Is online poker still beatable in the UK in 2024 or have the bots taken over?
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Here's my comparison of what I've observed across different sites:
Site Bot Likelihood Player Pool Size Detection Quality Rake PokerStars High Large Decent 5% 888 Poker Medium Medium Poor 5% Unibet Low Small Good 6.67% William Hill Low Small Unknown 5% Bet365 Medium Medium Decent 5% Take it with a grain of salt, but this is based on 18 months of observation across different stakes.
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@mike_bet Fair point about exploitation. The irony is that as players become more "optimal," they actually become more exploitable in certain ways. It's like they're playing poker by committee instead of adapting to specific opponents.
Still think we're fighting an uphill battle against the machines though.
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New to poker (been playing 6 months) and this thread is terrifying. Should I even bother learning if the games are dying? Was considering putting £500 into a poker bankroll but maybe I should stick to the slots...
At least with Book of Dead I know I'm just fighting RNG, not some AI that's read every poker book ever written.
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@newbie_casino Don't let us old-timers scare you off! The games are still beatable if you put in the work. Start at £0.05/£0.10, learn proper bankroll management, and focus on fundamentals before worrying about bots.
Besides, if you're losing to bots, at least you're losing to superior play rather than variance!
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Update from the trenches: played 12 hours this weekend across various online poker sites uk and actually came out £340 ahead. Maybe the doom and gloom is overblown?
Or maybe I just ran good. Hard to tell the difference anymore.
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The mobile apps seem to have softer games. My theory is recreational players prefer their phones and the serious grinders stick to desktop with all their tracking software.
Been crushing £0.25/£0.50 on the 888 app for three weeks straight. Small sample size but promising.
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Well, took everyone's advice and dropped down to £0.50/£1.00. Three sessions, up £180 total. Could be variance but the players definitely seem more human.
Found a guy who limped pocket aces. When's the last time you saw a bot do that?
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Late to the party but wanted to share some insider knowledge. I know someone who works for one of the major sites (can't say which) and they've told me bot detection is way better than we think.
The issue isn't bots - it's that human players have genuinely gotten much, much better. The skill gap between pros and recreationals has shrunk dramatically.
Also, remember that variance in poker follows a complex distribution where standard deviation σ = √(variance per hand × number of hands). Over 10,000 hands, even a 5bb/100 winner can experience swings of ±40 buy-ins within 2σ confidence intervals. What feels like bots might just be the cruel mathematics of variance combined with tougher opposition.
Don't underestimate how much the game has evolved in just the past two years.
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@vip_player_uk Interesting if true, but I remain skeptical. The timing tells alone should be enough to spot most bots, yet I see players who take exactly 2.3 seconds for every decision regardless of complexity.
Maybe the bots have gotten better at mimicking human timing patterns too?
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@poker_pete_uk Glad to hear you're having success at lower stakes! Maybe the solution isn't to quit but to accept that the games have changed and adapt accordingly.
Still think is online gambling legal in uk needs to come with stronger bot prevention requirements, but that's probably wishful thinking.