The term real time assistance (RTA) is a relatively new poker term that was coined to describe a series of different methods some poker players use to cheat in poker games.
RTA primarily refers to online poker, where various RTA tools can be used to gain an advantage over other players in the field.
If you have heard the term thrown around, but don’t quite understand what it means, this page will guide you through the basics of RTA, the tools cheaters use against unsuspecting opponents, and the main things to look out for.
What Is RTA and How Does It Work?
In the simplest of terms, RTA in poker is any form of assistance a player receives while playing a live game of poker.
This assistance can come from static tools, dynamic software, or even other players. In either case, both online poker sites and live poker rooms forbid the use of RTA.
The simplest form of RTA would be a player using preflop charts to decide which hands to play from each position. This used to be tolerated in the early days of online poker, but has since been debunked as pure cheating.
More recently, however, more dangerous RTA tools have appeared on the market, many of them openly selling the idea of “poker assistance,” which currently remains legal in most jurisdictions.
Different RTA Tools to Look Out For
As mentioned, RTA tools fall into several main categories. These are:
- Static RTA Tools: Tools like preflop hand charts and cheat sheets, which instruct players how to play in different situations. The severity of cheating depends on how extensive the information is.
- Manual Input RTA Tools: Tools like poker solvers are used by some players to “solve” hands in real time and get GTO poker outputs for select hands.
- Automatic Input RTA Tools: Designed specifically with RTA in mind, these tools pick up online poker hands automatically, break them down in the background, and offer real-time outputs to the player.
It’s important to note that both static and manual input RTA tools are actually great learning tools, to be used while not playing the game. However, using them while playing is unethical.
Poker is a skill game, and there is nothing wrong with bettering your skills and using computers to help you learn. Using computers to do the work for you, however, is against ethical norms and the rules of the vast majority of poker rooms.
Automatic RTA tools, on the other hand, are created with cheating in mind and should be generally banned and not used in any case.
Detecting RTA in Online Poker Games
RTA has become a major problem in online poker, especially at the higher stakes. With a significant number of cheaters trying to use RTA tools against a relatively small player pool, the tools have become a real danger to the survival of high-stakes poker online.
Major online poker operators like GGPoker and CoinPoker have been at the forefront of battling RTA by creating automatic RTA detection tools and using manual anti-cheating teams to detect cheaters and ban them.
Most anti-RTA tools are based on pattern recognition, where players are only found out and banned if they use RTA continually and over an extended period of time.
Online poker sites are also able to pull historic solver data and find out if players solved for real online poker hands while they were playing out.
However, all of that remains too little for the most part, as cheaters continue to find new ways around these tools, and often open new accounts after being banned, only to continue cheating.
What Can I Do About RTA in My Games?
The truth is, there isn’t much you can do about RTA users in your games. Detecting them can be very difficult, and even once you do, the only thing you can do is report them.
Once you report a player for potentially using RTA, the poker sites will often review their case and potentially refund some players if the accusation stands.
The problem, of course, is that there is no telling who is or isn’t using RTA, as many players in the modern poker landscape try to apply a semblance of a GTO poker strategy without using any tools.
The general strategy applied by RTA users and learned GTO players is similar, with the difference being that RTA users will get much closer to actual GTO on a regular basis, and make fewer mistakes.
The best you can do to protect yourself is stay vigilant of players who seem to be taking strange lines but still winning, as they may be using RTA tools to play perfect GTO poker and dominate the field.
Paid RTA Tools Are Becoming a Menace
While the use of RTA can get you banned from respectable online poker sites and is frowned upon by poker players worldwide, it isn’t technically illegal.
This is a fact that poker cheaters continue to use to their advantage, as their software simply isn’t widespread enough to elicit any response from the lawmakers.
As such, poker RTA tools advertise openly, sell their products, and state their intentions outright, which may even convince some players that there is nothing wrong with the tools in question.
A simple Google search gives players access to a multitude of subscription-based RTA tools, many of which act as real-time poker solvers that pull hands from your poker software and solve them in real time.
As a poker player, you should understand that these tools are not ethical, can get you banned, and should never be used to take advantage of other players who are not using similar tools.
Best RTA Poker Tools
Google searches for the term “best RTA poker tools” are increasing in number by the day, with many unsuspecting players hearing about RTA and not even realizing what they are searching for could get them banned.
RTA poker tools, many of which are being openly advertised, go against the terms of use of every major poker site, including GGPoker, PokerStars, WPT Global, and CoinPoker.
If you are looking for RTA tools to use to assist with your games, think again, as using such tools could get your name permanently banned from major poker sites, live poker tours, and card rooms worldwide.
What’s even more, players who are named as RTA users and cheaters publicly once typically have a very hard time recovering their reputation in the poker circles, as their actions are deemed indefensible.
Instead of looking further for the best RTA tools, we recommend investing in poker learning tools and training sites instead and mastering the game of poker the right way, so you can play a nearly perfect poker strategy without resorting to cheating or any third-party assistance whatsoever.
Will RTA Become an Existential Danger to Poker?
As computing power continues to grow, poker solvers become faster, and more poker RTA tools appear on the market, there is a real danger that RTA destroys online poker altogether.
A sufficient number of players using RTA tools in online poker games could make it impossible for the operators to continue banning the users, but also make the games unbeatable for real human players.
It is important to understand that RTA tools rely on GTO poker, a form of poker that’s completely unexploitable, which means there isn’t much that human players can do to beat such tools and gain an actual win-rate against them.
To avoid RTA destroying online poker altogether, poker players worldwide must come together, realize the danger of RTA, and ensure that any use of RTA is so frowned upon that no respectable poker player would ever dare attempt it.
