Quote:
Originally Posted by Sodom
Of course this is not any ideal change so if there are better ways to decrease the edge for these PT/HEM/HUD/Datamines players, I would be glad.
There are a wide spectrum of views regarding HUDs and DBs. I hold to what appears to be the PokerStars official stance: I think HUDs and DBs are fine as long as all your DB data comes from your own play.
I am against mining observed hands or getting 3rd party DB data.
As for people with DBs/HUDs having an advantage over players without these tools, too bad. B&M players who don't own Caro's book of Poker Tells are also at a great disadvantage when playing folks who have read this book. If you don't want HUDs and DBs, play B&M rather than internet poker.
Regarding name changes and detecting cheaters-- that is a good point. While name changes would not make it harder for PokerStars to detect cheating, community policing is an important aspect of keeping online poker honest. I suspect that allowing name changes as distant intervals (e.g. once every new year) would be a good compromise.
On the other hand, I'm uncertain whether the treatment (allowing name changes) is worse than the disease (3rd party and observed hand data mining) or not.