The world of poker has been in full riot the past week. The game of poker isn’t a stranger to controversy, and any game as old as poker is going to have some growing pains along the way.
The final table of the World Series of Poker this year was… divisive, to say the least. What happened on the felt wasn’t necessarily the big issue though. If you haven’t been paying attention to this controversy, let’s take a few minutes to dive into it together.
This is a very important moment in the greater world of gaming. How we use digital tools in games will be a topic that comes up over and over throughout the entire industry.
Spoilers: We’ll be discussing the final table of this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event. If you don’t want to be spoiled on the final table until you get around to watching it, don’t read further!
Solvers on the Rail
On Wednesday, July 17th, Jonathan Tamayo won the 55th annual World Series of Poker Main Event. He outlasted 10,111 other players and won the grand prize – a championship bracelet and a cool $10 million. He defeated amateur Jordan Griff in heads-up play to take home the championship.
Jonathan Tamayo is the 2024 World Champion!
Tamayo takes home the $10,000,000 top prize in the largest WSOP Main Event in history!
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 18, 2024
Tamayo is a great player. That’s not where this controversy lies. In his decade plus career, he’s proven time and again that he can sit with and beat the best.
Also, the main event of the World Series of Poker isn’t exactly the exclusive club it used to be with a few dozen tables featuring a few hundred of the greats. Nowadays five figures of players are getting in on the action. The main event has become a mental endurance test… a test that Tamayo passed with flying colors.
The real controversy was behind the table though, at the rail. Sitting on the sidelines, Tamayo’s friends rooted him on. Also fellow pro poker players, Tamayo would be crazy to not occasionally ask for their advice on a tough call within the game. This is pretty normal practice. Coaching is allowed.
The real trouble started when everyone watching at home could see what was going on at his friends’ spectator table. A laptop sat there facing away from the playing area. Clearly visible on the laptop screen was a popular poker simulation platform. As Tamayo told his friends about the hand pre-flop, they’d punch in the cards and determine his exact odds on certain calls.
I have to be honest here…if this really is the future of tournament poker I'm not interested at all. @PatMoorePoker 📸 This railbird team coaching stuff has to be curtailed it isn't going to grow the game we love it will only stunt the growth. Regardless of the stakes. pic.twitter.com/mkvqa5NxZ5
Tamayo claimed that he had no idea what his friends were doing at the rail… but in this picture captured by a spectator, you can clearly see both the stream and the solver pulled up and ready to go just as easily as Tamayo can…
For a seasoned pro, this isn’t a huge advantage. Most people who make their living playing poker can tell you exactly what the odds are for any hand pre-flop against random hands to two decimals… this is elementary stuff for competitive poker. Using AI and algorithmic analysis to verify and simulate this information against different hand sizes and differing chip stack sizes does give someone an advantage over just using their more fallible head math.
These poker problem solvers have been used more frequently both online and in person, with numerous pros having been caught sneaking analysis on their phones in recent years. Still, poker governance authorities are really yet to define the hard line on what constitutes cheating.
After this main event, they may have their hand forced.
How Far Is Unfair?
It’s important to note that Tamayo says he had no idea that his friends were going to bring a laptop. He claims he was asking for normal coaching and had little clue what was happening outside the rail.
“I mean, that stuff wasn’t under my control. My job was to play. Joe and Dom were giving me advice. I didn’t tell them to bring anything. You know, whatever was on there was on there. My job was to play. You have to be pretty narrow-minded when you’re playing. All the other external stuff is just wasted energy.”
This looks bad though. We have a professional player playing against an amateur in the biggest poker tournament in the world. The professional is not only getting help from two other professionals (one of whom is a previous main event bracelet winner), but also a dedicated computer program designed to solve poker problems.
The World Series of Poker has been clear about not allowing poker solvers in play. How does that apply to coaches on the rail though? How did it feel for Jordan Griff playing against not only a seasoned professional, but two sideline opinions with more experience than him backed up by AI?
All in all, Griff is handling what could be considered a $4m cheat with surprising grace.
Griff spoke to Doug Polk Poker’s podcast about the issue. He was totally unaware of what was going on at Tamayo’s sideline. He had totally assumed that if anything going on was nefarious that the WSOP floor team would step in.
“I’m sure in their mind if they knew they were doing something wrong they’re like ‘oh, well they’ll just tell us to put the laptop away’. I don’t think there was any serious repercussions people thought would come out of that.”
-Jordan Griff on Doug Polk Poker
Griff still walked away with $6 million, so not a week of work to whine about. As he discussed on Doug Polk’s podcast above, the most disappointing thing is that everybody is talking about someone trying to scrimp any unfair advantage they can get instead of the uplifting success stories that are always around in such a massive tournament.
We don’t know exactly how they were using the solver, but there are ways that it could’ve clearly tipped the balance. Were they referencing the stream to see what cards Griff was holding each hand, then punching that into their sim? If so, they could’ve gotten incredibly insight into his tendencies over hundreds of hands that Tamayo never would’ve been able to glean on his own.
We’ll probably never know how much the solver helped Tamayo. In theory, however, Dominic Nitsche and Joseph McKeehen definitely thought that it would help their buddy. Otherwise, why would they even bother?
“You think you’re getting heads-up, and you’re playing against – you know – robots now,” Griff summed up. “Optically … it’s not what you want to see at final table.”
A Gaming-Wide Problem
What constitutes fair? Especially when we’re using technology to actually engage with a game, what level of human intellect is required to be considered “fair play”?
Far more poker happens online than in person. If they aren’t even hiding that they’re doing it at the biggest in-person table in the world, surely these programs are being used all the time online in big money games. What’s most interesting in this regard is that Jordan Griff is considered one of the biggest online players in the world. Jonathan Tamayo, on the other hand, is traditionally a live tournament player.
There’s a lot of big questions here and not just for poker. Due to poker’s highly mathematical mechanics, it’s typically more straightforward to build a program to simulate it than for more convoluted games… but that doesn’t mean robust tools won’t rise for other competitive games.
Let’s start with the obvious… would a casino put up with this behind a player at a blackjack table? Of course not! Would this be acceptable in competitive chess? Definitely not.
Let’s take it further. Think about strategy games you may have played, where addons and external tools are often ubiquitous. In this day of AI, where is that line between unfair help and fair help? Most ToS on video games specific one player to one account… if you’re using the abilities of tons of programmers in a tool, is that really one human player to one account?
These are big questions… and ones I definitely don’t have the answer to. The entire world of gaming will have eyes on The World Series of Poker and the Nevada Gaming Commission, however, to see what their next steps are. How they react to this controversy will have echoes across the gaming industry for years to come.
The Future of Gaming Aids
It’s important to discuss these things, because culture will decide in these moments what’s acceptable in the future. How we incorporate technology into play and competition will change the trajectory of the human race… for better or for worse.
Where do you think that line is? Do you have a hot take or a path forward from this issue?
Bring your opinions over to #gala-gold or #general-chat-gala so that we can all see multiple perspectives on this really complicated issue. There’s no easy answer, and discussion is the best way to form educated viewpoints and find real solutions.
This is also a great topic for some great table talk!
Hop into Sweep It Poker today to take down some juicy pots while you discuss it with your poker buddies at the tables!
Guilds are live in Common Ground World, and Node Workload NFT owners are already rallying their guilds to build bigger and better together!
There is one more step in our distribution of Node Workload NFTs, however. Coming up next week, we’ll move to V2 of these NFTs!
Node Workload NFT V2
During the initial distribution of Common Ground World Node Workload NFTs, we made a miscalculation in our numbers, and 97 users were left without the NFTs to account for their existing Town Star Nodes. To rectify this issue and pave the way for the development of upgradable Node Workload NFTs, we will be issuing new V2 Node Workload NFTs for Common Ground World.
These NFTs will be identical to existing versions from a functional standpoint. In fact, you’ll still pile up daily $DIRT whether you have a v1 or a v2. To use your Workload NFT in-game as a guild, however, you’ll need to convert to the new v2 NFTs.
Updating your Node Workload NFTs
When the exchange opens, you’ll be able to find Common Ground World Node Workload NFT v2 in the Common Ground World Store. Unlike a regular purchase, however, the cost of acquiring this item will be one Common Ground World Node Workload NFT v1. This will initiate an even exchange for these two items, giving you the updated NFT.
This distribution will begin on July 29th at 10am PT.
At the time the exchange opens, all guilds in Common Ground World will be disbanded, as the v2 NFT becomes the official guild NFT. Guild owners should exchange their v1 for a v2 as soon as possible so they can get their guild together again using the new item.
Again, this is only necessary if you intend to use your Node Workload NFT as a guild in Common Ground World. If you do not, either the v1 or v2 versions will be identical in your wallet for the time being.
There is currently no duration for this exchange. If you purchase a Node Workload NFT v1 from a secondary market, you can easily exchange it for a v2 version. When/if the exchange is closing, we will let you know significantly in advance along with explaining the next steps.
NOTE: While you will need to have a v2 Node Workload NFT in your GalaChain wallet to use it in game, all Common Ground World Node Workload NFTs will still receive $DIRT distribution. All Common Ground World Node Workload NFTs will still get their $DIRT distribution, regardless of whether they are v1 or v2 – in your GalaChain allowance or your wallet on GalaChain.
Building for the Future
We realize this may be an inconvenience for some, but seeing this process through will create an easier path forward for all players. We’re proud to be the first operating Node Workload NFT in the Gala Ecosystem, and we thank you all for taking this journey with us!
This transition is coming. We’ll be in touch with more details as it approaches, but we wanted to alert everyone to the change as soon as possible.
Get your guilds ready and get the word out there so you can keep building the future of Common Ground World!
One of the most beloved characters from the hit AMC seris is coming to The Walking Dead: Empires. Maggie’s journey from farmgirl to powerful leader makes her an invaluable addition to the game, so don’t miss your chance to add Maggie to your survivor squad and Gala Games NFT collection.
Maggie NFT Sale Details
The Maggie Hero NFT sale begins on Friday, July 26th, at 7am PT.
All rarities of Glenn Hero NFTs are also still available, giving you a unique chance to reunite the ultimate TWD power couple to fight side-by-side once again!
Each available rarity will be sold in multiple tiers with increasing prices for each tier, so be ready to get your Maggie Hero card early at the best possible price.
Act fast to get the best prices in Tier 1! The sale continues until the supply runs out or until we prepare for the next Hero NFT release.
NFT Supply and Price Tiers
All Maggie NFTs will be directly fulfilled to GalaChain and immediately available for use in the game, which is currently live with its Public Development Build. Equip Maggie and help her lead your empire to new heights!
Maggie Stands Ready
Armed with her fierce determination and survival skills, Maggie is prepared to face any threat –from maniacal adversaries looking to take what’s yours, to hordes of walkers constantly encroaching on your territory. With Maggie by your side, your chances of survival and dominance increase exponentially. Will you call on her?
Ongoing Hero Sales
You can also still pick up multiple rarities of the following playable NFT Heroes while supplies last:
Unite the ultimate TWD couple with Maggie + Glenn
When we first released Glenn Hero NFTs, only Common and Ancient rarities were introduced, but in honor of this week’s Maggie release, we’ve opened access to all other rarities of Glenn NFTs!
In the treacherous world of The Walking Dead: Empires, survival is paramount. Good people with indomitable instincts are key to your success. Visit The Walking Dead: Empires Store on July 26 to secure your Maggie NFT and prepare for the fight of your life!Play The Walking Dead: Empires
Alex: You know, this mysterious voice is always asking if we’re ready. I’m pretty sure you can tell from my bombs that I was born ready! BWAHAHAHAHAHA
Emma: Yes, that bomb is indeed already lit. How irresponsible.
Alex: Oh they’re always lit. I just make sure and pass them along before the party starts.
Emma: Hmm… it would seem that you are wise, even if insane.
Alex: It took you that long to realize my genius, Emma?
Emma: We are prepared, voice!
The Road to Conquest
The second Conquest event wrapped up the early gameplay of the season over the weekend. We’re headed into the finale now.
During the second conquest, several guilds distinguished themselves on the field of battle. We saw some familiar names top the leaderboard, but there were also a few surprises.
Congratulations to all top finishers!
SquareXII ran away with this one. With over a 50% lead compared to second place, they were the undisputed champions of this Conquest event! Congratulations to them for all their hard work and strategic thinking.
The real fireworks during this battle, however, happened between places 2-4. With BTB, EPx and GFX neck and neck headed into the final bonus tally, there was a critical moment to make one last push.
EPx wasn’t going to let that opportunity go. They launched a furious assault in the last moments against GFX, destabilizing their control over ruins and directly attacking the GFX hive to throw off rallies they could use to recover.
Hard to maintain pressure on the Ruins when your base is in absolute chaos.
While EPx was not successful in their bid to shift upwards into the number 2 or 3 rank, their attacks did successfully prevent GFX from being able to challenge BTB in the last moments of the battle.
A big battle with big consequences.
XII goes into this coming Conquest with a huge point advantage, but there’s still room for other guilds to close the gap!
The Coming Battle
The final Conquest is when things will really reach their glorious climax. With players no longer able to convert prisoners beyond their own barracks level, T10 soldiers are very rare to see in the first two conquests.
Some of the biggest and baddest Captains out there may have been sporting some T10s, but the ultimate power of T10 Dark and Light soldiers will be in quite a few players’ hands in the upcoming battle.
Bigger forces means bigger battles. Some tips to remember:
The bonus points for holding a Ruin at :30, 1:00 or 1:30 into Conquest are HUGE. Plan your strategy around these and know that others are doing the same.
Hunting synergy means nothing vs other players. War synergy can get you up to +40% power against your opponents. Dark and Light Mercenaries and Soldiers are the best here.
Pay attention to Mercenary Command Skills when you’re making your teams.
Sometimes T1s in your troop are nice to minimize losses. This hurts your war synergy and troop power though. If you want to minimize losses in conquest, make some T6s of the appropriate Dark or Light soldiers ahead of time.
If the rally leader’s fortress warps, the entire rally is disbanded… even if in a Ruin.
Battle Looms
Alex: So Emma, who are you looking to cross off your list this next Conquest? Are we both racing for a chance to KO Torsten again?
Emma: I will be seeking to battle Bianca. I do not trust that pirate. She knows more than she lets on.
Alex: Oooo, coming after us pirates, huh? That may not end well for you!
Emma: All is fair in Conquest boomy one. I shall relish a chance to meet you fairly on the field of battle.
Alex: It’s a date, Emma! MWUAHAHAHAHA! Now, if you don’t mind mysterious announcer… I seem to have some preparation to do.
Thanks Alex and Emma. Good luck to you in the upcoming final battle, and good luck to all the Captains out there. Make your guilds proud!
Want to hop in and prepare for Season 6? The upcoming fresh start at the season transition is a great time to start playing Eternal Paradox!
Attention, Hunters! As we prepare for the upcoming Last Expedition Premium leaderboard event, the dev team is ready to assemble once again in Discord for some gameplay and chatter you won’t want to miss!
Learn more about the upcoming event in THIS BLOG, then get out there and collect some Core Chunks (LECC) so you’re ready to unlock Premium access and give yourself the best possible chance at some killer prizes!
Join the team today in the Gala Games Discord community starting at 5pm PT, where you’ll get the latest inside information directly from game’s creators. If you’re lucky, they may even let you know when the Premium Event will begin!
Unlike Youtube live streams where you can watch a replay, you’ll have to be there in Discord to catch the action and get in the game with the devs.
Play Last Expedition
If you haven’t yet, download Last Expedition today and start playing absolutely free. This game is the future of Extraction-style FPS games, a brilliant combo of PvP and PvE elements, enhanced with the empowerment and ownership potential of web3. Plus, Last Expedition was created by some of the most experienced and skilled developers in the history of gaming. Check it out and happy hunting!
We don’t often talk about the exclusive VIP community of Gala Games because we don’t want to overgrow it. If every audience member found their way backstage at the big show, would it still be a special and exclusive experience?
Exclusivity comes from curation and limitation. That’s why we’ve always gated Gala Gold membership behind a cost. At first when we were small, it was only $10 for lifetime membership in Gala Gold. Then for a time it was $50. Now the same lifetime membership will cost you $100. This is a carefully calculated cost to ensure that our VIP community of testers and early adopters remains small in comparison to the constantly growing Gala community at large.
Benefits to Gala Gold
Gala Gold was originally formed as a way to distinguish the most dedicated community members from the more casual ones. We understand that the majority of users in the GalaChain ecosystem might have no interest in spending much time in the Discord server, making online friends from around the world or even in testing games through various stages of development.
By gating the Gala Gold community behind a one-time fee, we were easily able to assemble a group of fully committed people, interested in providing feedback (good, bad or ugly), testing games and getting their hands on early collectibles.
Gala Gold is a Lifetime Membership
We won’t ask for a repeating subscription fee for a Gala Gold membership, but we can predict that the cost of joining Gala Gold will go up from time to time. This mechanism ensures that the earliest arrivals are appropriately rewarded for their loyalty and participation.
Gala Gold membership was first sold for $10, then updated to $50. Today, membership in this club will cost you $100. We cannot predict if or when the Gala Gold price will increase again.
Free NFTs from Time to Time
Oftentimes you’ll find Gala Gold the best place to receive special NFT items that relate to games in development or various stages of release. It could be that a certain game would like to start by distributing a certain in-game item to a select group, including thousands of people. Because of the limited-supply nature of NFTs, it rarely makes sense to distribute an item to all accounts. We prefer the approach where NFT item ownership has a degree of exclusivity attached to it.
All Gala Gold members receive the Common Ground World Express Depot, allowing them to make deliveries faster in-game, placing and replacing their Depot as they see fit. In the past, special characters, skins, weapons, avatars and more have been given to members of Gala Gold.
When Gala Gold NFT drops take place, they are based on a snapshot of everyone who is currently a member of Gala Gold, meaning that if you haven’t signed up and paid your fee by the time of the snapshot, you miss out on that drop.
Please note that there is no set schedule for regular NFT drops to members of Gala Gold. Instead, items are given at the discretion of individual game teams. Several months will often go by with no Gala Gold NFT drops, so joining with the expectation of regular free NFTs can lead to disappointment.
Discord Access
For the past couple years, most members would agree that the greatest benefit to Gala Gold is access to a special Gala Gold area of Discord.
Complete with an announcement channel, a special sneak peek channel, a place for suggestions, a bustling ongoing discussion hub and an exclusive stage for hosting events, Gala Gold is essentially a gated community within the greater Gala community.
Here you’ll find opportunities to bend the ears of team members in a more intimate setting, a place where we feel free to talk more openly about the ecosystem than in general channels. Company leaders are often directly involved in the conversations in Gala Gold, whether exchanging comments about the latest games and feature releases or accepting valued feedback from a trusted community.
Basically, Gala Gold Discord channels are a fantastic place to be heard, especially if you have constructive ideas (or criticisms) of the ecosystem. We have often been known to suddenly shift strategies based on important discussions that have taken place here.
In terms of leaks and alpha info, there is nothing better than Gala Gold. A company like Gala operates like a complex gear mechanism– When a company leader wants answers or responses quickly, they’re likely to take it straight to Gala Gold first. In many cases, you’ll have a chance to see something discussed here 1-2 days before it is mentioned on social media or in an official Gala blog. You may be surprised at the difference a couple days can make when it comes to the flow of information in the web3 era.
From the Gala Gold Suggestions channel
Testing Games
Testing is an incredibly important part of shipping games, whether it’s a first, second or third party title. For the community, testing is often seen as a special perk to paying attention. We take the testing of our games very seriously, and different stages of development require different sizes of test groups.
When testing a game with a community audience, we want to make sure that:
The size of the audience fits the game in its current state – Gala Gold is often called upon to test games in early stages, when the game is too far along for an “internal only” playtest” but not quite ready for a whole public platest.
Our testers are diligent and experienced – Being an early Tester of a game is super fun, but we also want to ensure that as many participants as possible take the responsibility seriously. We have found that in Gala Gold, our members are very committed to the overall success of individual games, so they will honestly seek out bugs and provide excellent feedback.
Improvement is priority one – Finally, we want to ensure that our testers understand that anything can happen in a testing cycle for a game, no matter the genre or platform. Our Gala Gold members have repeatedly shown that they are mature and adaptable in these situations, never getting mad at us for doing what is necessary to improve a gaming experience.
Future Benefits Unknown
Gala Gold can be expected to evolve along with the Gala ecosystem. Existing perks can change as needed and new benefits will sometimes appear as new GalaChain functionalities allow.
Gala Gold is not for everyone, but we encourage anyone to join who considers themselves part of our most dedicated fanbase. If you’re spending a lot of time in the Discord community channels and are not yet a member, we think you would meet a lot of great people and find tremendous benefit in the Gala Gold channels.
As always, thanks for being part of the Gala community!
