presentation component for presenting the at least one collusion situation. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 23  further comprising an alert generation component for generating an alert related to the at least one collusion situation. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the game is poker.