I prefer readers who do not need tools. Those are the ones who are actually psychic and have real gifts (empathy, clairvoyance, mediumship etc...). Anyone can pick up a deck of cards or runes, and a how-to book. Heck, anny of us here can do so and learn card meanings, how to apply them to what the person is asking. I even bought myself a couple decks a few years back. A person does not need to actually be psychic to become a tarot reader. So, many tarot readers are not psychics, they just know card meanings. I have had tarot readers even say this to me many times, "I am a tarot reader not a psychic". They especially say that when they cannot answer questions that go beyond card meanings, or don't want to be accountable for things they got wrong.
Readers who have actual gifts can connect to you through chat, phone etc.... due to being able to connect to your energy, thoughts, feelings in some form. Same way they can connect to people we ask about who are not directly in contact or talking with them. One reader explained to me that she actually prefers to not have the physical in the way, that it makes it easier to focus straight into people, who they truly are, what they feel etc....she explained it better than I am though, and it made a lot of sense. She also is amazing at reading people.
I think readers have different gifts and ways of connecting to people. However, many can do it from a distance. I have had far better results and accuracy from those who have real gifts, and not just tools.