Online poker market grows with each year, reaching new records and pulling thousands of new players from all over world.
However, the downside to the growing popularity of poker is the emergence of poker bots. These automated players can take away your bankroll quietly if you do not know how to deal with them. On the bright side, poker bots can be detected and, if you really know what you are doing, you could exploit the poker bots to make yourself a lot of money.
This article will tell you in detail how the poker bots work, how you can detect them, and, most importantly, how to strategically exploit poker bots for your gain.
Poker Bots Detection: What Are They?
Poker bots are software programs that are used to play online poker autonomously without human intervention. With the help of sophisticated algorithms, they are programmed essentially to make optimal decisions employing mathematical models. Unlike human players, poker bots never get tired, tilt, or even present the slightest sign of being affected. They would just keep playing on and on for hours and even days.
Some of the common attributes of poker bots are as follows:
Even though bots are not identical and each group acts according to their different settings, there are many common traits shared by almost all of them.
- Consistent Timing: A poker bot will take the same amount of time on every decision; this is something that almost never happens with human players.
- Unnatural Volume of Play: A bot can play nonstop without breaks, something that would exhaust even the most dedicated human player.
- Predictable Betting Patterns: Bots are noted to adhere to set strategies rigidly, deviating little to almost never from established betting patterns. AI and math are best of friends and this is easy to be seen when observing a poker bot style of play.
- Zero Social Interaction: Pokers bots will have nothing to do with chatting or engaging in any conversations whatsoever.
How to Spot Poker Bots Easily
To exploit poker bots efficiently, you must first know how to recognize them. Here are proven ways to identify the bots quickly on your table:
Analyzing Reaction Times
The reaction time of a player tends to differ based on complexity, emotional state, and distraction, while a poker bot has robotic, consistent timing. It wouldn’t surprise anyone that a player who is notably fast and takes exactly two or three seconds to act on every decision is a bot.
Extra Tip: It is a bit difficult to count in your head the exact same time some online poker account makes hand after hand. Most online poker platforms have usually green ring around the player’s avatar. Observe it closely and notice at which point of the circle, the account makes the decision.
Examine Betting Consistency
Watch for those who keep betting about the same amount regardless of table dynamics all the time. Human players vary their bet sizes depending on many other factors, whereas a bot simply follows a strictly coded betting sequence.
Most of the poker bots never take strange betting lines and unorthodox exploitative tactics. They stick to the basics.
Use of HUD Programs
HUD programs like PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager can alert you to uncanny patterns that are suspiciously consistent, i.e., where VPIP or PFR statistics remain unchanged over thousands of hands played.
Why Exploit Poker Bots?
After identifying a poker bot, you have to play your cards right and exploit it. This is why exploiting poker bots is critical:
Greater Profits: Bots are predictable; they allow you to calculate their moves beforehand and adjust your strategy to maximize your profits.
Protect Your Bankroll: Playing against the bots denies you losses that you would incur had you unknowingly played into their strengths.
Ensure Fair Play: Your alertness in punishing the operators has helped secure fairness around the poker table. Especially in smaller rooms, if you are able to exploit poker bots, they will think twice before sending them again versus prepared players.
Effective Ways to Exploit Poker Bots
Let’s delve into deeper tactics of how to exploit poker bots and consistently best their automated strategies:
Adopting Unorthodox Strategies Against Poker Bots
Poker bots are programmed based on optimal poker theory. Hence, they are readily predictable. By employing unorthodox strategies with unusual bet sizing or strange sequences of play, you throw the bot strategy off balance and open the door to lucrative plays.
Pro Tip : One of the easiest ways to exploit poker bots is by using very big sizings , especially when 3 or 4-betting. Programming AI to make hero calls is much more difficult than adjusting it for simple ABC poker. Usually bots avoid entering into large pots, unless they hold the nuts.
Very often they are programmed to assume that big 4-bets are almost never bluffs and act according to their assumption. Use big sizings and steal as many pots as possible. Once you face resistance, they are almost surely holding the nuts, so it is time to fold.
Increase Bluffing Frequency Against Bots
Bots are programmed with rules and tend to be inflexible against too much aggression. Increase bluffing frequency against bots that show signs of folding a lot, especially with larger bets.
Pro Tip: As previously mentioned, bet larger. Besides that, it is good tactic to bet 3-streets. And do not cheap out on the sizings. Bots often find reason to call 25 and 33% bets . These may be good for GTO or solver approved tactics, which are so popular now among the wanna be pros, but against poker bots keep it beefy.
Set Traps for Bots
Bots programmed to be aggressive do not often see traps. Slow-play strong hands against aggressive bots and watch how a sizable pot can be won.
Let us imagine a scenario where the bot is with top 2 or even top pair top kicker , but you have successfully set mined on the flop. If the bot bets and you 3-bet him, he may become cautious. But if you continue to call until the river and wait for him to make his final big bet, then you trapped him successfully.
Then you can even proceed to put him all in, since you hold the effective nuts.
Exploit Poker Bots Checklist:
Here are the basic rules on how to exploit poker bots:
- Identify Bots Quickly: Analyze through timing, betting, and HUD statistics.
- Alter Your Strategy: Use bizarre plays to bewilder and exploit poker bots.
- Bluff Aggressively and with big sizes: Increase your bluff frequency. Bots are not programmed to go into big battles . They are marathon runners, trying to collect from small leaks in your game over a lengthy period of time.
- Set Traps: Realize the advantage of appearing passive towards big hands when in the company of aggressive bots. AI will not go into psychology mode to figure out if you are a nitty slow player or maniac. They will observe the community cards, their holdings, your ranges based on your position and sizings and proceed with their plan.
Reporting Poker Bots
It is extremely important to report suspicious players. There are bot detection teams prepared to tackle these crimes in practically all reputable online poker platforms. For example, PPPoker security team and PokerBros integrity team are second to none and ban players on daily basis.
So the sooner you report them, the better for both your pocket and the ecosystem within which poker exists.
Observe for unusual behavior
After recognizing few accounts as bots, do not stop and think you have caught them all Instead :
- Keep Player Notes: Monitor suspicious players for consistent, unimaginable methodologies.
- Alert other players: Be active in forums and poker communities that share information on known bots and suspicious behavior.
- Rewind gameplay sessions : Check your hand history from time to time for any aberrant trends that might suggest you’ve been facing poker bots, unknowingly.
Bots can also Trap You !
Do not think that if you have figured out the way to exploit poker bots group with same settings, you are set for life and the only machine you will ever need, is the money-counting one.
Poker bots can fight back and be re-adjusted with brand new settings, which are tailored to actually punish your new style against them. And if you fail to adapt to them for second time, and continue to your ” exploit poker bots” operation, maybe it is time to go to the best strategy of all , which is … :
Almost always the best tactic is….
…to find poker rooms without poker bots in them, or ones with strong security team observing the games and catching the cheaters within minutes.
Common sense dictates that the smaller the room is, the easier is for security to keep it clean. This is why, the cleanest games, contrary to many non-believers, are actually the private poker clubs.
With only few dozen of active players, it becomes one smaller community of people, who know each other or at least are very familiar with themselves as opponents. You can find many such clubs on ClubGG, PPPoker, Pokerbros and X-Poker.
Final Words on Exploiting Poker Bots
While poker bots can be intimidating, having knowledge and strategy at your disposal makes the exploitation of poker bots an easy task. Recognizing the patterns and predictability is crucial. Instead of minimizing poker bots to being a menace, you can proudly face them with more confidence as a fellow opponent with whom you can use all identified weaknesses with profitable prospects.
Exploiting poker bots not only benefits your bankroll, but it also means less annoying, more fun online poker for all actual players. Stay alert, adjust your strategy, and learn to exploit poker bots, by punishing their 2 dimensional thinking. If you are not confident in your abilities you can leave the game and report the suspicious accounts.
With vigilant observation and strategic play, you can transform poker bots from threats into profitable encounters. So cheer for your fruitful and exciting hunting of the bots!
