If Online Poker Bots Were Ineffective, Why Would Sites Like Full Tilt and PokerStars Ban Them?

I have long been saying that some poker bots, those that have programmed artificial intelligence that really IS intelligent, do work and statistically prove out to grind money in online poker games. Whether or not the use of bots constitutes cheating at poker online is still open to debate.

Many industry experts say that the vast majority of poker bots are not effective against competent human players. I will not argue that statement either, as the poker bots you can buy online for $129 are only gonna beat weak players. But in no way should you infer that ALL bots are incapable of beating you while you play your honest game. If this were true, online poker sites would not bother hunting down bot players and banning their accounts. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Gaming guru Steve Schwartz has said, "In this day and age, online poker is one of the biggest industries in the world, and when something happens that big, people are always attempting to find ways to cheat. The problem with the poker bots is they still cannot account for human intuition."

Schwartz is right about people always looking for ways to cheat online poker, but he is wrong in making an all-encompassing statement like that about bots. There are highly efficient bots that are not availabe for sale, not on the Internet, not in private circles either. Those using these artificially-intelligent bots do make money playing poker online--consistently.

Brian Jetter, a co-founder of bot-selling company Shanky Technologies, was quoted in the New York Times saying that Full Tilt Poker had banned over 400 of Shaky's customers. Shanky guarantees their poker bots and markets them for a mere $129. Jetter has also stated that most online poker sites don't scrutinize their players as much as PokerStars and Full Tilt, which seemingly contradicts what he says about the effectiveness of Shanky's bots.

My take: Well, I really think Jetter should change the name of his company. I know I would never buy a bot or anything else from a company named Shanky!