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Steps Poker Rooms Can Take to Reduce Live Stream Cheating

The poker world is presently in an uproar over alleged cheating in low stakes streamed NL Hold’em cash games by Mike Postle. Numerous videos have been shown that to some appear damming. Some have accused Postle of getting hole card data fed to him either through his cell phone or other monitoring devices.

Stones Gambling Hall, the casino where the incidents took place, have begun an investigation into the games to confirm if cheating occurred. Regardless of the results, these incidents show a need for stricter measures for live-streamed poker games.

Today, we will give a few suggestions on how cheating can be further reduced in live-streamed poker games.

Ban and Remove All Electronic Devices

Stones Gambling Hall reportedly has a ban on cell phones at the table, but it appears that the ban isn’t properly enforced. This isn’t anything new as many live casinos will state that you can’t have cell phones at the table. However, most only enforce the rules for those that are currently in a hand.

Generally, players that are not in a hand can use their phones or players can simply step away from the table. However, they are allowed to keep their phone and other devices at the table.

Unfortunately, this does open up the opportunity for players to receive information about hands from others. If someone was in cahoots with Postle at the casino, he could have received hand data over his phone.

A complete ban on electronics during live streams would help to eliminate this. By a complete ban, we mean not allowing electronic devices in the room that the live stream is occurring. Players must turn in their devices or they are not allowed to play.

Before you make an argument about doctors or other professions needing to have their phones at all times, the casino is not required to allow them to play. If they want to play, they can find someone else to cover for them or have someone outside of the room monitor their phone or devices.

Conduct Surveillance of Live Stream Employees

It would seem logical that those in charge of running a live stream, including those that monitor the hole cards, should be monitored by the casino. We are not saying that employees are not monitored, but it seems that simple monitoring would have uncovered any potential cheating in this case.

Poker cash games and poker tournaments are monitored by casino security and if there are any questions regarding the game, you can always go to the video. The same should be true of those running the live stream. If this is not being done already, it should be instituted. If monitoring is happening, the investigation should be a short one. That’s assuming that this is an inside job at the casino.

Conduct Regular Checks for Electronic Monitoring Devices

There are some that have accused Postle of having an electronic device tucked away in his hat to help him monitor hole cards. The type of device he’s being accused of using is unknown.

However, there are ways to screen for this. Electronic screeners are available that can be used to sweep the room for outside devices. If a player shows positive for a device, they must show what they are concealing, surrender it, or be escorted from the game. If they fail to comply with the request or the scan, they can leave the game.

Additional Steps May Be Necessary to Protect Game

The one thing that should be taken away from this scenario is that cheating is still an issue at live poker sites. While it isn’t as prevalent as in the early days of the game, some players will still try and find a way to cheat the game.

While we won’t accuse Postle of cheating, the scenario is suspicious enough to warrant some changes to how live streams are conducted. The changes will not be met with open arms by some, but many players will comply in order to continue to be featured on live poker streams.

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