The Cost of a "Free" Poker Bot

For those with short attention spans, just read this one sentence: Free pokerbots aren't worth your time and will more than likely COST YOU MONEY in the long run.

Stop downloading them. Even if you happen to find a copy that is not laden with mall-ware (or worse), most of these free poker software bots will require you to sign up with a new account at whatever small list of online poker sites compatible with this particular bot. This makes them your referrer and entitles them to a significant portion of your rake for the entire life of your account. If, instead, you sign up with a reliable rakeback provider (no affiliate spam here, I suggest 2+2 forums to research reliable rake back affiliates) you would get thousands of dollars returned in rakeback. If you run any sort of profitable pokerbot, a years rakeback is far more than the cost of a reputable bot platform such as winholdem or Pokerbot pro, and those are compatible with far more online casinos.

Heck, run a break even bot and your rakeback should be thousands of dollars per year. That's the beauty of running a bot war room.

Ok, let's assume you didn't heed my advice and you've installed a free poker robot that is not a complete scam and does actually at least do something. Sadly, you are going to find that you have nothing more than a mediocre pot odds calculator. Possibly you'll have a few rudimentary sliders for adjusting the tightness of play.

I hate to break the bad news to you, but that won't cut it in today's online poker climate. The games are too tough for that unless you are playing at a totally worthless limit. Don't fool yourself with a run of good luck in the beginning before the other players have any sense of your play. Even low limit poker games are full of opponents that are acutely aware of your playing tendencies. Software such as Poker Tracker is practically a requirement...the days of new players remaining clueless fish for months or years is gone. There is simply too much good advice on the net. A purely mathematical approach to poker is unlikely to be successful over the long term unless you exercise very precise table selection methods.

That's a hint, btw. A sophisticated table hopper that closely monitors table conditions may be worth as much time investment as your bot. Diminishing returns, and all.

So in the end, you have a mediocre pot odds program, probably a compromised computer, a rakeback-free account that's loosely associated with other bots, and nothing that will help you learn more about the art and science of pokerbot programming.

Just walk away. That "Free" software is going to cost you plenty.