Sharkscope

Is there a way to get your information concealed from Sharkscope?

Also, I've noticed bringing it up at tables gets everyone to look at it and it improves my game

Go to the faq on sharkscope and you will find how to block your stats.

FYI, at most sites, certainly Stars and Tilt, using SharkScope while playing is forbidden. It is a violation of their terms. Technically, they can detect it, and I have heard of players being warned over it. And openly discussing that you're using it in chat is a particularly bad idea.

Yes, there is an opt-out button you can click.

what is sharkscope ? to see cards.

sharkscope.com tells you stuff like how many games a person has played (sit n gos and tournaments), how much money they have made or lost, their average ROI, etc.

It is my understanding that they can not detect it if you are only using the player statistics feature. I have never heard of a player (whom I know) being warned about it. If someone says they were warned they were probably using their HUD feature or something else.

I think you are right. I recall that Stars banned it awhile back and then reversed that ban. I've never known FT to have banned it.

Well - it does violate their rules, I am just saying they can not detect it.

Yep, using it still violates their rules. Both Stars and FT still specifically prohibit accessing SharkScope while their client software is running.

I'm not positive Debi if the warnings I've heard about were due to using their HUD or not, but I was thinking their HUD was a fairly recent enhancement, and I've heard of warnings going back probably a couple of years.

I do know for a fact that it's technically *possible* for any Windows native software (i.e. their poker client) to detect the websites that you're visiting. I would just think that if they go to the extent of detecting other illegal software (which we know they do), then why wouldn't they also watch for "illegal" websites? It's pretty trivial to do. And if anyone doubts that, I can write a quick little command-line EXE to demonstrate it.

At any rate, my concern would be that since it's specifically prohibited by their terms, they could choose to start detecting it if they haven't before. I would caution folks to tread carefully here if you value your poker accounts.

It is my understanding that they do not have software installed that can detect this software - not saying it is not possible if they chose to do it. (it is also my understanding that they purposely don't have it due to complaints from customers).

Thanks, D'. That does shed light on the issue then.

I'm kinda surprised they caved to the privacy complaints though. They state in their terms that they reserve the right to scan your computer for illegal software, so I don't consider this any different. But I understand that a people who don't know how this stuff is used can get their knickers in a twist over it (Lord knows I've dealt with it before too). It just seems to neutralize their policy against it though, as now they've told everyone they will no longer look for it.

Also, I'd be curious to hear Tilt's word on this as well. Anybody know if they've announced anything similar?

EDIT: Whoah, ninja post edit. Where did D's post go?

EDIT x2: Well that's awkward, my reply before the repost of his post.

Excerpt from an email from Pokerstars Game Security that was posted at 2p2 almost two years ago that should reconcile what you two are saying...

"...we understand that players have expressed concerns regarding our recent detection methods, and we recognise that we made a mistake. Consequently, we will explain the error, and correct it.

We detected players who visited the SharkScope website by having the PokerStars Client monitor active network connections using built in Windows functions for that purpose. The data returned by this function is similar to that which is returned by the Windows accessory called 'Netstat'. A periodic query to Windows determined whether the SharkScope IP was being accessed. This was a YES/NO query, purely regarding access to the specific SharkScope IP address. If aconnection to the SharkScope IP was detected, this fact and only this fact was sent back to the PokerStars server. We then sent warning emails to players who had accessed SharkScope in conjunction with the PokerStars Client.

This technique ensured that players accessing the SharkScope website were detected without breaching their right to privacy. At no stage was aplayer's internet browsing history ever queried, or transmitted from the PokerStars Client to the PokerStars Server.

However, despite our assertion above, we understand that some players are unhappy with the perception that PokerStars monitors their internet browsing habits. Consequently, even though PokerStars does not monitor players' internet browsing habits, we have decided to disable and completely remove this feature of our software to avoid even the slightest perception of privacy breaches. After all, our policy to prevent Third Party Websites publishing player profitability data by default was based on our strong belief that players have a right to privacy."

They have to have a way to report to Sharkscope and all the other tracking sites...wonder if they have some kind of program in the reported files that goes through Sharkscope's site to ping your ISP and detect it that way. I'm not a programmer or anything but it seems they could do it.

Okay-scratch what I said. Seems I was typing as that answer was sent. So there should be no issue with HEM or any other program?

No. HEM and PT3 are explicitly allowed on Stars and Tilt, as well as most all other sites that I know of.

The sites don't have a problem with results tracking software, what they have a problem with is tracking stats on players that you've never played. In other words, datamining and the use of datamined hands or otherwise shared HH's being imported into your tracking software. It's that class of data they forbid, not the use of the tracking software itself.

I don’t see the big deal why u would want to be excluded from that site or prolabs anyway. If ur a bad or good player the ppl at the table will notice it by ur play in a few mins, if theyre paying any attention to u. lol I don’t really pay attention to sites like that anymore. I did a few yrs ago, but I can how well a person plays if I sit and watch em or play against em for a lil bit.

I don’t know ur record, but if ur embarrassed about a losing record, id say these sites would provide awesome motivation to get ur record in the green.


These sites arent good to get accurate tourn info anyway. I would be missing sngs and hu games I played, maybe because the ppl I played were excluded? I dunno know, but id stay away from those sites if I were u anyway.

gl

^^^

In my experience the sites are reasonably accurate, actually. They may miss a hand or tournament occasionally, but over a large enough sample size to be relevant they are pretty close. What you may have run into is the size of games you play. I know FullTilt demanded that these tournament trackers like OPR exclude all games of less than 27 players, so HU and 9/18 man SnGs aren't tracked.