Players Call for GTO Wizard Block with Poker Client Open

Discussions have reignited about the scourge of real-time assistance and how it negatively affects the integrity of online poker games.

We are now more than a decade into the GTO solver era of poker and, to be fair, the situation is nowhere near as calamitous as many predicted. But there have been more than a few high-profile incidents which have soured opinions about where we’re heading.

To ensure the longevity and fairness of the game, it’s crucial to implement stringent measures against real-time assistance.

The Growing Threat of RTA in Online Poker

For the most part, GTO solvers haven’t been readily available for use during play as long as they’ve been around.

Pio Solver required a decent computer to process solutions and the format of the outputs wasn’t really usable with the limited time given to make a decision during online play.

Okay, there appear to have been incidents such as with the likes of Ali Imsirovic who has the resources to be able to have a bespoke program made, but for the rest of the player pool it was life as normal.

All of this changed with online solvers which have a vast library of pre-solved solutions, such as with GTO Wizard.

Many options opted to implement a delay to prevent exactly what we are discussing, but GTO Wizard did not.

What they did do was come up with a system where suspect hands can be searched for and then users can see if any other users searched for the exact hand they are concerned about at the same time it was played.

Clearly, given the recent controversy of top Brazilian player Nacho Barbero getting caught with tables open and GTO Wizard in the background, there are still changes needed to be made.

Obviously all of nachos friends (including me) will defend him, the haters will hate. Nobody will actually know so no point arguing about that. The unarguable has to be that GTOW needs to have a delay, it’s needed a delay for so long but surely it needs to happen before wsop this… https://t.co/Eia2tXS72V

— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) January 31, 2025

Can Online Poker Thrive in the GTO Era?

Whilst online poker looks to be in healthy shape, we’re still some way from the popularity seen in peak years.

With that in mind, do we think there is a chance we will see a surge in popularity? Of course, it depends on what the landscape looks like.

We need to consider both keeping current players in the game as well as attracting new players.

There’s no doubt that bad publicity from regular players will only put off those thinking about taking poker up. But they also do have the right to complain if game integrity has been compromised.

As long as GTO Wizard refuses to implement a time delay for its solutions, it looks as though we are stuck with what we have for now.

But there are other options to consider. For one, we know that sites which do not allow HUDs have detection measures to catch those who blatantly disregard the rules. Could this work the same for the likes of GTO Wizard?

If we want poker to thrive again, we need to increase efforts to make it as difficult as possible for those who insist on unethical gameplay.

Of course there will always be new ways to gain an edge in this manner, but the least we can do is to step up another gear to make it tough enough that almost everyone will play fair.

Those that remember the fall out from when GGPoker banned Ali Imsirovic will be aware that solutions to improve the integrity landscape included “off-site” measures.

Many players asked for increased collaboration between not only online poker sites but also the major live tournament series organisers.

With this, cheaters who are caught would have their identities shared across pretty much all of poker, with harsh penalties promised for the worst offenders.

Another idea mooted for the future was to work on a system for the sites themselves to be able to check for an abnormally high level of accuracy according to GTO solutions for the level of stakes.

This is how online backgammon is policed but we have no idea how far we could be away from such a system.

Mark Patrickson

Professional Poker Journalist

Mark Patrickson is a poker journalist with over ten years of experience. He writes for VIP-Grinders.com, sharing his deep knowledge of poker. He creates interesting content about poker strategy, trends, and news for poker fans worldwide. [more]