Bodog Poker Traffic Drops Off 9.3 Percent?
Bodog.com unveiled its “anonymous” software two weeks ago with one of the objectives being to prevent traffic monitoring websites from so-called “data mining”.
The most popular of those monitoring websites, PokerScout.com, reported that Bodog Poker’s traffic fell nearly 10 percent (9.3 percent) in the past week. The irony in all of this is that such a drop off seems to indicate the “anonymous” software is just that….anonymous.
Bodog officials claim that PokerScout.com has simply made up traffic numbers as they pertain to that company’s “real cash” poker tables. Those claims, however, were made two months prior to Bodog actually adding the anonymous platform. After initially announcing that PokerScout would be unable to access such data, the traffic numbers hardly budged. If anything, PokerScout.com indicated a slight uptick and Bodog even moved into the number 10 spot from number 11.
PokerScout.com offered up this explanation as to why Bodog Poker’s traffic had dropped so dramatically in the past week:
Bodog traffic dropped 9.5% as players reacted negatively to the decision to make all tables anonymous. The site may also have been hurt by reports of security issues and cashout delays, as well as the revelation that the anonymous tables weren't really anonymous. The player exodus was enough to drop Bodog from 11th to 14th in the traffic rankings.
Good try but the reality is that maybe 1 percent of Bodog Poker’s customers really care enough about this issue to pull all their funds and stop playing there. That, by the way, it the 1 percent Bodog Poker doesn’t want in its card rooms. If 9.3 percent really left, Bodog might be feeling pretty good.
The company has made it clear they want their virtual tables free from those so-called “sharks” who benefit from “data mining”.
“This is totally unique to the Bodog Poker Network and will send shockwaves through the online poker playing community,” a company press release suggested.
They went on to point out how one of the best poker players in the world, Daniel Negreanu, freely admits that using player data has helped him win. In his own blog he states: “There is plenty of information online that you could find about your opponents. For example, what they've won, what tournaments they normally play and how they do overall. I'd type in their online results under the notes tab, then also color code the notes with either "Winning Tourney Player" or "Losing Tourney Player. All these tools helped me make better reads in marginal situations.”
But immediately following the release of Bodog’s new software, poker players were quick to expose security flaws.
The HH Smithy Blog blamed Bodog for enlisting its full trust in the poker client.
This arrogance undermines a basic security principle, never trust the client. It’s the same reason MW2 was covered in cheaters, Activision even admitted to the mistake of trusting Sony’s client. Sony needs to accept that they no longer own and control the PS3 when they sell it to you. Notice it’s only PSN that gave away all your personal data, not Xbox Live when the 360 was hacked, not iTunes when the iPhone was jailbroken, and not GMail when Android was rooted. Because other companies aren’t crazy.
Bodog could ultimately abandon the anonymous tables in favor of maintaining positive public relations. It is, after all , the “one-percenters” who helped get a notorious Absolute Poker cheating scandal profiled on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes”. In the whole scheme of things, Bodog tends to have a pretty decent reputation, one they wish to keep.
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- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
