Bots Suspected of Winning $1.5 Million in the Mid-Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha Tables on PokerStars

A few weeks ago researchers pitted Artificial Intelligence (AI) Claudico against top pros Doug Polk, Bjorn Li, Dong Kim, and Jason Les in a poker challenge, but the software failed against humans.

However, now comes news of players using bots to win millions of dollars on PokerStars.

Officials from the site confirmed that suspected cheaters, mostly from Russia and Kazakhstan were under investigation for using Bots (AI) to play in mid-stakes pot-limit Omaha games. It is believed that these bots have siphoned off more than $1.5 million at the $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 pot-limit Omaha tables in winnings.

If earnings from the benefits accrued through PokerStars VIP and Stellar Rewards programs are taken into account, this amount is expected to be much higher.

According to PokerScouts, the cheating has taken place not only on PokerStars, but also on its sister site Full Tilt and 888poker.

The entire matter came to light when two regular players,”Grethe” and “Oink“ asked PokerStars to investigate the matter. The two players later shared their concerns with fellow players on the popular Two+Two poker forum.

The points shared by the above two were then analyzed by another player “Schwein”, who did an in-depth analysis, using the “Squared Euclidean distance” method to differentiate between a few legitimate players and suspected ones. The players have shown sufficient statistical data to prove their accusations. This data shows certain players using certain similar patterns in pre-flop, far more than would have been with regular players. It was also found that the bots had knowledge of Hole-cards and shared this, allowing the player to decide whether to continue or not.

“Schwein” reportedly took help from the PokerStars banned Russian site – “Russian PTR”. This invitation-only site shares playing statistics of players with its members. Many decry such sites, but it has become the chief reason for the uncovering of this bot-cheating.

PokerStars has officially acknowledged that the cheating was taking place and answered “Grethe” by email saying,

“Hello Grethe,

Greetings from PokerStars.

At the outset, I would like to apologize for the length of time it has taken for us to get back to you on this matter. Please understand that this was a particularly complex investigation. We are unable to comment on an investigation that is ongoing, and we wanted to take the time to ensure that we reached the correct resolution.

Prior to your original email to us reporting this matter, we had already been investigating the accounts in question. We are now able to confirm that we have closed a number of these accounts which were found to be violating our Terms of Service. If you were deemed to have been harmed by unfair play as a result of these violations, you should have received a compensatory credit by now, as well as an email notifying you of the credit.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write to us with your concerns. We want a clean game just as much as you do – both PokerStars and you directly benefit from honest and fair games, and we want to work constructively with you (and anyone else, for that matter) to ensure that our games are fair.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know. Best of luck at the tables!

Regards,

Ian Y
PokerStars Game Integrity Team”

Meanwhile, several players have reported that they have received refunds, though little in comparison to the hands played and with no explanation given. The players posted on Two+Two and were not sure if the funds were from the bots cheating case.

“Seaking”posted on May 25, “I got $62.63. I don’t think it’s from playing these specific suspected bots/colluders though.”

“Jabonator”echoed this with, “I got like 17 bucks, and I’ve played a total of over 10K hands vs. these guys, so I as well doubt this is the reason.”

“Grethe” on the other hand is still in for $1,000 and to add to the confusion, other players reported that they got money for higher stakes than played.

It is believed that PokerStars was able to recover only a small amount, as the cheating players kept only a bare minimum in their accounts.

Additionally, though players thought that the cheating issue was over, more new accounts were found playing with the similar pattern. To make the matter worse, PokerStars issued a notice that stated it did not believe all the accused players were guilty.

The matter continues to remain obfuscated, even as PokerStars claims investigations are on.