Has there ever been instances of players that have successfully hacked pokerstars in some way? Either that or using some kind of bot to cheat? I have played a lot of hu zoom pko mtts the past year and have run into a crazy player there a lot. Like jamming 50-150bb pre with a lot of trash hands at a high frequency often to collect minimum or very small bounties at all stages of the mtt. Like insanely -EV plays. I understand the value of bounties but we are talking often mid-late stages 3b jam and/or open jamming 30-100bbs effective with almost any two cards to collect a min/small bounty risking a 10-40x starting stack for example. Often times i also have him covered but still goes all in with trash for a ton of bbs. He often uses both his re-entries also. Looked him up on sharscope and his first 1700games he had been slightly loosing/break even playing micro stakes from 2010-2020 ending up at -500 dollars. Then one day boom he moves up to 15 dollar abi with 48% roi just crushing only playing these hu zoom mtts at night. Making 65 000 dollars in the last 2500 games. Have already contacted stars about it will be interesting to see what they find out. Any thoughts? I am open to being wrong here but seems super strange to me.

I don't believe pokerstars could have been hacked. Perhaps another player is playing from the account?

It's time you quit poker.. you can't handle variance.

Yeah it was me. Sry.

Yes, I have a few thoughts.

First of all, I'm not sure what a lot of people who create posts like this think a bot is. Bots don't hack sites or gain super using abilities. Nothing you're posting about here would be any more or less likely if someone was using a bot or playing themselves.

Secondly, it's odd where people's minds go first; I wonder how often it says something about their mindset.

Right. That seems a lot more likely than Poker Stars being hacked. As does a simple fish on a heater.

But if you're really concerned about hacking, I'd be more concerned about someone who has hacked opponents' computers than Stars (or any other site) servers.

Finally, you haven't really given anything concrete for anyone to confirm or dismiss. Is your suggestion of him cheating based solely on the dramatically improved results, or do you have some further evidence?

Yes i find it very hard to believe anyone would be able to hack stars for sure just wondering if it has ever happened.
When i say bot i think of a programmed ai type bot. Like the bot Libratus. Havent done much research on bots and have not much idea whats out there but its 2021 and i wonder if there has been a lot of them in the recent years.

I have played over 3 million hands over the past 15 years, many hundreds of hours of study and even had a successful coach for 50 hours total a couple years ago. Never been worried about hacking or cheating i know it probably is super rare. I dont think its a mindset thing as this is the first time i have ever reported someone and been suspicious. Also i am very aware of variance and deal with it just fine. It could be someone else taking over the account for sure. Only thing i find odd is that this player is seemingly punting heavily and making insanely bad plays for someone with such great ROI. I am by no means a great player but my ROI in these 33 dollars hu zoom mtts are +5% and i have played a ton of hands with him and seen a bunch of for sure incredibly bad plays. And he usually takes less than a second to act. What are the consequenses if they find out if he has been playing on a different account? Cause who switches from micro stakes to mid stakes in a day and crushes....

...but I have my opinion, darn it!.

1) A staked player. 2) any other player that actually did the work.
Just because you studied something doesn't mean you learn anything more than the field did in that same time period or at all, and the fact that you do not have as good results doesn't imply that someone with good results is automatically a cheat.

Its not my opinion I am asking questions and using common sense. Already in 2017 there was bots crushing hu nlhe. Is it that far fetched to think there is bots out there now almost 5 years later? Especially considering how much money there is to make from this? I ask again; has there been a lot of players busted for using bots in online poker the past few years?

Also i know someone with good results is not automatically a cheat. However i know that studying takes time especially if youre going from not beating 1$ abi to then in a few weeks having a solid and steady 50% ROI with 25$ ABI. In this case it is far more likely that the player has taken over the account of a fish for some reason.

this is probably the first time I've seen someone accuse someone else of being a bot because of how bad they're playing. Usually it's because they're winning

I think you'd know about it if it had - that would be all over 2+2. I don't believe *any* site has had a known case of hacking, unless you count DDOS attacks that have brought sites down for a while. That doesn't mean it can't have happened, but it's never been proven that I'm aware of.

What makes it hard to respond to your theories is that you seem a little bit all over the place. You're suggesting that maybe it's an AI that can play great poker, but then talk about the player winning with terrible plays - the two ideas contradict one another.

Reading the Wall Street Journal today there is a review of the book Seven Games - a book about artificial Intelligence and gaming. A quote from the article: "The tech behind a poker bot named Libratus has been licensed to the Department of Defense..." The hacking angle you mention in your OP i am not so interested in. Hacking is and will always be a threat to honest on-line players. Poker bots are very interesting to me and they are a serious threat to honest on line players. Bots I am convinced are some on my on line opponents. Perhaps the user account you speak of starting using the bot Libratus? If so, the decision to use Libratus seems like a smart winning formula. One topic you mention to me is proof certain that you are dealing with bots and that is the speed at which a bot will act during a hand. I am an expert winning professional MTT player. I will sometimes play a complex hand on line against a bot and witness decisions that no person could or would make so quickly. i remember listening to an interview of the CEO of ACR and him being questioned as to why he did not do more to kick bots off ACR. Despite his answers to the contrary I was left with the impression that ACR turns a blind eye to bots on its site because bots add significant profits to ACR. My guess would be that ACR's profitability would decline dramatically if bots were removed from its site so ACR only gives lip service to removing bots. For all of time cheating has and always will be present in poker. As an honest player I want to minimize my risk of being cheated. I have this question: Presently, what is a greater cheating risk to the honest player: 1) bots; or 2) cheating players who share hole cards with other players at their on line tables?

There is definitely players cheating on the site. But not in the way you think.