Air-Gap Session Protocol: GGPoker RTA Rules & Penalties (SEP 20260313)

No — you cannot use RTA on GGPoker while the client is open. GGPoker's Security & Ecology Policy (SEP, version 20260313) defines Real-Time Assistance as any external aid that influences decisions in real time, and lists RTA breaches among the harshest penalties on the network: permanent ban and confiscation of funds. Solvers, charts, coaching pings, screen-readers, and third-party HUDs are not "gray area" tools here—they are prohibited inputs to a session that must run air-gapped from every external decision source.

This article is GGPoker-specific. It does not rehash what RTA is in abstract (see the queued what-is-rta-and-why-is-it-banned piece) or cross-room policy comparisons (pokerstars-and-ggpoker-rta-policy). It is the Air-Gap Session Protocol: a compartment model for what may touch your decisions before, during, and after a live session—and how GG's Security Team detects violations.

The Compartment Model: One Rule Governs Everything

Think of each login as booting a secure compartment. While GGPoker's client is running and you are seated—or even in a tournament lobby with a decision pending—the compartment must have no inbound decision channels:

Compartment state	Rule
Client closed	Study freely with solvers, charts, videos, coaches
Client open, not seated	Still air-gapped—no reference material "just in case"
Seated / in hand	Every action must come from memory and live reads only

SEP §2.2 states plainly: "Every decision made at the poker table should be made free of any external assistance." §2.3 expands "external assistance" to software, apps, websites, and physical or digital reference materials, with an explicit addendum: "Referring to charts of any kind during play is strictly prohibited."

That last line matters. PokerStars permits limited basic preflop charts under defined conditions. GGPoker does not. A phone screenshot, a laminated push/fold sheet, or a second-monitor range grid—all RTA if consulted mid-session.

Three-Zone Air-Gap Map

Zone	When	Examples	Verdict
Green — Built-in	Always, in-client	Smart HUD, PokerCraft replays, EV displays shipped with GG	Allowed (platform parity)
Amber — Study bay	Client fully closed	PioSolver, GTO Wizard drills, exported HH review, coaching calls about past hands	Allowed
Red — Live ingress	Client open	Solver lookup, chart glance, Discord coach on speed-dial, screen OCR tools, external HUD, seating scripts	RTA → ban risk

Amber-zone trap: opening GTO Wizard on a second device "just to check one flop" while a table is running is still red-zone behavior. The partnership GG announced with GTO Wizard in March 2025 exists precisely to timestamp solver usage against live hand data.

Green-zone nuance: personal notes taken from direct observation during play (opponent tendencies you watched unfold) are not RTA per GG's Game Integrity FAQ. Notes imported from a solver session or a downloaded chart are a different story—if they guide the current hand, they are external assistance.

SEP Clause Decoder (RTA-Relevant Sections)

Current policy version: 20260313 (GGPoker SEP).

§2 — RTA Definition and Stated Penalties

• §2.1 RTA = external aid giving unfair advantage, influencing real-time decisions, or enabling play you could not replicate alone.
• §2.4 Stated enforcement for RTA: PERMANENT BAN + CONFISCATION OF FUNDS.

§1.10–1.14 — Investigation Powers and Full Penalty Menu

GG reserves the right to scan your machine or device during anti-cheat monitoring. Suspicious activity can trigger file fingerprinting against known illicit program profiles.

Confirmed SEP breaches may receive any combination of:

Penalty	RTA relevance
Warning	Documented in past RTA waves
Reward removal	Promotional consequences
Suspension	Temporary lockout during investigation
Account closure / Permanent ban	Standard RTA outcome
Confiscation of funds	Winnings clawed back; may include main wallet and pending withdrawals
PokerCraft / game-type removal	Collateral restrictions

§1.6 allows security checks during gameplay, restricting cashier access or table play while investigating. §1.12: Security Team decisions are final.

Prohibited Auxiliary Tools (Non-Exhaustive List)

Beyond RTA proper, SEP flags tools that facilitate prohibited behavior:

• Solvers, charts, HUDs, bots, seating scripts, automated note-takers
• Remote access: TeamViewer, AnyDesk, ChromeRDP, LogMeIn, Splashtop, VNC Connect, RemotePC, Zoho Assist, and similar
• Virtualization/emulators: VirtualBox, VMware, Parallels, Hyper-V, Nox, Bluestacks, MEmu
• VPNs, proxies, location-masking tools
• Multi-device control: ShareMouse, Synergy, Input Director, etc.

Key carve-out: "tools or services that do not support or interact with GGPoker during gameplay will not be flagged." Post-session analysis on exported data stays in the amber zone—until the client reopens.

Red-Zone Behaviors: Specific GGPoker Violations

Solver and chart use during live play

Manually typing a spot into PioSolver mid-hand, keeping a GTO Wizard browser tab open while seated, or flipping to a push/fold app on your phone—all RTA. GG's chart ban is absolute; there is no "basic chart exception" like some competitors offer.

Human coaching as RTA

Software is not the only ingress channel. The October 14, 2025 GGMillion$ final table case is the canonical GG example: player RealOA solicited unauthorized real-time strategic advice via private messages, including from ambassador Ren "Tony" Lin, who responded with coaching during active play.

Outcomes per GGPoker's official statement:

Party	Sanction	Financial note
RealOA	Permanent ban (GG, WSOP, partner platforms)	$250,523 reclaimed from account
Ren Lin	Indefinite suspension (same network)	$96,380 personal contribution to cover shortfall
Affected players	Restitution	$346,903 redistributed

Private Telegram coaching while a hand is live is RTA—even without a solver.

Screen-reading and automation tools

Any tool that parses the client window (board, stacks, bet sizes) and returns action suggestions is RTA. Partial automation ("suggestion buttons") counts too. External HUDs—PokerTracker overlays, Hand2Note, Hold'em Manager—are prohibited auxiliary tools on GG.

Remote access and VMs

Running the client inside a VM, or leaving TeamViewer active while playing, triggers SEP auxiliary-tool violations independent of whether you personally used RTA. Security scans treat these as concealment vectors.

The Detection Stack: How GG Finds RTA

GGPoker's Battle Against RTA announcement states RTA is detectable, not invisible, and describes upgraded detection plus stricter processes. Documented layers:

1. Behavioral and hand-history analysis

Security monitors decision sequences against solver-like frequencies, timing anomalies (instant complex lines vs. long pauses waiting on software), and patterns that deviate from human variance baselines. Investigations can run weeks before action—recent high-stakes forum reports describe month-long reviews ending in permanent bans even when players dispute the evidence package.

2. Device and process scanning (§1.10)

The client may scan running processes and file signatures associated with known cheating tools. This is why remote-access and VM environments raise flags even without confirmed RTA use.

3. GTO Wizard Fair Play Check partnership (March 2025)

GGPoker and GTO Wizard's joint announcement reported 31 accounts blocked immediately after cross-referencing suspicious live play with GTO Wizard lookup timestamps via Fair Play Check—an operator tool that reveals whether a board was solved in GTO Wizard within a chosen window.

Studying on GTO Wizard with the client closed is legitimate; solver access overlapping seated play is evidence.

4. Integrity reporting and cross-platform bans

SEP §1.9 allows informing the Poker Integrity Council of violations. GGMillion$ sanctions extended to WSOP and partner platforms, not just GG skins—consistent with Fedor Holz's public statements that online RTA enforcement may carry live-event consequences.

Verified Enforcement Waves (Public Numbers)

Wave / case	Accounts / parties	Funds	Source
RTA detection upgrade (announced wave)	13 perm bans + confiscation; 27 perm bans; 40 warnings	$1,175,305.43 confiscated (marked for return to players)	Battle Against RTA
GTO Wizard partnership launch	31 blocked immediately	—	GG × GTO Wizard
GGMillion$ coaching incident	RealOA + Lin	$346,903 player restitution	Official statement

Note: an earlier 2020 GG RTA sweep widely reported as 80+ bans and $1.2M+ returned to 4,000+ affected players reflects the same zero-tolerance posture at larger scale. Treat older secondary totals as historical context; cite the primary blog figures above for recent waves.

Pre-Session Checklist: Staying Air-Gapped

Run this before opening the client:

1. Close all solver tabs, chart PDFs, and training apps—not minimized, closed.
2. Quit remote-desktop and screen-sharing tools; reboot if unsure.
3. Disconnect VPN/proxy unless your jurisdiction requires GG-approved routing (SEP bans location masking).
4. Silence coaching channels—no "quick look at this flop" messages while seated.
5. Use only GG-built HUD/stats features in-client; no third-party overlays.
6. Study later: export via PokerCraft after the session for amber-zone review.

If security contacts you, §1.6 permits restricted access during investigation. Cooperate; appeals face §1.12's final-decision clause.

Bottom Line

GGPoker's RTA stance is binary: the live session is air-gapped. External decision assistance—software, charts, websites, coaches on call, automation—is prohibited from the moment the client opens until you fully log out. Penalties escalate to network-wide permanent bans and fund confiscation, with documented seven-figure clawbacks and cross-platform sanctions.

Study aggressively in the amber zone. Play with nothing inbound in the red zone. That is the entire protocol.