Hello xx,

Thank you for your email letting us know that you think that this player was breaking our rules. Your email was escalated to me as an expert in bot detection and as a member of our Game Integrity Team.

We do not tolerate the use of automated players (bots). We prohibit such activity because we believe poker is a game that must be played by humans – humans making decisions, in a battle against other humans.

We have developed numerous tools to determine whether an account is being controlled by a human player. These tools undergo constant improvement in order to remain on the cutting edge of technological advancements. We use these tools to proactively review accounts for prohibited software use, as well as to investigate accounts reported by concerned players such as yourself. With these tools, we are able to profile various users, and to then make an informed judgement on whether they are using prohibited software. For example, we can differentiate between human input with a mouse or hotkey suite in comparison to the use of an automated program.

We have many different tools which we keep secret because we do not wish our methods to fall into the hands of bot programmers who will then use that information to avoid detection in the future. That said, here is a general overview of what some of these tools do:

a) Scan for prohibited third party software running in conjunction with our client.

b) Collect detailed information of how each player interacts with our client on a fundamental technical level. This includes, but is not limited to:

- the manner in which hardware and third party software is used to input actions

- the usage of various client features

- chat at the tables (or lack thereof)

c) Record hand histories for analysis. This allows the review of aspects such as:

- volume of games played

- consistency in gameplay decisions

- anomalies in gameplay decisions

- presence of human errors

d) Maintain detailed records of each player's sessions, including:

- the start and end time of each session

- the duration of each session

- the number and duration of breaks in between sessions

e) Conduct real-time Turing tests during play, such as CAPTCHAs which prompt players to type in a random word, and other proprietary tests which are designed to be imperceptible to humans.

Unfortunately, we are unable to go into any further detail on the tools we use and the measures we take. Please understand that this secrecy is in place to preserve the effectiveness of our enforcement methods.

At your request, we have conducted a review of this player's profile, and it is our view that this player does not show any indication of being a bot based upon all the information we have available. Of course, we will continue to monitor our games and should evidence of any prohibited program use surface in the future, we will be sure to take the appropriate action in order to protect the integrity of our games.

Thanks again for your vigilance in reporting this to us. As you would appreciate, we are both on the same side here of wanting to prevent bots from playing on our site, and we are thankful for your assistance in this effort.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we can do to assist you. In the meantime, we wish you the best of luck in your future games, and thank you for playing with us.

Regards,

Tyler
Stars Game Integrity