[jamby]

If you're like me you've wondered just what all the increasing number of Intellipoker avatars at Poker Stars is all about. There was a bad beat forum thread here about it back in June http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker-...tml#post761596 commenting on the pretty weak play of many players using these avatars, but no conclusion about the meaning of Intellipoker or connection with P*. I found this blog at Intellipoker - What is IntelliPoker? - IntelliPoker.net for PokerStars that seems to offer a pretty reasonable explanation about Intellipoker. Reposted below.

What is IntelliPoker?
June 21, 2008

IntelliPoker and PokerStars
There have been quite a number of players wondering what the new IntelliPoker is all about. There seem to be an ever increasing number of IntelliPoker Avatars showing up at the poker tables and most people have no idea what those are. Common questions we’ve seen on the forums and throughout the Internet have been:

• What is Intelli Poker?
• Have you seen the new Intelli Poker avatars at the tables?
• Do IntelliPoker players actually receive more FPP’s than regular PokerStars players?
• Why is the IntelliPoker.com site all in German?
• Is IntelliPoker associated with PokerStars?

Let’s attempt to answer these questions to best of our knowledge, although we do not have a German translator on hand here at AintLuck.com.

What is IntelliPoker?
Simply put, Intellipoker.com is a German poker community run by online poker room, PokerStars. It is a poker school endorsed by the poker room specifically for Deutsch players. The site includes member blogs, a forum for the members of the site, a live chat, poker tools, and a host of live videos and articles for poker players to improve their game. Intelli Poker is provides poker coaching as well as live poker training for their poker school. The poker school seems to be the main value added feature of the community.
IntelliPoker is owned by PokerStars as players can navigate to the poker school directly within the PokerStars software. The IntelliPoker Poker School can be launched by opening up Pokerstars, clicking on Help, and clicking on “Launch Poker School”.

Currently the site is only in German (Deutsch), but there is indication that they will add English, Spanish, and Italian very soon.

What are the IntelliPoker Avatars at PokerStars?
The Intellipoker logos and avatars are part of a promotion with the site and Pokerstars, where players earn extra FPP’s (frequent player points) by using the Intelli Poker avatar when playing online at PokerStars.
Intelli Poker players earn 4 FPP’s for just using the avatar while they play and PokerStars will double their FPP amount when the members convert them.

Is IntelliPoker a poker bot software that PokerStars now advocates?


There is some confusion on whether a press release promoting IntelliPoker.net is somehow related to Pokerstars and Intellipoker.com. The Intellipoker.net press release indicated that Intellipoker.net was indeed a Poker Bot. A poker bot is a computer software program that can play poker against others. You as an individual do not have to actually make any poker playing decisions, the Intellipoker.net poker bot would make the decisions for you. Here’s some text from the the Intellipoker.net press release dated, September 7, 2006:

“The Texas Hold’em Pokerbot is a computer program that plays online poker against human opponents. The pokerbot allows you to input your own configurations, and then with your input and its own analysis it will play hand after hand on your behalf. The pokerbot can play over 1,000 hands a day if you so chose. You can also set up your own private network channel to share your cards.

One important feature is the pokerbot’s ability to emulate human behavior. Like a human player, the “bot” can see the table just as any player, with bet amounts, cards, etc. Based on the bot’s ability to see the game table, it can then calculate the player’s next move and play your hand accordingly, just as a human player would do. The bot is also capable of calling, folding, and betting using the appropriate onscreen commands. While able to emulate human behavior, the bot also removes some of the human emotions that can affect a hand negatively, such as anger or frustration.”

PokerStars.com response:


Scotty from the PokerStars VIP team had this to say in response to whether Intellipoker.net is linked to Pokerstars and if they are advocating a poker bot software:

“When we registered all the IntelliPoker.* domains two years ago, two had already been registered under .com and .net extensions. While .com was inactive,.net was a website promoting a “bot” program which was not available at the time. IntelliPoker.NET was listed in our “prohibited programs” section.

When we negotiated about the sale we made an agreement that the owner wouldn’t pick up his activities again and deletes all pages, even from possible different domains. Still, as you can see with Google results, there are some older web pages which have listed or reviewed this program. After the deal the program was removed from our list of “prohibited programs”.

We have discussed that issue in depth when deciding about the name of the poker school; common agreement was that while this is a suboptimal situation, the advantage of using such a high level domain, free trademark and more than 60 local domains names far outweighed the questions that would need to be answered at a later date.” - courtesy 2+2 forum

Conclusion on IntelliPoker
It seems that PokerStars indeed does own Intellipoker.net, but made an agreement with the previous owner in which he would remove all the content of Intellipoker.net. This means that Pokerstars did not create the poker bot software Intellipoker.net. The only reason Google and other search engines are still showing that press release for Intellipoker.net is because there are still old web pages with that information listed.

The bottom line is that IntelliPoker is currently a German poker community sponsored by PokerStars. One of the main features of the Intelli Poker community is their poker school and the ability for PokerStars players to earn extra FPP’s when using the Intelli Poker avatar while playing.

Currently, Intellipoker.com is only in German but there are plans to translate the community into English, Spanish, and Italian.

edited to clean up the copied html tags that didn't transfer correctly

[StevenH72]

Ah I have been curious about finding more info about Intellipoker for quite some time now, since they have been creating an epidemic at my micro stakes tables.

I didnt realise Pokerstars owned Intellipoker though.......must be why they suck out on me all the time.....OMGZZZZ RIGGED

[djexacto]

I have chatted with a few Intellipoker dummies, and they all seem to agree that you do NOT get extra VPPs. Apparently they get some type of intellipoker points.

If in fact they do get extra VPPs, and its only open to Germans, I actually have a bit of a problem with that, sounds a little discriminatory.

[links_slayer]

Originally Posted by djexacto

If in fact they do get extra VPPs, and its only open to Germans, I actually have a bit of a problem with that, sounds a little discriminatory.

i suppose you have a problem with ladies night at the bars too?

[whataboutj]

There is actually a really, really long thread at 2+2 on Intellipoker (commonly referred to as Intellidonks) and the intellipoker players. I am at work and can't access the thread or I'd link it. One of the main tools Intellipoker offers is a chart that tells players what to do based on starting hands. I downloaded it and will open it if I have an Intellipoker player at my table. It is a little confusing chart to read and the moves it advocates are "Interesting". It helps to understand the play that you see from them - especially the short stacking micro stakes players.

While I would agree that the majority of the players are not good and mostly easy to beat I have encountered some decent Intellipoker players and now keep an open mind when I play against them.

[links_slayer]

check out this thread, j: linky

there's a link to a .pdf of the chart you mentioned. it's in german, but pretty easy to figure out.

[whataboutj]

Originally Posted by links_slayer

check out this thread, j: linky

there's a link to a .pdf of the chart you mentioned. it's in german, but pretty easy to figure out.

Yep that's the chart. The thread on 2+2 is loooong and semi funny with stories about play against Intelli players. It also mentions that the players with the avatar get something like 2FPP points per day for using it (not sure if it's true or not)

[djexacto]

Originally Posted by links_slayer

i suppose you have a problem with ladies night at the bars too?

Don't really see the relation. My point is why is P* giving away more FPPs to people from a certain country? You could go a long way down this road, and I don't think they should be playing favorites with any specific group of people, whether it be a nationality, ethnicity, gender, etc.

Ladies night is generally a promotion to help counter sausage fests at bars. The only relation would be if it were "German ladies night". I don't mind giving out an incentive to beginning players, but singling out a certain group is just weird and not fair.