There has been much talk of bots in the online poker industry over the years, as the technology to create computerized programs that can beat the odds is technically possible. And it is a reality too, as artificial intelligence programs at various universities have developed poker-playing bots and pitted them against human players for experimental purposes, as well as for entertainment. Bots have now become a more unsightly reality when a ring of them was discovered on PokerStars.
 
To count the accusations of bots playing on online poker websites is a futile task, especially on the poker forums where losing players simply cannot believe that others get lucky on a consistent basis. But serious allegations of bots on PokerStars began to come to light via the German poker site Intellipoker, and posters on the 2+2 forums continued the investigation and refused to let the subject drop. Poker Table Ratings (PTR) then took up the task of running and analyzing data so as to make a positive determination. And according to PTR, the same company that detected the recent Cereus security glitch, the evidence was there to be found.
 
All in all, according to the PTR report posted on July 16, there were ten player accounts that were actually bots named 7emenov, myvra, demidou, feidmanis, bakabar, nakseon, koldan, craizer, kozzin, and Daergy. They played no-limit hold’em cash games at the $.25-$.50, $.50-$1, and $1-$2 levels, likely on the lower end of the spectrum so as not to draw attention from much more experienced players. Reports did not indicate how long they had been playing, but the bots generated $186,572 in rake and collected $57,839 in profit. It is not known to whom the bots are connected or where in the world they were developed.
 
The evidence, detected by PTR’s software, centered around similarities between several of the accounts that moved up or down in stakes consistently and in close time proximity, as well as their betting patterns from the big blind in unraised pots by always folding to aggression after the flop. They also always pushed all-in with a good hand or folded to any aggression after bluffing.
 
Ultimately, PTR forwarded the information to PokerStars and urged them to close those accounts immediately. The following day, a PokerStars representative posted on the 2+2 forum that the website had been running a concurrent investigation but did not want to close the accounts until all of them had been detected. However, possibly feeling the pressure of the poker community, those accounts were closed on July 17.
 
The detected bots are no longer able to play on PokerStars. However, the question remains as to whether other bots may be playing on PokerStars or other online poker sites but are more advanced so as not to be detected by regular protection software. Other questions, such as why PokerStars took so long to run its investigation and shut down the accounts, and who is behind the bots in the first place, may never be answered. What poker players can take away from the situation is that evidence is the key. Anyone can claim that bots are playing online poker, but with evidence in the form of statistical data to back up those claims, the players themselves can continue to police the online poker realm for cheaters and bots.
 
Until the US government—or state governments—decide to regulate the industry and monitor for such fraud, sites and players must work together to keep online poker safe. While not everyone supports the idea of government oversight of our game, there is a case to be made for player protection and criminal prosecution.
 
Jennifer Newell is a compulsive writer. In addition to Poker Player Newspaper, she writes for numerous publications and blogs at Pokerati.com as California Jen. In her little bit of spare time, she plays poker, too. Contact her at jen3351@msn.com.