Rigged…
The game has a very classy design, and all of that, but that’s about as good as it gets. The game is designed for you to lose and get addicted to it as well. Then once you are, you have to go buy coins and pay for all of their paraphernalia so you can play. Even the way the game is set up for you to start a game, think about this, on the easiest level there is a total of 860 points but you have to put up nearly 450 just to start playing so you don’t make 860, and I have to give them credit. It’s ingenious to set it up this way because the innocent player thanks well if I win, I’ll get 860, doesn’t work that way.. once you see through all the bells, whistles and smokescreens, you’ll understand that it is rigged and it is done so so you will have to pay money to play the game and that’s what they want and if you’re OK with that, great, knock yourself out!
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They Rip You Off
I play this game daily and spend a lot of money. The game freezes often. I lost 110k thousand coins during a game freeze and asked for them back. They told me I got them back but it’s not true. I never did. I asked for proof and to escalate and have been ignored since. I’m looking for a new gin game and will be leaving this one. With all the money I have spent with them the complete lack of appreciation is unacceptable. They tried to blame my wifi but I wasn’t on wifi and had a strong signal.
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Looks great... but...
First things first, this game is designed to hook you and take your money. Period. Full stop. Despite the nice replies and explanations the developers will undoubtedly respond to this review with, that is the bottom line. You literally have to win 66% of the games to stay at least even with the House. Hard to do that when you’re up against bots. Important to note: you can tell quite often when you’re playing a bot. Most of the time, 78% to be exact (and yes, I counted) the opponent gets first pick after the deal. Statistically, this is exceedingly rare to occur over a prolonged period. In my case it was close to 1,000 games. Conclusion? Bot. Dear Developer: I hear your explanation, still does not explain why now over 78% of the games I have played, my opponent draws first. This is statistically impossible as I’ve played more games than I care to admit. The draws should be 50% +/- 3%. This lopsidedness is not even in the ballpark. Conclusion? Still bots.
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Response from developer
Hi mfccac, thank you for your review. We understand your frustration if you have a run of bad luck or are not drawing getting to draw first. However, please note, all opponents are real players and never AI-controlled bots. The generator for distributing cards is set to an algorithm of dealing randomly and the player who is chosen to play first is also chosen at random.
5 thumbs down
I tried, I really tried to stay positive for this app. It can’t be done. It takes a little while but eventually you see how your game level is absolutely dependent on money, and lots of it. Try Game Colony gin rummy my friends. You compete against real people, endlessly, and climb the ranks, no money involved.
•••••reply to developer••••••
Scroll through the reviews and notice how often you see the words, “I’m sorry...” from the developer reply. There’s an awful lot of I’m sorry’s there. That should tell you that something is not right. You guys have stopped listening to us and more often than not you give canned replies. If I had a game coin for every time I’ve read a repeated developer response I might not have run out of coins to play. Check your generator. Or invest in a new one, God knows you have the money for it.
•••••reply to developer••••••
Scroll through the reviews and notice how often you see the words, “I’m sorry...” from the developer reply. There’s an awful lot of I’m sorry’s there. That should tell you that something is not right. You guys have stopped listening to us and more often than not you give canned replies. If I had a game coin for every time I’ve read a repeated developer response I might not have run out of coins to play. Check your generator. Or invest in a new one, God knows you have the money for it.
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Subtle Scam
Be aware. This game is a very subtle scam. When you start playing, you will win...a lot. You will get extra chips as prizes. Then, when you are hooked, you will notice that hardly any of the cards are being dealt in your favor, definitely not in a random order. And before you know it you have zero chips and, unless you are strong willed, will find yourself spending cash on more chips. You have been warned.
*Update*
Do not believe the lies that the developers tell you that the game is not rigged. I have kept a record of my plays and I can easily get up to the 3,000 chip mark, after which My next opponent is a Bot and I lose, every time, 30 times consecutively.
*Update*
Do not believe the lies that the developers tell you that the game is not rigged. I have kept a record of my plays and I can easily get up to the 3,000 chip mark, after which My next opponent is a Bot and I lose, every time, 30 times consecutively.
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Multiple issues
Not only is the "random" card generator not as random as the developers claim, the Rake is far too large. 25% every game is ridiculous.
The Absolute Worst part tho is the constant bugs. By constant, I mean they haven't fixed the issue in any way over several years. I come back on occasion to see it it's ever resolved, but it never is. The issue?? You cant be on the app longer than about 6 minutes without it shutting down and kicking you off the app altogether!? While you'll sometimes get your chips back if your nixed in the middle of a game, its inconsistant.
Want to watch a video to get daily free chip??... you'll be nixed just after watching the video. No chips.
Just as a test, I played for 2 hours the other night and got kicked out 19 times!?
The Absolute Worst part tho is the constant bugs. By constant, I mean they haven't fixed the issue in any way over several years. I come back on occasion to see it it's ever resolved, but it never is. The issue?? You cant be on the app longer than about 6 minutes without it shutting down and kicking you off the app altogether!? While you'll sometimes get your chips back if your nixed in the middle of a game, its inconsistant.
Want to watch a video to get daily free chip??... you'll be nixed just after watching the video. No chips.
Just as a test, I played for 2 hours the other night and got kicked out 19 times!?
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This game is rigged
The game is well designed but rigged. Have you noticed you cannot continue to be a guest yet you keep playing guests at the highest level. I do much better when I start the game as a novice and do not pay for chips. Occasionally I will buy a small amount of chips to not worry about the outcome and then suddenly I can’t win a game. This is to entice you to buy more chips. I spend most of my time studying the different aspects of the game being rigged to entice players to buy chips. I find it fascinating. When I’m tired of being subjected to the rigging, I typically just keep starting over, which is the only fair way to play because the game designers are waiting to rig the newcomers, and you have a higher average of winning while they wait to entice you to buy chips. It’s a lot of fun until you are flagged as a buyer of chips. Don’t waste your money on buying chips; just start over and you will win more hands.
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Response from developer
Dear cvtuyfcbh, thank you for your review. I am sorry to hear you are not convinced about the fairness of our game. However, card distribution is completely random and not influenced in any way by whether a player makes a purchase or not. Please note, it is not in our interest to manipulate the cards as not only is this unethical, it would also be counterproductive as such players would be highly unlikely to want to continue playing. It's also worth pointing out that all players who do not connect with Facebook are by default assigned the name 'Guest' and have the choice whether to keep this username or not. In no way does having this username influence the fairness of the game either. We hope you enjoy the rest of your stay anyway.
Deleted it, Brought it back, Deleted again
I had a good run this time...several months of playing. Whenever my money dipped below 1200 or so, it would slowly rise again. For the last week, though, very few wins and a ton of losses. Down to almost zero and just deleted the game again. Despite what the developers say, there HAS to be something going on with the algorithms. I’ve seen it happen more than once. Perhaps after someone has played fairly frequently but not purchased coins? It’s a shame because it’s visually very attractive and fun to play, at least when you aren’t loosing every game.
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Is this odd or what??? Deleting this cheating game for good
I play challenges with my friends. I just learned they can watch free videos and earn chips. I can’t. Never even knew this game did that. Because some games do. But what’s up with that because there is no update I require to get the free video option. And me and my girl have the same exact phone. The iPhone XR. But she’s white and I’m black. Plus u can just see you’re going to lose almost every time. The game is a rip off. I thought buying chips would help my chances but it actually went faster. No matter what strategy you choose it won’t work. Throw the whole game away
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Coins
The game is fun until you run out of coins. Daily coins isn’t even enough but to play 1 game. Not worth the space on my phone. Some people don’t want to spend money on a freaking game. I’d rather see sponsor adds than to not be able to play but 1 time per day. So stupid and disappointing for a decent game. The same generic response does not make the game better. I get that all games take money to develop but that doesn’t mean make the game irritatingly imposible after playing the game for 2 days so that you can get purchases. This is no way to run a successful business and eventually people catch on delete and just play something else.
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What happened?
This was my favorite Gin app. The cards are easily read, the background is not distracting, the profile viewing area is nice and big. But after an app update, the one before this, I found it impossible to earn coins. As someone else said, it's like one step forward two back. Previous to the update I was able to get to the 10,000 coin area. But with the new prize earnings, I don't even stay at the 5000 mark long, and I'm a much better player now. That lack of advancement seriously cuts into my fun of even opening the app anymore. If you take make it too difficult for players to win what's the incentive to play anymore?
I left the game for a long time after writing this back and am now trying the latest update. All is fine except for one thing. Where are the human players now? I keep getting lined up with bots which I don’t wish to play against. I like the randomness of humans. But I’ll get a bot like ten times in a row as if no one else is playing this anymore. Not something you can fix other than having the option NOT to play bots.
I left the game for a long time after writing this back and am now trying the latest update. All is fine except for one thing. Where are the human players now? I keep getting lined up with bots which I don’t wish to play against. I like the randomness of humans. But I’ll get a bot like ten times in a row as if no one else is playing this anymore. Not something you can fix other than having the option NOT to play bots.
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Response from developer
Dear Mrjombi, I'm sorry you've experienced some problems with the app. In order for us to be able to look into this for you, I would be grateful if you could contact our Customer Service Team by tapping the three lines in the top-right corner and selecting 'Help' and then the message symbol in the top right corner.
Rigged Payout System
In the typical game, both players bet 200 chips each to win a pot of 300 chips (even though they collectively put in 400). It’s a rigged game when the house takes 25% of the pot of EVERY game. In Las Vegas, that would get you shutdown the minute the first meld was made.
They reply to every review mentioning this, pointing out that “well you get free chips for logging in and linking with FB” and “it is not possible for us to pay out every chip.” That is utter BS, the chips ARE NOT REAL. But what is real is the money people are throwing at them for their phony chips.
The free chips are drops in the bucket to them once they’ve got enough players hooked on the game and constantly refilling their stack. They take 25% of every pot from the players. You keep playing, you will lose all your chips. It’s an utter racket and a slap in the face of every player assuming based on the apps average review score that it is a fair and balanced game.
I suggest anyone interested in an app that cares about its players for more than a cheap dollar, look elsewhere and watch me get the same canned response they send everyone who points out the rigged payout system...
They reply to every review mentioning this, pointing out that “well you get free chips for logging in and linking with FB” and “it is not possible for us to pay out every chip.” That is utter BS, the chips ARE NOT REAL. But what is real is the money people are throwing at them for their phony chips.
The free chips are drops in the bucket to them once they’ve got enough players hooked on the game and constantly refilling their stack. They take 25% of every pot from the players. You keep playing, you will lose all your chips. It’s an utter racket and a slap in the face of every player assuming based on the apps average review score that it is a fair and balanced game.
I suggest anyone interested in an app that cares about its players for more than a cheap dollar, look elsewhere and watch me get the same canned response they send everyone who points out the rigged payout system...
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Almost certainly playing against bots
I’ve never written a review before. The interface and gameplay is beautiful and functional; however, my complaints here are the same as the previous ones.
The game pays out only 75% of the coins paid by the players. Statistically, that means that you would have to win 2/3 of your games to break even in the long run.
The other complaint is that there are almost certainly bots mixed in with the online players. There was statistically a substantial decline in my performance after leveling up a few times. It’s enjoyable and even when you are playing someone who is clearly not a bot (usually logged in through Facebook) but otherwise, the game is only fun when playing against my buddy. Even then, because the game nets 1/4 of your coins, you’ll have to pay to play eventually.
To the developers: no need to respond. I’ve read the same response below dozens of times.
The game pays out only 75% of the coins paid by the players. Statistically, that means that you would have to win 2/3 of your games to break even in the long run.
The other complaint is that there are almost certainly bots mixed in with the online players. There was statistically a substantial decline in my performance after leveling up a few times. It’s enjoyable and even when you are playing someone who is clearly not a bot (usually logged in through Facebook) but otherwise, the game is only fun when playing against my buddy. Even then, because the game nets 1/4 of your coins, you’ll have to pay to play eventually.
To the developers: no need to respond. I’ve read the same response below dozens of times.
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Awesome but 100% rigged game.
What Kristi wrote is absolutely true. You get great “luck” with free coins and as soon as you make a purchase, or when you gamble big, your “luck” changes dramatically. I’ve spent $90 playing this game and am at level 50. $90!!! That’s nearly double the price of an Xbox or PlayStation game I can play forever. And the daily free coins aren’t even enough to play one game. Also... The emojis you can use to express yourself remain the same, yet some of the players I suspect to be coin-robbing bots always use a horned-kitty emoji that the rest of us don’t have. Suspicious. And to top it off, multiple people have user names like GAMEISRIGGED or RIGGEDGAME meaning this isn’t an uncommon opinion. I love the game. It’s done so well and has hooked me in, but the price is too high for a game that I’m certain is cheating us out of paid coins. Sure. You shuffle. But it’s a game and it’s programmed to cheat. Period. Last comment. My 3 year old got into the game and spent $20 of coins “playing”. Literally lost all my coins in the 20 minutes he gets on my phone. I sent a message to the programmers because I’m sure they can see the games were played without any know-how and probably were never even finished. No refund. Just advice to lock my phone. I’ll be deleting this app when my last 200 coins is gone.
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Response from developer
Hi MrsWilliams19, thank you for your comment. At Grand Gin Rummy you have many options to receive free chips, not only the daily bonus but also XP, Facebook connect and on our Facebook fan page. For this reason it is not possible for us to also pay out all chips wagered in games. As I hope you can appreciate, there is a company behind every game and thus it cannot be made and offered completely for free. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Grand Gin Rummy Hotel anyway. As for the card distribution, this is generated randomly before each game. Distribution is neither dependent on, nor influenced by, players. We check the generator by completing test games. The results always correspond to normal distribution. Meaning when comparing all games, the cards are distributed evenly to all on average. Finally, please note that all your opponents are real life players and never AI-bots. We hope you enjoy the rest of your stay anyway.
Well developed app, blatant monetization structure
I very much appreciate the look and feel of this app. However, the way the payouts of each game are structured make it very clear that the company is pushing for people to purchase coins to play with. Let me explain. Each games payout is equivalent to 75% of the total contributed coins by both players (I.e. in a game where each player stakes 200 coins only 300 is returned to the winner). This means that you must have a win rate of greater than 66% in order to keep generating coins and continue playing. Clearly most players will not ever approach this win rate considering it is a game that is 50/50 before a skill edge is applied. This means most players chip bank will move towards zero and they will be left no other options other than to purchase coins in order to continue playing.
I think there are more effective ways of monetizing an app and that the creators should consider. I imagine they lose users quicker than they would like because of this (like myself).
I think there are more effective ways of monetizing an app and that the creators should consider. I imagine they lose users quicker than they would like because of this (like myself).
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Response from developer
Hi GKnapp0527, thank you for your comment. At Grand Gin Rummy you have many options to receive free chips, not only the daily bonus but also XP, Facebook connect and on our Facebook fan page. For this reason it is not possible for us to also pay out all chips wagered in games. As I hope you can appreciate, there is a company behind every game and thus it cannot be made and offered completely for free. I would like to also recommend our new installment of the Gin Rummy game, Grand Gin Rummy 2 which contains new features as well as higher payout ratios.
Card shuffle is rigged
It’s clear that the algorithm used to deal the cards in this app is rigged to pick which player wins. Perhaps they think they can make you buy chips. Perhaps they are trying to find players that are gullible or can be manipulated. Perhaps they are trying to steal your credit card number/identity.
After reporting this problem several times, they dismissed my concerns and told me to “f___-off”. Either the GameDuel programmers don’t know how to write a truly random card shuffle algorithm or they are actually malicious or only willing to work with players that pay-to-play.
FYI, the only reason I’ve played this version of Gin Rummy-Oklahoma for as long as I have is to study how they are shuffling the cards to control the deal-of-cards to ensure a winner/loser in Oklahoma Gin. I have enough data to prove the deal is consistently biased in a game between two players (which removes the fun/intrigue of playing the real game on Oklahoma Gin). But now the fun for me is studying how they are doing the scam-deal-of-cards and trying to discover what they are really up to.
If you download this App, know up front that you are being manipulated by GameDuel to pay to play or that the card-deal is NOT random nor is it a fair-deal ... you are not winning/losing based on your skill/intellect to play the game.
After reporting this problem several times, they dismissed my concerns and told me to “f___-off”. Either the GameDuel programmers don’t know how to write a truly random card shuffle algorithm or they are actually malicious or only willing to work with players that pay-to-play.
FYI, the only reason I’ve played this version of Gin Rummy-Oklahoma for as long as I have is to study how they are shuffling the cards to control the deal-of-cards to ensure a winner/loser in Oklahoma Gin. I have enough data to prove the deal is consistently biased in a game between two players (which removes the fun/intrigue of playing the real game on Oklahoma Gin). But now the fun for me is studying how they are doing the scam-deal-of-cards and trying to discover what they are really up to.
If you download this App, know up front that you are being manipulated by GameDuel to pay to play or that the card-deal is NOT random nor is it a fair-deal ... you are not winning/losing based on your skill/intellect to play the game.
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Response from developer
Hi Fafnir812, thanks for your review. We appreciate your feedback and understand your frustration, however, like in a real game of Gin Rummy, the deck is shuffled before each game to ensure each player receives a completely random hand. Note, this doesn't mean each player will get an equal hand, though the cards have been shuffled before each game. However, any run of good or bad luck will eventually even itself out. If you are not successful in your current game mode, then we recommend trying either Quick or Classic for a different stake. We would also like to confirm that the order of cards is in no way influenced by a player's statistics or chip balance.
Cheats
I find it hard to believe the cards are shuffled after each hand. I have just played 7 games & been creamed in every one of them. I even deleted the app & reinstalled it & im still getting beat & undercut. That’s another thing that pisses me off at the game. If I knock & we have equal deadwood it goes as an undercut for my opponent. Since when is even Steven an undercut? It should be a wash with the person knocking getting the points from the cards & nothing extra but to give it to the person who did not knock because the deadwood is equal is wrong. Undercut means under my total not equal to it. Why do the designers of these different on line games build them to cheat? I know it’s so well spend money on them but not gonna happen. If I can’t play for free I’m gone. This could be a good game if you fix the above stated issues. If not don’t think I will spend 1 cent to play
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Nice, but stacked against you.
This is a beautiful game; the action is great, the sounds and music tasteful, and the emulation of an actual card game, first rate.
Unfortunately, the owner is incredibly greedy and the vigorish so low, it is difficult not to lose and have to buy chips because the the game takes half your winnings at every game. Assuming a fair game you would have to win over 66% in the long run just to stay even. That is not possible if you are playing opponents anywhere near your skill level.
Even worse, if by some chance you are successful for a time, your opponents will be dealt two, sometimes three melds and be able to knock or gin within the first five moves. On top of that, the “beginners’ level” is full of expert player hustling newbies to get their chips and avoid having to buy chips themselves.
And, if by chance you do get to the upper levels (eg. levels 32, 42, etc) you can be assured that you will get crappy cards and your opponents will have amazing hands (until you lose a lot of chips). They may tell you the deck is honestly shuffled, but the statistics don’t bear that out.
My suggestion? Play for a while, then go find another game to waste time playing. Don’t spend money on this game.
Unfortunately, the owner is incredibly greedy and the vigorish so low, it is difficult not to lose and have to buy chips because the the game takes half your winnings at every game. Assuming a fair game you would have to win over 66% in the long run just to stay even. That is not possible if you are playing opponents anywhere near your skill level.
Even worse, if by some chance you are successful for a time, your opponents will be dealt two, sometimes three melds and be able to knock or gin within the first five moves. On top of that, the “beginners’ level” is full of expert player hustling newbies to get their chips and avoid having to buy chips themselves.
And, if by chance you do get to the upper levels (eg. levels 32, 42, etc) you can be assured that you will get crappy cards and your opponents will have amazing hands (until you lose a lot of chips). They may tell you the deck is honestly shuffled, but the statistics don’t bear that out.
My suggestion? Play for a while, then go find another game to waste time playing. Don’t spend money on this game.
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Response from developer
Hi MyDogReese, thanks for your review and feedback! We really appreciate it and have passed this onto our team for their consideration. We hope to make the 5 stars for you soon!
Suspicious
As with others, I’m not suspicious of this app. The developer can claim random draws all they want, but after a good fun week (and paying one time to reload chips, which are ridiculously overpriced), I finally ran out again. I was up to 3,000 chips and lost all but one game on my way to going broke.
The game is beautiful and very fun, it performs as well as any card game app I’ve ever seen. But this kills the fun. To top it off, curiously I always lose when playing a “guest” with no profile setup. In other words, they can’t find me a player and the computer fills in and rolls. When I was down to 450 chips, I ran out by playing 3 straight games were the “guest” only drew one or two cards before knocking to win.
This just screams “if someone spends money, dangle a carrot then snatch it away so they spend more!”
Finally, I think an equal issue (and contributor to running out so quick) is the payouts. A 150 chip entry pays 200. By that metric, I have to maintain a winning percentage over 75. So if I win 2 of 3 games, I will have actually lost chips. That seems messed up.
The game is beautiful and very fun, it performs as well as any card game app I’ve ever seen. But this kills the fun. To top it off, curiously I always lose when playing a “guest” with no profile setup. In other words, they can’t find me a player and the computer fills in and rolls. When I was down to 450 chips, I ran out by playing 3 straight games were the “guest” only drew one or two cards before knocking to win.
This just screams “if someone spends money, dangle a carrot then snatch it away so they spend more!”
Finally, I think an equal issue (and contributor to running out so quick) is the payouts. A 150 chip entry pays 200. By that metric, I have to maintain a winning percentage over 75. So if I win 2 of 3 games, I will have actually lost chips. That seems messed up.
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Not so random
Good bye grand gin rummy. After days of losing, losing and losing more...it is time to go. This games prides itself on being random, but it does not feel that way. My opponent is constantly knocking me when I have a handful of deadwood. So frustrating. When you win you move one step forward, but when you lose you move two steps backward. It is too difficult to increase levels and gain more money. Looking for another game.
To add on to my previous comment below....I agree with another player that the cards are not random. It is too odd that I can win several games in a row, and then I can't even win a hand until all of my "money" is gone. It seems when you win, you take one step forward, but when you lose, you fall three steps behind. It is too hard to catch up. I refuse to buy more coins, so I restart the game. I just want to play.
Not happy with the new update...I like the new game format but the game keeps crashing. I will be in the middle of playing and it completely boots me out. I get back in to find I have also lost my money from the game. Very frustrating!!
To add on to my previous comment below....I agree with another player that the cards are not random. It is too odd that I can win several games in a row, and then I can't even win a hand until all of my "money" is gone. It seems when you win, you take one step forward, but when you lose, you fall three steps behind. It is too hard to catch up. I refuse to buy more coins, so I restart the game. I just want to play.
Not happy with the new update...I like the new game format but the game keeps crashing. I will be in the middle of playing and it completely boots me out. I get back in to find I have also lost my money from the game. Very frustrating!!
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Response from developer
Hi Poper, thank you for your feedback. While we can understand your frustration, just like in a real game, the deck is shuffled before every game meaning that all players get a random hand. One player could have a great hand, however, no player gets an ideal hand every time. As you always play another real player, this would also not benefit us.
