Beware of bots: where you’ll find them most often

[Brigistul]

Bots appear more often at small tables (Spin & Gold, 3‑max, heads‑up)!WHY?
Few players = simple decisions → a bot can follow charts and algorithms without needing to “think” too much.
Very fast pace → humans get tired, bots don’t.
Different stakes → a bot can play hundreds of tables at the same time, hoping for small but steady profit.
Less attention from other players → in 3‑max you don’t notice strange behavior as easily.
So it would be better for you to play tournaments and avoid Spin & Gold, fast Sit & Go’s, low‑ or mid‑stakes Hold’em, and 3‑max or heads‑up tables.
Why don’t they appear very often in tournaments? Tournaments have:
-complex structures
-strategy changes depending on stack size
-ICM situations
-long playing time”

 

[locomojo]

I've always felt that there seems to be something 'off' about 3-max & heads-up, so I only really play tournaments', whether that`s just because of my own paranoia I don`t know. Nevertheless I avoid games like Blast & spins overdrive etc unless I get tickets through a promotion. As someone once said, 'they`re like the crack of online poker' and I play for entertainment, if I win it`s a bonus but those sort of games just don`t feel like fun for me.

 

[Brigistul]

I've always felt that there seems to be something 'off' about 3-max & heads-up, so I only really play tournaments', whether that`s just because of my own paranoia I don`t know. Nevertheless I avoid games like Blast & spins overdrive etc unless I get tickets through a promotion. As someone once said, 'they`re like the crack of online poker' and I play for entertainment, if I win it`s a bonus but those sort of games just don`t feel like fun for me.

I understand you completely. I also feel that 3‑max and heads‑up have a strange dynamic, like everything happens way too fast. I prefer tournaments for exactly that reason the pace feels more natural and the game seems cleaner.

 

[locomojo]

I do think it`s good to play free practice games with only 3 players or head-to-head now and again, especially for new players. If only to get familiar with how to adapt & control your game for those situations. Many moons ago when I started playing in tournaments' the first few times I got down to a final table I got hammered by aggressive players because I kept folding my way into a corner. Mainly because I was still playing like there was 8-9 people around the table.

 

[Igor G]

Bots appear more often at small tables (Spin & Gold, 3‑max, heads‑up)!WHY?
Few players = simple decisions → a bot can follow charts and algorithms without needing to “think” too much.
Very fast pace → humans get tired, bots don’t.
Different stakes → a bot can play hundreds of tables at the same time, hoping for small but steady profit.
Less attention from other players → in 3‑max you don’t notice strange behavior as easily.
So it would be better for you to play tournaments and avoid Spin & Gold, fast Sit & Go’s, low‑ or mid‑stakes Hold’em, and 3‑max or heads‑up tables.
Why don’t they appear very often in tournaments? Tournaments have:
-complex structures
-strategy changes depending on stack size
-ICM situations
-long playing time”

I generally agree that it is better to avoid tournaments such as spin and go or Blast tournaments. But only because these are bingo tournaments where luck will largely determine the outcome.
As for your arguments about bots, they are rather primitive, and if you really think that everything is so simple, then you are probably a very good and very naive person

 

[Brigistul]

I generally agree that it is better to avoid tournaments such as Spin and Go or Blast tournaments. But only because these are bingo tournaments where luck will largely determine the outcome.
As for your arguments about bots, they are rather primitive, and if you really think that everything is so simple, then you are probably a very good and very naive person

What you don’t know is that I’ve played many times against bots on other poker platforms that do absolutely nothing to ban them. I have enough experience to tell the difference between real players and bots, even if you think I’m ‘naive’. Calling my arguments ‘primitive’ says more about your attitude than about my knowledge.

 

[bremp555]

Interesting breakdown. I agree that smaller formats like Spin & Gold, 3-max and heads-up can be more attractive for automation because of the simplified decision trees and faster volume.

That said, I’m not fully convinced tournaments are “safer” by default. As tools get more sophisticated, complexity alone isn’t always a barrier. I think the real edge still comes from strong site security, active reporting, and players paying attention to population tendencies rather than just format selection.

At the end of the day, choosing good platforms and staying sharp ourselves is probably more impactful than just avoiding certain table types. Good topic btw, it’s something the whole community should stay aware of.

 

[romerim]

Bots thrive at small, fast-paced tables because simple, high-volume decisions favor algorithms; tournaments with strategic shifts make bots less effective. Sometimes I play on Jack Poker and over at Spins, they don't even change their names, they're always the same.

 

[Brigistul]

Interesting breakdown. I agree that smaller formats like Spin & Gold, 3-max and heads-up can be more attractive for automation because of the simplified decision trees and faster volume.

That said, I’m not fully convinced tournaments are “safer” by default. As tools get more sophisticated, complexity alone isn’t always a barrier. I think the real edge still comes from strong site security, active reporting, and players paying attention to population tendencies rather than just format selection.

At the end of the day, choosing good platforms and staying sharp ourselves is probably more impactful than just avoiding certain table types. Good topic btw, it’s something the whole community should stay aware of.

True — complexity isn’t as big of a barrier anymore when advanced tools are involved. I was mainly referring to the fact that hyper‑fast formats drastically reduce the decision space, which makes them more attractive for automation. In tournaments, the shifting structure and dynamics make that harder. But yes, ultimately the platform and monitoring are what matter most.

 

[Brigistul]

Bots thrive at small, fast-paced tables because simple, high-volume decisions favor algorithms; tournaments with strategic shifts make bots less effective. Sometimes I play on Jack Poker and over at Spins, they don't even change their names, they're always the same.

Yes, that’s exactly the issue: bots thrive in small and fast formats because the decisions are simple and high‑volume, which gives algorithms a clear advantage. In tournaments, the constant strategic shifts make them much less effective. I’ve heard that on Jack Poker and Spins the same accounts keep showing up they don’t even bother changing their names.There are also other American sites where, even though I reported the bots I played against, they did absolutely nothing those accounts kept playing non‑stop for 2–3 years.I don’t want to mention any names because that would violate the rules of our site.

 

[Baco]

I understand the concern, but I’d be careful with broad conclusions. Smaller formats like 3-max and HU are structurally easier to automate, so it makes sense they might attract more attempts. That said, most major sites actively monitor those formats precisely because of that risk.

Tournaments are more complex in terms of ICM and stack dynamics, which can make full automation harder — but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re immune either.

In the end, the safest approach is choosing reputable platforms, tracking your own results over a meaningful sample, and reporting suspicious behavior instead of assuming patterns immediately equal bots. Over a big enough sample, skill and adaptation still matter a lot.

 

[DarkSage]

Bots appear more often at small tables (Spin & Gold, 3‑max, heads‑up)!WHY?
Few players = simple decisions → a bot can follow charts and algorithms without needing to “think” too much.
Very fast pace → humans get tired, bots don’t.
Different stakes → a bot can play hundreds of tables at the same time, hoping for small but steady profit.
Less attention from other players → in 3‑max you don’t notice strange behavior as easily.
So it would be better for you to play tournaments and avoid Spin & Gold, fast Sit & Go’s, low‑ or mid‑stakes Hold’em, and 3‑max or heads‑up tables.
Why don’t they appear very often in tournaments? Tournaments have:
-complex structures
-strategy changes depending on stack size
-ICM situations
-long playing time”

Thanks for the tips, I'll surely make use of this.

 

[martinoni]

Any Ace you shove in spin and go 3 max and then avoid this feelings that the robots are always there and stuff...

 

[sibkaz]

Be afraid of bots, don't play poker))) But suspicion improves critical analysis! )))

 

[machinm19]

I've never had any suspicion to believe I'm playing against a bot but that's not to say it doesn't happen. I'd bet a lot of murky stuff goes on in the technology world that we don't know about.