Poker Bots Are Out There

The world of artificial intelligence is a much discussed area. Movies like “The Matrix” or “A.I.” use the theme of humans continually developing computers to think for themselves until they do just that and think as an independent body, taking control of the world. While poker bots are not necessarily going to be taking over the world they do exist. As poker players we must consider whether these bots are causing us to lose profit and how we play knowing they could be sitting at our table.

I am not posing the question “do poker bots exist” because they do exist and I have seen them in action myself. The benefit of using a poker bot is that they are programmed to play a solid game of poker that gives them an immediate advantage because they do not play poker with any emotion. They get the maximum value from playing optimal poker that even a good player may miss out on should they be affected by their opponent, or are on tilt from a previous hand. Imagine if you could play perfect mathematical poker every hand, no matter what. Even the top players cannot testify to doing this every hand they play, but a quality poker bot can.

Polaris bot was pitted against Phil Laak and Ali Eslami in a duplicate 500 hand match. Both tables were dealt the same hands but each human played the opposite set of hands against the computer. The totals earned were added up to decide the winner. In 2007 the humans just won by a small amount but in 2008 after convincingly beating limit specialist Matt Hawrilenko Polaris was declared victorious. This mirrors the Deep Blue versus Kasparov chess challenges in 1997 where the machine beat the world’s best player. Their Vexbot program learns and adapts to its opponent style, making it very difficult to beat. It should be noted that Limit Holdem, due to its limited nature in terms of betting, is easier for a computer to learn as the variables are reduced rather than No Limit Holdem where bet sizing is almost infinite in possibility.

In contrast to chess, using a poker program is against most poker room’s terms and conditions. As there is money involved it is deemed unprofessional to use artificial help when you are supposed to win and lose based on your own skills and run of luck. Many players, however, use a form of Texas Calculatem which shows their current hands odds of winning or improving but as the player makes the final decision and manually executes their play it is not seen as bad as using a bot. Some sites do ban this type of software also.

Bots are becoming common towards the lower stakes as they maintain a high win rate but at a level where the standard of play remains lower. Some bots are terribly programmed and are very beatable. You will not see Polaris secretly playing online because they are developed for research purposes only. But other programmers can design bots and also make them invisible to poker rooms. Poker rooms can scan active program lists on your computer, but a simple hiding script can make bots almost undetectable. Poker rooms are dedicated to look for strange betting patterns and people sitting at large amounts of tables for extraordinary lengths of time. Bots are difficult to pinpoint due to their settings allowing you to stipulate when to sit out, some even say “nice hand” into the chat if you show a strong hand!

This only serves to highlight the importance of practising your poker skills. Talk about hands with friends, discuss moves, make sure you are doing everything you can to get better. If you are not doing this you are not only the fish to strong players, but to players who use bots to take advantage of bad play. When wagering you need to make it as hard as possible for people to get your money. Get to work; the bots are waiting if you don’t!

By Malcolm Clarke

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