Poker Bot piece

[Pirc Defense]

Saw this at www.techdirt.com and wanted to pass it along.

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A few years ago, we wrote about how online poker players were often getting assistance from training tools that told them what to do in certain situations. Of course, since then, there's been something of an online poker bubble generating a ton of attention and money. So, with that, it really shouldn't be any surprise that poker bots are becoming much more popular, allowing people to just let the bot play hands for them while they do something more productive (like sleep). While there are lots of arguments about ethics and whether this is legal, that didn't seem to be the most interesting part of the article. In fact, the article seems to have brushed over the most interesting part of the article itself. Apparently, the most popular bot, WinHoldEm, lets users tweak strategies -- and it's the strategies and not the bot that makes someone a winner. In fact, the article suggests it's becoming popular for users to swap and trade different formula sets. In other words, unlike what most people think of when they think of bots invading a game, there is still strategy involved, it's just that the strategy is in tweaking your bot to the best of its ability, which could actually depend on who the bot is playing against (and, assuming other bots are playing, how they're tweaked). So, perhaps the more modern equivalent to sports and games won't be your own feats of strength or strategy -- but how you tweak a computer to play for you.

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It's going to happen, it's just a question of when. Denying this is to overlook nearly every lesson of history.

[mudbuddha]

limit, computers would probably own it up. +ev decisions everytime.. but i still would like to see how they would proram a bot play to play no limit

[Jorge10]

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how they would proram a bot play to play no limit

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I dont think thats possible too many possible combinations, but limit seems possible, I would like to see some of these in action. Also doesnt party ban bots? I heard this somewhere.

[Jorge10]

This article was disturbing, that bastard must be hunted down like an animal and executed along with anyone he sold the program to. I hate to say it, but if this got out to the mainstream media it could really hurt online poker, it would be a huge PR hit.
Bots

[Jimbo]

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It's going to happen, it's just a question of when. Denying this is to overlook nearly every lesson of history.


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You mean like the Nazis, 911, slavery or the Boston Tea Party? WOW! This may be more serious than I thought.

[Pirc Defense]

[ QUOTE ]
You mean like the Nazis, 911, slavery or the Boston Tea Party? WOW! This may be more serious than I thought.

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You're way off. I mean like the guy that said, way back in the 1800's, that everything that could be invented, already had. Don't be that guy, Jimbo.

Or the brainiac that very vocally proclaimed that a computer would never beat the best human chess players? You're not THAT guy, are you?

Then don't act like it.

[Jorge10]

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You're way off. I mean like the guy that said, way back in the 1800's, that everything that could be invented, already had. Don't be that guy, Jimbo.

Or the brainiac that very vocally proclaimed that a computer would never beat the best human chess players? You're not THAT guy, are you?

Then don't act like it.

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As they say, if theres a scheme to make easy money someone is going to try it. Its just the way of the world, people are going to try the bot thing cause they dont have to work for it. The problem is whether someone will make a big deal out of it, seems like party does, but still something I wonder is, can the people that get caught get punished? I mean whats the crime? I wonder if they could even be put in jail in the US.

[Jimbo]

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You mean like the Nazis, 911, slavery or the Boston Tea Party? WOW! This may be more serious than I thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're way off. I mean like the guy that said, way back in the 1800's, that everything that could be invented, already had. Don't be that guy, Jimbo.

Or the brainiac that very vocally proclaimed that a computer would never beat the best human chess players? You're not THAT guy, are you?

Then don't act like it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not quite that old Pirc. I am old enough to know that no bot will be able to beat above average players either in a ring game or tournaments till I am long gone so unless I am reincarnated I feel no need to holler "The Sky is Falling". Why do you?

[Jorge10]

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I'm not quite that old Pirc. I am old enough to know that no bot will be able to beat above average players either in a ring game or tournaments till I am long gone so unless I am reincarnated I feel no need to holler "The Sky is Falling". Why do you?

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Thats true, but they can scare away the fish, if people dont feel safe playing online poker its a problem. I consider it a big problem not because of skill level of the bots, but because of the fact that bots play can scare people away from playing online. I mean theres already a bunch of people who keep saying online poker is rigged, do you really want to give them more ammo?

[Jimbo]

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Thats true, but they can scare away the fish, if people dont feel safe playing online poker its a problem.

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Jorge I agree with you on this important point. I just do not agree with Pirc's theory.