Can I Beat Poker Bots?

While poker bots could potentially ruin the world of online poker if they become sophisticated enough to beat most players, poker enthusiasts can rest assured that that is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Poker is a game that is far to psychological for poker bots to beat good players, and you should have no trouble beating most poker bots once you have spotted one and understand how they operate. While there are some more advanced poker bots out there that are harder to predict, you can still feel comfortable playing at their table by knowing when to just get out of their way.

There two main steps to beating poker bots: understanding how they work and knowing how to spot them at the table. A poker bot is a program that is self-efficient enough to be launched at online poker sites and play hands based on its own by reading each hand and making moves by calculating the odds present in every hand. Over time, a well designed bot is successful by being operating by the same principle that every professional poker player lives by: solid play that is tight and aggressive in every hand always wins in the long term. However, because of the way that a poker bot is designed, they have certain inherent weaknesses, and you can easily exploit these weaknesses once you understand what they are. Poker bots are designed to respond to certain situations in hands of poker the same time every time. If you are good enough at tracking the styles of play of other players of an online poker room, poker bots are much more predictable than most players because they are playing with hope that always playing hands the same when certain odds come up will pay out in the long term. As a result, most poker bots are even more easy to beat than brand new players, because they most never shake up their playing style.

When thinking about poker bot competitors, it is important to remember that poker games like Texas Hold 'Em are very different from games that are almost entirely based on odds such as Blackjack and Craps. Poker bot's are programs that are simply playing the odds and earning a little in the long run by tight consistent play. Consider the different backgrounds of some of world's best poker players. Players like Gus Hansen and Jesus Ferguson have a very strong background in mathematics and game theory, other players like Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu can still dominate the table without a formal education because they are just great poker players. Similarly, it doesn't matter how well programmed a poker bot is designed to calculate the odds and determine the right move; the bot doesn't stand a chance against a player who knows the finer points of reading a table and playing a hand beyond the basic odds.

You see, the purpose of poker bots is not to beat the best poker players at the table during an online game. Much like a smart poker player, a bot is their to exploit the poor choices and poor play of the rest of the poker players at the table. If you know what you are doing, there is no cause for concern if you suspect that you have identified a poker bot at your table. Instead, you should breath a sigh of relief that you have identified a player at your table who's style of play should be relatively easy to determine and predict. Personally, if I am playing a poker bot that is sophisticated enough to check-raise and call obvious bluffs, I usually stay out of hands with it unless I am pretty sure that I have the nuts. Instead, I let the bot join me and the other sharks at the table as we profit from the sloppier players at the table.

poker bots
Get your own and free pokerbot software from pbo!