Just how difficult is it to guarantee yourself an honest games on the Internet?

Cheating, a concern in almost any poker games, seems at first glance to be a greater threat online (where you can't even see your opponents) than in a brick and mortar cardroom. What's more, you can't physically scrutinize the deck, the shuffle, or the deal for anything suspicious.

A series of bad beats from online opponents seems worse online than in person. It's partly because the pace of play is much faster in cyberspace: A normal downturn compressed into a far shorter time period may feel like an avalanche rather than just a cold shower.

But we believe it has more to do with the impersonal nature of the playing environment.

Unknown Internet opponents seem mysterious and intimidating, and it's easy to project all sorts of fears and apprehensions onto them, and to suspect them of the worst possible motives. Because they make such ideal scapegoats, it's easier to doubt the security and integrity of online games than to doubt one's own luck or skill.

We know veteran poker players who steadfastly refuse to play online for fear of losing money to technically sophisticated cheats. Meanwhile, many players who have tried Internet poker but lost, insist it's plagued with unscrupulous conniving folks teaming up on adjacent or multiple computers, tipping off card holdings to colluding buddies on Instant Messages or cell phones, passing hand results ahead of time by hacking into programming codes or - worst of all - conspiring with site operators to dupe unsuspecting clients.

Yet thousands of players hail the Internet as poker's new frontier, and they're wagering large sums across cyberspace tables as easily as they do on real felt. More computer-savvy as a group than average players, they believe that security aspects of online games offset or even exceed those of brick and mortar card-clubs.

Your best protection against such cheaters is to either stick to very low limits (including play-money games) or develop enough experience - a real "feel" for the games that comes only with time and study - to discern any telltale abnormality in the betting action. But if you're in doubt. you can always request that the casino aim its detection software to investigate specific complaints.

To assist you, we offer a ten-point program for assuring yourself an honest games. Though we think some points are common sense. it doesn't hurt to emphasize them: We've learned common sense has a way of becoming uncommon when folks are itching to play - whether online or off.