I know that datamining is a taboo topic, but over at the Poker Tracker forums, a guy named Jay has come up with a way to mine Stars tables. This software legitimately works...

It's also free for use (donationware). If you ever wanted to do this, look here for the tool:

I think its ethical as long as its reasonably open to anyone interested. Datamining is what EVERY good poker player does in a LIVE game. They pay attention to tells, betting patterns, non-verbal mannerisms, etc. Online we can use a computer to "remember" things our small brains could never keep up with in a live environment.

Also, I think that the whole "datamining is the devil" idea overlooks a very important point. Data does NOT guarantee returns. Pokersites are rightly concerned with players gaining an unfair advantage (i.e., collusion, bots, whatever). Data is an advantage but not an unfair one since it does not directly correlate into results (only proper interpretation and execution CAN lead to results).

Limiting datamining would be just like saying that publicly traded companies can no longer publish their quarterly financial returns because some very smart people can read those returns and know when to buy/sell the company's stocks.

Diatribe over.

T

Excellent point, Tim. I datamined UB extensively with Ultimate History when I played $25NL there, and only through interpretation did that truthfully help influence my decisions.

Now we can all datamine Stars...