Loading...The Poker Robots: More Than Meets the Eye?
By PokerListings
There's a good chance if you've been playing poker for a few weeks that you've come across the term "pokerbot."
For those who don't know, pokerbots are computer programs that can play poker 24 hours a day and that are intended to make money for the people running them.
Bots are not a problem exclusive to poker, as there are numerous spambots in existence that illegally advertise for various products on Web sites and forums. In computer games there are bots that will mine gold in virtual worlds for their masters.
Fortunately for poker players, the bots that play poker are not the best players in the world. They have yet to master the intricacies of No-Limit Hold'em, especially in the context of multiplayer games.
Most skilled players would relish the chance to play a series of No-Limit heads-up games against a pokerbot.
The only area that pokerbots are considered to be talented enough to make consistent money is Limit heads-up, and even there, their dominance is in question. To make matters worse for the bots, Limit heads-up is one of the least popular games on the net - some online rooms don't even offer it.
All the major poker rooms like PartyPoker, Full Tilt and PokerStars invest in sophisticated bot identification software, and bot masters find that their bots can't usually operate for long without being banned.
Perhaps the biggest fear regarding pokerbots is having multiple bots collude against one player while sharing hole cards. On the plus side, the same security software that catches real-life players colluding will also catch bots.
It's worth noting that even if you have the misfortune of playing against a bot, it can be beaten.
Bots do not affect the game in any way other than how a good player might. Sometimes the bots are poorly programmed and it's possible to take advantage of them. Keep your eye out for patterns, and be wary of players who never use the chatbox (although that alone is not necessarily a sign of a bot).
Because bot-catching software is getting so advanced, bots are seen less and less in the online world. There's a good chance you will never actually play against one, so don't lose any sleep over it. You're better off saving that energy and using it to catch up on poker strategy.
Comment(s) on this article
Iain McNulty Dec 15, 2008
I am absolutely positive there are tens if not hundreds of bots working on the ring games i play at on my poker site which i probably cannot name.
I played for 5 hours over night and every single thing that would make you suspicious of a player being a robot was there in everyone of the players at my table. as incredible as it sounds, they are there 24/7, on at least 5 tables each, not saying a word, playing like robots....
if it looks like a dog, and it barks like a dog....its probably a dog. No?
Iain McNulty Dec 15, 2008
Also, may I ask where all this information you speak so confidently about comes from. Have you any statistics perhaps that have been gathered by an independant and reliable body. What officially recognised and readily available literature exists on the subject of illegal or otherwise unsporting behaviour in the online gambling industry. This is a very serious matter that has not been exposed and documented for all the consumers of the product to be aware of.
This is incredible. All i have found on the web are these useless articles reassuring the consumer "not to worry".
It all very suspicious to me and ill be looking into it a lot more, thats for sure
Borishead Jul 22, 2009
Experiencing exactly the same thing as McNutty wrote. The same people playing 24/7 at many tables simultaneously ... from small-one to really big-one stake tables. That is the reason I start to play REAL tournaments and cash games where I see the people and many of them are now friens ... of course if you beat them => not friend for the rest of the night :-)
paul shickle Sep 17, 2009
i was playiing on william hill poker and i noticed that i was always reaching the last 4 then getting beat on the river i was 95 percente chance at winng every time im just wondering if william hill puts there own robots in the games cos it certanailtly looked that way and if they did im going to rob all there shops i want my money back
Sean Lind Sep 18, 2009
Paul,
Pokerbots, or bots, don't have access to knowing what you have, or changing the cards that come on the rivers.
You were not cheated, you got unlucky, it happens to all of us.
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