Advantage Play & Game Integrity
Real time assistance poker
Real-time assistance (RTA) is when a poker player gets live help from software or another person during a hand, rather than making decisions alone.
- Also called
- RTA, real-time aid, live assistance
- Applies to
- Mainly online poker, especially Texas hold'em, where a player uses a separate program or person while a hand is in progress12
- How it works
- The player consults a solver or other program on a different device, or receives advice via screen sharing, while making decisions in real time12
Key points
- Online poker sites treat RTA as cheating, and enforcement varies by operator1.
- RTA is distinct from a pokerbot (which plays autonomously) and from post-game analysis tools used for study after play13.
- Exploitative play adapts to opponents' mistakes without external live assistance, unlike RTA4.
Where this term is used
Related terms
Advantage play
Poker bot
A program that plays poker autonomously, rather than assisting a human player.
Advantage play
Poker bot AI
Artificial intelligence used to play poker without human input, distinct from real-time assistance.
Advantage play
Collusion poker
Two or more players secretly cooperating to gain an unfair advantage, a different form of cheating.
Advantage play
Community cards in poker
Shared cards used by all players, a game mechanic unrelated to assistance.
Advantage play
Chip dumping poker
Intentionally losing chips to another player, a form of collusion rather than real-time aid.
Advantage play
True count cards
True count cards is the running count in blackjack card counting
Sources
- Computer poker player en.wikipedia.org Defines RTA and states that online poker sites treat it as cheating.
- Online poker en.wikipedia.org Provides example of real-time advice via screen sharing during a live final table.
- PokerTracker en.wikipedia.org Distinguishes post-game analysis tools from RTA.
- A Survey on Game Theory Optimal Poker arxiv.org Distinguishes exploitative play from RTA.
Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.