Policy on Unfair Advantage Programs

EmpirePoker is committed to taking all reasonable measures, and to do so immediately, to prevent anything that either diminishes the fun you have playing on the website, or that gives another player an unfair advantage over you when you play against them.

Why does EmpirePoker forbid the use of certain types of online poker-related programs?

One reason: We want to protect our customers and the integrity of our system.

Certain companies sell programs specifically created to extract player profiles and then sell them in the form of enormous player databases with the promise that anyone who purchases these programs can use this information to their advantage against other players—invisibly gathering information about you and then selling it to others to use when they play against you in online poker.

How do they do this?

These programs are based on player hand histories and they typically use the following methods: screen-scraping, reading 'Dealer Chat,' and by accessing hand histories directly from individual player’s computers using the program.

Certain other companies sell programs ('BOTS') specifically created to play at a table in place of an actual (human) player, and conceal its use from the other players, and avoid detection by the online poker site.

These companies sell their programs by explicitly promising the prospective purchaser/user an unfair advantage over other online poker players not using that program.

Does EmpirePoker forbid/discourage all online poker-related programs?

No, definitely not. Our own website provides programs for playing online poker and other games. Our main objective, however, is to provide and promote a level playing-field and the best possible user experience for all of our players.

How do you distinguish between 'Forbidden' and 'Permitted' categories of programs? Isn’t it true that many of these programs are for training— i.e. improving poker skills?

Programs that give a player an advantage over others are not something we wish to forbid. Advantage is not the issue— an unfair advantage is and we see that as deception. And so is invasion of privacy and data theft.

To begin with, our basis for distinction is not whether a particular program gives the user an advantage over players who do not use that program, nor is it based on the particular content.

To us, the key indicia that define the class of programs we seek to eliminate from use on the site are: deception and breach of our customers’ privacy.

Nevertheless, what our customers want will always remain the primary influence on what we do about this. So, for instance, we have no doubt that anything that compromises the integrity of the game or erodes our customers’ confidence about whether they will be unfairly disadvantaged while playing on our site, must be eliminated, and that's where we direct our efforts. However, our customers will always have the last word about what it is they want to play and against whom. So, if our customers want to play against BOTS, then we will seriously consider this request. Until then, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that our customers are not deceived and that their privacy is not violated.

For now, what we’re talking about here are programs that: (i) advertise as a key feature the possibility that a buyer/user will gain an unfair advantage (quite often they even use the word 'cheat') over the other players—in other words, they promise to help a player to cheat; or (ii) their use by the buyer/user is intended to remain concealed from the other players and from the 'operator' (i.e., the online poker room); or (iii) steal legally protected material (e.g., hand histories and player identities) that violate International Copyright Laws as well as Privacy Laws.

Granted, some of the companies who make programs that we deem 'forbidden' (i.e. that satisfies the criteria above) claim that the purpose of their programs is not to assist a player to cheat at online poker but rather as a training aid (even though they might concede that an unscrupulous user could indeed use it for the purpose of cheating). Think for a moment about this claim. What other plausible reason is there to make and sell programs that promise to give you an unfair advantage and at the same time remain concealed from the other players and the online poker room, and actually take the place of a player at the online table but in way undetectable by anyone else if not to cheat? That aside, emphasizing one attribute to advertise their programs ('to cheat') but disavowing that attribute entirely in every other instance is dishonest, to say the least, and certainly does nothing to help the image of our industry.

So, if these companies who make such claims were honest, they would disable the functionality that allows use of the program to be concealed—since doing so would not compromise its claimed value.

Is there any proof that these types of programs actually give the user an unfair advantage?

We are aware that experienced professional poker players are divided on this question—no one knows for sure and in some cases it is a clearer case than others. What we do know is that the companies who offer these programs actually promise to give the user an unfair advantage, plus the program’s operation is designed to be concealed from other players and from the online poker room.

Even if these programs gave their user absolutely no advantage whatever—fair or unfair—the fact that (at least some of them) invisibly collect our players’ data without their knowledge or permission—or ours—is reason enough to forbid their use on or with the website.

Even if another player is using a program in the Forbidden Category, will it harm me?

It might. Indeed it often does; certainly the purpose of this type of program is just that—to give the buyer/user an unfair advantage over you—in a game played for money—and to then to conceal that fact from you. And in a game played for money, we say that’s cheating.

Consider this example. One company’s website makes these claims: Imagine knowing exactly how all of your opponents play before ever sitting at a poker table. Now use this knowledge to pick the easiest and most profitable tables to play at online. **** makes this a reality by giving you exclusive access to the largest database of player statistics and profiles in existence. By subscribing to ****, you gain access to our massive database of player statistics - currently tracking 673,920 players. With the click of a mouse you can instantly view detailed statistics on almost all of your online poker opponents. Armed with knowledge of an opponent's past and current tendencies, you can predict his future behavior.

If these claims are true and a player at your table was using this program, would it place you at an unfair disadvantage? Consider also that the company that sells this program—the core of which is a massive database of hand histories of as many online players it can get—actually offers its customers the option to conceal their own name on this database from other users of this program. Is there not a risk that this becomes a process by which players become pressured into buying the programs at least in part, to ensure that their data is not available to other purchasers ? A privileged club who are not at risk of suffering the same disadvantage as someone who has not bought that program? We think there is this risk and that it is not in the interests of poker players.

Finally, even if you are not playing at the same table as a user of one of these programs, the company who sells it is still busy covertly gathering data about you—without our permission or yours—for one purpose only: so that they make money selling it to someone who hopes to gain an unfair advantage over you if and when you play against them.

What counter-measures is EmpirePoker taking to prevent this?

Our efforts can be divided into three separate categories: (i) identification & detection; (ii) warning/suspending offending users; and (iii) additional measures through enlarged customer choice.

Identification and detection counter-measures are in place now and have been for some time. These efforts will improve so that we’re able to more precisely detect existing BOTS but more importantly so that as new BOTS are created/released, we can also prevent those from eroding the experience when on the website.

The use of certain programs and their websites on the EmpirePoker system are blocked outright. These are: WinHoldem, PokerBot plus, PokerEdge, Poker Prophecy, Poker Sherlock, and PokerBot Pro. Our decision to block the use of these programs was made only after our determination that they satisfied the criteria for placement in the 'Forbidden' category as defined above. Unfortunately, we expect to add more programs to this list; at the same time, though, if any of the currently listed programs are modified (e.g., a new release) so that the modified version no longer falls within our proscribed 'Forbidden' category, then our policy is to promptly unblock it (the modified version).

Once identified, a player using programs in this 'Forbidden' category is notified. In that notice, we explain what we believe this player is doing and what steps we will take if he does not stop doing it immediately. In the most extreme cases, if, after we send the notice, the player continues, we are prepared to suspend their account and confiscate the funds in that account—but never without prior notice of our intention to do so and never without first giving that player the opportunity to stop using the offending programs. We do not suspend/cancel/freeze a player account or confiscate any funds in that account unless that player, having been first notified by us, continues to play on our site using the same offending software. However, we believe that there must be a penal sanction in the most serious cases; otherwise, there will not be a sufficient deterrence from using this software.

Do the efforts involve 'data mining' or other intrusive means to access/read files on my computer as part of these efforts?

Yes—and indeed we want you to know that we do this and what particular data we’re looking for and also why we need to look for it. Perhaps the best way to explain this is by contract to the most well-known form of data mining—i.e. what Google, Yahoo, AOL, and others like them are doing—gathering data about the user for (among other reasons) purely commercial purposes (i.e. to sell a user profile to online advertisers).

Now consider what we do. Our automated software reports on any processes or programs running on your computer that have been identified as prohibited software falling within our policy. We do not scan your hard drive or take screen shots from your machine. The very limited data that is provided to us is used only to query player’s computers while they’re playing at our tables, solely for the purpose of detecting use of the offending type of software we’re talking about here. This type of monitoring remains one of the key counter-measures against the abuses caused by BOTS, which we believe are against the interests of our players. To find out more about our general policy with regard to data processing, please see our Privacy Policy.

* In this message, we have used the term 'program' in the functional sense—i.e. since the term is used in connection with defining a particular class of things (that we wish to forbid players from using while playing on EmpirePoker) based on their function rather than on any other attribute—for instance, based on whether they are formally classified as 'software' or not. Thus, our use of the term program should be construed as broadly as possible—to include (i) downloadable programs (whether downloaded from a portable storage medium or transferred via network connection [e.g., the Internet]); and (ii) non-downloadable programs (not resident completely on the player’s computer but accessed via the Internet, for example).