Online poker’s days are numbered ? - Page 3

lambchop_ft · #21 08-23-2005, 10:24 AM

So, (if I understand correctly), it would be difficult for the sites to detect someone using a program that advised them how to play.

Perhaps I'm right to be concerned in that case.

There'd be plenty of market for a program like that, if it could win money for you.

Unless it's illegal somehow to actually *sell* such a program(?) surely there will be some in development soon.

lambchop_ft · #22 08-23-2005, 10:35 AM

But ... if programs start making money 'from most of the table', we are half-way to trouble.

If this got widespread, beginners wouldn't take up online poker.

It would deter me much more than the chance of collusion, for example.

OrangeKing · #23 08-23-2005, 11:10 AM

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Do you know how successful these "playing style" detection programs are? I wonder how many times you have to play before a pattern emerges.

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In chess, the detection programs are extremely accurate, because all information is available to evaluate "optimal" play in any single game.

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In chess, there are also fairly obvious situations that come up that show, almost beyond any doubt, that a player is cheating with a computer. Mainly, it happens when there are two or more moves that will give a player a winning game. One of these moves will be obvious, simple, and decisive - that's the "human move." The other is the beginning of a complex combination that is very hard to analyze, but which a computer evaluates as slightly better - say +5.4 pawns instead of +4.8 for the human move. If a person is making these "computer moves" in situations where obvious and winning human moves are available, it's one of the clearest signs they're using a computer.

rusellmj · #24 08-23-2005, 11:28 AM

Are you asking about bots or are you talking about programs like Hold'em Assistant or whatever it's called? Sounds to me like your OP was asking about programs that help a player decide what to do not bots.

lambchop_ft · #25 08-23-2005, 11:40 AM

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Are you asking about bots or are you talking about programs like Hold'em Assistant or whatever it's called? Sounds to me like your OP was asking about programs that help a player decide what to do not bots.

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I'm thinking of programs that advise you what to do next.

I guess they could be marketed as tutorial-type software, but if they get to be good and then widespread, will they change the face of online poker ?

(I've never heard of "Hold'em Assistant" - is that what it does ?)

Neurotoxin · #26 08-23-2005, 11:51 AM

Require players to play with webcams focused on them and their setup. This wouldn't necessarily need to be broadcast to the players, and it wouldnt have to be monitored all the time obviously. This would be a pain in the ass and drive off a lot of players, but it would work.

Mr Gee · #27 08-23-2005, 12:01 PM

Have a look at this site, which was discussed in a fairly recent thread. The site claims that Party actively scans your hard drive and takes screen shots of your desktop in order to prevent you cheating.

Even if it isn't true at the moment, there is no reason why poker sites couldn't implement something similar in the future if bots became a real problem. Would make running any type of bot pretty difficult.

HopeydaFish · #28 08-23-2005, 12:38 PM

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Require players to play with webcams focused on them and their setup.

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I like to play in the nude.

Sniper · #29 08-23-2005, 12:57 PM

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The site claims that Party actively scans your hard drive and takes screen shots of your desktop in order to prevent you cheating.

Even if it isn't true at the moment, there is no reason why poker sites couldn't implement something similar in the future if bots became a real problem. Would make running any type of bot pretty difficult.

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Party's T&C tells you that it is indeed scanning and taking screenshots. However, there are ways to avoid detection.

BOTs should not be a concern, however, since unlike chess all information is not known, so there is no "perfect" strategy. Therefore, any given bot will advise/play a certain way and you as a player at the table will adjust your strategy against the bot, just as you would any other player.

lambchop_ft · #30 08-23-2005, 01:00 PM

Apologies to everyone I confused in my original post : I wasn't talking about bots. (By which I mean programs that run automatically on your PC and make your call/fold/etc actions without you even being there).

Instead, I'm imagining some software that "helps" you to make a better decision. You tell it what is happening during the game, and it recommends what to do when the action gets to you.

One issue would be speed : you'd have a lot of information to type in. But since this is a possible issue for the future, let's assume you can use voice recognition.

Poker sites couldn't detect you using this kind of "advisor" software, if you ran it on your old PC that's not online. Perhaps they could detect its intelligence at work, indirectly, via playing style detection (but see other posts above).

I guess I'm assuming at least 2 things :

1) that the advisor software will be good enough to win money for people, at least at low limits

2) that people will want to use it in large numbers

If both of these held, I wonder if the online poker growth would end ?