Online poker helpers: what's allowed, and what actually works.

• During a real-money game: no. Major online poker sites, including PokerStars and GGPoker, ban "real-time assistance" — any software or chart that tells you how to play a hand while you're playing it. Sites look for it, and players caught using it can have accounts closed and winnings withheld.
• In live card rooms: no, either. Most casinos don't allow phones or devices while you're in a hand, and consulting a tool at the table will get you warned or removed.
• Away from the table: yes. Studying, reviewing your hands after a session, using odds calculators and training drills is how every serious player improves — and it's what LlamaPoker is built for.

Rules differ by site and change over time. Always check your site's terms — look for "prohibited software" or "real-time assistance".

• Poker only works if every player decides for themselves. A player with software making their decisions is playing a different game from the people across the table — so the games, and the sites, police it hard.
• It also doesn't make you better. If the tool decides, you never learn to see the spot yourself — and the moment you play without it, the edge is gone.

• Learn the few things that matter most. Most beginner losses come from playing too many hands from the wrong seats and calling without the right price. Learn positions, the starting hand charts and pot odds and you'll already beat most casual games.
• Review your hands after the session. Write down the two or three hands you weren't sure about. Afterwards, enter each one into the odds calculator: see your real equity against the hands that player would have, the price you were getting, and what you should have done.
• Drill until it's automatic. The trainer plays full hands with you and drills pot odds and counting outs against a shot clock — so at the table, the answer is already in your head.