The Poker Showdown | Online Poker Strategies

The Internet Poker Showdown: Humans vs. Poker Bots

Sometimes you come across something and think "Am I really reading this right?" That is what many might ask themselves when they read this article.

Online poker is a hot business right now grossing billions of dollars a year.

Thousands to millions of people visit these sites regularly. The online casino companies have done an elaborate job of trying to out do the next guy which is beneficial for the player unless of course the player isn't human.

Poker bots are automated computer programs designed to play the game of poker. These bots are beginning to cause a scare in the online casino industry. Online casino chat rooms are filled with discussions, debates and down right arguments about whether these "poker bots" really pose a threat or not.

Computer programming engineers claim that currently the technology of the computer programs can not master the very important element of psychology that goes into winning a poker tournament but they also concede that they are "working on it" so that in 20 to 30 years the bots just might be smart enough to outsmart us humans. No need to panic…yet.

The bots can be programmed to bluff for every 100 non winning hands and the bots have the capability of storing and accessing memory of past hands and betting in their databases. Still programmers volunteer that in poker, psychology is as important as or more important than probability.

Poker bots are banned from many online casinos including the famed GoldenPalace.com. However, these bots are not required to disclose their identity. This is a cause for concern for some who believe that programmers who do not disclose that a bot is playing against a human is morally wrong. Veterans of the game complain that the bots have much longer patience than a human and fear that they are raking in more than their fair share of the winnings. So who is the masked man behind the poker bot?

Robot designer Ken Mages enticed GoldenPalace.com to help host a World Series of Poker Robots. The grand prize supplied by GoldenPalace.com was $100,000. This brought many of the bot engineers out of the woodwork.

Although it may seem unfair playing against a bot does not mean that you will lose. These bots are capable of losing and have trouble playing when there is more than one player. This could change in the future if engineers like those that work at The University of Alberta's Computer Poker Research Group continue and advance their research. However, for now you are safe so play smart, sleep tight and don't let the poker bots bite.