quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

I don't really play tourneys often cause I'd rather make less swingy poker money, but a good friend of mine is a high volume tourney player and occasionally I will play for him when the need arises. After reading the thread about the bluffmag/sorel thing, I wanted to just doublecheck a few spots that I have been in recently, cause I don't want to break the rules, and I don't think any of these feel like cheating, but I got to thinking that probably a lot of people are doing unethical things that don't feel like it (ghosting type stuff). Here are 3 examples which are different because of the actual reason the account-holder can't play:

1. Friend is in a bunch of tourneys and has to go pick up his mom from somewhere unexpectedly, so I hop in and play for an hour. (also build up bigstack in 100r he blows, bastard).

2. Friend is on massive tilt from a few sick beats in a row, so I play his tourneys for 15 minutes while he has a jog around the block to cool off.

3. Friend is heads-up for live event seat and his internet dies, I play it out for him on the phone but he's actually saying what he wants to do.

The main diff between these is the urgency of him having to leave the computer, you know? Like in case 1 he COULD tell his mom to get a long taxi ride, in case 2 he could play on tilt, case 3 he is obviously in huge trouble.

Just wondering if any of these cross any lines. If it matters, we don't have a strict deal on $$, although he has given me some money in the past when I win money for him, but mostly it's a matter of jumping in to help out.

Sorry if this doesn't belong in mttc or is retarded. I'm not smart with the tourney scene.

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

all of those are fine imo as long as you didnt enter any of the tourneys yourself

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

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all of those are fine imo as long as you didnt enter any of the tourneys yourself

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i'd say #1 and #3 are clearly fine, but #2 is dodgy. i mean, if he's going to go cool off, he shouldn't have a substitute.

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

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all of those are fine imo as long as you didnt enter any of the tourneys yourself

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Are you saying if you are still in or if you entered them?

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

I think 2 is dodgy.

When we do something to tilt a player, the benefits of that play are also meant to be a reward (crack rockets with LSC and send someone off on tilt to get the rest of their stack). Someone's mental ability to handle bad beats should be a factor in their ability to win. If everyone had a player sit in while they were tilting, poker would become a tag game. That said, online poker is not one player per hand, and for that reason, #3 is clearly fine and it may justify #2, but I do feel it's a tad dodgy.

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

BTW from a poker ethics perspective the answer to all three should be the same, from a real life ethics perspective it's different.

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

Obviously, opinions are going to differ greatly.

I think that ethically, #3 is the only one that is not dodgy. You're clicking the buttons, but essentially, you're filling the role of the guy that read the cards to that blind pro in WSOP. You have zero decision making, and you didn't play in the tournament yourself.

The other two are simply flat out dodgy. If it's unethical in live poker, it's unethical online -- it's just often harder to prove to have taken place. Lots of people in life have to leave lots of things unexpectedly. Unless that same benefit is made available to everyone, it is an unfair advantage.

Of course, if you played in any of the above tournament examples, then stepping in under any circumstance is highly unethical.

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

#3 is explicitly allowed by Stars (can't speak for other sites). Selling your seat is explicitly not allowed. The mom thing probably most closely correlates with the phone call example, though the time frame may alter the outcome. They have a few examples in their tournament rules section of the website:

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With trivial exceptions, a player may play on only one account during a tournament and may not "hand off" his seat in mid-event to a different player. Violation of this rule may result in penalties ranging from a warning, to disqualification from the tournament (with partial or full forfeiture of winnings), to barring from PokerStars.
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Examples:
You get a phone call during a PokerStars tournament. You ask your husband, who has already busted out of that tournament, to play your hands for you. You are on the phone for ten minutes and then resume play. This is permitted.

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You and a friend are playing in the same tournament. You agree that if he busts out before you do, he will take over playing your account. This is prohibited.
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You are playing in a tournament and lose power in your home due to a failure of your power station. You call a friend and he takes over until your power is returned. This is permitted.
<font color="white"> a </font>

Your husband is out of town for the weekend, but gives you his password. You log into both his account and yours and play both accounts in the same tournament. This is prohibited.
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You have progressed to the final few tables of a tournament and somebody offers you cash equity for your seat. You allow the other player to sign into your account, or you continue to finish the tournament following the explicit instructions given by him. This is prohibited.

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Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

1 is OK, the hour seems like a longer time than most sites (stars) are contimplating but overall not a big deal

2 is not OK, if he is on tilt he can either keep playing or sit out jog around the block then come back in, he needs to learn how to deal with tilting

3 100% OK

Re: quick ethics checkup: are any of these cheating?
 

Word, thanks guys, continue to discuss if necessary. I did think afterwards that the case #2 was a bit weird, but at the time didn't give it any actual thought, just hopped into the games. Won't do that again. #3 obv. fine I figure yeah. All this talk about multi-accounting and buying accounts lately anytime I look in on mtts is discouraging, I sort of wanted to get back on the mtt grind a little, but it just feels like everything is so shady these days. Anyhow thanks for replies, it's about what I figured the general consensus would be.