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If you’ve been keeping an eye on the 2024 WSOP, you’ll have read about the big issue everyone’s talking about – the use of solvers in real-time at the table, as well as using tools to coach from the rail. One of our articles on the issue went viral, quickly becoming the most-read poker story of the year. If you don’t know the backstory, check it out here and here.
How do you stop players accessing helpful information while they’re playing live poker? This is really important, right? People think it’s very much to the detriment of the future of poker. It makes sense why people are upset.
It's in the public eye more than ever now because Dominik Nitsche had a laptop on the rail of the Main Event final table. But in the past, this has kind of been the normal strategy, where the professional gets the best coaches, the best tools, they have people watching the stream at home; there's obviously an easy opportunity for someone to watch the stream and relay what they see about ranges and strategies.
Having people on the rail coaching you, giving you information, and running solvers on the computer — that's kind of normal to me; I'm used to that. I thought a lot of the general public knew this was happening, but clearly most people have no clue about the tools that are out there or how much of an impact they can make.
Some of these people have been the best players, the top players in the entire world, for 10–15 years now, and you don't get that way unless you're using the best tools and the best software. If you're staking people, like Dominik, you're giving them the best tools, and you know exactly how to use this information. The layman at home might not be able to understand what this information can do, but the best player telling you what to do is going to make, potentially, a huge difference.
So we’ve got to be clear about what exactly we're talking about. Is it no communication, no content, nothing in real time? Can information be exchanged to the person at the final table? What are your options if your goal is to get rid of people checking information on their - or their friends’ - phones, laptops and other devices?
'Assistance' takes many forms
You can't just say that you’re banning all solvers, because any information theoretically can be a solution for whatever you're trying to figure out. There are so many things that could be classified as solvers or real-time assistance, and most people don’t really understand what they are or what’s available.
You just have to accept that the data out there now is so good that you can use it to stay in the flow, to stay engaged, to stay warmed up, to stay ready to make your best decisions at all times. People have used music to do this for years. If I'm using music to stay focused, I'm using real-time assistance in order to be in a certain state of mind at the table. Everyone's got their own method of coping with being at the table for a long time. They're texting friends, or they're doing whatever it is that they're doing.
So, what exactly is real-time assistance? If I'm listening to a podcast about breaking down a spot, or if I'm listening to the best poker player talk about his mindset, is that real-time assistance? How about Adderall? All these things could be considered real-time assistance, even if they’re different from an app, a program or a solver.
In tournaments, the really powerful weapons are access to preflop ranges; a shove range or call-off range, a three-bet fold range… The answers are relatively basic, but if you have your chart in front of you and you always know the right play to make, then that’s very powerful. Are people doing that? I think they probably are. They just keep the phone hidden. They just look at it quickly, right?
So, how are you going to stop it? In my mind, the only way to stop this is to ban people using phones at the table.
That opens up a Pandora’s Box. What about the recreational players, the business people who have to be on the phone? What about family emergencies? Well, it's not like you can't have your phone on you and you can potentially step away from the table to make calls, or look at your phone.
The issue of optics
It's a problem optically for recreational players, where if you're a guy who plays 10 events a year and you sit down at the table, and everyone's got GTO Wizard open on their phone, that's a mess.
If I was a recreational player sitting down at the table and I've got four guys in hoodies with backpacks who are playing a hand and then immediately opening up their phones, I'm probably going to assume that they're doing something to analyze the hand. Even if they’re just f**king around on their phones and not really interacting with the game, it takes the joy out of poker for those players.
Some recreational players have already reacted to the optics of the laptop on the rail at the WSOP Main Event by saying it’s going to put them off playing next year. This is potentially terrible for the game.
It's completely unrealistic to expect or assume that players will self-police. We’re playing for large sums of money. If you're a high roller playing the Triton series and you're not doing these kinds of things, you're going to fall behind, and you're not going to be the best player in the field.
It’s easy to cheat in some form if you’re playing online, if you’re going to say that looking at charts is cheating. People might deny that or people might not want to admit that, but nowadays, with the apps and all these tools and charts, there are so many different ways to exploit the game. And, of course, people are going to use the best tools to get the job done. At the end of the day, each arena has the responsibility to police itself in the online world, and it's becoming more important than ever in the live game because it’s now so much more visible.
You walk to the main ballroom at the WSOP, and there's a GTO wizard stand outside. So people are only becoming more and more aware of these things, and they're not going away anytime soon. I think that we've hit that point where some decisions need to be made.
Getting ahead of the problem
The reality is that it's 2024, the world has changed, and artificial intelligence is here. AI is impacting and disrupting all industries, and it's only going to keep getting worse. There will be wearables where you can access data through some type of device that isn't a phone; we’ve got to address this.
If you're playing in these tournaments, you’ve got to care about this stuff. You’ve got to complain; you’ve got to make your voice heard if you want to have an impact on what the future holds. A phone ban in tournaments seems like a simple, good solution, but then do you let people talk to friends at the rail with access to laptops, solvers and delayed livestreams? That’s still a problem.
Maybe you’ve got to make a rule that says you have to stay at the table. And maybe this rule would bring another positive: that players would all be focused on the game and the other players. It could be packaged that way, rather than ‘we’re banning them to stop you cheating’. Poker is a social endeavor to some extent, and we want people to be engaging with others.
Or maybe you just decide no phones are allowed at a final table, or the final three or four tables, but before that maybe they're allowed?
I'm not saying I’ve got the only opinion. I'm not saying I’ve got the best opinion. There are other ways to think about it. But having the conversation is good, and the next step has to be more discussion.
And if you’re a player who cares, you have to make your voice heard.
Do you want your voice heard? Get your own Soapbox and share your passionate rant with the world by emailing your idea to hello@poker.org. Add a comment below to continue the conversation with Joey.
Additional image courtesy of GTO Wizard.
