For anyone who doesn’t know, a poker bot is not the latest villain in the new Transformers movie. Although a 20’ tall alien robot wreaking havoc on earth is a scary proposition; even scarier to online poker players is the idea that a computer generated program is beating them in a game of poker!
First off, poker bots are real – yes, I said it. They are used in training software such as Poker Academy Pro, which has poker bots with varying skills that can be adjusted to play in a certain way. So, you can be certain people have employed them in real games as well. Players at numerous online poker forums have discussed certain players who play for days straight, and WinHoldEm even sells a commercial edition of their bots.
The most well known poker bots have been developed by The University of Alberta. Their Computer Poker Research Group has developed an artificially intelligent automaton known as “Vex Bot,” capable of playing poker at the master level, though as yet it can only apply its gambling genius to heads-up games (which obviously contain fewer variables). Vex Bot has been used by researchers to test the boundaries of artificial intelligence – and as the basis for their commercial program, Poker Academy -- but some fear it may become a blueprint for programmers with more sinister motives.
**I’ve used Poker Academy Pro, and easily beat their bots in limit Hold’ Em –supposedly the bots’ strong suit- and an acquaintance has informed me they are even worse at No Limit.**
So fear not, poker bots pose relatively zero risk to a winning poker player. They simply lack the sophistication necessary to compete with talented human players at this time. On the other hand, your typical poker bot would likely decimate a table of poor players (who would lose anyway, so it doesn’t change their results either).
Even though a poker bot is beatable they still pose a few problems for good players:
- They play a nitty style and will not make many mistakes
- They will occupy a seat that could contain a lesser player
- They have no fear, no shame, and do not deviate from their programming
Where are you most likely to encounter a poker bot? The obvious game choice for programmers to choose is the single table tournament, because it’s one of the more static forms of poker, and would require the least amount of sophistication –basically, the bot could be programmed to do X depending solely on its chip stack to blind ratio. Add in a couple of either factors such as position, or number of limpers and you’d have yourself a pretty decent S&G player.
Understand this, people who are using bots are failed players, so bot users are not looking to crush the game: They just want to win! They’re content to grind away at the lower –beatable- limits, since it only requires them to log in to the site, after that the bot takes over. Their strength is in numbers; the bot can play marathon sessions on multiple tables.
Many players see bots as an opportunity, not a problem. I am one of these players having played against the best bots developed thus for, and handily beating them. Anytime your opponent falls into a predictable pattern you will have an advantage. It’s the players that are unaware of how their opponents are playing that will be stymied by bots.
Online sites claim to monitor suspicious patterns of play, and assert bots are all but eradicated from their sites. Cryptologic publicly stated they have banned users whose pattern of play suggests they may be employing a bot.
So, yes poker bots are out there, and you’ve probably already faced off against them. However, their threat level is very low at this point; actually you probably have the ones you’ve played against marked as fish!
Complete ‘cheating and online poker’ series:
- Online poker and cheating, separating fact from fiction (part 1 of 6): Is my money safe? Safety features and legitimacy of Internet poker sites
- Online poker and cheating, separating fact from fiction (part 2 of 6): Internet poker’s first black-eye, PokerSpot.com absconds with $400,000 of player’s money
- Online poker and cheating, separating fact from fiction (part 3 of 6): The multi-account scandal, ZeeJustin and JJProdigy
- Online poker cheating, separating fact from fiction (part 4 of 6): The Super User scandal at Absolute Poker
- Online poker cheating, separating fact from fiction (part 5 of 6): WSOP Champ Russ Hamilton and Ultimate Bet
Read more of Steve’s articles at RUFFPOKER.COM
For the latest poker news read Steve’s reports at POKERFORUMS.ORG
For the best bonuses, rakeback and freerolls join RAKETHERAKE.COM
Comments
It's funny that the author claims to have easily beaten the University of Alberta bot when knowing the researchers involved in the project I've seen it decimate so many top players that the U of A now have problems testings its poker bot because top players refuse to play it in fear of their image being tarnished.
I've said I have easily beaten poker academy pro's bots - which are the best commercial bots available, and made by the University Alberta
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