Another GGPoker Banwave? Winning Players Report New RTA Bans
- Marchese del River
- Jul 17
- 9 min read
Every serious poker player wants one thing.
A fair game.
Nobody wants bots.
Nobody wants real-time solvers.
Nobody wants players making decisions with software instead of skill.
For years, online poker operators have invested heavily in detecting cheating. That’s good for everyone. Without strong security, online poker simply cannot survive.
But there is another side to the discussion.
What happens if anti-cheating systems become so aggressive that legitimate players start wondering whether they could be next?
That question has resurfaced over the past few weeks after several public reports described remarkably similar experiences on GGPoker: an unexpected RTA warning, a lengthy security investigation, dozens of questions about computer setups and study habits, and finally a permanent account ban.
None of these public reports prove the affected players are innocent.
Likewise, they do not prove GGPoker’s security team made a mistake.
However, they raise important questions about transparency, investigation procedures and the increasingly difficult balance between protecting games from sophisticated cheating and protecting honest players from potential false positives.
This article isn’t an accusation.
It’s an analysis of what is publicly known, what remains unknown and why this discussion matters for every online poker player.
Table of Contents
🚨 A New Wave of RTA Investigations
The discussion started gaining traction after a high-stakes regular published a detailed post on TwoPlusTwo explaining why he believed he had been wrongly banned for alleged Real-Time Assistance (RTA).
According to the player, he had been grinding NL500 and NL1000 on GGPoker for years with solid long-term win rates before unexpectedly receiving an RTA warning from the site’s security team.
What followed was not an immediate ban.
Instead, it became a process lasting several weeks.
The player claims he immediately contacted GGPoker asking one simple question:
Which hand do you believe I cheated in?
According to his published emails, no specific hand history was ever provided.
Instead, security reminded him that consulting charts during play violates the site’s rules.
The player says he immediately removed all study material from his computer, despite insisting that he had never used any solver or real-time assistance while actually playing.
At this stage, many readers would probably expect one of two outcomes.
Either:
the warning was enough;
or the account would be closed immediately.
Instead, something far more interesting happened.
GGPoker allowed him to continue playing for roughly two more weeks before freezing the account and opening a much broader investigation, according to the player’s account.
That timeline has become one of the main discussion points within the poker community.
📅 The Timeline
Below is the chronology reconstructed from the player’s published emails and forum posts.
May 5
The player receives an email warning from GGPoker Security alleging possible Real-Time Assistance.
He immediately contacts support asking for clarification.
According to him, no specific hands are provided.
Instead, security reminds him that preflop charts and any external reference material are prohibited while playing.
Immediately afterwards
The player claims he deleted every poker chart stored on his computer.
He insists that:
no solver had ever been open while playing;
no GTO software was running;
his strategy relied primarily on population tendencies rather than solver outputs.
Again, these are the player’s own statements and have not been independently verified.
May 5 – May 19
This is perhaps the most intriguing part of the story.
According to the published timeline, the player continued grinding normally for approximately two weeks.
No restrictions.
No suspension.
No immediate account closure.
Only later would the account become inaccessible.
May 19
The account is frozen.
The player receives notification that a formal security investigation has begun.
Unlike a standard KYC review, this investigation reportedly extends far beyond identity verification.
Security requests extensive information about the player’s poker career, study methods and computer environment.
The Following Weeks
Over more than one month, the player says he exchanged multiple emails with GGPoker Security.
He describes providing:
proof of identity;
proof of residence;
selfies;
hardware information;
software lists;
explanations regarding VPN usage;
details about coaches;
staking arrangements;
poker history.
According to him, replies often took over a week to arrive.
He also says he repeatedly offered to:
play under live observation;
share his screen;
record complete sessions;
cooperate in any way requested.
He claims these offers were declined.
June 22
After approximately 34 days of investigation, GGPoker informs the player that the account has been permanently closed for RTA violations.
According to his posts, he was instructed to withdraw his remaining balance.
He maintains that he never used any prohibited software during play.
🤖 What Exactly Is RTA?
Before discussing the controversy, it’s worth defining what Real-Time Assistance actually means.
According to GGPoker’s own Security & Ecology Policy, RTA is any external assistance that influences a player’s decisions during a hand.
This includes:
solver software;
decision engines;
dynamic strategy tools;
websites;
applications;
digital or printed reference material;
charts of any kind consulted while playing.
That last point surprises many players.
A static preflop chart might seem harmless compared to a live solver.
However, under GGPoker’s published policy, both fall under prohibited external assistance if consulted during play.
This distinction matters.
Many professionals spend hours every week studying with GTO Wizard, PioSolver or preflop charts.
Studying is encouraged.
Using those materials while a hand is running is not.
The challenge, of course, lies in proving where that line has been crossed.
🔍 What Makes This Case Different?
Every major poker room bans cheaters.
That alone is not news.
What makes this story different is the level of detail the player shared about the investigation itself.
Instead of describing a simple automated ban, he published screenshots showing a process that appears considerably more extensive.
According to his account, GGPoker Security wanted to understand almost every aspect of his poker life.
Questions reportedly covered:
when he started playing poker;
whether he had coaches;
staking agreements;
strategy partners;
other poker accounts;
complete PC specifications;
peripherals;
software typically running during sessions;
reasons for VPN usage.
From a security perspective, these questions make sense.
If an operator is investigating sophisticated cheating, understanding the player’s environment may help build a more complete picture.
However, they also illustrate just how comprehensive modern poker security investigations have become compared with a few years ago.
The Poker Broker Analysis
At this stage, it’s impossible for outsiders to determine whether GGPoker reached the correct conclusion in this specific case.
We do not have access to:
the operator’s internal detection systems;
gameplay analysis;
technical evidence;
device telemetry;
any confidential information collected during the investigation.
What we do have are two things:
GGPoker’s published Security Policy, which clearly prohibits consulting charts or any external reference material during play.
A detailed public account from the player describing a long investigation, repeated cooperation and a final permanent ban that he strongly disputes.
Those facts alone are enough to justify asking broader questions about how modern anti-cheat investigations are conducted.
⚖️ Are Winning Players Under Greater Scrutiny?
This is the question that has generated the most debate.
Let’s start with what we do know.
There is no public evidence that GGPoker deliberately targets winning players simply because they win.
Making that claim would be irresponsible.
However, there is another observation that deserves discussion.
Many of the recent public complaints involve experienced regulars playing medium and high stakes.
That does not prove causation.
It may simply reflect the fact that professional players generate larger samples, play more hours and therefore have a greater statistical chance of being reviewed by security systems.
It may also be completely unrelated.
The truth is that nobody outside GGPoker’s security team knows exactly how investigations are initiated.
That uncertainty is precisely why these discussions continue appearing across poker forums.
Security Teams Face an Impossible Job
It is easy to criticize a poker room after reading a forum thread.
It is much harder to appreciate the scale of the problem.
Modern online poker is facing threats that barely existed ten years ago.
Today operators must detect:
real-time solver assistance;
AI-assisted decision making;
bots;
account sharing;
ghosting;
remote assistance;
data mining;
sophisticated collusion.
Many of these activities leave very little visible evidence.
If security teams only acted when cheating was absolutely undeniable, many offenders would probably never be caught.
On the other hand, if detection systems become too aggressive, every false positive damages player confidence.
Finding the right balance is incredibly difficult.
The Transparency Problem
This is where many professionals believe the conversation should focus.
Not on whether cheaters deserve punishment.
Everyone agrees they do.
The real issue is transparency.
Imagine receiving an email stating that you violated the Security & Ecology Policy.
You ask which hands are suspicious.
You ask what evidence was used.
You ask how the conclusion was reached.
If the answer is simply:
“The investigation is complete.”
…many players naturally feel frustrated, regardless of whether the decision was correct.
Of course, there is another side to this argument.
If operators publicly explained every detection method, actual cheaters could adapt and avoid those checks in the future.
Complete transparency could weaken game security.
That leaves poker rooms in a difficult position:
reveal too much, and you help cheaters;
reveal too little, and honest players may lose trust in the process.
There is no perfect solution.
💻 Can Study Tools Become a Problem?
One aspect of GGPoker’s Security & Ecology Policy surprises many players.
According to the policy, referring to charts of any kind during play is prohibited, alongside other forms of external assistance.
That means the distinction is not simply:
Solver = illegal
Chart = legal
Instead, the rule focuses on whether external material is being consulted while decisions are being made.
This creates a practical challenge.
Most serious poker players spend hundreds of hours studying with tools such as:
GTO Wizard
PioSolver
MonkerSolver
HRC
custom preflop charts
ICM trainers
These are legitimate study tools when used away from the tables.
The safest approach is to ensure they are completely closed before opening the poker client, especially given GGPoker’s published policy on auxiliary tools and external assistance.
🎯 How Professional Players Can Protect Themselves
Nobody outside GGPoker can guarantee what will or will not trigger a future investigation.
However, there are several sensible precautions every professional player should consider.
Close every study application
Don’t leave:
GTO Wizard
PioSolver
HRC
charts
PDFs
browser tabs containing ranges
open while playing.
Even if you never consult them, avoiding unnecessary risk is simply good practice.
Avoid unnecessary remote software
The current Security & Ecology Policy specifically lists remote-access software, virtual machines and certain auxiliary tools among technologies that may trigger scrutiny or be prohibited depending on their use.
If you don’t need them during a session…
Close them.
Be careful with VPNs
VPN usage isn’t automatically evidence of cheating.
However, GGPoker’s published policy identifies VPNs and similar location-masking tools as technologies that may be reviewed in the context of security investigations.
If you legitimately require one, be prepared to explain why.
Keep your setup simple
The cleaner your playing environment is, the easier it becomes to demonstrate good faith if security ever contacts you.
Professional grinders often run multiple monitors, training software and productivity tools.
During actual sessions, simplicity is your friend.
Cooperate Immediately
If Security contacts you:
reply quickly;
provide requested documents;
remain professional;
avoid emotional arguments.
Even if you disagree with the investigation, cooperation gives you the best chance of resolving misunderstandings.
📊 What We Know — And What We Don’t
One mistake many articles make is mixing facts with assumptions.
Let’s separate them.
✅ What We Know
GGPoker prohibits any form of Real-Time Assistance during play, including consulting charts while making decisions.
The operator reserves the right to investigate accounts, temporarily restrict access and permanently ban users after security reviews.
Multiple public discussions describing RTA warnings and investigations have appeared recently on poker forums and Reddit.
The TwoPlusTwo thread documents one player’s version of a lengthy investigation ending in a permanent ban. (As with any forum post, it represents that player’s account.)
❓ What We Don’t Know
What evidence GGPoker relied on in the specific case.
Which internal detection methods were used.
Whether the player was correctly identified.
Whether similar investigations have increased recently or whether public discussion has simply become more visible.
Those unknowns matter.
And they are exactly why sweeping conclusions should be avoided.
📝 Final Thoughts
Every honest poker player wants cheaters removed from the game.
That shouldn’t even be controversial.
If bots, solvers and real-time assistance become widespread, online poker loses its integrity.
But protecting integrity requires more than catching offenders.
It also requires maintaining players’ trust.
Whether this recent cluster of reports represents a genuine increase in enforcement, a handful of unrelated cases or the beginning of a broader banwave is impossible to determine from public information alone.
What is clear is that the conversation has changed.
Professional players are no longer asking only:
“How do I study better?”
They are also asking:
“How do I make sure my study routine can never be mistaken for cheating?”
That is a question every serious poker operator—and every serious player—should take seriously.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
What is RTA in online poker?
Real-Time Assistance (RTA) refers to any external software, chart or reference material used to influence decisions while a hand is in progress. GGPoker’s policy explicitly includes charts consulted during play.
Can GGPoker permanently ban players for RTA?
Yes. According to its published Security & Ecology Policy, potential sanctions include permanent bans and, in some cases, confiscation of funds.
Does this article prove innocent players are being banned?
No.
It analyses publicly reported cases and explains why they have generated discussion within the poker community.
Whether individual bans were justified is information known only to GGPoker and the players involved.
Are preflop charts allowed on GGPoker?
According to GGPoker’s published policy, referring to charts of any kind during play is prohibited. Studying away from the tables is a different matter, but players should review the current policy carefully.
Should professional players worry?
Every professional should understand the rules of the poker room they play on, keep their playing environment clean, and avoid having study tools or other potentially problematic software open during active sessions.
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