The latest rage by poker aficionados and programmers is to create and
use a poker bot that will automatically play online poker with little
or no human interaction, with the ultimate goal of winning money. This
recent craze has alarmed both online poker sites and players as the fear
of a computer program with the capacity to win online poker will
essentially be able to outsmart live thinking players of their
hard-earned money and eventually rob the poker sites of quality players
afraid to play against so many poker bots.
A recent industry study
concluded that 12% of online poker players were apprehensive about or
had completely stopped playing online poker in light of the recent poker
bot craze. That essentially sends players offline rather than risk
their money against these new computer-generated poker bots.
However,
there are several ways to beat a poker bot in online poker, and knowing
these methods will certainly give the human player back the edge
against poker bots. One fact that makes a poker bot a better player is
that they lack the human emotion or power of reasoning that a human must
use when playing online poker. A poker bot is not apt to go on 'tilt'
or get angry when they are the victims of a bad beat.
In playing
online poker, human players are up against two major advantages. One is
the computer generated code created by the poker sites to determine
shuffles, deals and outcomes of a hand, while the other disadvantage,
just as dangerous to your bankroll, is the poker bot, that is
pre-programmed with all the statistics and probabilities of the game.
Nevertheless,
you can use the computer-generated codes of the poker sites and poker
bots against them if you understand how they work. A poker bot is
confined to making decisions based solely on the play of the game with
regard to its statistical analysis of poker. In other words, a poker bot
will only make decisions based on known patterns in the game.
Moreover,
the online poker sites, which actively attempt to detect and thwart the
efforts of poker bot programmers and users, have implemented a
counter-measure to the poker bots, using the same known patterns. By
implementing a counter measure to the poker bots, a poker site is able
to ensure that a poker bot will not win since the poker bots actions are
predictable and confined to a skill-set directly related to statistical
odds and probability.
This, as confusing as it may seem, actually
works to the advantage of the human player. While the poker site's
software is actively seeking the poker bot patterns and attempting to
detect who is a human and who is a computer generated bot script, they
also inadvertently implemented a flaw which allows a human player to
take advantage of the online poker sites weakness.
In reality,
this has resulted in a human player having the ability to not only beat
the poker bot, but beat human opponents as well. By following a set
pattern that the online poker sites are using, an advantage is created
for anyone who is aware of that pattern. This pattern is known as a
sequential algorithm and that algorithm dramatically has changed the
poker game online to force wins and losses in a set, specific and
predictable pattern.
It is not only plausible to beat a poker bot;
it is easily accomplished by recognizing the patterns used by online
poker sites. These patterns are simple to learn and require little skill
by a human player. So the next time you think about playing poker
online, consider using the codes and algorithms created by the poker
site to your advantage. They are there to prevent the poker bots from
winning, but not you!