[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]

Invincible (in terms of EV) bots for BG exist and yet people still play these online money games. Players can generally tell later if they've been "cheated," by simply plugging the games they've played into Snowie and seeing if the opponent made any mistakes. A zero mistake rate indicates another player using AI (probably Snowie) and either a bot or a player-assisting program. But, by that time, they've already wagered their money. And, the next time, they may be up against the same bot under a different username and fall into the same trap again. I suppose the intrepid players are willing to fade these bankroll hits, though, because of the many moronic players out there. Just like it will be in poker when "unbeatable" bots are all over the place.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll have to look into BackGammon AI/Bots more, because I don't know enough about it now.

The 0-mistake way of detecting bots is useless in the long term. One, its too late to do anything about it except ban that user which really isn't that big of a deal. Two, if it ever became a big inconvenience to bot operators all they have to do is make their bot slightly "dumber". There's always room to make some mistakes but fewer then the human opponents.

I'll throw another difference between poker and backgammon. The availability of alternative games. I'm in NYC and I have no idea where I'd find a live backgammon game played for money. I'm sure games exist, but they're underground and the option of going to AC to play backgammon doesn't really exist.