Playing online poker has become not just more and more popular over the last years, it has also been a profitable area for professional players and part-time players who understand that with the right software they have an edge over other players. Such software includes poker indicators which help you to understand your chances of winning better or database software that helps you to profile other poker players to analyze and beat their playing style. This article talks about poker robots also known as poker bots.

What Is A Poker Bot

A poker bot is a program that is able to play poker hands on its own. It is a software solution that enables someone to fire up their poker software, sit down at a poker table and let the bot play the game on its own.

Types Of Poker Bots

Basically there are three different type of bots around. The first one falls in the category “click slaves”, meaning those type of programs clicks the right buttons, but does not really what to do. Win Hold’em is an example of this. You need to be a programmer to make them play correctly, as you have to add your own playing instructions (your own profiles) to it. The second category is what I call “third party brains”, for example Online Poker Inspector. It usually uses some type of poker odds software that gives playing advice based on the situation, but often has not too many variations programmed, so other poker poker players can “profile” such a poker bot and play accordingly against it. The last third category are self contained poker bots. You just open the program, choose a couple of options to adapt your profile or stage of poker play (like you play tight in the beginning and get more lose in the final stages), open the poker room, get in a game, click start and minimize the bot program. Those kind of programs are usually recommended, however often quite pricey.

What To Expect From A Bot

Any good poker player knows that it is not just about playing “the correct hands”. A poker bot for example that cant be fine tuned will soon be discovered by other poker players to play “just one play style” and then will be played against accordingly.Therefore don’t run a poker bot without supervision on auto-play. What a good poker bot can do is to get you for example through the opening stages in tournaments or SitNGos, so you can take over a the final stage and play yourself. Or you go and change the settings during play periods to show different playing styles which makes the bot appear like a real person. So while a bot can make you good money, it requires still poker skills to know how to use it and when to shift gears during a poker game. Some players also prefer to use bots for bonus hunting where they for example play games where they use rakeback offers or casino bonuses offered for games such as Black Jack.

Scam Artists Online Selling Bots

There are so many fake websites out there that promise you a money heaven when you buy their poker bot software and never send you even one file after you did send your payment. The best way to make sure you are not getting scammed when buying a poker bot is simple – look for a free trial that you can use before you purchase it. If a company is not able to offer a fully functional trial version then you risk losing your money if the software does not do what the sales page did promise. Also be aware if they only offer paypal as only payment option, as they very likely not give your money back if you are unhappy with your purchase.

Author: Matthew Blake

One of the companies who offer a free trial for example is http://www.fulltiltpokerbot.com

Matthew Blake plays professional poker since 1997 and also does other form gambling, including roulette and lottery systems. He writes articles about winning players strategies and often contributes to blogs and membership sites such as http://www.firstpokerhelp.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Blake

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Stop downloading them. Even if you happen to find a copy that is not laden with mall-ware (or worse), most of these free poker software bots will require you to sign up with a new account at whatever small list of online poker sites compatible with this particular bot. This makes them your referrer and entitles them to a significant portion of your rake for the entire life of your account. If, instead, you sign up with a reliable rakeback provider (no affiliate spam here, I suggest 2+2 forums to research reliable rake back affiliates) you would get thousands of dollars returned in rakeback. If you run any sort of profitable pokerbot, a years rakeback is far more than the cost of a reputable bot platform such as winholdem or Pokerbot pro, and those are compatible with far more online casinos.

Heck, run a break even bot and your rakeback should be thousands of dollars per year. That’s the beauty of running a bot war room.

Ok, let’s assume you didn’t heed my advice and you’ve installed a free poker robot that is not a complete scam and does actually at least do something. Sadly, you are going to find that you have nothing more than a mediocre pot odds calculator. Possibly you’ll have a few rudimentary sliders for adjusting the tightness of play.

I hate to break the bad news to you, but that won’t cut it in today’s online poker climate. The games are too tough for that unless you are playing at a totally worthless limit. Don’t fool yourself with a run of good luck in the beginning before the other players have any sense of your play. Even low limit poker games are full of opponents that are acutely aware of your playing tendencies. Software such as Poker Tracker is practically a requirement…the days of new players remaining clueless fish for months or years is gone. There is simply too much good advice on the net. A purely mathematical approach to poker is unlikely to be successful over the long term unless you exercise very precise table selection methods.

That’s a hint, btw. A sophisticated table hopper that closely monitors table conditions may be worth as much time investment as your bot. Diminishing returns, and all.

So in the end, you have a mediocre pot odds program, probably a compromised computer, a rakeback-free account that’s loosely associated with other bots, and nothing that will help you learn more about the art and science of pokerbot programming.

Just walk away. That “Free” software is going to cost you plenty.

Author: Doyle Bunson

Courtesy of Life as an Online Poker Bot

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doyle_Bunson

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Can you really make money at online poker? A question I’ve pondered and researched for the past 4 years! My quest for the elusive poker bot has taken me down many dead ends but I am finally seeing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Most of the poker bots available – typically on Ebay for a few dollars or given away on ‘free trial’ are of course rubbish. The only person they will make money for is the supplier! But I haven’t given up, believing that as with chess poker is a game where at a level a bot or piece of software can be built to beat most human players.

There’s something almost romantic about pitching machine against man and the beauty here is that you can actually make money in the process! The fact that there is ‘bluffing’ in poker does make it less of a scientific approach as far as designing poker bot software is concerned than say chess.

Finding players of a weak level – or ‘fish’ as they are affectionately known – is fairly easy thanks to software which tracks their play and can guide you to them. It’s just then a matter of playing the game ‘correctly’ – that is, playing the odds. This is where a decent poker bot can help! The rake is the enemy of a routine poker player – this is the cut of each pot the poker room takes. Again, there are ways round this and by signing up to a rake back service you can keep the edge. Finally of course, the poker bot itself.

Technology is advancing rapidly and there are bots out there now which can hold there own at the lower limit tables where the fish swim. Combine these software tools and you will be on the way to steady poker profits!

A basic knowledge of poker is required if you are going to use a bot and just watching it play – as well as being fascinating – will improve your game. The goal of course is to leave the poker bot to play on it’s own and once you have trailed a system using table selection, rake back advantage and the bot itself you can reach this very soon.

Jon is an experienced poker player and has been experimenting with poker bots for the past 4 years http://casinobotexpert.blogspot.com/

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