This is a disturbing story regarding Pokerstars and their view on bots, but before I get to that, I want to tell you about a 4th grader I know named Billy.
Billy is not good at math. He keeps failing the tests, and his mother is concerned. So his mother goes in to visit the teacher, and suggests a way to improve Billy's performance in the class:
"I'll come in on test days, sit next to Billy, and whisper the answers to him. Then he will write them down. I bet he'll get 100%!", suggests the delusional mom.
"That sounds like a great idea!", says the teacher. "I wouldn't allow you to take the test for Billy, but if you just whisper the answer to him and he writes them down on his own, I can't see how that could be considered cheating. See you on Thursday for our next test!"
If the above scenario played out, you would think that Billy's teacher must be one of the biggest idiots in the world of education.
And yet that's exactly how Pokerstars has decided they are going to handle "manual bot" programs.
Allow me to explain.
A high stakes player on Pokerstars known as skier_5 has developed "player aid" software for Heads Up Sit-n-Gos (HUSNGs).
This software is not a traditional bot, in that it does not operate the Pokerstars software for you. The player has to be present to actually press the buttons to bet/call/raise/fold.
However, the software does advise players what it believes to be the optimal plays, based upon the cards dealt and the bets made.
skier_5 describes the software as a "chart" simply stating what to do in various situations. Charts have always been allowed to be used by most sites (and even in live poker), as they simply give general advice on how to play, and do not modify their advice based upon the opponent or match actually taking place.
Apparently the skier_5 software DOES modify its charts/advice based upon the actual play in the HUSNG, thereby behaving much more like a bot than a chart.
This situation was made public by ChicagoRy of 2+2, who also runs the site husng.com: http://www.husng.com/content/controv...yer-aid-husngs
Shockingly, Pokerstars said that this software was okay, and within their terms of service! Why did they come to that conclusion? They determined that the player is ultimately making the decisions and actually pressing the buttons, so the software is only "advice" and therefore not a bot.
WHAT?!
They're basically taking the position that you can use bots on their site, as long as the bot just tells you what buttons to push, rather than pushing them for you. Why does it matter if you press the bet/call/fold buttons yourself instead of a bot doing it, if you're still drawing from the identical advice from software directing automated play? Somehow Pokerstars thinks that matters.
Indeed, it appears that the three most frequent users of the software, allingirl777, freechdogg and skier_5, all have nearly identical stats in many situations, especially preflop. Also, it has been accused that skier_5 is "renting" the software to players in exchange for a percentage of their profits! Shaaaaaaaady!
skier_5 posted the following weak defense of his software on 2+2:
So let's break down the above:Originally Posted by skier_5
I have a few things to say:
1) There is no automated decision software.
2) Poker is a competitive game so I’m sure all of you understand my unwillingness to go into further details or address specific points of the accusations.
3) As mentioned in the article Pokerstars did a thorough investigation and found us to be within the TOS. Ryan (owner of HUSNG.com) knows this and yet he still writes an article full of hyperbole based on guesses and wild accusations many of which are clearly not in line with the TOS of Pokerstars.
4) While it may be obvious to those involved in HUSNG, Ryan sells a variety of content and has a large stable of horses. Coffeeyay is basically a full-time coach who provides his students with numerous pre flop charts. I don’t think I need to point out the both the conflict of interest and the hypocrisy in this pointed attack.
5) Ryan came to me asking for a comment prior to publishing this article:
“i’m working on a story about the "controversy" surrounding your techniques/information
trying to have a balanced story that has the facts out there so that people can make a real judgement and not just hysteria (or out of context "bots" type stuff)
i guess if you have an argument you'd like to share about why it should be OK, that would be ideal for me... what i plan to go with absent anything else is more along the lines of "nash type charts are allowed during play" i'm not sure that's maximally compelling though
(and i will be mentioning that stars says it is OK, but you know that stuff is constantly changing)”
As you might expect, I’m not going to volunteer information for no reason, so I declined to comment. I’ll let you judge whether he followed through with the way he presented his intentions to me. I refer you to point 3.
6) I thank the few people with sense in this thread.
7) I think this clause actually refers to things like against TOS data mining sites. You know, like the one which my results and stats were taken from and posted all over Skype?
First off, skier_5 is very evasive in describing the software, even in the most general terms. He simply says that it's "not automated decision software", but will not describe what it is, or why it isn't actually making decisions based upon the running game. So I don't buy this. If there were an easy defense to these charges, he would have given them and ended the controversy immediately.
He also seems to be attacking the accusers, in this case ChicagoRy and Coffeyay (who commented in ChicagoRy's article). That's always the sign of something shady going on, where the accused attempts to discredit the people calling him out, rather than face the accusations head on.
Most interesting, he claims he isn't violating the Pokerstars TOS both because they approved the use of his program, and that section 5.5 posted above only refers to datamining, not botting. And indeed, if you read section 5.5 of the TOS, they ban the use of "external programs" which compile or use information on players, but do NOT seem to deal with bots.
However, the next section, 5.6, specifically addresses bots:
And if you read the part I bolded above, therein lies the problem. The Pokestars TOS does NOT forbid the usage of bots which direct you how to play. It only forbids bots which actually fully play by themselves.
That's a huge omission, as the point of a bot is to make perfect decisions based on optimal game theory, not to make it easier for the player to click buttons. The button clicking is a formality, and in fact could literally be done by an 8-year-old child.
A player on Pokerstars e-mailed support to get clarification on a different third party software package ("StarsHelper"), and got the following answer:
Wow.
Pokerstars has operated for 13 years, and still hasn't banned the use of automated decision programs. All you have to do is press the buttons yourself, and it's all good.
Terrible.
I really hope they change this policy.
Here is the 2+2 thread, in case you want to read it: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...tware-1533249/
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