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May 18th Poker news ... Play for fun in free games or put some cash down and see what you can win. We've also got tips and advice to help you improve your game right here at 4 online poker dot com
POKER BOTS ARE GETTING BETTER
2011-03-14
But the majority is still pretty bad...
Achieving wide coverage over the weekend was an article from the New York Times on internet poker bots which examined the current state of play in artificial intelligence, and the position of major online poker sites regarding use of the software programs.
The article carried anecdotal reports of experienced players who can often identify bot users just from their playing styles, but it points out that bot technology has been steadily improving, especially in formally weak areas like bluffing.
The biggest online poker providers, Pokerstars and Full Tilt, both have sophisticated bot-detection software and take a hard line against the use of bot programs against their human players. Most other sites have anti-bot provisions in the T&Cs which lead to instant dismissal and disqualification of winnings when a bot is detected.
Pokerstars security manager Michael Josem told the newspaper: “PokerStars is continuing to invest substantial resources to combat bots. When a player is identified as a bot, PokerStars removes them from our games as soon as possible.” He added that the offending players had their winnings confiscated, and where appropriate the company provides compensation to players.
Despite bans on internet poker sites, bot sales apparently are good business. Shanky Technologies, which sells licenses for the Holdem Poker Bot for $129 per year, spoke to the newspaper, co-founder Brian Jetter revealing that over 400 of his customers had been banned from Full Tilt in a recent anti-bot drive, with over $50 000 in winnings confiscated from players using the bot.
Jetter feels that sites like Full Tilt are foregoing revenues of around $70 000 a month by taking an anti-bot stand against his product
“They really must have wanted us gone,” Jetter said. “We don’t think the other poker rooms we support will make a similar financial decision.”
Jetter says that while Shanky does not have any “official relationships with the poker rooms,” some of them look the other way when bots play.
He said that buyers can program their bots to use different decision-making strategies in various circumstances, and then observe which outcomes are more successful when applied in real-world games.
“Using a poker bot is in fact a natural extension of the game of online poker,” claimed Jetter, adding that Shanky has sold 5,000 copies of its Holdem Bot software since it was introduced in early 2008. “Creating your own playing profile is a fun challenge that many players enjoy,” he claimed.
Although they are improving, the general run of poker bots are not stellar players, the New York Times notes.
Supporting this claim, it quotes Darse Billings, a consultant to PokerStars and Full Tilt and the former chief of data analytics at Full Tilt, who said: “The large majority of bots are very bad. More than 90 percent are losing money.”
Billings pointed out that it is easier to build a chess bot than a poker equivalent. "Chess is a perfect information game: if you look at a chessboard, you know the exact state of the game from both players’ perspectives. And the rules of the game are not affected by chance, like the drawing of a card," he said.
"But in poker, an imperfect information game, there are many unknown variables. A player does not know his opponents’ cards and may not know their style of play - how aggressive they tend to be, for instance, or how often they bluff.
"Unlike a chess bot, a poker bot does most of its work before the match, running millions of simulations before the first card is dealt. But even with the large amounts of memory available with today’s computers, storing - or even computing - information for every possible scenario would be implausible."
The New York Times report identifies some of the best poker bots in the world as those developed for research purposes at the University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group, now nearly 20 years old.
Professor Michael Bowling, who has led the group since 2005, says the breakthrough came in 2003, when researchers decided to change their approach, shifting away from the methodology used to build chess bots.
In 2006, the inaugural Annual Computer Poker Competition created more interest in poker-playing computers and established a friendly rivalry between the University of Alberta and Professor Tuomas W. Sandholm’s poker research group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the newspaper reveals.
Today, Professor Sandholm said, poker bots “can rival good players, but not the best.... yet.”
Although bot users are penalised when caught, the poker site itself can be financially prejudiced by their activities; the New York Times piece uses a recent incident at Pokerstars as an example, where 10 bots were uncovered but the site paid some $57 000 in compensation to innocent players impacted by the bot users.
ONLINE POKER SITE CHANGES
2010-12-10
Spin32 abandons US players, and Reefer has a new owner
More changes occurred in the dynamic online poker industry this week as Spin32 Poker advised players and affiliates that it is shutting off US action and switching platforms from its present location on the Merge Network, whilst Reefer Poker was acquired by the Feltstar company.
In an email to players, the UK-based Spin32 Poker advised that "...new laws which are in the process of being passed in the USA," had persuaded management to shut down US action on the site.
"We have also decided to move our poker room to our new platform which offers a wider choice of casino and poker games," the email added, without specifiying hat the new platform would be.
"From the 1st of January 2011 Spin32 will operate all it's games under one account and one cashier system," the email advised. "We would like to assure you that your poker funds are secure and will be transferred to our new cashier from the 1st January 2011. If you wish to withdraw your funds please do so prior to the 1st January 2011."
In a similar email to affiliate marketers, Spin32 Poker advised that it would be departing the Merge Network on January 1 2011, but would be offering a wider range of gaming and poker opportunities to players, creating major benefits for affiliates.
"We will make sure that all your players are tagged to your affiliate account so you do not loose out on existing and new revenue streams," the firm advised, adding that US players would be excluded going forward.
On December 9, Feltstars announced the acquisition of Reefer Poker, reminding players that it has been in existence for the past year and offers player promotions, an exciting VIP program, and a full suite of casino games in addition to poker.
"If you are a Reefer Poker player you will receive a "live update" shortly that will see your Reefer Poker game client replaced with one for Feltstars Poker. You don't have to do anything different than you already do," a company statement advised. "Your current account balance remains intact, as do your VIP points, player icons and coupons".
Reefer Poker players who already have a Feltstars account will need to close one of them, but not immediately. They will be contacted with further information soon.
SWEDISH PLAYER WINS IRISH OPEN POKER
2010-10-05
Lars Torngren is best of 632
The Irish city of Killarney hosted the third edition of the Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival this week, attracting 632 international players, each hoping to take home the Euro 75 000 first prize.
After three days a final table was set, led by Brit player Jon Kalmer on 1,81 million and comprising Richard Connoly, Isle of Man, 360 000; Valerie McGrath, Ireland, 800 000; Lars Tornson 1.7million; Paul Lucey, Ireland, 402 000; Allen Mc Clean, Dublin, 720 000; Mark Coyne, Ireland, 1 million; Barry McGleenon, Ireland, 1.5million; Brian Murphy, Ireland, 680 000; and Paul Vermigo Kerry Ireland 564 000.
Torngren prevailed after his pocket sixes held up in a thriller of a three way all-in against two Irishmen. Paul Lucey finished second to win Euro 50,000, with fellow countryman Barry McGleenon finishing third and taking home Euro 30,000.
“I was really impressed with the structure of this event,” said Tornson after his win. “I have been playing poker for about 8 years and this is my first big tournament win so I am absolutely delighted. I am already looking forward to next year’s Ladbrokes poker festival.”
Pot-Limit Hold’em/ Omaha $ 2.5K: Jose-Luis Velador has the victory
2010-07-28
Jose-Luis Velador emerged victorious in the $2,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha championship at the ongoing World Series of Poker (WSOP). After his victory in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event at WSOP in 2008, this was Velador’s second WSOP gold bracelet victory. He got earnings of $ 260,552 for his victory. The event had a total of 482 entries for the 45 paid places in the event which had a net prize pool of $ 1,108,600. The event was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Nevada.
Event Details:
The event had some of the big names in the 482 entries that were seen on the first day. There were 126 players who survived the first day and got an opportunity to come back on the second day. There were only nine players who could make it to the final table on the last day. Out of these nine three had earlier won a gold bracelet, Luis Velador and Rob Hollink had won one each while Dave Chui had won four earlier.
In fact Velador, Chui and Ivey had finished at the top of the leader board at the end of day two. At the end of the event, David Chiu finished as the runner up while Rob Hollink got the third position. It was for the first time in 2010 WSOP that the first three spots had been taken by former winners.
David Chui got $ 160,902 for his position while Rob Hollink earned $ 116,358 for being the third finisher. David Chiu’s last gold bracelet victory came in the year 2005 while Rob Hollink had won the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship in 2007.
As the match became two handed in the last stages, Chiu found himself short-stacked and after 20 minutes he went out. When Luis Velador was dealt 7d 6c against Chiu’s Ac Th, the final hand of the tournament came. 6s 3s 2d 9c Js ran on the final board, giving Velador his second WSOP title.
Craig Gray the fourth finisher pocketed earnings of $ 85,029 while Kavin Macphee earned $ 62, 791 for finishing fifth. Cashing in for the 16th time in his WSOP career was Annand Ramdin who earned $ 46,860 for the sixth position. James Mitchell from England received $35,331 as he had finished seventh while Gavin Cochrane who had finished at the eight position and Matt Sterling who finished ninth won $ 26,905 and $ 20, 697 respectively.
About the winner:
Born in Mexico Luis Velador has been playing poker professionally for the past 13 years. He first entered in the WSOP main event in 2006 which he followed up by participating in the same event in 2007 and was lucky enough to cash in both the events. Prior to turning a professional he was a tile setter.
After winning his second WSOP he said that there was a very tough final table and it is not easy to win a title considering the number of strong players that one has to beat. He said that winning a title meant a lot to him. He also said that the game of poker was getting tougher each day with new kids playing in.
On a lighter note when asked what he was going to do with the bracelet, he said that he was going to gift it to her wife on her birthday.
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ONLINE POKER REVENUES FALL AT BWIN
2010-05-13
Recent acquisition Gioco Digitale can make a significant difference
The Q1/2010 results from Vienna-listed online gambling giant Bwin this week illustrated the value that the online poker activities of recent acquisition Gioco Digitale brings to the group.
If the Gioco contribution is separated from the general poker results, Bwin poker revenues fell 17.3 percent to Euro 25.8 million, compared to quarter one/2009. The decline is attributed to the stiff competition from giant online poker sites like Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker, which continue to service buoyant US market demand from which Bwin is excluded.
However, adding in the Gioco Digitale results brings first quarter gross poker revenues up 22.4 percent to Euro 38.1 million from Euro 31.1 million a year earlier.
Net poker revenues grew by a modest 1.4 percent to Euro 26.6 million while the number of active customers soared 40 percent to 565 270 from 403 767 in the same period of 2009.
Bwin fared better in its other activities, recording Q1/2010 revenue growth up 13 percent, online casino activities contributing an additional 10 percent and general gaming up a stunning 82 percent.
Management reported that the heavy marketing and US action of its competitors in the US poker market is “distorting” the market, generating economies of scale both financially and in terms of player liquidities for companies like Pokerstars and Full Tilt.
This opinion has been previously expressed by rival Party Poker, whose chief exec recently attributed at least part of an 11 percent poker decline to the same causes (see previous InfoPowa reports).
Business highlights in the quarter included:
* Record turnover for sports betting underlines market leadership
* Bwin well positioned to seize opportunity resulting from Soccer World Cup, the opening-up of French market and additional product launches in Italy
Gross gaming revenues of Euro 133.2 million were posted for Q1/2010, up 13.2 percent on Q1/2009, which did not include Gioco Digitale, acquired late 2009. The sports betting margin came in at 7.5 percent (Q1 2009: 8.2 percent)
Net gaming revenues of Euro 109.2 million (Euro 100.7 million excluding Gioco Digitale (Q1 2009: EUR 102.1 million)
Adjusted EBITDA declined 15.8 percent to Euro 30.3 million (Q1 2009: EUR 36.0 million) million
Result after tax was Euro 17.6 million (Q1 2009: EUR 18.9 million)
Management remains optimistic that a significant increase in both gross gaming revenues and profit will be achieved for the year 2010. April 2010 daily gross gaming revenues have increased by 20.6 percent to Euro 1.34 million or by 6.7 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
MASSACHUSETTS AND POKER…AGAIN
2010-02-22
A new discussion on poker as a skill game
Last year’s attempts to bring the legalisation of poker on to the ballot in Massachusetts may have failed (see previous InfoPowa report) but fans of the game have not given up on lobbying for a more sensible classification of poker as a game of skill.
Tuesday next week will see a hearing in the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee of the east coast state that will feature a discussion of whether poker should legally be considered a game of skill. And supporting the measure is the influential Harvard-based Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS).
According to Andrew Woods of the GPSTS, the proposed bill will remove poker legally from its present classification as a game of chance. The game is currently defined as a lottery, which Woods feels is inappropriate as well as being inaccurate.
That could all change if Bill 4069 sponsored by Massachusetts State Representative Brian Wallace – a Democrat - has his way. The measure is pointed in its language in declaring poker a game of skill, which could effectively remove it from the restrictions of gambling as a game of chance.
Speaking for the GPSTS, Woods said: “We’re interested in being involved because the bill follows our goals and interests. The bill very precisely states that poker is a game of skill. Across the country, you’re seeing a lot of states coming up against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and instead looking at intrastate poker.
“They can’t get around the federal law, but they can allow it within their own state.”
The GPSTS was founded by the widely respected Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson and uses poker to teach strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management. GPSTS chapters can be found coast-to-coast, including at Dartmouth, New York University, UCLA, the University of Michigan, and Stanford, and Nesson has featured in several high profile discussions and debates on the chance vs. skill argument.
GEARING UP FOR WSOP 2010
2009-12-23
But it's goodbye to the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event
Harrah's Entertainment has whetted player and industry appetites as the year ends by publishing the schedule for next year's World Series of Poker, listing 57 events that include six $1 000 Hold’em competitions and a new $50 000 Player’s Championship.
Dates for poker's multimillion dollar 41st edition next year are May 27-July 17, 2010, and the epic series will again be hosted at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Many events remain unchanged from 2009 and offer buy-ins ranging from $1 000 to $50 000 for the new Player’s Championship.
WSOP tournament director Jack Effel said in a statement accompanying the schedule: “Whatever your game and whatever your bankroll, the 2010 WSOP schedule offers something for everyone. We are planning for the largest WSOP ever and look forward to welcoming all players to the Rio in Las Vegas this summer.”
With the economic recession showing some early signs of easing, Effel's ambitions could well be realised, as poker's popularity appears undiminished. Last year's WSOP drew a total of 60 875 players from 115 different counties with $175 million up for grabs.
The high point of the 2010 WSOP will as always be the $10 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em World Championship, which will commence on July 5 with a final table reached on July 17. As has been the case for the past two WSOPs, there will then be a four month interval before the nine finalists gather once more to decide the winner - this will take place between November 6 and 9, 2010.
Getting the 2010 series off to a running start will be the $50 000 buy-in Player’s Championship, which is scheduled for Friday, May 28th. For those with smaller bankrolls, there is a smaller competition over the same weekend - the $1 000 buy-in Hold’em tournament. Harrah's plans a series of these $1 000 buy-in Hold'em events throughout the series - one every weekend for the first five weeks of the 41st WSOP, followed by an additional event between July 1-2.
There will be mixed feelings about the replacement of the popular $50 000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event, which is to be replaced by the new $50000 Player’s Championship. This will add 2-7 Triple Draw, No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Hold’em to the mix of games, with big money prizes and the Chip Reese memorial trophy going to the winner.
H.O.R.S.E. purists have not been neglected, however; the schedule lists a new $10 000 buy-in Championship H.O.R.S.E. event.
Another innovation is a $25 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, possibly prompted by the popularity of this genre on the high stakes tables, which should attract some exciting action players.
Well established faves in the epic series such as the Ladies and Senior events, and the charity Ante Up for Africa remain on the list which in general sticks with the familiar and popular events of the past.
Harrah's plans to utilise the whole convention centre at the Rio for the World Series of Poker next year - an impressive 58 000 square foot space in the Pavilion and 38 000 square feet in the Amazon Room
Readers can get all the detail here: http://www.wsop.com/tourney/tourneydetails.asp?groupID=764