Poker-Edge Removes Datamined Profiles

Poker-Edge, which provides datamined statistical information for online poker players who compete on the major sites, has shut down its public profile search option in reaction to a recent cease and desist order issued by PokerStars to one of its competitors, Poker Table Ratings. Consequently, Poker-Edge has decided, albeit preemptively, to remove public profiles from its search option.

The controversy surrounding datamined information has long been at the forefront of the online poker community. Data tracking programs such as PokerTracker and Holdem Manager have innovated when it comes to players generating stats on opponents during hands they've actually participated in.

However, third-party datamining sites such as Poker-Edge have drawn heavy criticism from major sites because they allow players to purchase bulk hand history information even though the person buying the information was not directly involved in the action.

The result has been catastrophic if you ask the online poker sites. By being able to purchase one million (or more) hand histories at a time, players who take advantage of this service have quickly been able to generate a pirate's hoard of data on all opponents, potentially causing losing and casual players to go broke much more rapidly than if the information had been obtained organically.

Generally speaking, online poker sites have not had an issue with players organizing statistical information on their opponents as long as they actually participated in the hand.

In fact, this type of information has been utilized in the past to quickly identify major scandals within the industry, including the Absolute Poker and UB super user scandals a few years back in which statistics showed that certain players obtained irregular win rates.

Third-party datamining sites, however, have had a more difficult time convincing the community that their services provide a huge value. Regardless, it has been hard to argue that a person who purchases datamined hand histories would ultimately have a much more complete statistical profile on their opponents than those who only compile data from hands they have played in.

The latest move by Poker-Edge does not entirely cease datamining activities. While the search option has been removed, Poker-Edge customers can still make use of the site's Heads-Up Display (HUD) and database software, both of which give users statistics that come from a centralized database.

Another datamining site, HH Smithy, has announced to its users that it will continue to provide datamined hand history information until it receives official notice that its practices are actually illegal.

Meanwhile, PokerStars representatives have taken to the online poker forums to state their case and explain to players that they are aggressively pursuing an overall crackdown on sites that sell datamined hand histories, claiming that the data is the exclusive property of online poker sites that host the games.

PokerSoftware will continue to keep our readers informed on this issue as PokerStars and datamining sites continue to act. To find out more about the Poker-Edge service, our Poker-Edge review.