Poker Forum

damn near 100% of players who wear sunglasses are bad, or at least not good, at poker. one of the best indicators that you're at a great table is seeing people with sunglasses on.

I think sunglasses should not be allowed at any poker tournament or money table. There are still ways of getting tells from players, but sunglasses should be banned.

I really love the site, thank you for the info.

Unless you think your opponent can see through your cards, there is no reason why a person would want to ban sunglasses. If its not for that reason then what? do you think there glasses are feeding them info about your play like a computer screen. Come on, people dont want others to wear sunglasses so they can get more information, its absurd to think sunglasses can be used to cheat

@Slayer I think the worry is some glasses can allow the wearer to see marks or smudges not visible to the naked eye. Doyle Brunson said he never had a problem with sunglasses at the table until he had a cellphone where fingerprints were only visible when he wore shades. I'm against sunglasses at the table, but agree with other commentors that they're usually a good fish indicator.

I agree with Doyle and Negreanu about this, as any poker purist would. Sunglasses are a "tool", and as such, should not be allowed during WSOP tournament play.

Tools should not be used (in any form), for the purpose of gaining an advantage at a table, or against an opponent during competition. Baseball caps and hoodies are accessories, and articles of clothing, but they are also used (as tools) to prevent opponents from gaining a read - -pulling the cap down over the face, or cinching the hoodie closed, hiding the face. Those actions have gained laughs and such, but their opponents aren't laughing. Truly, how is it any different than someone wearing a closed faced, motorcycle helmet at the table? Aside from looking ridiculous and being bulky, reasonable minds could argue that motorcycle helmets should be allowed. So why are closed faced helmets, clown paint, stocking masks and the like not allowed at the WSOP? In a word, REVENUE. Sunglasses keep the door open for WSOP to gain sponsorship revenue, the other comparisons don't.

Everyone wants to believe that the World Series of Poker is the institution associated with honoring Poker's traditions and acting in the betterment of the game. But by allowing sunglasses, the WSOP is effectively saying that it will honor and protect the game's purity, so long as that mission doesn't interfere in it's pursuit of revenue opportunities.

Much of the poker consuming public doesn't realize that, we are stakeholders in the WSOP, and our voice and opinion matters. And if the public sits idle, allowing WSOP marketing to dictate the way it's gonna be, then we can kiss tradition goodbye, and bend over and take whatever WSOP says from here on out. Poker doesn't belong to any one corporation, even if that corporation should happen to own the most popular Brand in the industry. Let's not make light of the central point: this is not as much a decision about revenue, as it is about making exceptions to how the game is played. And while the WSOP has every right to make final decisions about where it earns it's revenues, the decision about making fundamental changes to the game belongs to the poker public.

If we whittle away at the game, eventually, all that will be left is the "WSOP" or "XYZ" version of the game. And if we can't rely on purity in the game during it's premier, annual event, then I respectfully submit that that says more about a responsibility of those who are tasked with honoring the game, and selfish motivations toward changing it .

lol hard at this guy composing a chapter book reply.