Use of Skype

I'd like to know whether any regulations or poker ethics govern the use of Skype by a player to confer with others who are watching the game and may give advice? I don't know of any rule in poker that says you can't give a player advice which he/she is free to follow or ignore.

IMO, poker is not a 'team sport' .... especially if the opponent is not aware that he is playing against a 'team' in any fashion.

Others might say it is commonly called 'collusion' ... which IS in the rules.

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I know people do it. There is no way a poker room knows what you are talking about on skype. But it is not allowed. Since there is no way anyone can really find out, then it more a question of your own morals, and how far over the line you feel comfortable going. You question about ethics is easy to answer. It is unethical.

Best thing (IMO) is for you to replay your games using popopop and teamviewer and skype with people who you want opinions from. Then you still learn (according to your advisors - lets hope they know what they are talking about) and also learn how to make your own decisions. Which is paramount to becoming a better player.

A players play should stand on its own merit withought outside advice...however I Have found that chatting to buddies in general during a game, via skype, in person on phone, although admittedly i was talking about game moves as asked in opening of thread. Although entertaining, it is un unnessesary distraction takes away from the game...Personally It would take away from the pride of winning if I got coached through it and didnt decide what to do...that doesn't sound a whole lot different than Players using others log ins like you seen in recent poker news with the pros

I'm not sure these answers really address the issue.

There's no rule against seeking advice on how to play your cards. It's impossible to prevent people from talking together on Skype, or on the phone for that matter, or IM. What's the point of calling it unethical or tainting it by calling "collusion"?

Are you saying, "We know it happens and we can't do anything about it, but we'd never do it?"

And if so, why? As one respondent points out, hearing advice while playing could be confusing and counter-productive. In some circumstances, one might gain an advantage over an opponent who was listening to advice. Like everything else in poker, what looks positive can turn negative pretty fast.

At this stage of online poker and tech development, we should all be on the same page about what's right and what's wrong. I can't see anything at all wrong with having a friend, or several friends, watch a game I'm playing and offer opinions about what I might do. Their opinions are just that. They have no magic power and following them is no more likely to bring about my opponent's defeat than following my own.

What if you were being coached by an online pro and all the players at your table thought they were playing a rookie?

It's not a grey area at all. Just because it can't be prevented doesn't make it right or ethical.

Discussing a hand after is just about ok, whilst in action is wrong and is collusion and should have you banned from every poker site.

when i started learning poker
i read about collusion, pokerbots etc.
this is why i NEVER deposit on any site
(unless i want to withdraw)
because these things are impossible to regulate or prevent,
this has actually helped me to learn.
i only play freerolls till i have enough BR
to play micro , then move up when my BR allows.
this is only my opinion and my way of doing things.
i enjoy my poker and learning more about the game
at NO RISK to my own money.
i have $200+ on carbon (merge) and cdpoker (ipoker)
lost $237 when fulltilt vanished.
i would advise any beginners to start this way
at least till you become familiar
to the games of your choice.
anyway
good luck all.

Are you kidding? So basically you're saying it's okay to cheat & that you see nothing wrong with it?
Why not just get Sorel Mizzi's number & once you're deep in an MTT get him on Skype there & listen to some 'advice'. Better yet, get a team of observers.

Surely you can see the problems with this?

One player per hand comes to mind. As does multi-accounting.

agreed with Ranny here > you should be booted from every site if known to be doing this.

Before the hand, sure... after the hand, sure... during the hand... are you freakin' kidding me? There are concepts you just shouldn't need rules to know they're wrong.

My standard is... if I told someone what i was doing, could they get me banned? more importantly, would they still play with me knowing i'm doing it?

this is standard in the high stakes game. been reading on another forum.they also do what they call sweating.watching each others monitors and commenting during a game. it has lead to to a massive cheating scandal involving big name pro,s

Pardon me. I'm sitting here at my computer playing poker online. A friend drops in. He watches. He's not allowed to comment? I'm not allowed to listen? Give your heads a shake, people. It's like prohibition. It's ineffective and dumb to outlaw things that you can't stop or control and that a large segment of the population is doing. Makes no sense. It's something like saying "smoking marijuana is illegal and if you're stoned you can't play poker because you got that way illegally."

This thread makes me feel that much better that I quit playing on-line poker well before Black Friday. For all you veterans out there, I'm sure you get that funny feeling when something just isn't right. Maybe it's because your not playing against one person per hand, you are playing against a team of people. With all the on-line communication devices out there (and more and more new ones everyday) I don't quite see how you can keep on-line poker ethical espcially when you have players who see nothing wrong with cheating.
Best of luck to the few honest players out there.

pm me if interested about joining a poker skype group

[ ] poker skype group

[x] shutup

lol

[ ] ok

It's definitely wrong, but feel free to keep burying your heads in the sand and pretending that it's OK.

for sure it's wrong!!!!!! I am sure there are some people trying to scam people at poker tables..... Thats why being a solid player is important!!!!!

Yes, it is morally wrong to receive advice on a hand during play, but legally maybe not. Certainly no means to monitor and enforce compliance so it is probably happening. Accept it, and play or not, cheat or not, based on your knowledge and character.

Well If some one is sweating me and giving me advice on a hand during play, I've done that, I wouldnt call it cheating, if he was sitting on the table then **** yea its cheating,
I meen all hes doing is telling me why he thinks a certain play is best and I decide on that and I learn from it, have I really done a terrible thing?

lmfao as PO stated it's one player per hand and has been since the start of the game a hundred years ago . your thinking is ineffective and dumb and you must please pass the illegal marijuana because it must be some good shit you are correct that we can't stop or control it online but it's still just cheaters that do it . I can't think of ANY game where more then one person can play against one person . if we were playing checkers and your friend came over and started giving you advice , I would slap both of you .
now although I tended to sound a little harsh I was mostly kidding around so please forgive my rudeness but can you imagine if you were playing live and your friend stopped by your table anyway these rules were made long before Internet came along and made stopping cheating ineffective and dumb as was yours this was just my opinion and I'll fight for our right to give it whether right or wrong

have you never played the three vs. one games on mario party? you silly goose!

What's your ROI in mario party poker 3 on 1 games?

Just a note of interest, on the way cyber communications and collusion are heading in online poker: At 888, on the webcam tables, it is common to see several people observing and commenting on their buddy's play whilst they party poker online, or parents leaving their kids to play while they go get a beer, people leaning over to talk to their buddy off-camera before acting, or people mooning the table for that matter.

There is little or no monitoring or moderating at these tables most of the time, in my experience. It is the Wild West online...

Controlling abusive text chat is easy. Controlling a bunch of tables with webcams and parties on them is not so...

To my mind all the cameras do is expose what is really going on all the time all over the place. Except the mooning.

Don't know what webcam tables are, just hope that PS aren't thinking of introducing them

That's what's great about webcam tables... when you can see what you're up against, that's just more information on how to play or whether to play.

Very true... and people give away a ton of information as they forget about the camera...

Bit of a dogleg to the OP question, but part of the overall equation re policy, regulation and enforceability online...

I can't believe we are talking about cheating. Look at it this way, how would you like it if everytime you sat down at a table you had to wonder if you were playing a team or playing each individual person. I don't know how you could even question this, some of us don't have money just to donate, we are all here for the same purpose, to socialize, play the game, improve our game, start a living, continue to live and realize a dream no matter or small or large.

Remember this Cheaters never win in the Long run, ask FTP.

Frankly I don't see how it makes an iota of difference whether I'm playing against an individual, or a team, or a computer for that matter (computers aren't as advanced at poker as they are at chess -- once they improve I'd rather not). A lot of comment seems to assume that two or three heads are better than one at poker. I think that's highly debatable. A team is just as likely to be a muddle as it is to be effective. Advice is just as good as the advisor X the situation and will lead to defeat a good deal of the time.

If it didn't matter... they wouldn't do it. One player to a hand... it's as simple as that.

i wouldnt worry about it too much, it's a really ineffective and probably detrimental way to learn.

It is against the rules. I know pokerstars specifically has it written in the TOS but i don't know how they can ever enforce it.

Early this year in the sunday million many accused a player for this rule violation. It was said when they got down to 3 tables the player in question went from playing like a donk to making all the right moves.
He was known to be a member of some other forum so people assumed (probably rightfully) that he got one of his buddy's to give him advice on each hand.
He went on to take 2nd place. I didn't follow up on the thread so i don't know how pokerstars handled it.