Tons os news stories to blow through … John Caldwell can now say definitively that it takes the work of three men to replace him. But the poker news keeps beating. On this week’s docket :

– everyone’s abuzz about Rush Poker. Full Tilt seems to have come up with a catch-on concept that makes no bones about feeding the addiction in a way that seemingly takes multitabling to a whole new dimension. But will Hevad Khan ever be able to play?

– the new WSOP hygeine rule. Yuck. But does it affect strategy?

– and the Heartland Poker Tour flies in to town to pit Vegas locals against “heartland” tourists, bringing more action to Red Rock than Station Casinos coulda anticipated. My personal poker dreams re-crushed.

The Poker Beat
1/21/10

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Click here to weigh in on show topics on the Poker Road Forums.

NOTE: I plea the 5th against allegations that I may have been podcasting while intoxicated.

The rules for the 2010 World Series of Poker were released this afternoon, with the obligatory press release appearing on the next page. To alleviate the fears of Phil Hellmuth, there has NOT been a change to what logos a player can be sporting. There were some minor changes to reflect the latest rules published by the Poker TDA, as well as some changes for players who choose to register late (Rule #12) and clarification for those who registered but don’t show up (Rule #14). Also of note is there was a change to the rule regarding cell phones and electronic devices that “banned” the Iphone, Blackberry, Itouch, and similar devices has been removed for 2010 in light of the immense popularity of Twitter. One other new rule that someone pointed out on 2+2, part of rule 37 about player conduct (bolding is my emphasis):

B. All participants are entitled to expect civility and courtesy from one another at every Tournament table and throughout the Tournament area. Any individual who encounters behavior that is not civil or courteous — or is abusive in any way — is encouraged to immediately contact a Tournament official. This shall include, but is not limited to, any player whose personal hygiene has become disruptive to the other players seated at their table. The determination as to whether an individual’s personal hygiene is disruptive to other players shall be determined by the Tournament Staff which may, in its discretion, implement sanctions upon any such player who refuses to remedy the situation in a manner satisfactory to Rio.

More…

Not everyone uses these — the WSOP has their own version filled with extra, enforceably questionable legalese — but these are the simple standards made available for card-room runners across the world by the Tournament Directors Association, recently updated at a conference held during the World Series, and thus far officially adopted by 57 59 poker rooms.

Click below for the rules (which TDA members can download here in all sorts of easily printable and mountable forms).

What’s changed?

The over 125 Poker TDA members that attended the 2009 Summit discussed and voted to accept the following:

Nineteen (19) 2007 Rules were changed; they are rule #’s 3, 4, 6, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43 and 44.

In addition, Four (4) new rules were adopted; they are rule #’s 7, 15, 28 and 33.

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@Phil_Hellmuth

UB party starting at Studio 54 at MGM! On my way, i am making my entrance on a trapeze!! also i signed up for 2-7 tourney, c em a 11 pm
about 13 hours ago from txt

Drinking Dom in VIP booth with wife. Trapeze stunt from 5 stories up at 10:40 pm…Scary!
about 12 hours ago from txt

I am pretty drunk!! Chris Ferguson just called me and told me they picked me up in 2-7 tourney!!
about 9 hours ago from txt

Sunday July 5 i show up to WSOP as ‘Caesar: with 100 models, 11 muses w body paint, a chariot w 2 horses, and a drummer dropping rose petals
about 8 hours ago from txt

15,200 extra chips are in play going into Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw — roughly a third of which belonged to no-show Phil Hellmuth before tournament officials removed his remaining stack (in level 5) and refunded his late buy-in.

Plenty of grumblings about this situation from the rail …

Hellmuth bought into WSOP Event #55 by proxy — presumably near the last possible minute — with his 7,500 starting stack brought to the felt shortly before the end of the break between levels 2 and 3. His seat in the Brasilia Room remained empty for hours as he attended a much-ballyhooed Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 in the MGM.

Hellmuth’s stack had been blinded down to about 2,500 when the event TD approached Chris Ferguson, who was playing, and asked if he had Hellmuth’s phone number. Ferguson did, and the TD called but got no answer. So he then called his supervisor, who apparently instructed him to remove Hellmuth’s chips from play.

Shortly thereafter — in Level 5 still — the number of entrants on the screen was reduced from 258 to 257, and prize payouts were downgraded accordingly.

At the end of Day 1, the 73 remaining players bagged a total 1,942,700 chips, even though the appropriate number for 257 players in a $2,500 event would be 1,927,500. No word yet on where the 10,000 chips that didn’t belong to Phil Hellmuth came from.

Click here to follow the action in $2,500 2-7 Triple-Draw when play resumes at 2 pm pacific. Plenty of interesting big-name pros and 2009 bracelet winners still in the hunt — Negreanu, Ankenman, Sung, Mueller, among them — along with a few dozen lesser known mixed-games grinders … all competing for a $166k $165k bracelet.

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An unsettling tournament rules situation … just in from one of our undercover Pokeratizen investigators playing in the $1,500 NLH … and, of course, it involves texting.

This took place at a table in the Miranda Room, shortly after the first break … a player was re-raised all-in, and he supposedly went into the tank for a good two minutes. During that time, the player with his tournament life on the line reportedly stood up from the table and sent a text. A few seconds after getting a reply, he folded.

Though no one called the floor during the questionable texting, the table did bring it up after the hand, and the dealer apparently said that no, they are not supposed to issue any sort of reprimands for texting-related issues. The assumption around the table was that this dealer simply was a bit clueless … but then when a new dealer came in, the players brought up the same hand and issue, and the new dealer concurred, that yes, they are not supposed to stop any such activity.

I think we all know that this shoulda been a dead hand — sorry dude, your tourney’s over — but with the new dealer echoing the same thing, perhaps there was something misconveyed to the dealers about non-enforcement of original texting rules at the table, exception to the exception obviously being when a player’s in a hand?

We’ll see if we can’t find out more. Obviously you’d hate to boot a player on a rule violation or technicality in a $1,500 Donkament Super-Amazing Intraductory Pokerthon (we’re still workshopping a new name) … but at the same time, to avoid that, you’d think the dealers would need the authority to pipe up and say, “hey you, Mr. Amateur who doesn’t follow these sorts of things on Pokerati, stop that or your hand will be dead!”

Good episode of the Degen Report — bringing you more of the real WSOP, nearly a month in, as tempers flare, bankrolls fluctuate, and the general grind begins to wear. In this vid, we learn about rumors of who’s rolling whom (Jeff Madsen mugged at a Strip Club? Should help his rapper cred), near-broke folks making big scores, and @Dutch Boyd jumps in with an anti-Euro beef regarding the not-so-British way they do battle with Americans.

Watch Bryan Micon and Dutch Boyd Get Degenerate on RawVegas.tv

From here, it all gets really interesting — as the two discuss the enforcement of language and abuse penalties, the WSOP penalty “book”, and bring into question a potentially flawed rule that prohibits checking the river with the nuts … contending that indeed, there are situations where you might want to do that (particularly in split-pot games) without regard to soft-play perceptions.

The question was: How much can the first person to act come in for in Pot Limit Omaha if the blinds are 5k/10k, and the big blind is all-in for only 5k?

Most seem to believe that in WSOP-branded PLO, a true pot is a true pot, and therefore the answer is 30k. However, according to the decision handed down by TD Steve, it is still 35k, because you count the big blind as complete, lest you wanted to let someone limp for 5k. Most who disagree believd that sure, the minimum should be 10k, but the max would be only 30k. I tracked down the TD in question, and before I had the camera rolling, he acknowledged, “I was wrong.” But he may have just been joking, so I went Bill O’Reilly/local-news ambush journo and forced him to answer the tough question:

An interesting situation came up the other day in a $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha that required floor intervention … (yes, even Harris screws up every once in a while occasionally calls for assistance.)

Blinds were 5k/10k … the big blind was all-in for his last 5k … meaning there was 5k in front of the small blind, 5k in front of the big blind … so the question is: How much can the first player to act bring it in for? Or perhaps more specifically, since we all probably know that the minimum to call is still 10k … How much would “pot” be in this situation?

PokerNews has a pretty cool new(ish) feature on YouTube called “Hand of the Day” — where they get two players to break down a specific tournament situation in a relatively interesting way. In this episode, they talk to Bryan Devonshire and Noah Boeken about an unusual hand in $1,500 Limit Hold’em where the dealer dropped the stub and exposed three cards from the bottom of the deck:

For those who missed it live … here’s yesterday’s Poker Beat podcast to get you through “the grind”, the hump, the “dog days”, whatever you wanna call the Series in mid-June. In this episode, we discuss what a bracelet really means to a guy like Greg Mueller, just how good really is JC Tran, and, in this Year of apparent Multiples, what’s a guy like Roland deWolfe all about? Also … “Full Tilt’s” lawsuit (via Kolyma) vs. an Aruba-Aussie payment processor run by 25-year-old Crocodile D-bag … and “celebrity” tournament director Matt Savage joins us to discuss the TDA Summit — and specifically rule changes related to texting at the table.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Caldwell, Michalski, Nemeth, Wise, Stapleton + Savage
6/18/09

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Sorry for the slowdown in getting podcasts to you. For those who can’t always handle semi-informed snarky banter for more than 2-4 minutes at a time and need more vulgarity and shticked-up grit, Tao of Pokerati (brought to you by Dream Team Poker) will also be back very soon.

Bring it!

One of the rules changed at today’s (yesterday’s) TDA Summit (for the TDA, not the WSOP) … as per a tweet from @SavagePoker:

New TDA Rule….. All Hold’em Final Tables that start 9 or 10 handed will go to final table at 10 handed. 6 handed tournaments at 7…

Hmm, not sure how I feel about that one, or how it would work at a place like The Lodge, where an extra-big field meant starting with some fold-up outer tables that were only 6-handed, compared to the 8-9-handed tables elsewhere in the room.

As we all know, there’s far more to the World Series than just bracelet events. One of the alt-poker activities going on today and tomorrow and yesterday (Tuesday and Wednesday) is the TDA Summit. That’s where tourney directors from card rooms around the country get together with Matt Savage, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and the other honchos in tournament operations to discuss, debate, and vote on various technicalities of poker rules — as well as to discuss handling new and old situations that inevitably arise.

They also had a specialty non-bracelet tourney today — a $125 buy-in with 60something players (Warren Karp was the “known” name who made the final table) — and I happened to stumble upon the semi-funny sitch captured above … where at a table full of floormen, someone called floor. Ha ha.

Though you can imagine the pressure on the floorguy should he make the wrong ruling, it frankly wasn’t that hard of a decision … But there were a lot of people interested in how it would turn out, particularly because these players, while being trained in TDA rules, where in a tourney being run by WSOP staff, which has its own rules, which are slightly different from the TDA’s.

Click below for a breakdown of the situation, and see for yourself if you woulda made the same decision.

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We knew it was only a matter of time, right? TJ Cloutier reportedly had quite the emphatic conversation with Jeffrey Pollack while the two were watching Phil Ivey’s final table — about a recurring rule violation that may or may not be getting out of control. The issue: Twittering at the table.

TJ’s beef (as told to me secondhand) was that even when players are not in a hand, they are violating tournament rules when they are texting under the table, in their laps.

Here’s the rule in question:

87. Cell Phone Rule: All cell phones and other voice-enabled and “ringing” electronic devices must be silenced during Tournament play. A player who wants to use a cell phone to talk, text, or email must step away from their assigned table or be subject to penalty. Any player using a cellular phone while in a hand with no action pending (player has gone all-in) will receive a missed hand penalty to be assessed on the next hand. No cell phones or other electronic communication device can be placed on a poker table.

Hmm, I dunno. I think it’s subject to interpretation — and frankly, imho, these are the problems with rules written (or approved) by lawyers, as opposed to writer-players. But what really surprises me in the above-described situation is that @JeffreyPollack didn’t twitter about it.

Just remember, whether you’re breaking a rule or not, you can follow all the peeps we’re following in the Pokerati Twitterverse here.

More from @JustinBonomo (who is one of 89 out of 201 players remaining in the $40k NLH):

Oh man. Same thing if you fold out of turn. Even if its an accident, automatic 1 hand penalty. Wsop always makes the craziest new rules.

Click here for the latest $40k chip counts.

The $40k NLH is movin’ along … 111 left out of 201. One of the guys near the top in chips, @JustinBonomo, says:

Just broke 500k, but can’t believe new rule. Any card ACCIDENTALLY exposed is a 1 hand penalty. Dealers are instructed to always enforce it.

I tend not to like the absoluteness in the hands of a dealer, but then again, it is just one hand.

Click below to see who’s still alive and who’s busted:

(Chris Moneymaker is winning.)

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Why are there different rules at a WSOP Circuit event than the actual WSOP? Late entry to WSOP=full stack, WSOP-C your missed blinds are taken.

Just watched this week’s episode of the WSOP … and saw Phil Laak in the Old Man disguise for the first time. Couldn’t help but think, as pointed out by a commenter, how is this any different than someone’s having two different accounts online?

He gave an interview in July to CardPlayer* where he talks about the stunt sociological poker experiment, the benefits of anonymity, and how players can change their live persona at the table over the years.

*CardPlayer goes embeddable!?! Great, now what’ll we bitch about? Nice!

Best pic of Phil in disguise here.

CardRunners and Full Tilt pro Brian Townsend admitted to multi-accounting on PokerStars and Full Tilt.

He wrote an admission and apology on his blog this week, noting that he had two accounts on PokerStars and two on Full Tilt (where he has a contractual obligation as a Full Tilt pro!). Full Tilt has suspended his “red pro” status for six months but didn’t seem to want to ban him from the site for clearly breaking the rules. PokerStars has not taken any action that has been made public. And to make up for his actions and show his remorse, Townsend is donating $25,000 to a charity and removed all but $100,000 in his online accounts. (If these actions evoke sympathy from anyone, please let me know.)

On one hand, Townsend did own up to his wrongdoings and apologize.

On the other hand, where to begin? Good-looking kid with everything going for him – great poker successes as a high-stakes player live and online, management gig at CardRunners, Full Tilt pro, fame, respect, good reputation – and he risked it all “because I enjoy anonymity when playing smaller and am very prideful in what I do.” He clearly sees what goes on in the online poker community and knows what happens to players caught multi-accounting. But instead of admitting to needing or wanting to move down in limits due to a recent downswing, he played under other accounts. I guess that risk didn’t pay off.

Is there something unclear about the multi-accounting rule on online poker sites? One account per player. You can play 40 games at once if you like, but use the same account. Simple, no? If you don’t agree with the rule, protest it and work for change. But for now, buck up and deal with it.

Funny, I didn’t get the FIDPA release Jen did, but I did get an email from Jesse Jones to members of the WPA (I’m one of the few who somehow paid twice) … and it seems these two ops are finding their distinct paths. FIDPA, I know, is all about the rules. In fact, I heard about a month ago from both ML’s that their rules were in affect at the Bellagio for the big WPT event last week. Have not confirmed that, however supposedly when Jack McClelland made the Daniel Negreanu rule change mid-tourney at the WPT Championship, you couldn’t get a written version of that rule, because it didn’t exist — no written tourney rules at Bellagio — so apparently they were happy to finally get something on paper.

(And the way the FIDPA 80 work … they leave room for adjustments, so theoretically you could go to a tourney and the TD woulds say, “We’re using FIDPA rules today, except for #47, where we’re going to let you blah blah blah” or “… and we have one extra rule of our own: no coughing.”)

The WPA meanwhile, seems to have moved their rules agenda to the backburner, focusing instead on tournament rake — pushing for more sponsorship/commercial money to be added to major event prize pools, a la the PGA:

It’s a disgrace that tournament poker players for the most part do not share the revenue generated by their participation in events (e.g. television, sponsorship, etc). In most or all events players put in all of the prize money via the buy-in, have 6-10% of their money taken out, and only a small number of participants make a payday. Any revenue generated by sponsors or other means is not shared with you the players.

This is something we must change.

This is the WPA’s principal focus. This is why you joined the WPA. This is why we need your support.

Yeow! I’m not so sure I agree with the not-shared part … those waters they put on the table ain’t free, ya know! But the All In Energy Drink is!

Though I suppose both operations ultimately wanna become the FIFA of poker, it looks like their going about it in two kinda different ways

Marcel Luske and Michelle Lau formally announced that their organization is up, running, and ready to introduce “The International Poker Rules” in the near future. According to the press release, the goal of FIDPA and the set of rules is to organize and promote tournament poker as a sport and “unite the industry on a global level.”

Hmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, never mind…

The IP Rules have been created in cooperation with the Tournament Directors Association, Bob Ciaffone’s Robert’s Rules of Poker, and Jack McClelland and Doug Dalton of Bellagio, among others. There are a total of 80 rules, procedures, and policies that will be announced at a later date.

Note to self: This sounds an awful lot like the World Poker Association (WPA)!

Click the “more” button to see the entire press release:

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Though it’s not unusual for pros to show up late for WSOP tourneys, something was amiss during one of the last 1500s when Scotty Nguyen didn’t show up til well into the 100/200 level …

Apparently Scotty lost one of his capuchin monkeys. The fire department was still trying to get the the pesky little primate out of a tree when Scotty decided he just had to go. Not sure what the status is of said monkey, but one thing that is interesting is how the floor handled his depleted stack.

From Adanthar:

Naturally, Scotty was unhappy about that and asked the dealer why he didn’t have 3K. But at the WSOP, only late registrations get their full 3K chips (and get seated in Seat 10); everyone else gets a regular seat and then gets blinded off if they’re late, which is normal. Scotty, though, obviously didn’t like the idea of starting out with a 9 bet stack, said “I’m not playing”, and went off to find the tournament director. I think he just wanted to be allowed to unregister, but instead, a couple of minutes later, the floor showed up with a full stack and gave it to him. On the one hand, this is pretty much blatant cheating – it’s a free 1200 chips that nobody not named Scotty Nguyen would ever get;

Murmur?

(Thanks, Shamus, for the link.)