Online poker aims to emulate real poker as closely as possible. However, its digital nature also allows some people to exploit the system in order to win money. In an interview with Marketplace, a Bloomberg reporter commented on the proliferation of Russian bots in online poker.
Botting Is Becoming Very Common
Kit Chellel, a Bloomberg reporter who has investigated the bots, noted that many of them are run by tech-savvy young men with intimate knowledge of probability statistics and gambling. Because of the digital nature of online poker, many regular players would be put up against bots without even realizing it.
Chellel said that such games are usually very unfair because bots can reach levels beyond even what the best poker players in the world can do. He also told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal that it is not that easy to identify bots and that he may have played against a bot and not known it.
Ryssdal admitted that he is not a gambler and is unfamiliar with the online poker sector. However, he acknowledged that bots seem like a unique challenge.
Chellel confirmed that, saying that it is not fair for humans to play against bots, especially considering how powerful modern bots are. He elaborated that the latest bots leverage mathematical perfection in order to take players’ money.
Chellel referred to Deep Play, a group of people from Siberia, who have come up with clever poker tech that is used in a variety of ways.
The Industry Must Find Solutions
Speaking about the ways in which bots are used, Chellel noted that they usually win slowly but surely. In controlled experiments in which pro poker players have faced off against bots designed by AI researchers, humans got a nagging feeling of hopelessness.
As it turns out, not all bots are necessarily “intruders.” Chellel pointed out that some websites actually use bots on purpose in order to keep lobbies full. This, he said, encourages people to keep playing longer.
While sites generally say they are opposed to botting, many of them are not very transparent about their anti-botting measures. Chellel suggested that one of the reasons is the fact that there aren’t commercial incentives to exclude all bot accounts.
Yet, Ryssdal wondered whether botting discourages newer users from playing poker online. Chellel acknowledged that this happens and that there is not an easy solution to that.
There is definitely data showing that people who start playing poker online are very quickly put off by the standard of the games they’re playing in, and by how often they lose and by how hopeless it feels.
Kit Chellel
Chellel said that Chris Moneymaker, one of the most influential players in the world, fears that online poker might disappear unless there is a solution to botting.