PSA: Do NOT use BearHUD or external trackers on Stake (Huge Ban Risk)

[dutchie99]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to put out a quick warning because I’ve seen some traffic lately around a new overlay program called BearHUD (BearHUD.com). If you look into them, the project's account was literally just created within the past month, and every single one of their social media posts has popped up only within the last 20 days.

The software’s website claims it’s "100% legal" and safe because it just reads "publicly available game state" without injecting code. Do not fall for this marketing loophole.

While it might not violate any local laws (which is what they mean by "legal"), using real-time third-party HUD overlays absolutely risks violating Stake’s Terms of Service. Modern online poker security systems look closely at background processes and screen-scraping tools. If Stake's automated anti-cheat flags an external app pulling metrics from your table windows, your account will be instantly locked. On a crypto-based platform, an account ban for third-party software means a permanent lock and complete forfeiture of your entire bankroll balance.

Just to be clear: I am not personally against the use of HUDs. In a vacuum, they are great tools for studying and tracking data. But the reality is that without them, it inherently creates a much softer, more recreational player pool which is great for the games. I don't want to see high-skilled players getting banned and losing their hard-earned money over an unapproved overlay.

There’s a reason Stake pushed an update recently that wipes temporary table notes and color tags between sessions, they are actively working to keep the player pool anonymous and fair. Trying to bypass that with a brand-new third-party tracker is playing with fire.

Keep your gameplay clean, protect your bankroll, and don't risk your whole account balance for a brand-new overlay. I know the person running the website plays low stakes and their username starts with a "b" most likely "bear***" or something like that.

Stake Poker Security & Ecology Policy

Prohibited Activities and Behaviors

Stake monitors and prohibits the activities and behaviors specified in this section 3 (“Prohibited Activities and Behaviors”) in relation to Stake Poker.

a. (Use of real-time assistance) The use of any external assistance in Poker Games which provides a User with an unfair advantage over their opponents, influences their decision-making in real time, or allows them to play in a manner they otherwise would not be able to replicate, including, but not limited to, charts, software, apps, websites, physical and digital reference materials. b. (Use of bots) The use of any software, programs, websites, or apps that enable playing a Poker Game without User intervention or reduce the requirement of a User to make decisions and/or execute actions, including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence, fully and partially automated bots, or any other tools that automate decisions or actions. c. (Collusion) Conspiring with another User to gain an unfair advantage in a Poker Game, sharing information about a User’s hand in a particular Poker Game while that Poker Game is still in play, or intentionally playing a User’s hand in a particular Poker Game in a non-aggressive manner against an opponent.

f. (Data mining / mass data analysis) Any act that results in accumulation of hand histories other than a User’s own hand history, including, but not limited to, by using any third party tools to import and/or convert hand histories, and granting direct or indirect access to a User’s own Stake Poker data, including hand histories and tournament results, to another User.

[Afree22]

Hi! I'm a software dev and I decompiled the program to see what it actually does. From my research I found that it just reads the traffic that stake sends to the client without interference.

While I am not advocating for bearhud or supporting it in any way shape or form, the claims that you are making about stake's automated anti-cheat flags are a little out there. The claim about Stake's "automated anti-cheat" detecting background processes seems like a stretch. For a webpage to see what processes are running on your machine (like a local proxy) would require a pretty serious level of system access, and that would be a major security concern in itself if true. As far as I know, Stake has no way to monitor what's running locally on your computer outside of the browser/client itself.

I do think the anonymization changes (wiping notes/tags between sessions) can be seen as Stake trying to keep the player pool level. I also agree that a new project should be subject to a little more scrutiny. I just think the specific claim about active detection of tools is extremely speculative, at least based on what's technically possible here.

 

[dutchie99]

Yes, you are correct! I was thinking of it as a separate poker client that you had to open. This is just a website on a browser, so there is no way for them to know really. 

Since you have to show ID to verify your account on Stake.us, you only get one shot. Most people that are using HUD's are people who know how to play poker and want an advantage over the player pool. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion, but passing it off as legal and getting an account banned is unethical, especially since it is a paid program. Use at your own risk, I guess, but the poker on here is already so soft, it's not worth it. 

Edited 3 hours ago by dutchie99

[Afree22]

right, and now that im reading through the rules its a little iffy.

like section 3 part a: technically you would be violating if you pulled up a poker hand ranking chart lmao

also in part f about data mining, from what i've been able to see bearhud collects data from your own hand so technically it doesn't violate ?!

53 minutes ago, dutchie99 said:

Any act that results in accumulation of hand histories other than a User’s own hand

but anyways yeah i just thought the title (Huge Ban Risk) was a little clickbaity lol

Edited 3 hours ago by Afree22

[dutchie99]

Since you are a software dev, does "You are using an unsupported command line flag" mean anything? Or does it not affect anything?

And yes lol you will not get banned 100%. The website says there is 150+ users and it doesn't use the API key so it's no different than writing down stuff in excel. 

They can basically ban you for anything on poker. This is my favorite TOS:

e. (Bum hunting) Intentionally seeking out less experienced Users or avoiding more experienced Users, screening for and engaging certain Users, choosing to participate in a Poker Game when only specific Users are present, or otherwise targeting specific Users, including, but not limited to, by leaving a Poker Game shortly after certain Users depart, and/or resuming a Poker Game when certain Users are present.

Read full rule here, some of them are hilarious:
https://stake.us/policies/poker-security-ecology

Really, I'm just salty that it's not available on MAC OS.

Edited 3 hours ago by dutchie99

[Afree22]

hey there! yes the unsupported command line flag popping up on chrome is I would say expected for the behavior that I have observed. I believe this is occurring because bearhud is, as they advertise, reading info from the chrome window that stake is open on. This is likely done through what is called a proxy, which routes chrome traffic through the bearhud program first, before it reaches the client. This is done but using a command line flag to open chrome (most likely --proxy-server= or --ignore-certificate-errors). The chrome window is basically saying the browser you are working in has been modified so that bearhud can read the traffic going through it and do all of its hud stuff.

Yes i heard they have banned players for winning too much too which is kind of crazy. But oh well, stake is gona stake.