Is banning phones at the WSOP to stop RTA use an overreaction or a necessity in the solver era?
In what may be fast becoming an annual World Series of Poker tradition, the first week of the WSOP had two instances of players being reported for using GTO Wizard at the tables. In both cases the people involved said they were looking over previous spots, not the current hand they were playing.
This led Tournament Director legend Matt Savage to poll whether it was time to ban smartphones at the tables:
With all of the new AI technology, solvers, texting and audio capabilities at you ready for a ban of phones at the table?
Is it even worth a discussion at upcoming @PokerTDA Summit June 29-30th?
Why or why not?
— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) June 2, 2024
Almost 3,000 responses (And Matt’s audience has to be a very representative sample of the poker community) and a lot of people seemed to agree. What was even more telling, however, was a lot of the replies to Matt. Those who were against it seemed to think that it was both impossible to enforce and also might hurt the game. Banning phones, many argued, would see a drop in numbers.
An overreaction….but good for the game?
My personal thoughts are that banning phones because of two ambiguous cases of people using GTO Wizard might be overreach, but I get it. I think the best case for this is that we nip this in the bud now before solver use gets even more mainstream.
And while it might be an overreaction, I think we would see other benefits too. I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world to be forced away from our phones for a while. Many people, including myself, feel a slight sense of relief when we go on flights where we can’t use our phones. It would also make the game more social, which is obviously a benefit.
I do appreciate, however, that there are people for whom the phone takes the edge off certain traits they may have. Many poker players are naturally introverted and the social aspect of live poker is mentally draining, so the phone acts as a buffer for that. Others have attention issues and a phone allows them to manage their focus. We have to take this seriously because a huge percentage of players fall into this category.
Easier to implement than people think
If you read through the replies to Matt, it does appear that poker players are addicted to their phones quite badly. I’m no exception here. I played on a live stream feature table about six months ago where I had to put my phone in a box away from the table, and the absence of my phone felt palpable.
The current rule in most card rooms is you can’t use your phone while involved in a hand. This rule is not brilliantly enforced in some card rooms and if it was better implemented, we would not be having this discussion. I don’t think what Savage is suggesting is much more draconian, he is simply saying if you want to use your phone, step away from the table.
Again, it might be overreach, but I also think it could be quite good for the game, and easier to implement than many think. I come from an era where smoking was allowed at the table and we had discussions about how a smoking ban would kill the game. It didn’t, it made the game better and it was implemented (almost) seamlessly overnight. A no phones at the table rule could be put in place just as easily.
Do you like this idea? Let us know in the comments: