PokerTracker, Sit N Go Power Tools, Sit N Go Shark, do any of these names sound familiar to you? If they don’t, you are probably making more deposits than withdrawals into your poker account. In this day of poker, if you do not have at least one of the many forms of poker tracking software that are on the market, you are merely begging to have your cash taken by players that are willing to out the $100 or so to know every last detail of how you play the game.

Check out the poker forums online and read about how people get called down by the same players time and again with nothing and they end up losing all kinds of hands on a bluff. Do you think that is merely coincidence? Is it a conspiracy? No, more than likely the other players have poker software that tells them that they do this all the time and are taking a shot against a very loose aggressive player.

While the software is generally sold on the basis that you can data mine information on other players, there are also other benefits to consider. First and foremost, you can get add ons to the software that will not only enable you to store all of their information, but you can also have it up on your screen in real time to help you make decisions against the player your are up against.

By using this software, you are able to track every move that you would consider to be important during the course of the hand. How much money they win or lose overall. How many times they follow up a pre-flop raise with a continuation bet. How often they call down to the river and win. Their win percentage when they check raise on the river. You don’t think this kind of stuff is useful regardless of the level that you play at?

In addition to mining other player’s information, you are also getting all of your data stored. You can tell when you are falling into a pattern during an individual session and you are also able to start to analyze your play offline. This is where the software really helps your game.

Imagine having a frustrating session and losing a small mint. Your mind is not clear and your probably forget the hands as soon as you shut down your system for the day. Once you get off of tilt, you can go back and use the video playback feature and see where you made your mistakes. You may not like what you see sometimes, but it will make you a better player.

Of course there is the question of the money. Your argument is that you only buy in for $50 at a time and play micro-limits. You see no use in spending a $100 on software at that level. Then ask yourself how many deposits you have made and how much if ever you have withdrawn. Also ask yourself how many other micro players have the same attitude. That software will pay for itself if you use it right regardless of the level of player you are. This can end up being the best investment you ever made in poker.

Sophisticated card-playing robots – known as “poker bots” – have now been playing online for years and the trend is accelerating. The increasing activity on poker bots forums and the growing interest generated by the annual poker bot competition (organized by the university of Alberta) are prime indicators of this trend.

Of course, online poker rooms have been fighting bots since the beginning as it hurts their revenues but, detecting bots is becoming more challenging every day as bots improve their counter-detection measures. While Full Tilt, one of the leading online poker rooms, recently successfully detected a network of bots (and redistributed the seized bankrolls, thousands of dollars, to the fooled human opponents), it only shows the tip of the iceberg.

This increasing presence of online poker bots proves, if still needed, that it is a very lucrative business to be in. But how are poker bots raking online money? In other words, how come poker bots are so successful against human players?

Thomas Kessler, founder of www.MyPokerCoach.net (a free Poker coaching service based on a leading bot), explains what makes poker bots so strong:

In the long run, poker bots are winning against humans and this can easily be explained by a number of bots’ intrinsics:

• Analytical power: bots have, already today, a massive amount of analytical power and it is going to further double every two years as computers become more powerful. Our bot, for instance, simulates ~5 million situations at the Flop in less than a second to perfectly assess the current hand strength and the possible outcomes. Something a human player will obviously never match
• Lifelong memory: can you remember how the opponent sitting next to you last month was playing? Bots have a memory that will never fail. They can remember all their opponent’s previous actions and playing style. In our case, we store all the observed moves (even if our bot isn’t in the hand) in a large database and, next time we play against the same opponent – even in 3 years, we already know his playing style.
• Discipline: most humans are open to emotions and are sometimes looking for adrenaline in a game. Bots are disciplined and will, for instance, never go on a tilt. Discipline is key in poker and always pays off in the long run.
• Game richness: there are many great poker strategy books out there but most players remember less than 20% of it and they often over-use the few strategies they remember. Bots can learn a large set of strategies and only apply them when most appropriate.
• Patience: who likes to fold 80% of his hands without seeing the Flop? Bots will only play hands that should be played, even if they’ll have to spend most of their time watching opponents playing (and collecting information on their playing style).

When asked what human players can do to defeat bots, Thomas says: to increase your chances against bots you should definitely train yourself with them to learn their play pattern (www.MyPokerCoach.net genuinely provides a free poker bot) and you should frequently change your online ID so that bots can’t rely on their historic database when playing against you. So, next time you play online, ask yourself if you’re ready to play against bots!

About MyPokercoach.net

Created by voluntary Artificial Intelligence developers, www.MyPokerCoach.net provides a free online poker coach that has recently proven to be stronger than Poker Academy Pro 2 (the leading commercial poker software).