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This didn't work out - ACR apologised for controversial 100k bot challenge
In the beginning, there was an extensive investigation on the Twoplustwo forums, in which players revealed the existence of an entire "bot farm". A group of bots were said to be operating on WPN's Americas Card Room network. The botfarm was supposed to have earned most of the aforementioned amount in MTT tournaments, and deprived players of a smaller amount in cash games. According to the allegations, these accounts would quickly win a lot of money, disappear, and then be replaced by new accounts that proceeded to play the same way.
In response to these allegations, the ACR published a very bizarre appeal on January 5, which sparked a wave of criticism and controversy. In one of the worst PR moves in the history of online poker, the poker room denied the claims of a $10 million bot farm. To prove the bulletproof nature of its network, it challenged players to create their own bot. ACR put its ambassador team of Chris Moneymaker and Ebony Kenney at the forefront of the campaign. The pros have posted the following video, in which they offer $100,000 and a security job to anyone who can create a bot that won't be caught within 5,000 hands:
Think we got a bot problem? We don't. Prove us wrong and win 100k. Check the video for details.
- ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) January 5, 2024
1 winner only 👉 READY... SET... GO 💪 pic.twitter.com/ta6k9rEvlM
The criticism didn't wait long
PokerOrg Player Advisory Committee member Matt Berkey summed up the words of many players when he tweeted: "I'll just say the obvious: if you can create a bot that won't be detected, you'll make 10x - 100x more if you don't participate in this challenge." According to David Lapin, "ACR's chosen strategy is bizarre. Their response is more provocative than reassuring, their tone is petty rather than alarming, their proposal is rude rather than thoughtful."
Whether common sense has won out at ACR or they are trying to salvage at least the remnants of their reputation, they have now apologised to the players in a statement and withdrawn the challenge. The "most knowledgeable individuals in the game" are being urged by the poker room to help make ACR Poker "the safest place to play online."
The full statement reads as follows: "Dear players, we owe you an apology. After listening to your feedback, it is clear to us that our recent decision to initiate a Bot Challenge on our poker site has raised significant concerns in the player community. The overwhelming feedback against the challenge has forced us to reconsider our approach.Our intention with the Bot Challenge was to test the robustness of our security systems and to showcase the strides that our gaming integrity team has made. However, we now realize that pitting individuals against our player base to create and deploy bots was not the right way to achieve this goal. We acknowledge our mistake and sincerely apologize to our esteemed player community.
Going forward, we realize that the best way forward is to work with the experts and our player community to ensure the security and integrity of our platform. We call on the most knowledgeable individuals in the game to join forces with us to make our site the safest place to play online poker. Your insights and cooperation will be invaluable in addressing any potential issues affecting online poker.Your feedback has been heard loud and clear. We value your views and will take them into account in our future work."
Despite the apology, the cancelled call casts a bad light on the Americas Card Room. The gaming room made it clear with the challenge that it completely rejects the claims of $10 million won by bots, even though there is compelling evidence of this. The company concluded by stating that no one has successfully completed the challenge at this time.
Source: PokerStrategy, Poker.org, Twitter (X), MyPokerCoaching