This is the second time i'm posting this question, as the last time I did my account was blocked for "Spam". I'm sure the content of this post is of interest to a number of online players out there, and therefore not spam.
Bots have been around for quite a while now, and card rooms have got very good at detecting them. The problem hasn’t been eliminated completely, but a lot of time and resources have gone into defeating them and improving the integrity of the game.
Recently, however, there have been a spate of accusations, and even admissions, of the use of real-time solvers (see the spin‘n’go thread
sng-spin-gos/official-spin-gos-discussion-thread-1478337/index253.html).
I think of them as “cyborgs”- real people at the tables aided by software. Trying to get the term to catch on, so feel free to share.
GTO solvers have been around for a while and, as anyone has used them knows, there’s a lot of computing required and solutions can take some time to calculate- useless for real-time assistance. However, certain forms of poker lend themselves to quicker solutions; if there are limited positions and shorter stacks, combined with some “known” variables, solutions can be produced quickly enough to be used. HU hypers and spin ‘n’ goes are where all of the accusations have been levelled.
As computing speed increases, it is only logical to assume that GTO solvers will be able to produce results quickly enough to be used in ALL forms of poker. This is an existential threat to the future of the online game. You only have to look at other “solved” games to see what that means- only a fool would play Backgammon online for more than pennies, given the quality and speed of the solvers out there.
The question is- what can the card rooms do to detect or prevent their use? The fact there’s a human sat at the keyboard renders some measures ineffective, and an appeal to their better nature is never going to work.
What do people think should be done? How can the sites detect these players?
Also, I’d be interested to find out what measures people think should be taken against the sites promoting/ selling this software and/ or bots?
The obvious ones such as looking at long playing times, CAPTCHA's are out there already. Maybe its time to think outside the box and look at alternative methods?