I'm sorry about making another FTP datamining thread but i keep reading such conflicting reports.

I'm about to move the FTP for rakeback and i'm just wondering about datamining. I have HEM and i've come to the conclusion that pretty much all the stats are meaningless without a few thousand hands on your opponent which i'm only ever going to get by datamining.

Thing is, i cant afford to lose my bankroll if FTP decided to confiscate it if i datamined. I deposited $50 into pokerstars and i've worked it up to $650. If i lost it all i could only afford to deposit $50 again and NEVER want to go back to grinding at 2NL then 5NL etc.

What about buying Hand Histories? Presumably that would be against their TOS as well but how could they possible know?


Thanks.

Definitely a no go

already thread of this...lock

fwiw i emailed FTP to ask if I could observe players while waiting for my seat at their table to open up (HU), which incidentally collects observed hands on them, and they said it was alright

you will not get banned for datamining.

dont buy HHs. that might get you banned.

See, i created this thread to try and clarify this issue and already there are two conflicting answers, neither one elaborating on their information.

not much more to elaborate on
edit: this was for the purpose of sitting down with one of the players at this table after a seat became available to play them

"not much more to elaborate on"


Im not convinced they understood what you were asking.

Direct quote from FTP Doug, found in FTP answers (10/18, I think):

3. Fulltilt needs to be more explicit about what is or isn't allowed, so that no player gets their account locked or funds frozen for engaging in activities (either datamining or looking at Sharkscope or Tableratings) that they didn't know was against the rules.

- I realize the current situation with datamining is a little confusing, mostly because it's currently very easy to do it. It's worth noting that our standard operating procedure for this kind of rule breaking is to first issue a warning. Collecting hands you didn't participate in isn't as serious a "poker crime" as, say, collusion, and they aren't treated equally. So if you're worried that your account will be locked and your funds confiscated just because you datamined for a while, that won't happen.

Having said that, we strongly discourage the practice and will very likely someday put actual software features in place that will curtail it. I'm pretty sure we've heard all of the arguments for and against it, and we want to make sure we can confidently address them all before taking a harder line.

Sharkscope and Tableratings would fall into the same category of "strong discouragement" but not something that will get your account locked and funds seized.

Posts from 10-18 are old news when it comes to this. Read the ftp can't login thread. Datamining is DEFINITELY against their terms.

that's not why you got banned, is it?

I'm not banned. I'm clear to play, but my account WAS shutdown for a week I think and yes they told me because I was datamining.

Had you been using any data mining tools, or had you just started PT/HEM and left some tables open?

I think there's confusion within confusion regarding datamining on FTP.

Do FTP have any distinction between players who open a bunch a tables for half an hour before playing (as I tend to do) and those who are observing 18 tables throughout the day and night and building up huge databases, when most of the time, they're not actually playing?

is it ok to steal 30mins worth of observed hands ?

you would be the same as a poker criminal who datamines all night...

STEALING OBSERVED HANDS is A CRIME!