[charlie_t_jr]

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Everybody shares there databases everybody is gonna have millions of hands on everybody. I think the sites should ban all tracking software. Its not real poker in my oppinion when you dont have to pay any attention to the play and just read a number on the screen. As a player that has never used it and taken extensive notes on players and just found out there were such programs I FEEL CHEATED.
rant over

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Well, I can understand how you feel in that sense. I would like to make an important point, however. If the sites were to ban software like pokertracker, it would only cut down on the number of people using the software. In other words, many people would break the Terms & Conditions of the site and find a workaround from the sites' monitoring for such programs. People have already figured out simple ways to do it using a second PC. This would mean that the playing field would be even more unlevel. Right now, anyone who cares enough to improve thier poker game will find out about PokerTracker is short order and go buy it. This puts them on a level playing field. If the site's ban PokerTracker, the playing field will always be unlevel unless that player chooses to break the terms and conditions of the site. That means that honest players lose ground. Is that the way that you would prefer it?

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This crap about PT and leveling the playing field is well...crap. If you are a good observant player, playing one or two tables, the guy with PT doesn't have an "advantage" over YOU. Or if he does, it's not because of PT. Oh sure, the PT guy might know that the fellow in seat 4 c/r bluffs on the turn .0003% over the course of 129 hands...but so the frick what.

I mean if you are playing one table and extensively taking notes on your opponents, do you have an UNFAIR advantage?

What PT does besides anylyzing your own play, record keeping, etc. is allow you to multi-table without losing your reads. If thats not REAL poker to you, well so what. But it is NOT an unfair advantage.

Datamining...eh, thats debatable.