Cards that you never get to see in a real life game of poker should not be able to be seen in an online version of poker. That includes other people's cards if they don't show, the deck, the burns ... if you wouldn't see it, you shouldn't be able to see it.
Yes, and that's exactly the problem that "mental poker" solves. My client knows which cards your client should be allowed to see, and sends just the keys required to decode those cards. So when I show-down to you, I do so by sending the relevant encryption keys. And when I muck, I don't.
I read the wikipedia article.
I think we want two solutions to this:
1. With a central server that does not need to be trusted (but can generate the shuffling.)
2. P2P version of poker. No need for servers (except maybe to find other players.)
Wouldn't that be something? You'd have decentralized poker, and with bitcoin implemented you could make it like normal gambling in a normal poker table. No house edge too since there is no house.
The one who provides the table and the beer ... uh... well ... that's why I want the first solution, and I think lots of players won't mind paying a fee for a semi-trusted provably fair poker website that allows deposits and withdrawals in bitcoin.
dooglus, go think about it, I will expect a poker site one year from now.. just-poker. hehehe.