RGP all in a tizzy

[Talking Poker]

I find this all very, very interesting. I had never even heard of WinHoldEm until this thread. How does it work, and more importantly, how WELL does it work? I have trouble believing a bot could play better than I could (not to sound too cocky), but even if it plays well enough to consistently win, that's pretty nice. You could run it 24/7 and clean up.

[2Tone]

The questions are …

1) How well they play
Lots and lots of debate over this. The general consensus seems to be that they play fairly well, but that a good player should be able to beat them. But that they can clean up at looser low limits, just by playing by-the-book poker.

2) How good the sites are at stopping them
Even more debate about this one. If 10 bots sit at a table and take each other’s money all night, what do the sites care? They make rake no matter who – or what – wins. Still, it seems they do make a legitimate effort to combat bots, as evidence by what kicked off this thread.

[Talking Poker]

I really find this fascinating. Personally, I wouldn't mind sitting at a table full of bots, because I think I could take them... but I haven't actually seen one in action yet. But, based on the terrible play I see online constantly, I would think the bots could be quite successful by just playing mechanically - nothing fancy.

Does anyone have any solid Poker Tracker numbers from a significant sample of hands played by the bot? I wonder at what limit the BBs/hr starts to really drop and at what level the bot actually becomes a loser, if any.

As for the sites' defense against the bots, I am NOT a fan of them taking screen shots of my computer while I'm playing. What if I have (any kind of) sensitive info on the screen at the time? That's not cool at all.

[junYUN]

whoa, bots that play for you? that's nuts. i would never EVER trust a bot with my bankroll, however. i don't think it's that big of a deal taking a screen shot, it's not like they're "invading" your privacy, they're simply doing exactly what you authorized them to do by installing their software. they're trying to prevent cheating, trying to keep the playing field level. it's not like they're searching your computer and deleting/adding things.

[Talking Poker]

How do you know?

And if they take a screen shot of your bank account information? You have no problem with this? Sure, THEY may not use it maliciously, but anyone who gets their hands on that file.... I don't know. Seems like a bad idea to me.

[Frontin]

On the winholdem forum site there's a section with a few threads on team hold'em. One guy even said something like I have a few friends who I would like to play team hold'em with... it's one thing to have a bot play for you, but for a team of bots??!?!?!! WTF!!!???!!!

[Talking Poker]

No kidding. If nothing else, this is a red flag to be careful when you're playing online...

[PShabi]

I'm starting to wonder if I've played at a table with some bots on party. Seriously. Lately, while multitabling, I've found some really tight low limit tables at 1/2 and even 2/4. With like people folding to the button regularly and overall really tight play that I just never, ever, ever saw when playing strictly pacific. I moved to Party and found a lot more players, so I naturally think, more players, more loose playing idiots. Not the case so far in about 3 weeks there. But I'm cleaning up so I'm with TP. Bring on the bots!

[brokeagain]

It only plays as well as you program it to, and according ti WinHE, there is no secret formula.

[eddo31]

i think that in time a bot could be programmed well enough to beat the best players. i dont think that time has come, but i assume that it will at some point. right now they have to basically play by the book, but i would assume that at some point they will be programmable so that they adapt to game conditions and can switch gears according to the feel of the table.

i am much more concerned about the privacy issues of party taking screenshots and presumably exporting them to some database of theirs. not that i really have anything that is that important or confidential on my computer, but it is just something that really bothers me with its possible implications.