Dummy "filler" players at FullTilt FreeRolls

[mstram]

I'm guessing this has been discussed before, but I didn't know what to search for.

It's obvious to me (now anyway), that FullTilt "pads out" their tables with dummy "players", who are set to "fold on every bet".

What is the purpose for this?

Is there anything insidious / evil going on here?

Or is it just to make it easier for freeroll players / newbies to play, and encourage them to come back? .... build up false confidence .... deposit actual *real* money.

There were FOUR of these "players" at the table where I played the Canadian freeRoll tonight. I'm only a beginning player, and I might (probably) would have done a lot worse against actual players, but it also made it almost impossible to pick up any large pots when I had a good hand and raised, as 4/10 players were folding every time.

It wasn't until I was eliminated from the table, that "duh", I realized what was going on.

Mike