Should Google Glass be banned at live poker tables?

Is wearable technology likely to cause cheating at the table or will it enhance the poker experience? Barry Carter discusses.

2014 is all set to be the year of wearable technology, and at the forefront of that is Google Glass. A set of glasses with a computer built in. They work like a smart phone and can take pictures and video, can be used to make video calls, text messages, emails and has a number of apps being developed. 

The glasses are not available yet to the general public, but last year a beta team of 'early adopters' got the glasses for $1,400 to test them out and develop apps. 

They have also courted controversy. A lot of people think they are an infringement on privacy, others think they are dangerous if used when driving (The UK is one of the first countries set to ban them on the road). A number of businesses including cinemas have already banned them, and one of the big objectors have been casino chains.

Several casinos have already banned them and Nevada regulators have thus far elected to let each individual casino in Vegas choose whether or not they want them restricted, because the potential to cheat using them is strong. 

In particular poker comes up in these discussions. Last month Esquire magazine ran an article in which the author used Google Glass to cheat in his home game. He used the glasses to record the action via a live stream, where his professional poker player cousin was watching, and relaying instructions back to him. It was just a fun home game and his friends were aware he was using the technology in some way to assist him, but the point remains he showed how easy it was to cheat using them. 

So should Google Glass be an instant ban in the poker room?

The negative side of technology

Let me start by saying I am very biased before this discussion begins. I love technology and think we are living in the greatest time in human history. But I am also very frustrated in particular with what mobile technology is doing to us as a society.

It annoys me to be talking to someone who is constantly looking at their phone and I get particularly irked when I see people walking (or even worse driving) with a handset blocking their field of vision.  

So the concept of wearable technology where you are literally plugged into a computer as you walk around is never going to appeal to me. I understand that Google Glass are working on apps that act as an assistive dashboard to actually help you when you are driving, but I am still inclined to think that most users will still use the apps for distraction.

I'm sure someone will be able to prove me wrong, but until then I just can't help but think Google Glass is going to generally reduce the quality of life rather than improve it. 

The same can be said for the poker table. I am as guilty as the next man of checking my email when playing live, but I wouldn't object to all technology being banned at the table. Simply because it slows the action down and ruins the sociable element of the game. So before we even get into a discussion about the ethics of Google Glass, I probably should just call out that as much as I love technology, I think it is ruining some of the fun in life.  

I also think the glasses just look incredibly stupid. 

Creating a suspicious environment

The fact that Google Glass is probably the least inconspicuous piece of technology in the world is reassuring. Anyone wearing them in a casino will be instantly recognisable as having a computer clamped to their face. Other players, and more importantly the card room staff, will know they are up against someone who is wearing a computer at the table.

The bigger concern here is that in a few years as this technology develops, the glasses will become more and more difficult to distinguish from normal glasses. We are probably only a couple of years from a pair of spectacles right out of a James Bond movie. 

The problems Google Glass present is nothing we are not used to in the world of poker anyway, by that I mean the world of online poker. There is nothing stopping other poker players assisting someone in their decisions right now at any online poker table, in person or using Skype. I'm not saying that this is in any way ok, but it has not had a detrimental impact on online poker. 

The bigger problem as I see it is not the propensity to cheat, but the perception that you might. Realistically, not many people are going to try and cheat in a casino, they will already arouse suspicion wearing Google Glass and we have all seen enough mob movies to be scared out of our wits at the thought of angering a casino owner. 

The real problem is that they could create an untrusting environment. New players will be intimidated to play because of the perception that someone who has the potential to cheat probably will. It would be very off-putting to play in such an environment and would harm the integrity of the game. Much in the same way that perhaps the biggest negative side of tracking software is not the actual advantage it gives, but the perception that it can give an unfair advantage. 

The tracking software of live poker?

The biggest advantage of tracking software is not the HUD, which many people see as an unfair advantage, but the ability to review hands afterwards. In the same way, I think if Google Glass becomes popular with poker players, it will be more because it allows them to record and review a live session, rather than any advantages it gives them in-game (It would be interesting, however, to see if someone tries to develop a live poker HUD). 
 
Just like tracking software, the argument could actually be made that such a technology might actually be more helpful in preventing cheating rather than encouraging it. I imagine the recent Borgata chip smuggling scandal probably would not have happened if there were a couple of players at each table with recording devices strapped to their faces. 

With every new technology comes with it a moral panic about all the horrible things it could do, but in reality they very rarely do. The internet and mobile phones both caused a similar sense of fear both at the poker table and the rest of the world. Mobile phones were banned for a great deal of time at a lot of casinos, but now they are commonplace. 

I for one hope that wearable technology does get banned at the poker table. But I hope so as much for my own misgivings about how mobile technology makes a poker game slower and less sociable as I do my concerns about cheating. The biggest danger for poker, however, is probably that this technology could alienate other people from playing because it appears cheating could be rife. 

However, if Google Glass does become as commonplace as the smartphone in society and at the poker table, we will all adapt. Just like we adapted to smartphones, the internet, tracking software, hole card cameras, live streams and every other innovation people were worried would kill the game. 

Should wearable technology be banned from the poker table? Let me know your thoughts in the comments box.

by Barry Carter (This column was inspired by a feature written by our Polish editorial team)