Poker Calculator Report: Poker Stars About to Get Tougher on Bot Like Software.
The following sites have banned the use of Poker-Edge and data mining software:
Poker Stars
Party Poker
Full Tilt Poker
Empire Poker
Poker Edge is a black hat poker assist tool that collects or "mines data" and distributes shared information to all of it's users. WARNING: Use of this product will result in warnings of confiscation of your account and funds if a player continues to use it. (Yes they can - read the small print when you download your next new poker site.) Poker sites like Poker Stars can tell rather quickly if you are using it as well.
TRIAL MEMBERSHIP for Poker Edge.
some of the poker edge profile icons
If you do decide to use Poker-Edge and still want to play on Poker Stars, you need to protect yourself when launching the program. Currently that means taking these steps:
DO NOT LOG INTO POKERSTARS WITHOUT HAVING LAUNCHED STARS THROUGH POKER-EDGE...or you will receive a warning. Stars does indeed scan hard drives and Browser history, but when you only log into Stars after launching through Poker-Edge, the PE security thwarts Stars attempt to detect. If you follow this advice, you will never have any problems.
PokerStars security has a habit of lurking on the Poker-Edge forums (since they can't find a way around our software security...hehe)...so for our users protection, the following rules are to be observed:
1) Do not pick a PE Forum username that is the same as your Stars username. (this has nothing to do with your Poker-Edge software username)
2) If you wish to discuss poker hands played while on Stars, exclude any mention of which poker-site.
3) PokerStars support issues/questions will no longer be handled in the Poker-Edge forum.
If you post anything on this board that alludes to PokerStars...your post will be deleted.
With Stars, make sure of these things:
1) Use PokerStars Default Theme
2) Do not use the preferred seating option or the HUD will not line up correctly
3) If the HUD seems to be scattered on the screen- in the Lookup window of PE select "Options", then “HuD Layouts”...and set the correct table size
4) The HUD will only display at the default table size, any manipulation of the table size will make PE only show icons. Also, in PokerStars Lobby click on "View"...and then if "Remember Table Positioning" is checkmarked, uncheck it.
5) The Instant Hand History for Stars will flash briefly on a timed basis to gather data...do not manipulate the IHH or stats will cease to be collected
6) When choosing a cash table on Stars, the HUD will be displayed with the first hand dealt. When a player leaves the table, or a new player joins the table, the HUD will be delayed in disappearing/appearing until the upload/download process of PE takes place (every 2 minutes)
7) With Stars tournaments you must wait two hands before the HUD will appear...this applies to starting a tournament. When a new player comes to your table or a player is knocked out, it will take a hand or two before the player's HUD is eliminated and the new player's HUD brought up. When you're switched to a new table, leave the table at an opportune moment and then retake your seat....the HUD will be brought up once again for the correct players and position.
8) If you get a message that we are updating Poker-Edge for Stars, it means they updated their software client, and we won't allow access until security is verified. This usually takes very little time...and Poker-Edge will "auto-update" itself when you launch the software when available. You can also keep track of the "downloads" page to make sure when it's released: www.poker-edge.com/download.php
For those that use a different launguage than English: If the table name and player names aren't appearing in the Lookup window, use the "English" version of PokerStars..that should be the only adjustment you need to make. However, if you're still experiencing problems after making that adjustment, also change all Regional Settings on your computer to "English (USA)" including Location and Keyboard.
Poker Stars, the dominating force and market share leader is about to take even more steps to make sure that all of its players enjoy the fairest playing environment on the internet. Already with the strictest policy in regards to third party assistant software the security department at Poker Stars has decided that they need to go farther due to recent changes in the third party programming market.
The changes referred to, are an increasing amount of third party designers creating products that blatantly market and claim to have a dishonest edge for users when utilizing their software while playing online poker for real money.
Poker-Edge Review
Last year, I was trying a product called Poker Edge for review when during my testing a window came up from my poker table alerting me to stop using the software. I later received an email saying that if I continued to use Poker Edge or related products my account and the funds in it will be seized by Poker Stars. I was just testing for less than an hour when that happened.
I later got information from Poker Stars administration as to why Poker Edge was not allowed and they clearly demonstrated to me its black hat programming that actually mines data via a community of users. This data, which can display an opponent's style of play and cash win/loss record can be used by the software user to his advantage. The idea is that you can join a table of players unknown to you and sit down with a dossier of information and history of those players that have happened to be tracked by others who have played with them before.
This crosses the line as far as Poker Stars is concerned as an unfair advantage, and you can lose your account and funds for using Poker Edge and others like it.
To take the fairness issue even further, previously accepted poker calculators like Calculatem Pro WinHoldem, and Poker Pro 2007 which offer bot like bet, raise, check, or fold recommendations will also likely become banned as those features fall under a newly phrased black-hat issue called programmable profiles which essentially refers to a software's capability of offering advice to the user based on an opponent's style of play.
When you download software from a poker site with the intention of playing online, you also agree to terms during the download process. One of those implicit terms is that the site, in this case Poker Stars has the power to scan your hard drive when they see fit. You could very well assume this is random crawling but the speed of which Stars knows you are using black hat software leads me to believe it is much more frequent than random scans.
I think the brain trust at Poker Stars correctly realizes it needs to set the standard in this issue as part and parcel to help maintain its now dominating market share. Other sites like Full Tilt, Absolute, and Ultimate Bet should take note here. In the long run Poker Stars has it right in believing that this issue will be an underlying motivation to play at any given poker website.
Poker Calculator Report - Full Tilt Security Cracking Down Now on Data-Mining Software
In light of the recent negative media in regards to online poker and the security issues at several major poker sites, the minds that run these operations need now be taking a more serious approach to the issue that has begun to define the trust a player has in his chosen poker site.
Suffice to say that Party Poker and Poker Stars have consistently led the way with the tightest security on the market and have certainly gone a long way in actually defining the safety that its players should expect when depositing and then playing with their own money online.
Up until now, the other major internet poker site, Full Tilt Poker has lagged behind the two power units in the market in its security policies. One of those policies is certainly being a public external audit whereby anyone who is interested can analyze the card distribution and hence being able to determine if the randomizer program in use at Full Tilt is actually fair. The other major security issue is the lack of policy with regards to third party "black hat" data mining software being used for profit on the Full Tilt tables against unsuspecting players.
Full Tilt experienced a bonanza of business last year when Party Poker (being a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange) was forced to pull out of the American market to avoid getting into a potential legal battle with the Government of the USA. Within weeks of the legislation, Full Tilt became a major player in the market leaving behind many other poker sites of its comparative size like Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker, and Bodog for example. Those sites now are suffering in their own right with "soft" security and need to make some big decisions if they can expect future growth.
So given that Full Tilt may have had some growing pains, it could be argued they had other things on their mind than security. In a recent communication with the company however, I have been informed of at least these issues which are now being addressed at this point.
An external audit is now being considered as a Full Tilt company representative stated - "As for a third-party independent audit of our shuffling and dealing processes, we are currently considering our options in that area and hope to have a related announcement soon." I really hope they follow through with this because an external audit will go a long way in drowning out the bad beat drama found in so many poker forums about full tilt hands that went terribly wrong.
Next is the enforcement and crackdown on the data-mining activities of third party software like Poker-Edge. This software has always been the nemesis of Poker Stars and Party Poker where those sites actually scan your hard-drive now to determine if you are using such software. You will get a warning of account deletion and confiscation in about a New York minute if you are actually using it.
Only recently Full Tilt actually put up a list of prohibited software that included Poker-Edge. Now it is one thing to have a list of prohibited software and actually do something about it, which up until now Full Tilt didn't really "prevent" its use. That all changed when operators of Poker-Edge actually boasted on their own forum that Full Tilt doesn't even care about using the Poker-Edge on their tables and cited mockingly that "Poker-Edge does have a b2b affiliation with fulltilt such that if you signup with fulltilt through the poker-edge link... you'll get poker-edge for free (for three months). So I truly doubt that fulltilt cares very much about that prohibited list."
Well that tidbit irked the sleeping giant to the point of identifying Poker-Edge as being in breach of their affiliate agreement and have now cut off association with that software, and further as stated by the Full Tilt rep "As far as the data-mining issue is concerned, we are currently reviewing our options, which may include the introduction of countermeasures that will deter and prevent the use of such programs and/or databases. The integrity of our site and the security of our players are of paramount importance to Full Tilt Poker, as they have been since our inception."
Given that Full Tilt Poker has now deemed these issues a priority as well, I should think that would be a wake-up call to Bodog, Ultimate Bet, Absolute, and the rest of the aspiring poker sites that want to progress in this game of capturing new players and deposits. You are simply going to need the highest security standards and policies as part of your infrastructure.