Interview with TableRatings.com Staff

TableRatings.com provides a wealth of information about poker players. It utilizes easy to read graphs and charts in order to illustrate the tendencies of players as well as one click access to some of their key, and potentially private, stats. It allows five free searches per day for guests and an unlimited number for members. TableRatings.com is free to join, but has sparked some controversy due to not having an opt-out option for players and potentially violating the Terms of Service of some of the world’s most popular online poker rooms.

To get an idea of how the company has grown into one of the leading table selection sites in the world, PokerSoftware.com spoke to a member of its staff. They emphasized the importance of transparency in the online poker world, which has become increasingly critical in light of the recent scandals on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. The abnormalities on those two sites were glaringly obvious when hand histories were input into programs like PokerTracker.

PokerSoftware.com: How was the company was formed and where did the idea come from?

TableRatings: It has long seemed apparent to us that the only way the online poker player could ever be fully empowered against cheats, sharks, and scammers would be to make full transparency a reality. Full transparency leaves no room for collusion, chip dumping scams, or some sort of Absolute/Ultimate Bet-type scandal. We've always wanted to "open up" the online world, so to speak, to empower everyone to the same degree as the very ultra elite players who run their own "datamining" operations. We aim to make win rate lies, collusion, bots, and other forms of deception a thing of the past. We view ourselves as the people's poker site.

PS: How do you respond to critics who would say that your site shows private data about individual players that shouldn't be made available to the general public?

TableRatings: No information about online poker is really private. There is a wealth of information on how to run your own data mining operation. There is even commercial software available to do so. The status quo is an imbalance of information and power amongst poker players. The super-elite have all of the power in this picture. We aim to give the same chance to everybody, even average players.

PS: Are there any plans to introduce a premium product?

TableRatings: This is something we've considered and still do consider to some degree. The truth is that we don't know as of yet, but we do know that whatever we do will be good for our users.

PS: What feedback have you received from customers so far?

TableRatings: We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback thus far. The complaints that we get tend to come from people who are upset that certain hands were missed. Most people are anxious for us to add their favorite site.

PS: What do you foresee as the future of databases like yours?

TableRatings: Eventually, we hope to provide integrity to the games that the poker sites can't. We want any player to be able to trust that their money won't go into the hands of cheaters or bots. Hopefully, the transparency that our site provides will be the future of online poker – bringing integrity to the whole industry.

You can read a full review of the program, which supports Absolute Poker, Bodog, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, Titan Poker, and PokerRoom, by visiting our Table Ratings Review right here on PokerSoftware.com. A special thanks from all of us to Sam from TableRatings.com for providing us with his insight.

More articles