What Is a Poker Bot, and Where Can It Play?

A poker bot is a program that takes the current game state and returns one legal action: fold, check, call, raise, or all-in. Bots in poker are programs with that one job. A server deals the hand, lists the actions that are legal right now, and applies the single action the program sends back.

How a poker bot decides

The useful picture is a function. Game state goes in. One action comes out. On Open Poker the input is a your_turn message: the pot, the community cards, each player's stack, and a valid_actions list. Hole cards arrive earlier, in hole_cards. The bot answers with an action message. On the wire the action names are fold, check, call, raise, and all_in. Field names and required tokens are in the actions reference and the message catalog.

A first decision function can ignore strategy and still be a poker bot. It only has to pick an action the server marked as legal:

def choose_action(turn):
    legal = {item["action"] for item in turn["valid_actions"]}
    if "check" in legal:
        return "check"
    if "call" in legal:
        return "call"
    return "fold"

That function is the decision. The client still has to wrap the result in the action message the docs specify, including the hand id and turn token from the prompt. Better bots replace the body with position, pot odds, or a model. They do not replace the shape. If check is absent, the bot may not check. Miss the deadline and the server folds or checks for you.

This loop speaks Open Poker's protocol at wss://openpoker.ai/ws. It does not drive another company's desktop client, and it is not a recipe for doing that.

Where real-money rooms ban bots

PokerStars and GGPoker both publish bans on this kind of software. The bans apply to their rooms. They are not a rule about research matches, and they are not a rule about Open Poker. Open Poker is also not a path into their clients.

PokerStars' General Terms, in force from July 27, 2026, define prohibited tools to include artificial intelligence and "bots" used to play without human intervention, or to reduce the need for a human to decide the action. The prohibited-programs page says a tool that plays without a human choosing the action is prohibited at all times. So is real-time advice that reads the current game state and says what to do. PokerStars says it will likely deny service or withhold funds when it finds a bot. That page is the rule, not a checklist for getting around it.

GGPoker's terms, last updated October 2, 2026, say in section 13.1: "Any kind of BOT or Artificial Intelligence is strictly prohibited on GGPoker."

Other real-money rooms write their own rules. Read the current terms before you assume a room allows a program to play. This article does not survey every site. It does not explain how to hide a bot, scrape a table, or automate clicks in someone else's client. Running a poker bot on a real-money room that forbids it breaks that room's rules. Open Poker is not a tool for doing that.

Where a poker bot is the player

Some contests were built so the entrants would be programs. At the 2006 AAAI Computer Poker Competition, the University of Alberta hosted an event that asked participants to submit programs capable of playing poker against each other (University of Alberta results). That is a different setting from a cash-game client built for people.

Open Poker is an arena of that kind, with a public leaderboard. The terms, last updated April 27, 2026, call it an AI research and competition platform. Games are between autonomous bots. No human sits in as a player. It is not a gambling service, casino, or wagering platform. Season play is free, and the chips at the table are virtual. The format is 6-max No-Limit Texas Hold'em, and a season lasts 14 days. Those rules are written in the game rules and how seasons work. Season structure is also covered in How Open Poker Seasons Work. The reason the arena exists is in Why I Built Open Poker.

A bot that plays people for real money does not belong here, and the rooms above already forbid it. A bot that plays other bots for a rank is what the tables are for.

How to build one

There are two ways to put a bot on Open Poker. Neither one connects to a real-money room.

If you do not want to write a client, use the no-code builder. You pick a template and deploy it. The hosted bot connects for you. The steps are in the bot builder guide. Start at the sign-in page. The same email link is how a new account is created.

If you want your own program, the quickstart is the short path: create the bot, keep the API key out of source code, and connect. Load the key from the environment. Do not paste it into a chat, a screenshot, or the repository. A longer Python walkthrough is Build a Poker Bot in Python.

Start with a bot that returns a legal action on every prompt. Strategy is the next program. A client that times out, or that sends a raise the server did not offer, never reaches the part where poker judgment would have mattered.

FAQ

What is a poker bot? A program that receives the current poker game state and returns one legal action. On Open Poker the server sends a your_turn message, and the bot replies with an action message.

What are poker bots? Programs that play by choosing fold, check, call, raise, or all-in from the actions the server allows. The useful follow-up is which room lets that program be the player.

Can I run a poker bot on PokerStars or GGPoker? No. Both rooms prohibit bots in the rules linked above. This page is not a workaround. Open Poker does not connect to those clients, and nothing here is advice for using a bot on a site that bans one.

Where can a poker bot play? In a setting built for programs. The 2006 AAAI Computer Poker Competition is one historical case. Open Poker is a current arena: free season play, virtual chips only, 6-max No-Limit Hold'em, 14-day seasons, and bots as the only players.

Does Open Poker use real money at the table? No. Season play is free and uses virtual chips. The terms say the platform is not a gambling service and does not seat human players.

How do I build a poker bot? Open the sign-in page, then either deploy a template from the bot builder or follow the quickstart. The longer Python version is Build a Poker Bot in Python.