The fairness debate

Suggestions & Feedback
831

Free poker is a very bad way to hone your skills for real poker. There’s no way around that. Even if the shuffles are 100% accurate, the betting patterns can never be. You will only learn bad habits that will cost you in a real game.

When I was learning no limit Fold’um, I used a piece of software called Poker Academy. This program used advanced Ai developed by the University of Alberta’s AI lab, and featured adaptive AI “bots” which would adapt their play to your style. It gave you the ability to program your own bots or to play against a table of bots modeled after the best professional players in the world.

It also featured a bunch of analysis tools and a “coach” which would give you suggestions of what to do when it was your turn to act. Once you got to the point where you could beat these bots regularly, you would be able to hold your own against any players anywhere.

The nice thing about this software was that the bots played like it was real money, even though it obviously wasn’t.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s available any more. You could probably find a copy of it somewhere, and, if you could, it would be well worth a closer look. This type of solution, however, would probably lower your blood pressure and make you a happier person overall.

833

Joe and Sun,

Poker Academy also had Poker Academy Online, where I played for almost six years. I came here and also brought a number of PAO players. Most have stayed.

At one point the University of Alberta sold the software to Full Tilt Poker, which allowed the site to continue but didn’t maintain it so the site died after 5+ years. We online Poker Academy players floundered and 300 of us landed at PokerSharkz, all of us still owning our Poker Academy game and hoping for the PAO experience. While there I was contacted by a person who said they have the source software (maybe wrong terminology) and they wanted me to test it. I downloaded it and sure enough it was that original game.

I told them that the players who buy the game need a website but they put up a cheap and unattended site. That, and other things they said and did, made me realize they had stolen the Poker Academy software.

Poker Genius is the name the thieves use to sell the Poker Academy software. I don’t approve of what they did. Everything, including the game board and players’ names is the same. The only change is that wherever the name Poker Academy was it now says Poker Genius.

They are selling the game for, I think, $39. It most certainly is a deal and as a home game, learning experience, practice, it is a good deal. You can download it at www.poker-genius.com/‎ . You can likely get a free download for a few days…

The University of Alberta also developed a Bot, Polaris, that could beat professionals. http://www.poker-academy.com/man-machine/

And they used a variation of Polaris that allowed PAO players to play HU in limit poker. While that Bot was there, many players tried to beat it and nobody could. Indeed, one of the best players there, Akileos, lost his entire bankroll over a month trying to win. He explained that the experience taught him a lot. There must be a higher consciousness that understands that; I don’t.

With hesitancy Joe, download Poker Genius and you will have the Poker Academy experience. It has everything that Sun said and much more.

If you want the experience playing with a true Poker Academy “graduate/regular” go to the SNG tables any evening and play against Big Buddha. Other good players here are B_T, solexine, cbarbarella, edfrazier, HugoX, MurtaughBoru, gizzlewick, Pastaga13, and ra-cha-cha, to name a few. I should also add that Paul Gould knows all about the qualitative aspects of PA and PAO, has picked my brains a few times on the subject and I can attest he wants to meet and beat the PAO experience. He is achieving just that.

836

Yeah I saw that a bit above thanks to joe :slightly_smiling:

As I said, I thought you had a magical formula, results of years of experimentation! Kinda sad now, I didn’t see there was a flops seen stat ^^

839

Joejeweler, We get it. You are not happy here. Sooooo… WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE.???

841

joejeweler .
You have been offered advice by two of the highest ranked players on here, namely JoeDirk and Scratch, both of whom have bankrolls in the “lots a millions” catagory in comparison to your “sweet fa holdings” and yet your response is to continue to yell from the rooftops that you are better and the site is rigged against you. Really!!!. c’mon really… Obviously those guys got major high stakes game that you, hmmm well honestly, dont… These guys even put their stats up for your benefit and still got the I’M BETTER while your current ranking is over 200% lower than it was the day you joined. Sorry, I forgot replay is out to get you

842

LOL good one but I dont think he care.

( put @ before the name, like @whoeverit and he got a blue number next to his avatar )

843

Hi Joe, we’re going to have to ask you to stop libeling Replay. Everything you’ve expressed is opinion and you refuse to listen to what other players are trying to explain to you. I cannot reiterate enough that it would be incredibly silly, wasteful, and dishonest to manipulate players. We don’t do it. It doesn’t happen here and lying about it doesn’t help anyone learn about poker.

We’d love to hear how we can improve, but “stop cheating” isn’t a constructive answer – it’s simply your belief. Just because we believe you could be a green alien from Venus, that doesn’t make it true.

In fact, you have about 43 posts in this topic that have done nothing but contribute negativity to the thread.

We can offer you a statistical breakdown of your hands if you’d like to email into support@replaypoker.com, but before you do, please consider being open to results instead of angry about not getting your way.

1 Like
844

Last night I was dealt pocket aces. I put in a big raise preflop (from UTG, no less) and was called by one player and raised by another. Naturally, I reraised enough to tap the caller, who, predictably, went allin. She was called by the original raiser and when it got to me, I put him allin too.

So far, all was going according to my evil plan, right? Right.

Now imagine my delight when one of them turned over 77 and the other JJ. No really, close your eyes and imagine it. Pretty sweet, huh?

Flop came J7X… both of them flopped sets!

Obvious evidence that this site is operated by little green men (and women) from Venus?

Nah,. probably not, If you play enough hands, you will see all sorts of crazy things.

845

I’ve lost with PP AA vs KK all in pf, not just a outdraw, but a “■■■■ you and your aces” to go along with it:

AQT-7-J

846

joejeweler. You are correct. You never claimed to be bettet than anyone else here, You praised their skill by calling a number of players fools. Whether or not I play live games is information I share with friends and has no bearing on the validity of Replay Pokers dealing.Furthermore, I did not take a dig at your high stakes game, in fact I told you that you “well honestly dont have one”. The ranking system here may not be perfect but it is useful. Players whose rank consistantly raises in relation to the games they play are probably better than average while those whose ranking is tanking are likely below average. The aim of poker is to win and to use those winnings to win more and so on… Losing a “great many HUGE pots” to any player is an indication that there is an underlying fault with your game and not that the game is biased. When offered help to fix this fault the correct response is Thank You. Possibly even ask for a lesson on one of the heads up tables where they explain each hand, each move , each bet etc until you get the idea.
If the free chips and ranking really mean NOTHING or NADA why place 43 posts, and so many edits,about how other players are taking yours?
I’m sure You play here because, like all the rest of us, You enjoy it. I hope you get your mojo back and get some pleasure here.
Good Luck and Good Cards.

848

I support the “fixed” theory. Not that the cards aren’t random, they are. What is fixed is the player (bot?) that gets the hands. Further, I’ve noticed that winning on Tuesdays is impossible for me, and that towards the end of the month I best sit on my hands rather than touch the keyboard. Is this possibly the "rent due’ period?

This company is set up to make a profit, but the only way we can support it is by buying chips. Does that not defeat the purpose? Do you not gauge your ability by your bankroll? Would it be better to provide an optional method of support, and the company name the figure, so we make an informed decision as to how we wish to proceed?

I truly love the site and would like to continue to compete against players from around the world. However, in fairness to the company AND the players- we need to resolve the “pay for play” issue. I’m getting very tired of the nonsense.