I was called a cheater....

So recently I've been ponying up some money for coaching. I figure it's good investment because it'll enable to improve faster, and he can tell show me how he plays. After my unsuccessful move up and my long break even session I figured I needed somebody to figure out what my leaks are and plug them up. I think he has really improved me game.

So, a couple days ago I told couple of my friends who don't play poker that I've been getting coached in poker. When they asked me what it entails, I told them that my coach calls me through Skype, and then we use a program so that he can see my tables. He then basically tells me what he does in each situation that comes up. He goes through his thought processes and I get insight into how a winning player thinks. However, one of them asks me, "Isn't that cheating?"

I told her no, because it's not like we're affecting the outcome of the game. But she explains to me that somebody is basically playing for me. She then asks me if you're allowed to do that live. I said no. She then proceeded to call me a cheater.

I mean is it cheating? It's a common fact that plenty of people shadow each other over the Internet and they give each other advice over the Internet. I know for a fact that a lot of the top players do it with each other. I've read a post about a top Internet pro, who when starting out would play on the same computer with a friend and they would discuss what to do with each other. I personally don't have a problem with that. They're not affecting the outcome of the game. This is completely different than when two players sit on the same table and tell each other there hole cards, that would be cheating. I've also heard some people say that using PokerAce HUD is cheating. PokerAce HUD gives players information that the computer calculates - it's outside help. However, everybody uses it, and it's impossible to multi table without it.

I've thought about this a lot and I never ever considered any of this cheating. I guess it's because I learnt how to play poker online and through the online community. In the online community both of these practices are perfectly acceptable, however, if we had outside help in a casino it would probably be called cheating. I guess as technology progresses, we're going to be faced with different scenarios which might have been deemed immoral by previous standards.
Back in the day children were allowed to work, because it was necessary for subsistence families to have their children work in order to survive. However, once the industrial revolution came around children were taken advantage of, so, child laws came about, and it became immoral to hire children. The same thing happened when genetic engineering first came about. At first it was a huge controversy, it was immoral to change the natural order of things. But, as people started seeing the upside, it became more acceptable. I think that in the next 5 years, we'll be seeing the same perception about stem cells, there's just too many benefits in stem cells. I for one would like a new ACL, shoulders, and perhaps they can enhance my calves so that I can fulfill my life long dream of dunking.


So in short, is shadowing and PokerAce HUD cheating? No, because the online poker community hasn't deemed it so.