Home / Poker News May 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – PokerStars Crack Down on Data Mining Sites
The Poker Grapevine – PokerStars Crack Down on Data Mining Sites
Posted by: Jo Martin - Mon, 2012-05-14 09:42
Date mining has long been the plague of
online poker rooms. There are sites out there specialized in online poker data mining which provide details on just about every online poker player who’s ever played a hand in his life, to all those interested. Thus, players who are dedicated enough, can gather data on their opponents at a few clicks of a mouse, data which will then give them an advantage at the table that has long been deemed unfair. PokerStars has been on the warpath against such operations for a while now and it has turned on the heat in recent days, cracking down on SharkScope and Official Poker Rankings. The two third-party data mining operators have finally complied with PokerStars’ request to operate as opt-in only services.
The opt-in possibility has been experimented with by both above said sites since 2009. Both have been tracking online poker tournament results across a multitude of online poker sites for years. PokerStars have determined that letting players mine data on others – especially new players – has created an adverse environment for the newly registered.
OPR and SharkScope are not the only ‘victims’ of PokerStars’ crackdown. The site has issued cease and desist notices to Poker-Edge and Poker Table Ratings. The notices were followed by lawsuits in both cases.
In other news: Belgium is cracking down on online poker operators taking illegal advantage of its regulated online poker market. Sites like ChiliPoker, Everest Poker, 888 and TitanPoker have been blocked for a while, and the Belgian Gaming Commission has added a few new operators to the list the other day. Bwin, William Hill, Betfair and Betsson are now also off-limits for the Belgian poker-playing public. The only operations which possess Belgian licenses are Partouche.be, 777 and PokerStars. Pokerstars have teamed up with local online casino operator Circus Groupe to obtain the license. PartyPoker and iPoker have both slammed the Belgian authorities’ license-awarding methods.
