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OP-ED
Dan and I have talked a long time about having me as a guest contributor to Pokerati, but we never could find the exact right angle. What we ultimately decided on was a discussion about online poker trends. As someone who does consulting for online poker sites and is an active member of the affiliate community, I have some insights that might be interesting and slightly outside of the scope of most of the poker discussion here.
I have been following a few threads on two plus two recently that I think could use a bit more attention. As many people know, there is a site called pokertableratings.com that data-mines all of the major online poker sites and provides visitors with charts and such. Really just enough information to whet your appetite to get you to buy some of their pirated data. For a long while they operated as a free site and, mostly, people did not mind them or feel a need to object until they started selling the data that sites like Full Tilt and PokerStars prohibit players from using.
When players are able to have access to information that they have not collected, that crosses a line. And when you know your opponents have more information than you do, it creates a temptation that puts online poker players at a crossroads similar to athletes with steroids.
This is a particularly frustrating topic for me because I am a co-developer of the Bluff Poker Software and the owner of Bluff.com. Certainly, we knew it was possible to do what TableRatings is doing, but it did not seem like a long-term winning plan to build a site that was essentially an enemy of online poker players and online poker sites. Our software (which is in Beta) allows players their own private database so they can review their play after the fact. While players can share hand histories with other people via our forums, each player is given the option to keep all of their hand histories private. We are basically a scaled down (but online) version of some of the information you get from Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager, which are programs that sites deem legal because it is your own information that you have collected.
So what do the sites have to say about this?
It does appear that PokerStars is bothered by it, but they are at a loss of what to do about it. Full Tilt seems to be paying lip service to stopping them but, in reality, they get a ton of traffic from TableRatings. With the recent Isildur1 matches, once people started to see the hands on TableRatings, Full Tilt benefited from a lot of gawker traffic. The person that should probably be the most upset is Tom Dwan, as he went from online poker hero to online poker zero in about a month with this type of information about his personal game being collected and theoretically shared with his high-stakes opponents. To be fair, Full Tilt does have language in its TOS rules banning sites like TableRatings, but they have not been able to stop them from collecting hand histories and selling the data.
What is the answer? How can this be fixed?
I believe that the only relevant answer is the ability for people to be able to change their screen names, perhaps as often as once a week. In fact, this option already exists on the Cake Poker Network. Many players love the site because it offers them anonymity. For the most part, Cake\’s poker software is very lacking compared to the other bigger sites, but the fact that they have as much traffic as they do is largely due to the fact that they are so diligent about players\’ anonymity. Everyone I know changes their screen names as often as they can, and they consider it a big advantage.
Why would anyone be against the ability to change your screen names?
Most of the regulatory bodies are against it because of the recent scandals involving UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. In my mind, they are adding up 1+1 and getting 7. While that was one of the tactics the cheaters used to hide their identities, there were many more internal issues that were likely a much bigger problem at that time.
Regular players are against the ability to change screen names because they have become increasingly comfortable with the data they have collected on their opponents using tracking software like Poker Tracker or Holdem Manager. If you are playing 16 tables, it is difficult to do so without information that you have historically collected from your opponents. As someone who develops software I am sensitive to this issue, but I think ultimately what is best for poker overall is often best for poker players. Said simply, the good players will adjust.
Lastly, from discussions I have had with various poker sites, they are scared of the reaction they will get from the regulars that fill up their tables every day. Make no mistake about it, this would be a giant step for any site, and sites like PokerStars or Full Tilt stand to lose a lot of players if they make this dramatic change.
What is good for poker is typically good for poker players
Since 2006 and the UIEGA, it has been tough sledding out there for online poker players. In search of an edge, many of us have sought out training and software that allows us to analyze our play. For the most part, I think these are good things for poker, but when players are able to have access to information that they have not collected that crosses a line. Of course, when you know your opponents have more information than you do, it creates a temptation that puts online poker players at a crossroads similar to athletes that take steroids. Poker is a game of incomplete information; the more information you have allows you to make more correct decisions over time.
In my opinion, online poker sites have a duty to protect the integrity of the game. This issue is no less important than the cheating scandals because it affects a wider audience. The consequences are also more extreme. If you are a bad player or you play poker as a hobby, having someone tell you in chat that they know you are down $40,000 for life might just make you want to take up another hobby.
Paul Nobles (aka \”Beanie\”) is an occasional contributor to Pokerati, publisher of Bluff.com, and has four WSOP cashes to date.