PokerMan Bot

PokerMan: The High-Risk Niche and the Home Game Simulator

In the online poker landscape, we’re accustomed to two basic models: decentralized agent-based poker apps (like Suprema or UPoker) and corporate-operated centralized websites (like GGPoker). PokerMan doesn’t squarely fall into either of these categories. At face value, it can easily be interpreted as a stylish, modern and totally free social poker app that you can use to play poker with your friends. It doesn’t have a cashier, an agent, or even an integrated mechanism for dealing with actual currency. PokerMan is really just an advanced home game simulator.

But there is more to it than that for the knowledgeable operator. There is also a covert “off-label” use for PokerMan that creates a different niche that is high risk and potentially high reward beneath this legal play-money facade. PokerMan is a collection of sophisticated, rentable card tables; it is not a publicly accessible casino. What you and your friends do with the chips is up to you.

Understanding the Model: Real Money by Agreement, Play Money by Design

This is the most important concept to understand about PokerMan. Unlike UPoker, where an agent sells you chips that have relevant, real-world value within a vast, interlinked economy of unions, the chips on PokerMan have zero inherent value. Again, functionally speaking, you are not at the bank, you are at the platform.

So how does one exchange real money? through a private agreement. A group of players is invited into a private game by a club host who is the “agent” in this model. They agree ahead of time how much every chip will be worth; for instance, one chip is worth $1. Next, players send money directly to the host via a third-party service, cryptocurrency, a local bank transfer, or PayPal. The players play the game via the app, and at the end of the session, depending on their chip counts, the host pays off each player using the out-of-band payment option. There is no real money utilized at any point through the app, as the app is merely a game engine and record keeper for the host.

The Operator’s Dilemma: Sword with Two Edge

For a bot operator, this private settlement model can be exciting and profitable, and it is risky as well. There are extreme trade-offs with this space.

The One Big Upside: A Black Hole for Security

Because PokerMan is a play-money app, it has no incentive to monitor its own games for a betting purpose. There is no centralized security service looking for bots or artificial intelligent play. No algorithms are analyzing individual win rates or play patterns. The platform doesn’t care how its software is functioning, and its only concern is if the software is functioning properly. In terms of security, you could not have a better blind spot. Because the platform is not even monitoring play, a PokerMan poker bot does not need a sophisticated camouflage method to be undetected. In theory, you could operate the most brutally effective, GTO-perfect AI without the concern of being banned at the platform level. The games are taking place in private homes, and they are likely very soft, filled with real amateurs who do not have a sophisticated understanding of poker strategy.

TEP and Scalability: The Big Problems

The biggest cost of not having a platform that is secure is counterparty risk. The host of the club, is the only person that has control of your entire bankroll, your winnings, and everything else. There are no options if they choose not to pay you. There is no higher authority for you to appeal to. Support for the app will not help you, since you are just playing a free game, anyway. For all of these reasons, the most important—and most difficult—part of the business is finding and vetting a trustworthy host.

There is also almost no scalability with this model. You are not tapping into a union of thousands of players. You are just accessing one exclusive game. If you wanted to scale, you would have to find dozens of these private, real-money games, and develop a trusting relationship with each host. It is an operational nightmare compared to working with one powerful agent that gives you access to a large union!

The Bottom Line: A Niche Tool, Not A Gold Mine

PokerMan is an interesting technological development that illustrates another version of online poker. However, it is NOT the intended target of a large scale, professional botting operation. It does NOT means of competing with the established economies and liquidity of the major Asian apps.

Rather, it should be recognized as a specialized high-risk tool. PokerMan could be a highly profitable, short-term engagement, if an operator can find a vetted, reliable host, running a low-stakes, high stakes private game. A PokerMan bot, would be ideal to use in such a game. There are risks to finding and cashing in on such an opportunity.

The big club apps are very similar to ocean fishing; trying to receive the invite to a private stocked pond, is akin to getting to PokerMan. The owner can kick you out at any time, and you will lose your fish, so while it is probably easier to fish in the pond, the real obstacle is to get through the gate. It is not a basis for an empire; it is a niche for the brave.