HUDs and Data Mining: Moral? Mandatory, or Unfair?

To my amazement, I read fairly often in forums of people objecting to HUDs and to Data mining.


If you have been living under a poker rock, a HUD is a heads-up display - when you play online, it shows you for the hands you've played against everybody how loose/ aggressive (and much much more) they are.  Data mining is using the billions of hands played on sites, and extracting information about a player (profitability, and looseness/ aggression) and selling it to people who use it to play better.

Both are fine with me. (And would be if I were an amateur or pro.)

Here is why.  Online poker is a lot like securities trading.  There is some math, there is some psychology, and there is balancing risk and security.  When I traded stocks and bonds online, I had data on all my companies/ securities, as well as information about who was buying and selling a given stock, as well as market analyses, graphs, trends, and 'forecasts'.

Some people don't.  Some buy 'tips'.  Some do what their broker says. Some play hunches.  All are valid strategies.  But to INSIST that I, who take things seriously, have to play hunches, or seat of pants, and use only my memory to remember thousands (tens of thousands) of stocks, profit and losses, charts, news events, and 'math' is daft.

I maintain that online poker is morally exactly the same pursuit as day trading.  Duh, it is not the same thing - but they differ in ways that are not relevant morally.

A poker day-trader can sit with a few beers, gambol-gambol, and vaguely remember that IamaHUGEfish likes to get it in light, whereas Immasuckyoudry is a solid reg.  It is his money, and I hope he can afford to lose.  He would get better odds in roulette, but he likes poker more.  He plays for fun.

Our other day trader (poker pro) dropped out of MIT where he was a Math and Finance major.  He treats poker as if he were trading stocks.  He could no more buy a stock on a 'hunch' than he would put 10k on a roulette table.  He could work at Goldman analyzing stocks easily enough, but he prefers poker.  He has three monitors, and securities (player) data, market data (table and game selection), and analytical tools (Stove, SnG Wiz, Flopzilla, etc).  He records and studies his hands and opponent hands.   He loves the game, but he plays to make money.

Both are valid. To insist that both people play like the first (beer drinking, hunch following, barely remembering) is completely absurd.

Just like poker, there is a trading equivalent of live poker. (Most stock trading is in offices now.)  You remember the scene from Trading Places (Murphy and Nolte) - where they traded on the 'floor'.  No computers, no databases, no math - just hunch, psychology, fear and greed.  They probably knew that when the guy from Lake Forest came to the front of the crowed he was going to sell a ton (and move the market downward), but they kept no 'player notes'.

In trading,both forms (live and 'online') co-exist.  In trading there are math guys, and there are intuitives; there are 'regs' (pros) and fish.

I'm no libertarian (more socialist), but in this instance interfering with the market would be absurd.  The market will rearrange itself so fish can play anonymously (Bovada), and some fish will learn to use the tools (it isn't very hard!) and get better.

Data mining will wait for another day - but the same sorts of principals apply.

For those who care, I'm a poker pro, former investment banker, former entrepreneur, with a Masters degree in Moral Philosophy (among others).

Poker Stars and US players

Pokerstars and US players

Throughout the post April 15 debacle, PS has behaved admirably, returning funds, and complying with DOJ wishes.

However, apart from the FAQs, there have been no updates since about April: my US friends are completely in the dark…

I’m an expert in corporate strategy, and even in the face of uncertainty it is important to retain customer relationships.

A monthly update – even 2-3 lines - such as

‘We continue to work with the DOJ…

‘We have made a proposal to the DOJ to…

‘No clear timetable for return…

‘We have a hearing on x date to explore y…

That sort of thing builds trust and loyalty.

Im sure the issue is complex, but I'd love to recommend what should have been done years ago - negotiate a settlement with the US government that makes happy the tax authorities, and legislators concerned with moral hazard.

-        Aid US tax authorities by reporting US player income (some sort of 1099 as issued by banks)

-        Reinforce the notion of very strong ‘no minors’ and ‘no non poker gaming’ safeguards

-        Don’t take credit cards (at first), this reinforces the safety notion that ‘dad’ can’t quietly go broke by gambling on the family credit cards

-        Develop superior money laundering safeguards

-        Offer to pay corporate taxes on % of income generated in the US (PS operates through US subsidiary)

-        Plead ‘mea culpa’ to the charges, pay the fines and move on – you are aware how much you are losing in US income monthly..

As the best run of the sites, the above should be trivial.

PS is simply the best poker site by a great margin... Lets get you back operating ASAP.