ShareTexan pro Andrew Esposito has been roundly condemned for using a GTO solver during live play, a row involving the floor erupting after he dismissed concerns and refused to stop...
The incident occurred during day two of the $5k buy-in WPT Gardens Poker Championship in Southern California, when Californian pro Peter Cross asked Esposito to stop using the GTO app.
The video clip shows an upset Cross arguing with Esposito and the floor, claiming the app – GTO Wizard – was in use “the whole time”, Esposito claiming it was just one hand.
Cross took to Twitter to explain further...
Gardens Casino Tournament Manager, Cavin Quintanilla, seen attempting to pacify Cross, also tweeted about the incident: “I addressed this situation at the table, the matter was taken care of and we had no further instances,” pointing to TDA Rule #5.
Esposito, who didn’t deny using the app, explained his side of the row to PokerNews: “It looked like I was on it the whole time for every hand, but it was just one hand that I was referencing.”
He admitted: “I did have the app open … and it was to reference a hand that I got into maybe 10 or 15 minutes before. And as odd as it sounds, I literally downloaded the app probably like last Saturday or Friday, my first time using it.”
Claiming, “I see people with it open quite often,” Esposito took issue with Quintanilla’s reading of the TDA rules:
“And I don’t think it’s clear cut ... I think it needs to be a clear-cut rule,” stated Esposito.
Meanwhile, Cross still wasn’t impressed with Esposito’s behaviour, tweeting out: “If he wasn’t looking at a hand in play that’s fine but it shouldn’t be my job to police whether or not he is every hand, nor should he feel I’m unreasonable for requesting to do so. I lost it because he told me “it’s none of my business” as he is sitting to my left in a 5k.”
As the incident went viral in the poker community, there were plenty of takes on the rights and wrongs, starting with a famous WPT face:
- “Appreciate you guys speaking up and filming this. Can’t have this mid hand. I’ll speak to my peers and see what I can do.” - Tony Dunst, WPT host.
- “Allowing it at any time, even between hands, will destroy live poker. Speak to your peers for a total ban on anything strategy related. Charts/Notes/Solvers/ICM/etc. Players at the table can self-police if needed. Just making it against the rules solves 95% of the problem.” - MonkerGuy, GTO solver/trainer.
- “This is wild. It's insane that the floor is going at you here rather than him. And also that he's like "so? What's the big deal?" about him using it during a hand, is absolutely terrible.” - Benny Glaser, 4-time WSOP bracelet winner.
- "Can we finally just get to the point where cheaters are automatically 86ed? This is ridiculous at this point." - “K.L.” Cleeton, founder of RangeTrainerPro.
Doug Polk, unsurprisingly, got involved, claiming that any use of a solver mid-hand should result in a DQ...
...but the story is likely to grow arms and legs after Polk himself was pulled up for using push-fold charts as far back as 2014, with Matt Berkey chiming in that former Upswing coach, Jason McConnon, did a similar thing at the 2016 WSOP.
Polk replied: “Is that mid hand? Also looking at a preflop jam range between hands, is vastly different than using a solver in real time during a hand at the table. And finally I'm pretty honored that you know our coaching lineup down to one of our 1 year contracts from 5 years ago.”
Meanwhile, Esposito was under fire from a different direction, his “immaturity” showing up once again with Vanessa Kade calling him out for sexism.
More on that story later, perhaps, but for now - what do you think of using solvers, charts, apps, etc. at the table? Let us know in the comments on our social media channels!
