http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/45/software/sky-poker-hud-database-management-tool-1636984/?highlight=
I would be very interested in Sky's response to this. The thing I like most about Sky is it's position on tracking software but if someone has found a workaround and is making it possible for players to have live tracking of hand histories, it raises a significant question about just how level of a playing field those of us that play by the rules are competing on.
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HUDs in one form or another have been running on this site (albeit for a tiny % of players) afaik pretty much since I started playing here, at least for the last 5+ years. Sky will make updates to stop them working and the computer experts will update their software to make it work again.
Detection is the only way of preventing this type of thing.
There will be private software doing this job already in the player pool. You can hire programmers on sites like people per hour relatively cheaply - Asian programmers and people looking to build a portfolio are very capable and affordable. I've had some nifty custom poker software made for me this way.
Can sky detect processes running on a comp playing through the browser? Maybe, maybe not.
For most people it won't affect their playing experience. HUDs don't tell you how to play - I speak to a seller of a very complex commercial HUD and he believes that the majority of his customers are losing players - akin to recreational golfers who like to have the best club's.
People arent losing to winning players because of huds, it's the hours of off table study and that gives the edge. Don't worry about 0.5% of peeps having a run running. Often it won't be running smoothly, often people won't know how to interpret the stats generated and won't put in the off table hours to make meaningful adjustments. Most of the time in formats like mtts huds aren't even all that useful due to low sample sizes.
HUDs and bots aren't close to being the same thing btw.
To elaborate, what I mean by this isn't merely browsing through hands and obsverving certain stats (oooOOoo 14% CBET), and then being able to miraculously jump to sound conclusions on the optimal strategic counter to an opponent's play. Not at all - a player would have to have prior detailed theoretical knowledge of the game of poker before being capable of making profitable (let alone optimal) adjustments to most strategies, otherwise, adjustments could easily be poor & unprofitable. There's no magic switch.
The hud is also only a small part of a program like HEM. Having a database is incredibly useful when combined with efficient methodological study.
It's still fun without that ability to study - hence most people enjoy the generated stats on how they play and cool graphs without ever gaining edge from them.
Again I would wager the majority of people using tracking software across sites are losing players who simply enjoy using the software.
On sky hud users are likely to be winning players due to the effort needed to get one running here - but it's other regs that are likely the ones being exploited most.
Some formats benefit more from hud use than others also.
Having a winning player on your table is going to hurt your results, but huds do not make people winning players. They are like expensive golf clubs - most will still shank their drives like always. But those that pay for coaching and work on their swing will see some marginal gains from the boss clubs.
Where competition is tough those marginal gains will pay off. For most though expensive clubs are just a cool toy to have
Same for huds.