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!
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!
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!
With the tokenization of in-game property becoming more popular all the time in the web3 world, Legacy is here to put a unique spin on NFT ownership.
Legacy is a game about entrepreneurial success, about building an enterprise from the ground up by designing and selling products. Through the game’s Design Competitions, you can compete against other players all over the world to design the most creative products around and sell them with the greatest efficiency.
Your “Land” in Legacy
When you get in the game, you’re joining the entrepreneurial elite who bet on themselves for success, whether you’re a Guild owning Legacy Tycoon sharing in the success of those you empower or an aspiring go-getter joining a Guild to chase your dreams on someone else’s dime.
Leading a Guild with a Deed
The only way to play Legacy on this level is to own a Legacy Deed, the equivalent to NFT land in Legacy. These Deeds are not currently available in the Gala Games store, but can often be found on the secondary market at OpenSea.
Each Legacy Deed unlocks your ability to organize and manage a Legacy Guild. Recruiting for your Guild is easy– In fact, the game will do it for you. As a Guild owner, you have a certain number of Legacy Keys with which players can join your Guild. The higher the rarity of your Legacy Deed, the more Legacy Keys you get, and the more members your Guild will have.
Legacy Deed NFTs exist in 5 different rarities. Click the heading links to view the items on OpenSea.
Please note that if you purchase a Legacy Deed from the secondary market, you will need to bridge it to GalaChain before configuring your Guild and recruiting players. This is done easily by connecting your Ethereum wallet to your Gala account. Learn more about connecting your web3 wallet here.
Joining a Guild with a Key
The best part about playing as a Legacy Keyholder is that you don’t need to go searching for a Guild to join. As long as Legacy Keys are available, you’ll be able to join a Guild as part of the initial game interface.
It’s tough in the world of business-building. If you want to make it big, you need to connect with a good leader– In Legacy, that means a good Guild.
When you first launch the game through the Gala Games launcher, you’ll be prompted to choose a Guild from the available options. When you select a Guild and get started, the Legacy Key and its access to the game will be yours.
The number of Legacy Keys for each Guild is determined by the Deed’s rarity:
Startup – 1 Legacy Key
Enterprise – 5 Legacy Keys
Firm – 15 Legacy Keys
Corporation – 50 Legacy Keys
Conglomerate – 125 Legacy Keys
Heart of London – 500 Legacy Keys
Qualities of an Effective Guild Leader
As a Legacy Deed NFT owner, you’re also the owner of the responsibility to run a Legacy Guild. Because you’re working with self-starting entrepreneurs, not much hand-holding is necessary, but as the boss, you get to call the shots.
In the same way that each Legacy player must keep a close eye on their town’s workers, ensuring they are rested and not overworked, each Guild leader must strike a proper balance for their Guildmates.
Setting an Effective Reward Split – The Guild leader can choose any percentage split they like for sharing Legacy Ticket rewards generated from Design Competitions in the game. With 50 active players for a Corporation Deed and 125 for a Conglomerate Deed, Guild leaders can benefit substantially from a meager reward share of even 1-2%, which will go virtually unnoticed by Keyholding players.
Sending Guild Messages – The Guild leader is called to rally the troops and coordinate strategies, building relationships with their Guildmates and preparing for the game’s expanded future features.
Kicking Inactive Players – While it is not a requirement, every Guild leader has the right to kick players from their Guild at any time and for any reason.
Start Playing Today
Your Legacy is waiting in this delightful free-to-play game created by 22cans. Become a titan of industry, competing for awesome prizes and unparalleled prestige!
This game is an action-packed and visually stunning PvPvE extraction FPS adventure, set on a hostile alien planet called Aura. After picking a Hunter (one of four with unique abilities and specialties), players team up and prepare to take on Aura.
Your mission is to collect a priceless alien artifact with untold technological power: The Notari Core. While fighting off countless vicious predator aliens and other extraction teams, your team must locate and extract core fragments, leading ultimately to the Core, the main focus of the mission. Once you have extracted the Core, it’s a no-limits dash to the dropship, where only one team can escape with the Core (and their lives).
From the moment you drop onto Aura’s surface, you’re in for a high-powered adrenaline rush that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Stay close to your team and you just might be able to protect yourselves long enough to mine and extract the Notari Core.
The Premium Event
Starting very soon and running for two weeks, Last Expedition will hold a Mission Ready Premium Event. Watch closely for updates and announcements.
To participate, players must purchase an event pass in-game for 3 Core Chunks LECC. The ability purchase this item will become available when the Premium Event begins.
LECC can either be acquired by swapping for $GALA on GalaSwap, or by successfully extracting with a Core in-game.
Purchasing an event a pass will unlock the ability to play on Premium Servers and experience Aura like never before. Seven new creature variations will challenge players from the moment they land. We’ve even included a secret feature designed to push player skills to the limit!
Premium Servers give 3 types of premium rewards! There will be XP rewards, Character Coin Rewards and Fire Skins, all exclusive to this event. But wait there’s more! Players who place on the Premium Leaderboards in the top 10 will receive Alice Fire skins, LEMIN, and LEFC. The top 3 Finishers will also receive a bonus “Darkness Sniper Rifle Skin.”
The Last Expedition Leaderboard is the ultimate measure of your skills as a hunter. Wins, PVP Kills and Creature Kills all contribute to your score so don’t delay. Get your pass and start hunting!
Upgrade your Node
Last Expedition Node Operators (OPs) will play an integral part in this premium event. Upgrade your node with a special Operator’s Premium Pass for only 3 LECC to unlock the ability to host premium matches on your server. This pass will last for the duration of the 2 week event, setting up your Node with a preselected bundle of creatures. This will give all participating nodes a consistent threat level, providing the competition with a level playing field. When the event is over, your node will return to its original configuration and threat level.
For every match hosted during the event, Node owners will be rewarded an extra 25 percent of LEMIN, LECC and LEFC. In addition, Operators will receive the following participation rewards:
10 LEFC
Legendary Alice Fire Skin
Splat Grenade Launcher Fire Skin
In-Game Loot Drops
Here’s an in depth look at all the loot items players can find by killing creatures on Premium Event Servers during this event:
XP drops
Common – 250 XP
Uncommon – 500 XP
Rare – 750 XP
Epic – 1000 XP
Legendary – 2000 XP
Character Coin Drops
Common – 110 CC
Uncommon – 220 CC
Rare – 440 CC
Epic – 880 CC
Legendary – 1000 CC
Fire Skin Weapon Drops
Stalker Assault Rifle
Cease and Desist Shotgun
Hornet SMG
Hagelsturm LMG
Jackal Pistol
Lynx DMR
Splat Grenade Launcher
Tempest Rocket Launcher
Character Coin and Fire Skins are shared so the person on the team that is carrying them has to extract for it to be rewarded to the team. The CC rewards are not split. Each member receives the amount specified above. Finally XP rewards are granted to the individual that picks them up, awarded at the time of pickup.
Hunters Prepare
The bottom line is that it’s time to get some skin in the game and extract some Cores. Download and play Last Expedition now on PC, completely free through the link below.
