Re: [ba-poker] Ethical guidance needed

[William Chen <wchen_8369(deleted the rest)>]

I will say that I frequently advise others how to play
their hands online.  To me it's a question of what
external resources are allowed by the sites.  

Currently any online player can purchase or share
databases of millions of player hand histories.  Some
of these come with clients that will run your
particular hand against the range of UTG raising hands
by your opponent for instance.  Players may run
clients that help them track the exposed cards in
stud.  It seems that online sites allow and even
encourage use of these external resources, such as
facilitating downloads of hundreds of hands histories
via email.

I feel I am just another external resource. Now, I
don't think I'm nearly as effective as the tools I've
mentioned, but if my friends and/or players I have
some finanacial interest in want my opinion on a
critical hand, they are welcome to it, caveat emptor
and all.

Seriously, it's up to the sites to set policy on this.
 Many sites do have "anti-bot" policies, I suppose a
bot is the ultimate in "external aids" if we take it
to its logical conclusion.  There are other questions
that should be addressed, like whether it's okay for
me to just log on and play on my friend's account
(certainly if this is allowed, any form of advice I
might give should be allowed) either because their
computer has crashed or to help earn a bonus.  I have
actually asked various sites about this and their
response has been mixed.  

Bill