Online Poker News

All of a sudden the web seems abuzz with “news” stories of poker bots. Although these crafty little creatures–software programs that play on behalf of (and supposedly much better than) their human owners–have been around for a long long time, they haven’t hit the presses in quite a while.

So what does the media have to say on poker bots? Let’s see…

Well, some latecomer “journalists” are merely predicting that these emotionless statistics spitters are poised to take over the online poker world. But as we already know, poker sites are wise to their ways and ever-savvier in singling them out and banning the players who use them.

Still other writers are pointing out, with plenty of evidence to back their theories up, that the makers of poker bots are constantly devising better machines, and whereas human poker pros once had a decent shot against a poker bot, the ones they’re coming up against now seem almost impossible to beat.

What to know about poker bots as a player?

1. They’re legal – in the sense that you can’t get prosecuted, sued, or taken to jail for using one
2. They are, however, unethical–and using them does qualify as cheating
3. And they do violate poker sites’ terms of use and can therefore hold onto any profits you’ve won on the site but haven’t yet cashed out, and worse get you banned not just from the site on which you use the bot but on every site in that particular poker room’s network

So the bottom line on poker bots is: Bot-er Beware!

As for all you ethical players out there, a word of advice: Bots are best at heads-up limit and pot limit games. To minimize your risk of playing against a poker bot, pick No Limit multiplayer games.

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