Recent reports of bot usage have some poker players concerned about the game’s integrity
This summer will still see the World Series of Poker (WSOP) series, although it was moved online. For a long time, WSOP has been the biggest poker event for pro players, as well as high-level rookies, to mark on their calendars. There are millions of dollars in prizes for grabs but one of the honors is to get ahold of one of those precious gold bracelets given to event winners. Live events somehow give more confidence to players in the sense that it is quite hard to cheat; however, some players are concerned that this brand-new online series might give space for cheaters to take advantage.
The WSOP Online Bracelet Series will kick off tomorrow and it will run the entire months of July, offering to competitors the chance to win one of the 85 golden bracelets, as well as the huge money prizes guaranteed on each event. Overall, the series has been well-received by online poker specialists and those who can't travel to Las Vegas; however, for some others, the risk outweighs the reward.
One of the players raising his voice about this situation is 2006 World Series Poker Player of the Year and four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen. During an interview, Madsen, who has collected over $5 million in live tournament earnings, said he is concerned about cheating in WSOP, which is not new since the organization has been running online events for quite some time. He complained about events giving away golden WSOP bracelets as awards because players might turn to deceitful plans undeservedly claim poker’s top prize.
"Just because everybody’s doing it doesn’t mean it’s not cheating," Madsen says. "It should be you the whole time, you should have one account, you shouldn’t use any programs that are not allowed … Like someone could play on an account and win a bracelet, and it’s just not even the person’s account."
Recent reports have surfaced about an increase in bot usage in online poker, and one would-be journalist even wrote about his escapades using a bot to cheat. Showing how easy it was to take advantage of the software – and quadrupling his investment in the process – there will undoubtedly be a handful of players looking to game the game in July.
