Third Party Tools and Services Policy

An Overview

As online poker has grown in popularity, people have developed tools and web-based services to help them play better online. We think it is okay for players to use some of these tools and services. However, we think that some go beyond what we consider acceptable as an aid to playing online.

There are many things that a player can do to improve their chances in a poker game. For instance, they can play a lot and gain experience, or they can read a book about poker. Both of these techniques are clearly appropriate. At the other end of the spectrum, they can use a tool that informs them exactly what action to take in real-time. This is clearly cheating.

In between those two extremes are many tools - some of which we consider to be too close to cheating. For example, there are people building databases with profiles of many players online, and they are sharing access to these databases. A player with access to such a database can call up detailed information about their opponents without ever playing against those opponents themselves. We believe this gives that player an unfair advantage against others at their table.

The policy we have developed over the years follows thorough discussions internally and with poker experts, including our team of professionals. It is designed to be an appropriate compromise between allowing the use of tools and services that might enhance the playing and learning experience for the user, while prohibiting tools and services that give the user an unfair advantage.

We encourage feedback from our customers and take constructive feedback into consideration in future updates to our policy. However, knowledgeable people will disagree over what is appropriate and what is not.

Our policy groups tools and services into three categories:

• Those we permit at all times
• Those we prohibit at all times
• Those we permit, but prohibit while our software is open

Permitted Tools and Services

The following are generally acceptable:

1. Tools and services that simply report basic game state information, such as pot odds or absolute hand strength.
2. Reference material that is static and basic in nature, such as simple table-based starting hand charts advising on what hands to play or not in unopened pots.
3. Tools or services that monitor and display numerical-based statistics in-game, but make use of only information that you have accumulated through your own play. Furthermore, there are qualitative limitations on any statistics displayed in-game, such as not being able to be split based on card values. There are also feature limitations of tools and services displaying statistics in-game, such as not being able to automatically change displayed statistics based on game state or opponent tendencies.
4. Macros and Hotkey programs for gameplay efficiency that do not reduce the requirement of a player having to make a decision. The player must decide what action to take and the exact relative size of any bet or raise, with the macro or hotkey merely executing this decision. For example, a hotkey that bets half the pot is permitted. A hotkey that bets a randomised amount between half and three quarters of the pot is prohibited.

Permitted tools and services include:

† In addition, tools and services that have features prohibited for use, but can reliably detect the poker client and restrict the prohibited functionality (either by disabling prohibited features or terminating the software) are generally permitted.

We do not make any guarantees regarding the functionality, reliability, or safety of any of these tools or services.

Note that these are examples only and this list is not intended to be exhaustive. If a specific tool or service you are interested in is not listed on this information page, please contact Support with all the information you have about the tool or service in question.

Further detail regarding features that are permitted and prohibited can be found in more depth in our Reference Guide.

Tools and Services Prohibited at All Times

The following are prohibited at all times:

• Any tool or service that plays without human intervention (a ‘bot’) or reduces the requirement of a human to make decisions. A human must decide what action to take and the exact relative size of any bet or raise. For example, ‘auto-folders’ and tools that randomise the size of bets are prohibited.
• Any tool or service that offers real-time advice on what action to take through reading of the current game state (a ‘bot’).
• Any tool or service that delays a player’s decision by either a specific or randomised amount of time.
• Any tool or service that shares hole card data with other players or services. ‡
• The practice of datamining hands or private results (observing games without playing in order to build up a database of hand histories for future reference); the use of hands or private results acquired through datamining; the mass sharing of hands, private results or playing statistics for the purpose of analysis of opponents.
• Any tool or service that is targeted towards the manipulation of opponents in games in which you are unable to choose a specific table to play on, such as Spin & Go’s.
• Any tool or service for table selection efficiency that filters or sorts available tournaments, or automates/semi-automates the process of joining available tournaments, based on opponent gameplay statistics or notes.
• Any tool or service for ring game selection efficiency.

‡ Hosting live streams on Twitch and other similar services is not considered as sharing hole card data.

Tools and services that are prohibited at all times include:

Note that these are examples only and this list is not intended to be exhaustive. If a specific tool or service you are interested in is not listed on this information page, please contact Support with all the information you have about the tool or service in question.

Further detail regarding features that are permitted and prohibited can be found in more depth in our Reference Guide.

Permitted Tools and Services that are Prohibited While Our Software is Running

There are some tools and services which have legitimate uses for analysing your game, but are not appropriate for use during play. As such, their use when any of our clients, apps or software are open is prohibited.

Typically, these fall under the following categories:

• Reference material that provides advice that goes beyond a basic level, such as a large collection of tables offering recommendations beyond whether to play certain hands or not in unopened pots.
• Tools or services designed specifically to ease referral to reference material.
• Tools or services that compute advanced equity calculations, such as range vs range simulators, ICM or Nash Equilibrium-based programs.

These tools and services include:

We do not make any guarantees regarding the functionality, reliability, or safety of any of these tools or services.

Note that these are examples only and this list is not intended to be exhaustive. If a specific tool or service you are interested in is not listed on this information page, please contact Support with all the information you have about the tool or service in question.

Further detail regarding features that are permitted and prohibited can be found in more depth in our Reference Guide.

Our Detection Measures

To enforce our policy, we primarily:

1. Look to see if any prohibited tools or services are running on a player’s computer.
2. Analyse playing and behavioural tendencies indicative of players using prohibited tools or services.

We do not see your internet browsing history, documents or other private files and information. We take your privacy very seriously and comply with relevant Data Protection laws. We do not collect personally-identifiable information, other than that provided by the player during account registration and routine security verifications. It is not possible for any member of our staff to read or copy private data from your machine. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

It is also not possible for our staff to remotely modify any file on your computer, or send any file to your machine.

We may, at our discretion, prevent our client program from running on your machine, or require players to upgrade the client program.

The Consequences of Using and Developing Prohibited Tools and Services

While we reserve the right to withhold funds of somebody running a prohibited tool or service, we are not going to do this lightly. Our goal is to educate players who are found to be using prohibited software that is publicly available for download.

However, we will likely deny services and/or withhold funds if a player:

• is using particularly malicious tools and services (such as ‘bots’);
• shows a pattern of using prohibited tools and services after being warned;
• attempts to bypass our detection measures;
• is found to be privately developing or using privately developed software that violates our policies.

Updates and Changes to our Third Party Tool Policy

As stated, our policy has developed over time. Occasional updates are required to adapt to changing sentiments of our player base and experts, as well as the changing features of the tools and services that are available. We assume no responsibility to notify players of changes to this policy. Players should regularly check this page for changes.

If you have any further questions, please visit the Help Center or contact Support.