Recognizing real-time assistance restrictions
A poker tool’s name does not tell you whether you may use it. What it does, when it runs, which information it receives and the operator’s current policy all matter. A calculator used to study a completed fictional hand and a service recommending an action during a live hand are different uses, even if their screens look similar.
Check the policy for the exact room and service you use before combining a study tool with a poker client. Do not treat a vendor’s marketing, another player’s habit or permission from a different room as approval. If the position is unclear, keep the disputed tool away from play and ask the operator about the specific feature and workflow.
The policy examples below were checked on 18 October 2026. They are a dated reading aid, not a universal whitelist or a guarantee that a later policy will be the same. The exercise makes no connection to a game client and evaluates no live hand.
Timing and open clients · Policy reading desk · Questions for support · Policy sources
Describe what the tool does
Begin with a plain description. Does the tool show a static chart? Does it calculate equity for ranges you entered? Does it read a current table? Does it recommend a bet, call, fold or size? Does it execute actions, share private cards or use hand data gathered outside your own play?
Those questions expose meaningful differences that labels such as trainer, assistant or overlay can hide. A product may contain several features with different policy implications. Permission for a basic feature does not automatically extend to its new advanced mode.
Write down the specific version and feature you intend to use. Include whether any automation, screen reading, imported data or external service is involved. You do not need to send private hole cards or a current decision to describe a feature to support.
Timing can include an open client
“I am not currently in a hand” is not always the relevant boundary. Some policies restrict a category of study software whenever the operator’s client is open. A lobby with no tables can still fall within that wording.
The PokerStars policy reviewed for this page separates tools permitted generally, tools prohibited at all times, and tools prohibited while its software is running. Its advanced-equity and GTO-related restrictions include the open-client context, not only the moment a player faces a decision. The policy also says that using more than one device does not change that boundary.
This is a source-specific example. Do not rewrite it as the policy of every room, or assume another operator uses the same categories. Close the relevant play environment before beginning off-table study, and check whether the tool itself has features or data practices prohibited independently of timing.
A chart is not universally permitted
A static reference can still fall under a room’s assistance rules. The GGPoker Network Security and Ecology Policy, version 20260313 as displayed on the review date, prohibits referring to charts during play and includes physical and digital reference materials within its description of external assistance.
The reviewed PokerStars page describes a limited category of basic static starting-hand material as generally acceptable. That wording does not cover every collection of charts, every lookup aid or every automated response to the current game state. The scope of the exception matters as much as its existence.
Keep the room attached to the rule. “Charts are allowed” discards the provider and the limits. “This specific policy describes a basic static unopened-pot chart category” preserves something that can be checked.
Live recommendations are a different use
A system that reads or receives the current situation and tells a player what to do can influence a live decision. Calling it educational does not change the function. Nor does manually typing a live hand into a separate website turn the resulting advice into an ordinary review of completed play.
Both reviewed policies prohibit real-time assistance within their respective terms. A person making the final click does not by itself remove the assistance issue. The relevant question includes how the decision was formed, not just who operated the mouse.
Do not test whether a room notices an arrangement, move it to another device to conceal it or ask how to evade monitoring. Detection is not the permission standard. An undetected breach would still be a breach, and trying to conceal it can create additional consequences under the operator’s rules.
Off-table study needs its own boundary
For the exercise’s off-table scenario, all poker clients are closed, no hand is in progress, and the learner enters an invented past situation into a study calculator. No table is read, no actions are executed and no private data is shared. These conditions remove the live-decision element from that defined example.
They do not certify every application as compliant. A product could also contain prohibited automation or use data obtained in a way the operator forbids. The off-table answers below explain what changes when all clients are closed and what still needs checking for the exact tool and policy.
Keep study notes and experiments separate from play. A saved result that becomes a live reference may be used differently from the original experiment. Review the use you actually intend, rather than relying only on the conditions under which the note was created.
Use the policy reading desk
Find the policy profile you want to check, then open a question to read its answer. Each profile covers the same three situations: live action advice, an advanced range calculator with the poker client open but no hand active, and fictional off-table study with every poker client closed.
Each answer identifies the relevant restriction and any unresolved question. The PokerStars profile applies its open-client restriction to the advanced calculator. The GGPoker profile includes the official announcement dated 15 October 2026, which directs players to fully close third-party poker software and automation tools before launching the client. Read that announcement alongside SEP20260313; the older document alone is not the complete current source set.
For an unverified room, none of these examples establishes permission. Live advice can affect play, so do not use it while its status is unresolved. Check that room’s current policy rather than borrowing a rule from another operator.
Open as many answers as you need to compare the profiles. Select an open question again to close it. Keyboard users can focus a question and press Enter or Space. The questions and answers work without JavaScript, and there is no form or account information to submit.
PokerStars policy profile
PokerStars: can a tool recommend my next action during a live hand?
No. In this scenario, a tool receives the current hand and recommends an action while the decision is still live. That falls within the reviewed policy’s prohibition on real-time advice.
Typing the hand into a separate website or making the final click yourself does not change what the advice does. Make the live decision yourself. Save any permitted review for after play and check the rules for the study tool you plan to use.
PokerStars: can I use an advanced range calculator with the client open but no hand active?
No. The reviewed policy restricts advanced equity and GTO-related tools while PokerStars software is running. An idle lobby does not remove that timing restriction, and using another device does not change it.
Close the PokerStars client before this kind of study. Then check the calculator’s other features and data sources against the policy, including anything prohibited regardless of timing.
PokerStars: what changes if I study a fictional hand with every poker client closed?
The defined example has no live hand, and the open-client timing restriction is not triggered. You enter an invented past situation yourself; the calculator reads no table, executes no action and shares no private data.
That describes the timing of this exercise, not approval for every calculator. Check the exact feature, version and data practices before using a real product. Keep any study result separate from live play.
GGPoker policy profile
GGPoker: can a tool recommend my next action during a live hand?
No. A tool that uses the current hand to recommend an action supplies real-time assistance, which the reviewed Security and Ecology Policy prohibits. Manually entering the hand does not turn live advice into off-table study.
The 15 October 2026 announcement also directs players to fully close third-party poker software and automation tools before launching the client. Keep the tool closed during play and make your own decisions.
GGPoker: can I use an advanced range calculator with the client open but no hand active?
No. The official announcement dated 15 October 2026 says third-party poker software and automation tools must be fully closed before the GGPoker client is launched. The advanced calculator in this example falls within that timing restriction even when no hand is active.
Close the calculator before opening the client. For a study session, close the client and read the announcement together with SEP20260313 to check the tool’s other features and data use. An idle lobby is not a reason to ignore the newer rule.
GGPoker: what changes if I study a fictional hand with every poker client closed?
The calculator is no longer running alongside the client, and the invented completed hand supplies no advice for a live decision. That removes the client-overlap and live-assistance elements from this defined example.
It does not establish permission for every study product or data source. Check the exact feature against the current policy and announcement. Fully close third-party poker software and automation tools before you launch the GGPoker client again.
Unverified-room profile
Unverified room: can a tool recommend my next action during a live hand?
Permission is unresolved because this room’s policy has not been checked. The tool would influence a live decision, so do not use it while that question remains unanswered.
Find the current policy for the exact operator and service. If it does not clearly cover the feature, describe the live input and recommendation to support and ask for a specific answer. Another room’s rules cannot settle this one.
Unverified room: can I use an advanced range calculator with the client open but no hand active?
Permission is unresolved. Some operators restrict advanced study tools whenever their client is open; others may describe the boundary differently. Having no active hand does not establish that the calculator is permitted.
Keep the calculator closed while using this client until you have checked the relevant rule. Tell support that the client would remain open, even in the lobby, and identify the calculator’s exact feature and version.
Unverified room: what changes if I study a fictional hand with every poker client closed?
The described activity is off-table study: every client is closed, no hand is active, and you enter a fictional past situation without table reading, automated actions or private-data sharing. Those facts remove the live-decision element from the example.
The room’s policy is still unverified. Check its restrictions on the tool, data and later use of study material before treating the workflow as approved. If the wording is unclear, ask support about this exact closed-client setup.
Write a question support can answer
A useful request identifies the operator, tool name and version, exact feature, whether the client is open, whether a hand is active and what data the tool receives. Ask about that concrete combination. “Is software allowed?” is too broad to settle a specific workflow.
For example: “I want to use an equity calculator for fictional completed hands with your client fully closed. It does not read tables or execute actions. Does your current policy permit that feature, and are there other restrictions I should check?” Adapt the description truthfully rather than omitting a feature that might change the answer.
Keep any response with the date and the feature description you supplied. A response to an older version or different workflow may not answer today’s question. Do not treat silence as approval, and do not rely on a screenshot of someone else’s support conversation as if it were written for your case.
Keep data permission separate from tool permission
Even a permitted analysis method can be paired with data you are not entitled to use or share. A hand-history file may contain screen names, timestamps or other details unrelated to the lesson. Use your own permitted records or fictional examples, and remove unnecessary personal information before sharing a study question.
Do not assume that seeing a table gives you permission to build and distribute a database of other players’ hands. The reviewed policies address more than calculators, and their data rules deserve a separate read. This page does not offer scraping, live-card transmission or a workaround for data restrictions.
If you are unsure which part of a tool accesses data, ask the developer for a clear technical description and the operator for the policy interpretation. A vague claim that information stays local does not explain whether the method itself is permitted.
Recheck after a meaningful change
Review the policy again when the tool adds a feature, you change rooms, you switch to another jurisdiction-specific service, or the operator announces revised terms. Also revisit the workflow when something changes from manual study to automatic input or from completed hands to active play.
Record the source, review date and unresolved question beside your study setup. A dated record helps you see when a feature needs another check. It cannot settle the rules for a later version.
Use these HPD experiments for off-table learning and keep live decisions your own. Resolve uncertain tool use through the current operator policy before opening the client.
Policy sources checked on 18 October 2026
PokerStars Third Party Tools and Services Policy provides the categories and open-client example discussed here.
GGPoker Network Security and Ecology Policy, displayed version 20260313, defines RTA and its reference-material restrictions. Read it with the GGPoker security announcement dated 15 October 2026 for the newer third-party-software timing rule.
For another off-table exercise, use Reading solver output responsibly. The Info & Tools lesson collection has more practice topics. Recheck this page’s policy sources before using a tool alongside a client.