On Saturday night, poker pro Martin Zamani (above) shared a video online of what appears to be a ‘massive bot farm on Ignition/Bovada’, a half-minute tour of several rooms filled with computers and monitors running online poker tables and VPNs, but no players.
Other than clarifying that he did not make the video or the bots, Zamani has not shared the source of the video or how he came to acquire it, but states that ‘They’ve known about it for ages and done nothing. It’s high stakes and this isn’t the entire operation either and they just don’t care.’
At the time of writing, the X post has been viewed more than 724K times and attracted over 150 replies, many of which continue to call out the sites — which share player pools as part of the Pai Wang Luo Network — for a perceived lax approach to game integrity.
Various replies have also pointed fingers at other operators for being less than trustworthy.
Other operators weigh in — but not all
Several of Bovada/Ignition’s rival online poker operators have joined the conversation online in a bid to underline their own commitments to security.
PokerStarsUSA points to an ‘integrity team made up of 60 specialists: ex-professional poker players, qualified data scientists and statistical analysts, uses purpose-built software to detect, investigate and resolve potential occurrences of collusion, multi-accounting or prohibited software use.’
The ClubWPT Gold social media team, so used to sailing close to the wind in terms of their approach to controversy, has issued a statement saying that ‘yeah we might make fun of people on twitter, but we’re serious where it matters: making sure our players don’t get fleeced by a bunch of obese nerds running a bot farm in their stepdad’s garage.’
CoinPoker claims that ‘Ban early, ban quickly has been our approach with these bot rings’, and has further announced that 98 bot accounts have recently been identified and banned from its network, with over $156K redistributed to affected players.
It's very rare that sites share details of how bots operate — for obvious reasons — though CoinPoker says it will be 'producing an in-depth report' once all refunds are completed.
As of Monday morning there are two voices notably absent from the ongoing bots conversations currently swirling on X: Bovada and Ignition.
Bots were a potential issue in online poker long before recent advances in artificial intelligence, and most if not all online operators invest in measures to combat the problem. Human experts and automated flagging are used to investigate accounts displaying suspect play, or potentially those with anomalous winrates.
While some sites seem to prefer not to mention the issue, others go to understandable lengths to put their users' minds at rest through greater transparency regarding their game integrity efforts.
We would always recommend choosing a site that shares details of its commitment to eliminating all cheats, including bots.
Who is Martin Zamani?
Zamani, a player who sits just outside the top 10 all-time money list for Florida, is no stranger to success on the pro tour, nor a spot of controversy.
Regarding the former, Zamani has over $7 million in recorded career tournament earnings and cashed in both the WSOP Paradise and WPT World Championship series in December, including a six-figure score in the WSOP Super Main Event. He is a former Global Poker Index Player of the Month and a WSOP bracelet winner.
However, some may recognize his name more for his involvement in a 2022 story involving poker leading tournament money winner Bryn Kenney, in which Zamani posted an extensive thread outlining accusations of ghosting, collusion and controlling behavior.
Zamani is often a vocal presence both online and at the tables, most recently becoming involved in a heated public argument at WSOP Paradise and butting heads with poker streamer Ryan Depaulo over a controversial hand in the Super Main.
