Online Poker : Does Everyone Cheat? Part II
Gray Area
The waters are muddy in the online shark tank. The only thing online and live poker really have in common is the name of the game. The instant a computer enters the equation everything is changed drastically. This spans from the way the cards are dealt to the add-on’s the end user has at their disposal. It is these differences that lead many to the dark side. For the rest of us the large gray area in between is where we make our home.
Light Gray
With the ability to save every hand history you’ve ever been involved in, or seen for that matter, comes the ability to examine and evaluate. There are several products on the market that provide the player with every imaginable poker statistic. Everything from simple money tracking to betting position trends are there for the player to take in and study.
This market then gave birth to another. You don’t have to study the data collected because HUD’s (Head’s Up Displays) can overlay all the information directly on the poker table. A listing of numerous statistics can be shown in real time. In addition many of these product’s are customizable so you can decide how much, or how little information you want to see.
With the presentation of all this information the player has a better understanding of their opponents. But even with all of this information there is still a human factor. Does the player know how to interpret all of it? Does this help lead to a greater understanding or is it just confusing? Ultimately it all still rests in the hands of the player.
Dark Grey
In addition to the functions listed above, there are programs that take the whole process one step further. For every possible decision the player could face the program will give you what would be the mathematically correct course of action. These programs can be found for cash games as well as tournaments. Going even further some will take player betting patterns into consideration. The only difference between these programs and a full blown bot is that a human still has to click the mouse button. The player that would use these tools really doesn’t want to play poker, they want to play a beatable slot machine.
So do you believe everyone’s a cheater? Do the tools available change the very concept of poker? I’ll be back in a few days with my conclusions, but in the meantime leave a comment and let me know what you think?
