Preflop Bot

[YoureToast]

I am generally a lurker here, posted a few times. I am fearful of getting flamed but I trust the thoughts of most of the 2+2ers and respect your opinions, so I felt I should write this post and see what happens.

I have developed a Party Poker preflop bot; it does one thing and one thing only, it folds hands that, given the relevant circumstances, should be folded. Thats all it does; it does not call, check or raise; it does not know what the "flop" is and therefore does not play after the flop.

My purpose in creating this was two-fold (pun intended): 1) it was an interesting project to do - I used the MS .net framework and 2) I thought it would be helpful to my game, and particularly for multi-tabling purposes, to not have to physically push the "fold" button all the time and to enforce a little discipline on me.

The program right now is about 95% effective; there are a few bugs that will be easy to correct. It has proven to improve my discipline and it does make it easier to play multiple tables.

My questions for the zoo are these:

1. Do you consider this ethical? I think it is because the computer does not process anything more difficult than I can process in my brain; the only advantage it gives me is the enforcement of discipline; and, quite frankly, it certainly does not provide me with anymore advantage than someone using PT or similar program. To me, it is different from an ethical perspective than a full-fledged bot. What do you think?

2. Do you think there is a market for this type of program? I have not used, nor will I use, Winholdem, but I do know that this program has a completely different purpose -- all it does it fold obvious folding hands. My fear about selling this to anyone is that if it became commonplace in any respect, Party would likely crack downa and stop it and since I have a day job, I wouldn't have time to do lots of rewrites; also, I don't want tables full of tight players. For this reason, if I decided to sell it, I would limit its distribution. Also, I would comply with all 2+2 advertising rules and policies; I'd let the zoo know it was avaialble and thats it.

3. Do you have any other thoughts on this idea? I'm sure someone else has done this already, but I haven't seen any similar posts.

Thanks and please be kind (or flame away if the holidays are getting you down and need to relieve some tension).

YoureToast