Poker cheating lenses are extremely popular in the poker community. They can be used to read invisible ink marks on playing cards. They also can help players to conceal emotion and remove options for other players to derive tells from a player’s eyes. Poker cheating sunglasses are easy to use and look the same as a normal pair of sunglasses.
After the recent scandal that occurred at the 2015 World Series of Poker involving special sunglasses and card-marking, it is time to ask: Should poker rooms or tournament directors ban players wearing sunglasses when playing?
Daniel Negreanu recently expressed his dismay at what he called the “scourge of Poker”, namely, players wearing sunglasses when playing. He argued that if players were constantly hiding their faces behind the frames of their sunglasses, it would be impossible to detect any tells they might be giving off. Negreanu’s reasoning made sense. It would be much easier for cheaters to hide their cards if they were constantly looking at them through sunglasses, rather than a hat, or facial hair.
But even if Negreanu is right, I still don’t believe that poker rooms and tournament directors will start banning players for wearing sunglasses. It would make poker far too limiting, and it would be silly to penalize players for using a form of clothing that has been worn by every single World Series champion since the game’s inception.