I am a poker player, online and off. Both are unique and have their respective pros and cons (yes, the pun is intended). One such con, or more likely urban legend, is that of the so called "poker bot" or computerized player sitting in a game with real human players. Along with being a poker player, I also have a college degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on computer technology. I have worked as a programmer, and also as a computer science teacher and network administrator. Once when I was teaching high school kids how to program in C++, I gave them an assignment to program a rigged game of poker. Trust me, that is easily done. The thing is, you'd need to be running the game (i.e. the poker sites themselves or an insider working for them) to pull that off. Poker sites make more than enough money from the rake or 'juice' on the games that they don't need to cheat you(even though the percentage take is much lower per hand or tournament than in most brick-and-mortar poker rooms, due to the sheer volume of play on internet sites and the fact they don't pay human card dealers, it is a billion dollar business). It is for that reason that they can give new players free money for signing up. They benefit by having the largest volume of players possible. In fact it is in their best interest to keep the games fair and transparent so that they don't run off their customers, people who enjoy playing a fair game of poker. You're more likely to find yourself in a crooked poker game in your neighbor's basement than on a regulated and encryption secured internet poker site. Internet poker is not like Teddy KGB's place in the movie "Rounders". Edward Norton's "Worm" character does not deal the cards with his buddy Matt Damon sitting in the game. On the poker-bot issue, I am sure that it would be possible for a program to simulate 'proper' or decent play, especially in limit games. It would be a tall task, but even in video games like Hoyle Casino, PS2's holdem games, etc., there is A.I. for poker play simulation. You can make players who play well, and those who don't play so well. You can make predictable players and unpredictable players. Winners and losers. I still seriously doubt that anyone has come up with such a "poker-bot" for use on internet sites. As long as the "software your computer was running to help you, or to play for you" was not hacking the actual site's game server or the random deal of the cards, I don't know if it would even be illegal to use such a device. As long as you are playing only one hand of cards in the game, would it be illegal to have 100 poker geniuses in a room consulting on how to play the single hand? I guess not. Same thing as if you were playing a hand online and yelled into the other room to ask your wife, husband, or friend what they would do with your cards. You can't do that in a live game of poker, however, at least not until after the hand has been played. If you are somehow secretly colluding with others in the same game or tournament (by way of cell-phones, two wireless networks in close proximity, or instant messaging, etc.), and PLAYING MULTIPLE HANDS, that is illegal. That is what internet poker has to worry about, and once again, it would seem as though it is in their best interest to police this kind of cheating and catch it quickly when it happens. Just like in any brick-and-mortar card room, casino, bar, Moose lodge, or home game, if players don't feel comfortable with the fairness and safety of the game, then they will not play there. Sites have software that checks for irregular play, and players who always play together, etc., and I would at least like to believe that the existing system to catch those cheats is working. As long as the sites aren't cheating themselves, their ability to spot and prevent cheating is better than that of a live casino's security cameras. Internet sites can see all the cards dealt, so spotting irregular play and collusion would be simple. It is also easy for them to track players who often or always play together at the same tables. As for bots, even the real live players who play sort of like 'bots', are so described because of how predictable they are in the way they play. Any time you spot someone who plays like a 'bot', they are easy to beat. I play online, Party Poker and fulltilt, and though I've taken some bad beats there, I've taken them in real-live games too. Once you've played for a while, you get over that natural suspiciousness that everyone is cheating you somehow. That's when you can just relax and enjoy playing online poker.

Source: Poker In The Hole