How Do Online Poker Sites Deal With Poker Bots?

I received an email from a friend of mine with a couple of links to a
web site where a programmer asserts that anybody with minimal
programming skills can write a poker playing bot program. (As an ex-
programmer myself, I'm sure "anybody" can write such a program, but
I'm not sure how competently such a program might play. Writing a
good poker bot - or any poker simulation for that matter - is NOT a
trivial task.)

I responded to my friend's email with some questions of my own. I
have still (not yet) played internet poker, but I suspect that when I
make that leap, I will probably find myself competing against one of
these "bot" programs. Therefore, I'm interested in the views of folks
on this list who have competed against - or suspect they have competed
against - these poker bot programs. I'm also curious as to just how
prevalent these programs are, (especially on the various internet
sites), and the overall quality of their play? (If these bot players
don't really play that well, then it might be preferable to play
against them exclusively.)

I practice quite a bit using Wilson Software's Turbo Texas Hold 'Em
[tournament] software program. I manage to hold my own versus the
Wilson program in single-table sit-and-go type tournaments. I'm
curious as to how the Wilson software (at the "tough" level of
competition) stacks up against the typical "bot" program [such as
WinHoldem] that one encounters on the internet?

I'm also curious as to what steps (if any) the internet sites take to
combat or curtail these programs? I would think that as long as these
bots are paying their rake - just like everybody else - then the sites
would welcome these programs - even if they are software (rather than
live flesh-and-blood players) but what do I know?

Alan C. Lawhon
Huntsville, Alabama

On Sat, 31 May 2008 16:46:48 -0700 (PDT), "lawhonac@HiWAAY.net"
<lawhonac.TakeThisOut@hiwaay.net> wrote:

>I'm also curious as to what steps (if any) the internet sites take to
>combat or curtail these programs? I would think that as long as these
>bots are paying their rake - just like everybody else - then the sites
>would welcome these programs - even if they are software (rather than
>live flesh-and-blood players) but what do I know?

So far as I can tell, they ignore them, unless people gather together
to prove that there are bots on the site. When people do that, then
the sites take active measures. To cover it up.