Barry Greenstein Says Poker Bots Are Okay

Poker Bots, those computer programs that play poker for people. And they tend to play it much better than their owners. Following a programmed set of rules that would take a novice a lifetime to learn, Poker Bots suposedly help players beat the odds.

They are also prohibited at most (if not all) online poker rooms. Any player to get caught using a poker bot on any major online poker site will be banned from the site, at the very least.

But one big name in poker – the Poker Philanthropist Barry Greenstein, as it would happen, is coming out against prohibition of poker bots on poker sites. Barry Greenstein, a proud member of Team PokerStars, has been quoted as saying that he believes poker bots should be permitted, but only at tables clearly marked as such, explaining, “The regular poker players should know who the bots are and then decide if they want to play against them or not.”

And truth is, poker bots aren’t unbeatable … look at Polaris the Poker Bot. They can play really well for a while and then make a stupid play like a human player. They tend to perform better in low-limit Fixed Limit games and less so in No Limit games.

The argument poker bot makers and enthusiasts make, in fact, is that poker bots often lose to human players, so they can’t be all that good. So what have human players got to be afraid of? Says Barry Greenstein, nothing – so long as players are given full disclosure. That’s fair.

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