So apparently Hellmuth believes that Ike Haxton's mask has given him a "big edge" at the poker table these past 2 years.

https://twitter.com/phil_hellmuth/st...89188797530503

I barely play live poker so someone help me out here, is this a believable claim?

Is Hellmuth correct that the field would gain EV against a mask-less Ike Haxton by making deviations in play based on live tells involving his mouth/facial expressions?

If one believes that facial tells are a real thing, then covering up part of your face would surely reduce the ability for others to view your facial tells. Same thing with people using scarves around your neck.

I don’t know why sunglasses would be permitted but not masks.

Oxygen tanks are performance enhancing as well.

This dude will march out common knowledge like he discovered it. You have ppl putting their hoods up, wearing sunglasses, and sitting absolutely still like Jurassic Park heros during hands, there's clearly an edge to be gained by hiding.

Obviously there's a line somewhere. You can't just block your entire face. I think it's clear that masks are over that line.

🤔

Masks should not be allowed. Ike is kind of a joke for taking a medical emergency situation and using it as an excuse to gain an edge at the tables.

It just proves that people who are incredibly smart when it comes to poker (Ike) can be dumb as sh*t in other areas. Not that much more to say about it, really.

i still see some people covering their entire face with pieces of cloth which should not be allowed and never would have been allowed before 2020.

As shown here Hellmuth covers his mouth with his hands, will he "fight the good fight" and push to ban hands from poker as well?

Ike looks ridiculous, but I don't see him having some massive edge because he put on a mask. Most of those high stakes guys sit still like boring little unwatchable robots for 30 seconds every decision nowadays.

is there really much of a difference?

Who was that german (?) reg at the triton series that wears that massive hoodie when he is in the hand? One would think that is way worse than the mask.

Christoph Vogelsang.

Also people saying masks are too much: ure ridic. Go to Asia for once, even before covid they were very common there.

Way too funny of hellmuth to claim that he's getting crushed by guys like Ike due to masks covering face lol.

There are tells other than the face. How people move their chips and make their bets is just one of them. Also observe how they handle their chips both before and after betting. Movement of the body, especially the legs (this one is tricky but observable) can be valuable as well. Remember this, the 'more' they hide the more they reveal. With MORE being the active word here. I especially like to watch how and when they decide to cover up their face. As far as Haxton is concerned the guy simply plays some damn good poker, mask or not. He takes his time and thinks through his decisions carefully before acting. As long he feels that mask will help him he will continue to use it.

Just remember Andy Beal. He became a robot at the table and challenged the best players for super big money. All good until he got a taste of Ivey. Phil figured out his betting patterns and after that it was all over.......17M worth!

He looks like he is getting ready to cry.

Christoph Vogelsang. He covered his face like a mask and wore a big droopy hoodie so it was a mask + worse.

We're not in Asia.
In this country before COVID casinos would not let you have your face covered like this .

I remember when I had 2 casino security guards come straight at me bc I had a hood on barley covering the side of my face when I walked into the casino on a cold Vegas night to tell me to put the hood down.

And while Ike is well known and obviously not banned, a criminal etc people who are these things are still covering their faces in casinos to stay under the radar. And some people are wearing them bc they think it conceals tells at a poker table.

Do I think this is giving him some huge advantage? No. But I do think it may give him a drop of ev in high rollers where edges are so small as it is. I can't say he's 100 percent using it for these reasons ( it's highly likely though)but I'll say the vast majority of the time someone in 2024 is wearing a mask at a poker table, especially a young person it's bc they want to conceal tells. Obviously that goes up to 100 percent when it's some nonsense like those neck gaitors or cloth scarf type things.

And I think it's pretty grimy for someone to use a national health emergency from 4 years ago to cover their face while playing poker.

Don't even get me started on guys like Volgesoang who take 4 hours to play a hand and cover their face with their hoodies.

This topic seems like much ado about nothing.

Some people think wearing a mask reduces their chances of getting sick. Others do it because one of their loved ones has a compromised immune system and want to minimize the risk of bringing something home (I heard this is the case with Ike Haxton). There's nothing wrong with this.

Some people may wear masks or other items to reduce tells. So what? If you think it's an advantage you can do so yourself to even the playing field. As others have pointed out, players use their hands and other objects to obscure their faces, necks, eyes and head anyway, and that includes the whining Hellmuth. It's part of the game. Remember Raymer and his glasses? Laak and his hoodie?

I can see where the producers of a show or live stream might want the faces of the participants visible for the audience. And when they are paying the players to play they'll have a good argument for that. But when the players are putting up the money it's up to them, not the parasites making money off of them. If a live stream wants faces available, they could make that one of the conditions of participating, along with some appearance money. But in something like the final table of a major tournament, the participants should be dictating policy, not the organizations making $Millions off of the players.

Pretty sure Ike is wearing it to quickly find idiots who are triggered by things like masks. In a competition where you're trying to find the stupid people, it's not a bad strategy.

I do find it slightly comical that Ike feels the need to wear the mask for the trophy photos, but I do see where this ultimately is much ado about nothing.

If Ike is that obsessed with anti vaxers years after the pandemic ended then Im pretty sure hes the stupid one. Seriously get a life if thats the case.

Has anyone even seen him in another social situation with a mask on?... Pretty obvious hes not wearing it for any health reasons.

Agree with some of your other points, but I think this is a little like saying PEDs are ok if everyone can use them.

I.e. if something is undesirable but provides an edge it's better to eliminate it than to have everyone forced to choose between doing the undesirable thing and losing an edge.

It's optimal to wear a bee keeper suit at the table and take exactly 5 minutes on every decision. But it makes poker miserable to play or watch. So ideally, it should be prevented and everyone should have to navigate the hazards of looking and acting somewhat normally.

Covid is still killing a ton of people. Excess deaths are still way up, heart attacks and strokes are up, diabetes, etc. Can just go look at the official data, not alex jones or whatever.

No, it's not the vaccines causing that, you dumbasses. It's the disease that we've known from day 1 causes clots and can infect any organ your blood goes through. (hint, all of them)

Poker players aren't the healthiest ****ers, especially the old ones. More people should still be wearing masks at the table, especially when the air is terrible and you're jammed in asses to elbows with some dude hacking his guts out. Getting sick over and over isn't smart, there isn't any EV there, you're just gonna die earlier than you should have.

I find it hilarious that some people here are like "Hey you know who has a good opinion on this subject? One of the biggest ****ing dumbass dorks most of us have ever played with. He's really on to something this time."