Just think about this for a second. You are sitting in your normal Online Texas Holdem poker cash game and somehow a player or two in your game never seems to make mistakes. You review your hand histories and this guy is just perfect every time. He folds when he is supposed to and never makes a false move or bluffs at a pot. You may be playing against a poker bot. Bots are computer programs that will play optimally for as long as they are sitting at the table. Bots do not get tired or take breaks like humans. They also do not make mistakes either which gives the program a considerable edge over a human. Bots are also the bane of an online poker room’s existence. The reason online poker rooms don’t like them is because they drive customers away and reduce revenues.
All Bots not the same
All poker bots are not the same. Some of them are extremely well programmed while others remain as beatable as any other player at the table. You have to keep in mind that bots are only as efficient as the skill of the programmer. So the more highly skilled the programmer the better the bot is going to perform. Conversely, a bot in the hands of a not so skilled programmer will not perform nearly as well and can even be vulnerable at the poker table.
The nature of poker is the interaction between humans. This includes the online poker game. Even though you cannot physically see your opponent we all have tendencies. In most cases we are measuring betting patterns and making calculated decisions based on past history with players at our table. You also have the variables of player chat the bots cannot take into account too. For as much as poker bots can influence the game I would much rather bet on a skilled human player capable of processing all pieces of information from hand to hand.
Penalties
So what happens if you get caught with a poker bot? Well, that depends on what online poker room you are playing in. For sure you can bet you will be in big trouble if you get caught. Most poker rooms are very clear in their rules against cheating and scamming the poker room. You can believe if you are determined to be a cheater that your online poker account will immediately be frozen at the very least. You can also plan on losing whatever winnings you may have in your account as well as it will likely be assumed you won them illegally. Lastly, depending on where in the world you live, you may be turned over to the authorities and face serious jail time. Those do not sound like options that make cheating anywhere near worth the time and effort. Poker rooms are constantly scanning for bots and sniffers that are capable of telling what hole cards other players are holding.
In the long term you may have to pay back restitution to the poker room and any players they found that you have cheated. In some cases that could be millions of dollars for a high roller. Thinking back to the Ultimate Bet poker scandal a few years ago there were several high stakes games that were taking place and one player lost millions of dollars at that time. Since then they have gone out of their way to change their management, brand and offer more transparency to players that remain on their site.
The bottom line is that as long as there is money involved you will have an element of player that thinks they can beat the system. As long as a poker room quickly admits to and addresses any possible cheating scenario there is no reason to believe that playing online poker is not a safe venture to undertake.
Tags: Online Poker, poker bots, poker strategy