Hehe, I rarely visit 2+2. I just came to check whether this actual story was getting some attention, since I asked Stars for a follow up, but they kinda dodged it.

I wonder if Stars is ever going to make their findings public, or whether they'll try to keep it in the dark, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.

They don't give results for these kinds of things.

Look theres no need to jump to conclusi... oh hes from Russia? Yep, bot.

i think he didnt think he would get 2nd with a bot lmao.. what an idiot.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen/been at an ft where an unresponsive Russian has been sat during deal making I used to just think it was the language barrier but this seems to be way more suspicious.

Hello Players,

At the conclusion of our major tournaments, PokerStars regularly reviews accounts to ensure that they played in accordance with our rules. As is our routine practice, PokerStars has investigated this account for possible use of prohibited software and we are confident that the tournament was not played by a bot, and that the gameplay decisions were made by a human being.

We have made that judgment based upon our bot-detection tools, which broadly include:

a) Scanning for prohibited third party software running in conjunction with the PokerStars client.

b) Collecting detailed information of how each player interacts with the PokerStars client on a fundamental technical level. This includes, but is not limited to:
- the manner in which hardware and third party software is used to input actions
- the usage of various client features
- chat at the tables (or lack thereof)

c) Recording hand histories for analysis. This allows the review of aspects such as:
- volume of games played
- consistency in gameplay decisions
- anomalies in gameplay decisions
- presence of human errors

d) Maintaining detailed records of each player's sessions, including:
- the start and end time of each session
- the duration of each session
- the number and duration of breaks in between sessions

e) Conducting real-time Turing tests during play, such as CAPTCHAs which prompt players to type in a random word, and other proprietary tests which are designed to be imperceptible to humans.

Currently, we don’t have an explanation for why the player didn’t join in discussions for a deal, and, in accordance with our normal reviews, our investigations will continue until we are comfortable with the activity on this account.

Sincerely,

Michael Josem
PokerStars Communications Team

What a shame!

^^^^ haha like anyone believes a word that comes out of anyone from PS mouth these days

we are confident that the tournament was not played by a bot
Currently, we don’t have an explanation for why the player didn’t join in discussions for a deal



is this a joke???

pokerstars is worst every day

lol xaioret beat me to it.

Currently, they don’t have an explanation for why the player didn’t join in discussions for a deal but at the same time they are confident that the tournament was not played by a bot..

What makes people angry is that these types of statements sound like they are being constructed by someone who considers the target audience to be somewhere between mildly autistic to fully ******ed.

It seems like whatever bot detection methods PS uses aren't good enough to detect the bots OR they just don't wish to admit there are active bots present on their network (which I am sure there are a TON).

What other explanation do you have for the mountain of shady activity with Ivanhaldi account?!

Remember when UB/AP announced that nothing suspicious was found...

Did you already post this chat screenshot? If not could you post it now? Many people might be curious about what was said.

You know that this type of bombastic statements need to come with some evidence in order to be taken seriously right?
Otherwise it's just trolling.

Nothing special, just people talking in the chat box.

Hahahaha lol !

so is this post just a PR spin?

So it's not a bot but they still won't let him play.

What else are they suspecting him of doing that could explain these actions?

pokerstars is turning into such a joke

lulz at mandatory stars response. We know you do that stuff, surely its a standard for a poker site.

if you haven't got an answer to the strange happenings then don't post.

These are not necessarily inconsistent statements. It's possible that electronic evidence establishes "Ivan" is not a bot but he hasn't yet responded to security dept questions on why he didn't participate in deal discussions.

Maybe he's mute.

@ Michael Josem, can you let us know how many bots were detected by PokerStars last year? Were they detected as a result of player reporting the bot or were they automatically detected by your system?

It will also be suspicious if IvanHaldi never tries to get in contact with Pokerstars in order to play again or to cash out.

IvanHaldi is a bot owned by pokerstars