Will Poker Sites follow Full Tilt and Bblock SharkScope?
Full Tilt Changes Tactics
The poker monolith Full Tilt have blocked poker tracking sites from accessing their data thereby changing the playing field for all players
After much gossip Full Tilt have finally taken the step of blocking online poker tracking sites like PokerTableRatings and SharkScope from being able to check players’ data. The move seems to be going down well with players so far. SharkScope haven’t taken so kindly to the move and have called on all their users to stop playing at Full Tilt. The forums are abuzz with the development in the online poker world with some players being for it and some against. Most seem to agree that the statistics do provide an unfair advantage and are happy to play the game straight up.
Now that Full tilt is blocking the statistics sites the pressure is on for the other big sites to follow suit. It looks like PokerStars and iPoker may well follow the example set by Full Tilt by bowing to the pressure coming from their players. Already PokerStars have informed players who have inquired as to their course of action that they are in the process of preventing tracking sites from being able to track the successes or failures of poker players. These stats can help skilled players smoke out the fish with the click of a button.
It has been pointed out that the statistics sites have had some valuable successes in spotting players who are defrauding the system. Lots of different kinds of scams have been uncovered including the use of bots and multi accounting. This is even before it has been considered just how much help they have given successful poker players find the best tables and win for themselves the most money. The philosophy of the poker table has always been about taking the money from the weak to reward the strong. It’s quite possible that poker stats have simply made this easier though SharkScope has continuously provided the opportunity to players to remove themselves from their database.
Some players are more cynical about the new move by Full Tilt. The recent purchase of PokerTableRatings by Zynga has people talking about how this has affected Full Tilt. By forcing players to choose between the poker site and the stats site Full Tilt has really side lined the stats sites, it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to pick another site on the basis of this. The future looks pretty grim for stats sites if the trend Full Tilt started catches on.
