A lot of gambling chat rooms, news groups and forums devoted to the game of poker often mention so-called card-playing robots more commonly known as “bots,” and these bots are being used on commercial gambling sites.

1. Poker Bots in Casinos Online
A lot of gambling chat rooms, news
groups and forums devoted to the
game of poker often mention so-called
card-playing robots more commonly
known as “bots,” and these bots are
being used on commercial gambling
sites. Most players assume that a lot of
online poker rooms thrive due to the
use of these special programs that are
able to beat an above average player
easily or even maul a novice player. In
a traditional casino setting, you can
easily determine the weak sides of your competitor, figure out his strategy, and
observe him. While in a virtual gaming house, there is no way of telling if your
opponent is human and not a program that is used to substitute a real player.
If it is true there are a lot of bots capable of beating good players then this could pose
as a huge problem in the online poker sector. Without the aid of a system or software
that would determine whether a player is a bot or not at online casinos, business could
be significantly undercut. This feedback is coming from players themselves and
gambling figures interested in the further development of the online gaming industry.
A few skeptics say that with the complexity of the game and steady changing
strategies, creation of the program that can read opponents’ cards using a special
technique of screen scanning and can respond in real time is many decades away at
best. In the University of Alberta in Canada, a computer poker research group
developed an artificially intelligent automation known as VexBot. This robot can play
poker at master level in a game of two players.
The new program has been tested to the frontiers of artificial intelligence since it will
be the basis for commercial poker tutorial programs. As soon as the news about a
program was published by the media regarding the bot, several letters were received
mentioning the danger of system use for the purposes of illegal gambling business.
Darse Billings, lead designer of VexBot, considers that the probability of the use of
bots in commercial sites is about 50:50. He also said that all of the modern programs
can unlikely match his creation, a ten-year worth of team specialist research.
Billings said, “The strategy of the game is difficult, and to sit down and write a program
that can beat a table of experienced human players is no trivial task.”
The challenge in the creation of the system was its ability to employ certain tasks such
as bluffing and laying traps. That’s why artificial intelligence was added to the system,
capable not only to calculate probabilities, but also make use of logic in the game to
model its opponents’ behaviors.

2. The creators of VexBot said that the main advantage of the robot is it has no
emotions, therefore, it will not feel shame, nervousness and the like. The robot will be
indifferent to the most aggressive player.
Journalists, on the other hand, who study the problem of poker bots, note that it’s
very hard to see the whole picture because of the unwillingness of many gambling
operators to answer upon the requests of this issue. There is no high-quality program
that is able to observe suspicious poker sites having unusual game patterns.
A representative of Cryptologic Company commenting on the issue said that some
players suspected of using bots have been banned from member sites. Sometimes, it
is just impossible to be sure who plays as a human or as a robot. However, a company
exposing all unusual strategies prefers to be reinsured and wants to protect itself from
the possible socializing with a bot.
Professional players on the matter said that the advantage of having a bot would
mean the bot being able to play 25 casinos simultaneously, two tables a piece. Even
if it’s playing a minimum $10-$20 on a game, it can earn $1000 an hour, if such
bot exists. Skeptics are sure that poker will still continue to gain popularity despite
all the threats from the side of programmers. In their opinion, it’s just a matter of
time before more people want to create their own bot only to be remembered but all
these attempts are doomed to fail. If you want to join in the discussion, try visiting
wikipokerroom.com where poker enthusiasts have a lot to share!