[REOdeathwagon]

With the passage of the UGIEA, and the majority of the reputable casinoes [non MGS] taken away from us Americans, I have been playing alot more online poker lately. I do feel fortunate that I do not play alot of holdem though, because i feel thats where these majority of these bots are. I do not think that this is the end of online poker. I do still KNOW that you can make $$$ playing online.

I personally believed before I read this article that the bots were good for the game, with their 10-20% vpip. the new bots are much more aggressive though, eventually this is going to hurt the solid players profits.
And eventually they are going to move into mixed games where collusion can definately hurt more.

Everyone knows that this is not a new problem, but Ed raises some pretty scary points that I myself have never thought of in this article. The new bots are much more aggressive than the old weak tight ones. It's the network of collussion that scares me the most.

If colluding bots could nail a holdem game, think for a minute what they could do to a pot limit omaha game, or even worse a pot limit omaha/8 game. Just three bots at the table, thats 12 known cards out of the deck. Imagine a bot being able to stack off with a jack high flush knowing that it can't be beat. If I personally saw the bot table this hand for his stack, I would think he was a maniac - definately not a bot - all the while the network would be busy chopping my ass up, slowly but surely.

Winholdem has been around for at least three years, the program he is selling is not the one I'm worried about. That guy is a dick everyone knows that. But I think alot of the coders started on his platform and added to it, making more advanced shit. As AI gets more advanced, the bots start reacting to your tendencies, just like a solid player would. And the less sophisticated bots will get eaten up by the better bots too.
The ones that started out of the Univ. of Alberta?? [ I think - POKI ] are probably making $$$. F**k, that contest was at least 2 years ago.


There is just to much money in this shit for it not to grow and spread just like a f**king cancer. It will get more sophisticated with time, don't kid yourself that it won't.
Think about a offshore [or onshore] warehouse full of bots playing best hand. They could suck a game dry pretty quick. scary thoughts, man.

But think about some of these smaller sites/networks out there and ask yourself why they would want to get rid of the bots?
To a new startup site, these are just props that they do not have to pay.
And bots pay a full rake just like humans do.
They add more players to games.
The only thing they do not do that a prop would is start games.
Bots play everyday [ christmas included ].
Bots don't bonus hunt or play only with a bonus.
All new sites / networks have used props in the past, to get started. Jetset had them until the day they shut down.
It's a win/win situation for a new sites/ networks.

I forget the name of the site that already went through a scandal in the last couple of years for having their own site santioned bots?

Just some things to think about, before you quit your day job with dreams of becoming an online pro.

Merry Christmas
speedealer