During the summer, some new features that will be implemented in the new tournament rules were already announced, but we didn't know all the changes at the time. Now, however, the founder of the Tournament Directors Association, Matt Savage, has posted all the news on the social network X.
We introduced one of these new features during the summer. It's the "big blind first" rule, and it applies to the player who doesn't have enough chips to pay both the ante and the big blind when the big blind antes. So, in order to give the player a chance to multiply his stack, the new rule says clearly, the player pays the big blind first.
Overlapping faces
Face overlap has become quite a controversial topic in the past while, and the storm around this topic was sparked by Phil Hellmuth, who doesn't like the respirator on Isaac Haxton's face. The latter has worn a respirator on his face in all tournaments since the days of covid, and so we have a new tournament rule called "Player Identity", which reads as follows: Players must be clearly identifiable at all times. Tournament staff may request a player to removeany item (sunglasses, hood, or other facialcovering) which inhibits their identification orisadistraction to otherparticipants.
Electronic Devices
During the summer, the use of smartphones or laptops during tournaments was a major topic. This whole issue was kicked off by the WSOP opener, when a player took a picture of his opponent using a solver during play. The issue escalated on the final day of the WSOP Main Event when the winner, Jonathan Tamayo, used the assistance of his rake, where Dominik Nitsche was with a laptop and solver.
Following these situations, the poker community banded together and called on the powers that be to crack down on such practices. TDA has listened to the voices of the community and brought us a new rule.
Players may not talk on a phone at the table. Ring tones, music, images, video etc. should beinaudible and non-disturbing to others. These and other devices, tools, photography, videography, andcommunication must not create a nuisance, delay the game orcreate competitive advantage and aresubject to house and gaming regulations. Phones and other devices may not rest on the table. Players with live hands may not interact with or operate anelectronic or communicationdevice. The definition of such devices may include new technologies and shall be as updated bythe TD. Betting apps, charts,and other poker strategy toolsmay not beusedat the table.Nor may playersreceive or usepokerstrategy data from another person or source.
So these new rules should be clear to everyone and situations like we saw during the WSOP Main Event finals should not happen again.
What punishments await offenders?
In the new rules, we also found how these rules are enforced in practice and what punishments can be handed out to offenders. If someone breaks the rules, they may only receive a warning at first, but they may also be banned from playing one hand, banned from playing the entire orbit or even multiple rounds. In this case, the player's blinds and antes are taken away, his hand is dead, and he must leave the table. In the worst case scenario, the player may also be disqualified from the game. A player may also be penalized for breach of etiquette or disruptive behaviour.
These rules are valid from the moment they are published and can be adopted by any poker room worldwide, or they can adapt them to suit their own needs. The full text of the new updated tournament rules can be found HERE.
What do you think of the new rules? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
Source - Twitter (X), pokertda.com, pokerpro.cc, pokernews, triton poker
