Where can I operate a PokerBot (and other games) legitimately?

Question

Hi everyone. I'd like to build a PokerBot (and a few other games) for the intellectual challenge. However, I only want to do this in an ethical and legal way.

So, I need a game server where all players and the game operator know that I'm running a pokerbot. Where that's not cheating but the norm. Perhaps even where being a human is against the rules.

(I'd also like to build PlayerBots for other games, not just poker.)

If one doesn't exist already, anyone up for doing a collaborative project to build such an environment?

UPDATE: I would say that an open API is the ultimate sign of a server open to bots. No API = Bots not welcome.

Also, I'm happy to play for points rather than real money.

Answer 1

You can check the Coding the Wheel series How I Built a Working Poker Bot to see if he mentions any sites where bots aren't frowned upon, but I'm pretty sure any of the sites that let you play for money will ban you for running a bot.

If you just want to do it for the learning experience or the challenge, try one of the free game sites like Yahoo! Games to see if bots are against their terms of service.

Answer 2

Poker academy has a bot API, and they run an online service for bots. It's commercial software though.