Is it cheating? No, certainly not in my opinion. Is it right that one should have access to this information about other players? No, I don't think it is. Are such sites good for the future of online poker? No - there will always be losers in this game, and they should be able to lose in peace. Do I use such sites? Yes - I do use SharkScope from time to time, but only the free options (5 searches), and I disagree with you Tom, as I usually find them quite accurate in confirming my suspicions about a player.
Software like poker tracker is very different, and I think it is acceptable to log your own performance and it's a great tool for analysis, and picking holes in your game. While I use the HUD, I don't think this is particuarly good for the game as a whole - neither is table checking software. Don't get me wrong, they're great tools, but maybe I'm just a purist.
The online poker sites do not like these tools, and for good reasons. It's bad for business. What can they do about it? Well one idea is to allow people to change their user names or have multiple user names (perhaps linked to one account). I'm not sure how this would work though, and it has to be said that the tracking tools have been successful in exposing certain cheating scandals, i.e. Absolute Poker (which you won't find promoted on this site).
One of the next articles will be about data mining - written by Gerald.
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