My best guess is that most online players are now "augmented," using at least PokerTracker (hands played databases) with HUDs (heads-up displays that overlay th

My best guess is that most online players are now "augmented," using at least PokerTracker (hands played databases) with HUDs (heads-up displays that overlay the game window and provide some significant statistical info based on mining hands and odds calculations without player input). I believe, based on what I've read at 2+2 and other sites that even small limit games (say 25/50 cent limit hold'em) are mostly played by players with these tools. I stopped playing at smaller games almost two years ago because I became convinced I was playing more bots than people - in spite of the fact that I was winning and continuing to build bankroll, I wasn't interested in entering the arms race that I saw the software requiring. The game sites have a strong incentive to not put in too many safeguards against software automation - they take a small portion of each pot on each hand at a table. The majority of players using software to augment their play during a game are multi-tabling, thus more games/hands = more money for the sites. I had an interesting exchange with the support staff at one online site, where I was arguing that the simplest thing they could do to discourage data mining was to allow players to use another screen name during sessions as an option. They shot me down pretty quickly. Even though gathering statistically significant info about a specific opponent requires a prohibitively large number of hands (more than 10K?), most people on HN are highly aware of how we can build algorithms that classify data pretty easily with limited info. By simply deciding that most players fall into a relatively small set of classes, you can probably grab enough info to be positive EV against a new opponent in a relatively small number of hands - this is what you do as a player, but I really feel that adding a software tool to do it tarnishes the game. It makes it a little like playing chess against an opponent sitting there with a laptop with a chess playing program - really the program is what you're playing The human opponent is really just a complicated interface. But I miss the game, it's a great way to stretch your brain differently than hacking.