A video of a large bot farm targeting poker games on Bovada and Ignition has gone viral on social media over the weekend. The footage shows more than 25 screens of accounts playing multi-table tournaments (MTTs) simultaneously.
The two offshore sites share traffic through their PaiWangLuo Poker Network. Martin Zamani, who first shared the video, said that the games were all high stakes. He subsequently stated that the farm had 100 accounts participating in tournaments, colluding with one another to win hands.
The footage has prompted much outrage from the poker community. Some poker site operators gave their two cents on the issue:
The explosion in the accessibility of AI tools means that bots are growing more prevalent. People can quickly design programs to create bots that can automatically play poker following predetermined strategies or leveraging advanced machine learning models. They can also continue playing for hours on end without experiencing any fatigue or letting emotion creep into decision-making.
multiple bots can share information or coordinate their actions at the same table
Their use in real-money games introduces major fairness and security issues. There’s also the risk of collusion, as seen in this particular case, as multiple bots can share information or coordinate their actions at the same table.
Poker sites try to combat bots by using behavioral analysis to spot suspicious mouse movements, timing, and betting patterns. Despite these efforts, detection is still a big issue.
