zinzir
Legend
Silver Level
Since bots have been receiving a lot of attention lately from players and poker rooms alike, I just wanted to post a few thoughts of mine about playing against bots.
I'll start by summarizing some advantages and disadvantages that bots have vs real players.
Advantages:
1. Immunity to tilt
2. Unparalleled consistency. Bots follow the built in strategy to the T, allowing statistics to achieve power
3. No need for rest, able to play indefinitely
Disadvantages:
1. As complex as the programmer made them and as efficient as the strategy built into the program.Even though the above could theoretically become an advantage in the future, as of right now it's more of a liability.
2. No poker fun for the owner, especially an issue during the times the bot is losing money. Hard to digest in my opinion to wake up in the morning and see that your bot lost money overnight while you didn't even get to play.
3. Decreased adaptability to particular situations not adequately built into the program.
4. Mostly illegal, so owner at risk of losing his entire account if discovered
5. Dependent on very large volume to guarantee a profit, which exponentially increases the risk of raising suspicion and scrutiny by the poker rooms.
6. Cost: on top of the rake, which bots pay just like everyone else, the bot owners have to offset the extra expense of bot purchase and potential upgrades.
Issues common to both bots and human players:
1. Rake: the biggest issue for everyone, continuously and mercilessly removing money from the table.
2. Bad beats
3. Downswings
Personally, I don't mind playing against bots for the following reasons:
I'll start by summarizing some advantages and disadvantages that bots have vs real players.
Advantages:
1. Immunity to tilt
2. Unparalleled consistency. Bots follow the built in strategy to the T, allowing statistics to achieve power
3. No need for rest, able to play indefinitely
Disadvantages:
1. As complex as the programmer made them and as efficient as the strategy built into the program.Even though the above could theoretically become an advantage in the future, as of right now it's more of a liability.
2. No poker fun for the owner, especially an issue during the times the bot is losing money. Hard to digest in my opinion to wake up in the morning and see that your bot lost money overnight while you didn't even get to play.
3. Decreased adaptability to particular situations not adequately built into the program.
4. Mostly illegal, so owner at risk of losing his entire account if discovered
5. Dependent on very large volume to guarantee a profit, which exponentially increases the risk of raising suspicion and scrutiny by the poker rooms.
6. Cost: on top of the rake, which bots pay just like everyone else, the bot owners have to offset the extra expense of bot purchase and potential upgrades.
Issues common to both bots and human players:
1. Rake: the biggest issue for everyone, continuously and mercilessly removing money from the table.
2. Bad beats
3. Downswings
Personally, I don't mind playing against bots for the following reasons:
- Online poker is just a video game that simulates live poker, so playing against a computer program is not that different than playing against another player.
- Bots stay away from going all in pre flop without holding a monster hand, hence some fold equity for donks like myself.
- In my opinion it is easier overall to play against a bot than against a real player with superior skill than yours. And in my case, most players out there have superior skill than mine