Bots

This is probably a noob question, and even if they are out there I doubt you run into them that often. I was wondering if there are actually bots playing online poker. There are a lot of videos of alleged bots playing on youtube. Just wondering if its real. If so, are sites like FT and stars able to detect and shut these jerks down?

They definitely exist, and the poker sites put a lot of effort into tracking them down and disabling them. One example mentioned recently at Poker Stars (I think) was somebody who had been playing for hours and not said anything in chat received a message telling them to type something into the chat box...

The big sites (stars/full tilt) are really good at detecting and preventing bots. I think it is a really stupid idea for people to try to even use bots. Most of the time they are found.

Its annoying to know that anywhere there is any amount of money people try to cheat and look for an easy way to get it.

I doubt you actually run into them that often though, so hopefully its not a problem for people like me trying to build a bankroll in low stakes games, or any stakes for that matter.

it's actually hard to tell how often you're running into bots. you could have one at any given table and go hours without noticing it becuase it doesn't have too suspicious of a style
but in no limit holdem, bots are beatable anyways so it doesn't even really matter

lol once Pokerstars thought I was a bot, or at least tested me.

I was multi-tabling like 4 tables and playing real solid $3 SNG's.

My chat box morphs into a message saying

YOU HAVE 90 SECONDS TO TYPE IN THESE CHARACTERS BLAH BLAH BLAH TO PROVE YOUR NOT A BOT!

I laughed so hard, I must of been doing something right

As others have said, yes they do exist. I also recieved the message from ps, on more than 1 occassion, that I had 90 seconds to type in the following word. It used to be the same word, they've changed it now, lol. I freaked out the first time it happened, I was thinking "OMG, they think I'm cheating some how!". So I typed something in the chat window to other players and one of them said he sent a message to the moderator because I had been at the table for over an hour without speaking to anyone or replying. I told him I had several tables open and choose to concentrate on playing, not chatting.

I read up on them after this happened and ran across a website claiming to have the best bot ever, undetected so far by FT and others but wasn't able to run it on PS. According to the creator, the bot will also type in "nh" once in awhile when it loses a pot. It also said that profits come from rakeback more than winning hands so I just don't see why someone would risk it.

I also read a post elsewhere that said bots are much more common at low stakes ring games, .25/.50 and below, than any other level. The post also detailed out which sites have the most bots at them. If I run across that article again I'll link it.

Im_depressed said:

lol once Pokerstars thought I was a bot, or at least tested me.

I was multi-tabling like 4 tables and playing real solid $3 SNG's.

My chat box morphs into a message saying

YOU HAVE 90 SECONDS TO TYPE IN THESE CHARACTERS BLAH BLAH BLAH TO PROVE YOUR NOT A BOT!

I laughed so hard, I must of been doing something right

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I was just about to ask PS asking a player to type in the chatbox was true. Thats crazy. I never chat (usually off) but I guess I'm not a machine like you are

I never can tell if someone is a bot or not. I mean I know they're out there but I can't recognize it so I don't worry about it. I hear they're beatable so I can only hope I can beat them without knowing what they are.

SlipperyPete said:

Its annoying to know that anywhere there is any amount of money people try to cheat and look for an easy way to get it.

I doubt you actually run into them that often though, so hopefully its not a problem for people like me trying to build a bankroll in low stakes games, or any stakes for that matter.

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You can search for them on the internet and then read up what winrates they claim, etc.
Any that I've ever read about (out of curiousity) are pretty lame. They only claim to have potential for winning in super micro level Turbo SNG's and the supposed 'guar.' win-rate (ROI) is so low that it is a joke. They'll have other 'suggestions' there as well... ie. withdrawl everytime your account exceeds $50 (in case the site shuts you down).

They just seem so ridiculous that I don't know why anyone would even consider it. I can see the thinking behind.... 'can man create machine to beat man' sort-of-thing.... but in NLHE,.. I don't think so. There are very simple ways of beating a bot.

In low-stakes online poker, bots aren't something one needs to be concerned with.... collusion on the other hand is something you want to be looking out for regularly (there's a fair bit of it but fortunately the sites handle it swiftly).

StormRaven said:

It also said that profits come from rakeback more than winning hands so I just don't see why someone would risk it.

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I'm not sure what you mean here, can you clarify that for me please? Thanks.

I'm sorry to say but it sounds stupid to detect bots by chatting. It can be so easy to fake chat (winning hand would laugh or say happy words, and losing will be crying or something). Most people aren't chatting anyway (some are not even speaking english so the 90 sec's to reply is not always affective).
My other question is what bots are doing anyway? Why are they illegal?

NoWuckingFurries said:

I'm not sure what you mean here, can you clarify that for me please? Thanks.

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I did a quick google search and ran across the website I originally found. The search I did was purely out of curiosity and to see if bots were really a problem on pokersites or not and if so which ones. I also wanted to see if there was a way to detect bots. .



Quote from last link:
*Please Note that Party Poker and PokerStars are the most riskiest to play on. Please do not play on these sites unless you are 100% sure you will not be caught.
End Quote.

The above quote actually made me feel better about playing on PS.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I did a search for the reasons I listed above. I DO NOT condone the use of bots and if I hear of someone who uses one I will not hesitate to send an e-mail to the appropriate pokersite with the players name.

StormRaven said:

I did a quick google search and ran across the website I originally found. The search I did was purely out of curiosity and to see if bots were really a problem on pokersites or not and if so which ones. I also wanted to see if there was a way to detect bots. I'll link what I found and do a small quote in reference to your question.

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Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well. I understood the rakeback bit, but didn't understand why that meant it wasn't worth doing... or that it somehow made it more risky?

I've heard of other people on PS who got that message...although I would think if you could make a bot to play poker well enough to be worth using, you could make one that could send a message via chat when prompted. On the other hand, I really don't know how these things work. I can use a computer, but how it works or why is magic to me.

I also received the same prompt from PS awhile back and took it as a compliment that someone at the table thought I was a bot because all I did was win more than lose by making calls that others would have folded, because I had reads on the players or was making calls by the numbers(odds in my favor) and didn't chat because I had nothing really to comment on.

As for bots, even if they do exist they are very beatable, so I wouldn't worry to much about them.

I know this is second hand information but my friend played against a bot one day and he remembered cause he was very curious about this player and than about... i think it was about 2 months later he got an email about 120 bucks (and 30 cents or something) being credited to him cause that was his take for the 17 times he had played this bot I guess over a few weeks, nice gift I guess, I know this is true cause he also emailed me FTP's email to me so I guess its not really 2nd hand information but rather 1st hand

NoWuckingFurries said:

Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well. I understood the rakeback bit, but didn't understand why that meant it wasn't worth doing... or that it somehow made it more risky?

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Okay I see what you asking. I misunderstood. I read in the strategy article, or one of the links from it, that the rakeback was going to be the primary source of income and many times the only source, when using a bot. So yes, I thought it sounded too risky for anyone seeing as you can make the same rake while playing yourself instead of using a bot.

One of the things I read said something about using the max # of tables, certain hours per day (don't recall exact but it was quite a few), but using their formula you'd make like an avg. profit of like $30 per month.

I guess to see it on the otherside....if a person had limited time to play (maybe they worked too much, family stuff, etc; ) then maybe it is a good deal to get up in the morning, open the max number of tables, turn on the bot, come home and see how much $$ you made.

Of course I am strongly against cheating and even if I wasn't I would think that it's just too risky to use a bot and chance having your account closed and money lost.