Poker Bots - The REAL Truth!
To listen to the poker cognoscenti, poker bots are the scourge of the online gambling World designed to bring it to it’s very knees and enable sneaky, un-identified ‘foreigners’ to steal your hard earned cash. The fact is that’s not true and most times what people refer to as ‘poker bots’ are not in fact bots at all.
The common misconception is that software like Calculatem Pro, Texas Holdem Pro and Online Poker Inspector are ‘poker bots’. As anybody who has actually taken the time to do some research, as I have, will clearly see is that far from being a BAD thing these types of software are actually a very good helper and a great guide to both newbies and seasoned pros alike. They offer valuable insight and advice and keep you from going ‘full tilt’. The advice they offer is based on millions of hands of data, years of professional player statistics, scientific odds/projections and a host of other ‘hi-tech’ things I can only hope to understand.
These are ‘tools’ just like a hammer is to a builder. A wrench is to a mechanic. A stick of dynamite is to a bank robber (ok that last one was a bit flippant!). And just like any tool they are designed to be used to aid and assist the user and make their task easier. Of course just like any other tool they can be used for ‘evil’. But is that the tools fault or the creator of the tool? I say NO! An odds calculator can only give you the cold hard facts. It cannot read the table, your opponents or other subtle changes in play that only a real life human can detect. That is both the programs strength and also it’s weakness.
It’s far too easy to go ‘full tilt’ when you let your emotions get in the way. Odds calculators are great for keeping that in check but it’s also those same emotions and that ‘gut feeling’ that will enable you to win that BIG pot with an opening hand of 2-4os !
‘Poker bots’ are simply a convenient way to allow the user to blindly follow the advice of the odds calculator software and make the manual movements for him. It’s a lazy mans tool and not, as some would have you believe, the panacea for an habitual losing streak. To clarify then we are talking about two distinct things; a poker odds calculator which is a great tool and a ‘poker bot’ which simply automates the delivery of the information given by the odds calculator.
The best case scenario is a merger of odds calculator, bot and good old fashioned brain power. The bot plays the boring mundane hands while you simply observe, watch TV or otherwise amuse yourself. When a ‘playable’ hand comes along you can jump in and play it just as you would normally (paying attention to the odds calculator of course but NOT following it blindly). Weighing up the odds with what you’ve observed of the other players, their strengths and weaknesses.
Many poker rooms actively encourage ‘odds calculators’ and acknowledge them as the great learning aid that they are while others are stuck in the dark ages and will ultimately be washed away like the Luddites they are.
Give your game an edge and learn something along the way. I would encourage you to check out programs like Online Poker Inspector (my favorite), Texas Hold’em Pro and Calculatem Pro today. It’ll be one of the best decisions you’ve made on your journey to making poker a profitable way of living, believe me!
The Inspector
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