As a journalist who recently emigrated from the other side of the Mississippi River to divide his time writing and grinding in Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world, I hear a lot of buzz around town. Much of it is just noise, sometimes it’s early rumblings of actual news, and occasionally it’s just really good FYI for Vegas live-poker-room regs.

We hope to have a little bit of everything here for you. Some of the topics I’m looking to explore:

* Just about every casino has a daily tournament — some just a short-handed sit-n-go while others play like a mini-multitable bracelet event. Where can you get the most play for your buy-in? And what’s really going on with the juice?

* Different rooms have different rules. Some, like Tropicana’s Jamie Gold Room, are throwing many of the standards out the window. Which rooms have the strictest rules? Aria, for instance, has a rule against talking to gain information in a heads-up pot. Why?

* More and more casinos are offering rakeback-type promotions. The “get paid to play” trend sweeping through town varies from place to place. What rooms have the best deals? Is it possible to be a live rakeback grinder? What kind of players do these promos attract? What are the upcoming promotions to look out for?

* How should you go about finding the best action, or any action? Is it Venetian’s updated online list of cash games or Bellagio’s Twitter feed? What should you do to get a seat at the juiciest table in the house? Where should you be playing on a Friday night? Can you find a good game on a Monday?

Whether you play every day or visit Vegas once a year, I’m here to keep you informed about what’s happening in the games around town. Whether you’re a tournament grinder, cash game specialist, or maybe even just a live-poker bonus whore, we’ll scope out the action. We’re at the table right beside floor managers, dealers, locals and tourists, and we can’t help chatting it up.

Las Vegas is a 24-7 poker hot spot like no other — what happens here sets standards around the world —  and we want to help you maximize your time on the felt.

Bookmark Dave’s column here; and you can Twit-follow his ramble along the Vegas Strip @RandomPoker.

My dedication to poker tournaments and the game itself is two decades old. Starting with my first foray into the role of tournament director in 1997 and through my founding of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) with Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and Dave Lamb in 2001, I have worked tirelessly to standardize tournament rules and to make poker a better game for everyone involved.

This is the reason that we host the website www.PokerTDA.com, open the TDA to all interested parties, and make myself available on Twitter and other social media outlets. My passion for poker only grows when I share it with others.

The rule is not new, and does not ban table talk by any means … A recreational player may not understand, nor even care to know all the rules, but professionals who make a living at the game should.

During the 2011 World Series of Poker “nearly live” telecast from the Rio, I became aware of comments from Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) through my own Twitter feed (@SavagePoker). He said that the TDA created a “new” rule that banned table talk. This certainly is not the case and in hindsight, it was learned that he had received an incorrect ruling at the table that had nothing to do with TDA rules. Since social media has limited words with which to sufficiently explain the rule and its longtime existence, this clarification seems necessary.

The TDA board, in conjunction with tournament directors and card room managers, has donated thousands of hours to standardize rules in the best interest of the game.  When well-known poker players like Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth choose to say on national television that “the TDA has it wrong” and “does not care about what the players want,” it becomes personal.

The Rule
To begin with the basics, the TDA rule at the center of the recent discussion is the “No Disclosure” rule, which states:

Players are obligated to protect the other players in the tournament at all times. Therefore, players, whether in the hand or not, may not:

The one-player-to-a-hand rule will be enforced.

Regarding Negreanu’s previous statements, the rule is not new, as it was enacted more than seven years ago. In addition, it does not ban table talk by any means.

He also stated that players should be able to “say whatever you want in a heads-up pot at any point of the tournament.” In theory, that sounds great for the television audience. But keep in mind that far less than one percent of all poker tournaments are televised! Thus, the rule that pertains to all poker players must apply to all tournaments, televised or not. Rules cannot be changed to help individual players or enhance a televised tournament.

A quote, brought to my attention by @GaryC101, from Neil Peart of Rush sums it up best: “Glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity.” OK, kind of a random quote but says a lot about the situation in my opinion and I consider integrity the most important trait of a good tournament director.

Personally, I would like to see Negreanu say anything he wants on television, as he is one of the most entertaining players to watch. His popularity and influence on the game of poker is immense. However, as a tournament director, I believe the integrity of the game is more important than the entertainment provided by a single event. I agree with his point that the rule is difficult to enforce but it needs to be there to provide a reason for TD’s to investigate possible collusion or soft play situations.

In-Depth Analysis
Let’s start with a purely hypothetical situation:

Player A is friends with Player B and backs him in a major tournament. Both have significant chips late in a tournament. They are seated at the same table and involved in a hand. Player B raises, and it folds around to Player A, who reraises and says, “I have aces.” Player B folds kings.

This obviously does not make for better poker. In fact, it could easily be considered “soft play” or collusion, and making this permissible only encourages such actions. I am not by any means suggesting that Negreanu is in favor of soft play or collusion, but this is just one of several very negative ramifications that can arise from what he says he believes players should be able to say at the table.

Moreover, tournament directors around the world cannot be expected to be aware of all friendships, relationships, and backing arrangements between players in a tournament. Therefore, the rules are established to enable enforcement for all players, regardless of their associations. And all are protected from any collusion or appearances of collusion.An interesting idea was proposed by Barry Greenstein, who believes the current TDA rule is not enforced. He suggested that a player should be able to discuss his/her hand when action is on that player and they are facing a bet.

I discussed this idea with Dave Lamb, and we recognized the flaws in that idea.

First, it is not acceptable to disclose the contents of your hand in a multi-way action pot.

Second, it is not acceptable to disclose the contents of your hand preflop when facing a bet.

Barry responded that it would be okay when facing a bet on the river if you were only going to call, not raise. However, that does not seem enforceable and only creates more confusion for tournament staff, dealers, and players.

The bottom line is that the TDA is never going to agree to a rule that not only allows, but legalizes soft play and collusion.

The most common question I’ve received of late is this: “If table talk is legal but players cannot disclose the contents of their hands, what can they say”? The answer is simply anything except information relating to the content of their own hand with action pending. Whether lying or telling the truth about the contents or the strength of a hand, it breaks the rule and may be penalized. There is not a blanket rule for when it is a penalty or not but with the “non disclosure” rule in place it gives the players the right to investigate possible situations.

Friends
The most difficult part of this situation has been responding to television sound bites with which friends like Negreanu have addressed this issue. Also the sudden urgency is perplexing considering the rule has been in place for more than seven years.

Greenstein and Negreanu were asked to attend the June 2011 TDA summit in Las Vegas, in the same Convention Center as the WSOP. There were more than 120 tournament directors and card room managers at the summit, and anyone was allowed to discuss any rule issues or concerns. However, at that conference, Greenstein asked about procedures for raising blinds when time expires in a current blind structure, and Negreanu brought up shorting limit bets. Neither chose to discuss the “no disclosure” rule.

Suddenly, however, Negreanu’s airing of his grievance on ESPN, as well as Hellmuth’s declaration on the same broadcast that he intends to change the rule, brought it to the forefront and forced me to address the issue.

The recreational poker tournament player may not understand every rule, or even care to know all of the rules, but professionals who make a living at the game should learn and study the entirety of the TDA rules.

Moreover, these rules are in place and enforced in order to create uniformity, as they are used by nearly every major tournament venue around the world. More than 1,500 tournament directors, card room managers, and their staffs are members of the TDA, and the rules are accepted and enforced globally.

That doesn’t mean the TDA isn’t open for discussions. However, the “no disclosure” rule has been in place for many years, and there has never been an issue with it until this incident. Airing grievances may make for good television, but it does not permit the detailed analysis necessary for drafting the most functional and fair poker tournament rules that protect the integrity of the game. There will be more opportunities in the future to revisit the “no disclosure” rule and it will most definitely come up at our next TDA Summit not yet planned.

I have received a ton of feedback on this issue some positive and some negative. I have also taken personal attacks for defending a rule hundreds have put in place, which I feel is really unfair. I have worked diligently in my career to further the great game of poker with the TDA and its members and despite accusations to the contrary we care deeply about the players, as the majority are players as well.

In the end, I choose the integrity of poker, which is good for the game, over good television every time.

The Pokerati Game — which started off mostly as a bunch of media donks and an uber-tight dude named Jackson — also seems to be becoming (as I’d like it to be) something of a must-play for out-of-towners … awesome 1/2 action that you simply can’t find anywhere else in Vegas. Seriously. Go ahead and try. It’s not the same game … And that doesn’t even get into all the promotional perks the Hard Rock has been feeding us.

Three tourists I know today are already gonna be there, which of course draws the vulturey locals who claim to “make a living” playing 1/2, but haven’t yet found enough success to be playing 2/5 or bigger. These Vegas grinders, I gotta say, are an interesting group … they don’t say much other than to call floor, appear to live for comps and free coffee, and may or may not have rent riding on an all-in with top set against the nut flush draw and a wrap … Run it twice!

Anyhow, after playing sporadically beta testing @HardRockPoker for about six months, and running into / working through all the nitty situational question marks that spring up, we’ve finalized and formalized the rules. So now, anytime the game gets going — as it did on its own Tuesday around midnight! — everyone can be on the same page about how we play Pokerati half-and-half at the Hard Rock.

Click here for an updated PDF of Pokerati Game rules suitable for posting on your bedroom wall. Or click below to see more immediately how we play it:

Updated: May 6 May 7 May 8, 2010

RULES
$1/$2 NLH/PLO
min: $100
max: $400

Rebuys:
Max buy-in is still $400. However, the table can agree to let someone rebuy for more; must be unanimous.

Straddle:
Is allowed under the gun and on the button (Hard Rock straddle). HR straddle always supercedes UTG’s desire to buy the last action.

In no-limit hold’em, the straddle is $4. In PLO it is $5.

Run-it-Twice:
Players can agree to run-it-twice in all-in situations where there can be no more betting, . If this happens after the flop, for example, dealers will burn-and-turn, burn-and-turn … then push those two cards upward and repeat … burn-and-turn, burn-and-turn.

With more than two involved in a hand, players decide if they want to run-it-twice only after all possible betting is complete. Players who prefer just one board must either show their hand or muck after seeing the first river to determine if the hand needs to continue.

Example: Short-stack (player A) is all-in pre-flop; two remaining players (B and C) get all-in on the turn and want to run it twice but player A objects. No problem. The first river will determine whether or not player A wins the main pot. If his hand is indeed best, player A gets the main pot, while B and C see a second river for the side pot only. If player A loses on the first run his hand is over, with B and C seeing a second river to determine what happens to the whole pot (main and side).

Or, say a middle stack (player B) doesn’t want to run it twice but players A and C do … the first river determines whether or not there will be a second. If B > C the hand is over, because player B wins the side pot, and the cards speak for the main pot. But if B < C, player B's hand is done, with C winning the sidepot and a second river determining the fate of the main pot.

In a 9-handed Omaha game, when the full board is run twice (all-in pre-flop), the last card in the stub will be used.

NOTE: There is no extra rake on run-it-twice.

Splash pot:

In NLH, the splash pot is simply added to the main pot. For PLO it is held off to the side, and the winner of the main pot gets it. But this extra money is not included in pot-size calculations.

At showdown, splash pots are considered part of the main pot, so even a short-stack who is all-in is eligible for all the added money.

Calculating the pot in PLO:

We round up the small blind, so someone coming in for pot UTG would be $8. With one limper “pot” is $10, with two, $12 … etc.

If someone wants to come in for pot with a ($5) straddle on, the bet is $20. If there is one limper it would be $25, and then $30, and then $35, etc.

Ater the flop, on all hands (regardless whether or not there was a straddle) the dealer will round to the nearest $5 increment for determining the pot.

Extras:

* The game starts with a flip of a table coin to see which game is first. The button position determines where the game switches.

* Cannot be played 10-handed.

* A player is not allowed to be dealt around. If he is absent, standard buying the button rules apply.

* Switching games. Players should not change the game up, nor ask to add any other games into the mix, especially early in a session. Exceptions can be made when it becomes clear that no new players will be joining.

* All PLO. sometimes, especially late at night, players might want to change ito all PLO. This is acceptable in the late hours if unanimous; however, the game will stay listed on the board as NLH/PLO, and if new players want to join the half-and-half game, it will switch back to it’s original half no-limit/half PLO format.

* If a bigger version of the game occurs (2/5 or 5/10 for example) that too will be played as the Pokerati game, with the same base of rules, and betting numbers altered accordingly.

– 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

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.

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.

World Series of Poker® Official 2010 Tournament Rules Unveiled

Logo Policy Unchanged from 2009; Minor Tweaks Made to Incorporate TDA 2009 Revisions

World’s Longest-Running, Largest and Most Prestigious Poker Tournament

Set to Run From May 27 – July 17, 2010 at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (Jan. 14, 2010) – With the 41st annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) just a short 133 days from commencing, the official rules governing the largest set of poker tournaments in the world are now available online at WSOP.com for all players.

Players are encouraged to download the PDF document from the official WSOP website and become familiar with them prior to playing in any events.

The 8-page, 105-rule guide details the variety of regulations in place under the following seven categories:

# Tournament Registration and Entry
# Tournament Scheduling
# Prizing & Seating
# Player Conduct & Tournament Integrity
# Player Likeness & Image
# Poker Rules
# Tournament Operations, Policies & Procedures

Click here to view and download the official rules.

“Poker has evolved exponentially the last decade, and with so many new players to the game, it’s important that we as tournament officials, dealers and players are all familiar with the rules,” said Vice President of International Poker Operations and World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel. “We believe that as the industry leader, it’s important for us at the WSOP to have the most comprehensive rules in the game today.”

While no major additions were added to this year’s rules, several tweaks were made to better define some rules and to incorporate the revisions made in 2009 by the Tournament Directors Association (TDA).

The logo policy, which was adjusted in 2009, remains the same as it was for the 2010 event.

A more manageable and enforceable cell phone rule (Rule #55) has been adopted, in part, in recognition of social media applications such as Twitter, which has become a favorite task of poker players.

The penalty tracking system which was implemented in 2009, returns and will be in effect for 2010. A total of 186 penalties were tracked, or an average of 3.72 a day during the 2009 WSOP. Penalties ranged from warnings to disqualification from the tournament and removal from the premises. The most common penalty imposed was a one-round penalty and the range of infractions included: exposing hand, acting out of turn, removing chips from the table, abusive language, excessive celebration, soft play, cell phone use, throwing cards, dealer abuse and discussing the content of a hand.

The WSOP, an annual poker extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular variations running from May 27-July 17, 2010.

A total of 57 coveted gold bracelets will be up for grabs in 2010 – equal to last year’s total.

ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2009, the event attracted 60,875 entrants from 115 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and awarded over $174 million in prize money. The WSOP in December, 2008 was named the 7th most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Sports Survey, trailing only the older and more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties. In addition, the WSOP has experienced groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker EuropeSM. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit our website at www.wsop.com.

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.

The PokerTDA is comprised of poker room personnel from around the world whose objective is to draft a standardized set of rules for poker tournaments. The TDA has developed the following tournament poker rules, which supplement the standard or “house rules” of this card room/casino. If there is a conflict between these rules and the rules and regulations of the applicable gaming agency, the gaming agency rules apply.

2. Official Language
The English-only rule will be enforced in the United States during the play of hands. English will be used in international play along with the local or native language.

3. Communication
Players may not talk on the phone while at the poker table. House rules apply to all other forms of electronic devices.

5. Breaking Tables
Players going from a broken table to fill in seats assume the rights and responsibilities of the position. They can get the big blind, the small blind, or the button. The only place they cannot get a hand is between the small blind and the button.

6. Balancing Tables
In flop and mixed games when balancing tables, players will be moved from the big blind to the worst position, including taking a single big blind when available, even if that means the seat will have the big blind twice. Worst position is never the small blind. The table from which a player is moved will be as specified by a predetermined procedure. In stud-only games, players will be moved by position (the last seat to open up at the short table is the seat to be filled). Play will halt on any table that is three or more players short.

7. Number of Players at Final Table
In flop games, the final table will consist of ten (10) players. In stud-type games, the final table will consist of nine (9) players.

9. Face Up
All cards will be turned face up once a player is all-in and all betting action is complete.

10. Killing Winning Hand
Dealers cannot kill a winning hand that was tabled and was obviously the winning hand. Players are encouraged to assist in reading tabled hands if it appears that an error is about to be made.

11. Showdown
At the end of last round of betting, the player who made the last aggressive action in that betting round must show first. If there was no bet, the player to the left of the button shows first and so on clockwise. In stud games, the player with the high board must show first. In razz, the lowest board shows first.

12. Odd Chips
The odd chip will go to the high hand. In flop games when there are two or more high hands or two or more low hands, the odd chip(s) will go to the left of the button. In stud games, the odd chip will go to the high card by suit. However, when hands have identical value (e.g., a wheel in Omaha/8) the pot will be split as evenly as possible.

13. Side Pots
Each side pot will be split separately.

14. Playing the Board
A player must show both cards when playing the board in order to get part of the pot.

15. Disputed Pots
The right to dispute a hand ends when a new hand begins. (See rule #18.)

17. Deck Changes
Deck changes will be on the dealer push or level changes or as prescribed by the house. Players may not ask for deck changes.

18. New Limits
When time has elapsed in a round and a new level is announced by a member of the tournament staff, the new level applies to the next hand. A hand begins with the first riffle. If an automatic shuffler is being used, the hand begins when the green button is pushed.

19. Re-buys
A player may not miss a hand. If a player announces the intent to rebuy before a new hand, that player is playing chips behind and is obligated to make the re-buy.

20. Calling for a Clock
Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and a clock is called for, a player will be given a maximum of one minute to make a decision. If action has not been taken before time expires, there will be a 10-second countdown. If a player has not acted by the time the countdown is over, the player’s hand will be dead.

21. Rabbit Hunting
No rabbit hunting is allowed. Rabbit hunting is revealing any of the cards “that would have come” if the hand had not ended.

23. Action Pending
A player must remain at the table if he has a live hand.

25. Dodging Blinds
A player who intentionally dodges any blind when moving from a broken table will incur a penalty.

26. Button in Heads-up
In heads-up play, the small blind is on the button and acts first. When beginning heads-up play, the button may need to be adjusted to ensure no player takes the big blind twice in a row.

28. Four-Card Flop
If the flop contains four (rather than three) cards, whether exposed or not, the dealer shall scramble the 4 cards face down. A floorperson will be called to randomly select one card to be used as the next burn card and the remaining three cards will become the flop.

30. Methods of Raising
In no-limit or pot-limit, a raise must be made by (1) placing the full amount in the pot in one motion; or (2) verbally declaring the full amount prior to the initial placement of chips into the pot; or (3) verbally declaring “raise” prior to the placement of the amount to call into the pot and then completing the action with one additional motion. It is the player’s responsibility to make his intentions clear.

31. Raises
A raise must be at least the size of the previous raise. If a player puts in a raise of 50% or more of the previous bet but less than the minimum raise, he or she will be required to make a full raise. The raise will be exactly the minimum raise allowed. In no-limit and pot limit, an all-in bet of less than a full raise does not reopen the betting to a player who has already acted.

32. Oversized Chip
A single oversized chip will be considered a call if the player does not announce a raise. If a player puts an oversized chip into the pot and states raise but does not state the amount, the raise will be the maximum allowable up to the size of that chip. After the flop, an initial bet of an oversized chip without comment will constitute the size of the bet. To make a raise with a single oversized chip, a verbal declaration must be made before the chip hits the table surface.

33. Multiple Chips
Unless a raise has been declared, placing multiple chips in the pot that add to less than double the bet one is facing will be deemed a call if removal of any one chip leaves less than the bet the player could have called.

34. Number of Raises
There is no cap on the number of raises in no-limit games. In limit events there will be a limit to raises even when heads-up until the tournament is down to two players; the house limit will apply.

35. Pot Size
Players are entitled to be informed of the pot size in pot-limit games only. Dealers will not count the pot in limit and no-limit games.

36. String Bets and Raises
Dealers will be responsible for calling string bets and raises.

38. Chips in Transit
Players may not hold or transport tournament chips in any manner that takes them out of view. A player who does so will forfeit the chips and will face disqualification. The forfeited chips will be taken out of play.

39. Unprotected Hands
If a dealer kills an unprotected hand, the player will have no redress and will not be entitled to a refund of bets. However, if a player had raised and the raise had not yet been called, the raise will be returned to the player.

Tournament staff can assess a one-hand penalty, one-, two-, three-, or four-round penalties or disqualification. A player who is disqualified shall have his or her chips removed from play. Repeat infractions are subject to escalating penalties.

41. No Disclosure
Players are obligated to protect the other players in the tournament at all times. Therefore, players, whether in the hand or not, may not:
1. Disclose contents of live or folded hands,
2. Advise or criticize play at any time,
3. Read a hand that hasn’t been tabled.
The one-player-to-a-hand rule will be enforced.

42. Exposing Cards
A player who exposes his cards with action pending may incur a penalty, but will not have a dead hand. The penalty will begin at the end of the hand.

43. Ethical Play
Poker is an individual game. Soft play will result in penalties, which may include forfeiture of chips and/or disqualification. Chip dumping and/or all other forms of collusion will result in disqualification.

44. Etiquette Violations
Repeated etiquette violations will result in penalties. Examples include, but are not limited to, unnecessarily touching other players’ cards or chips, delay of the game, repeatedly acting out of turn or excessive chatter.

@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

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.

Tom Schneider is long gone (of course), but Team Pokerati’s more successful Schneider, Julie, is still alive and in the middle of the pack with 25,700 chips. Pat Poels is hanging at the middle-bottom with 21,900. And Pokerati pal/TP-rushee Rick Fuller is near the chip lead.

Thanks @haribo22 for the twitpic of Phil from Studio 54.

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!”

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.

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:

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?

on PokerRoad

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

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!

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.

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.

Blinds are 200/400. A player in middle to late position announces raise and makes it 1,200 to go as the dealer reiterates, “Raise.”

The small blind, however, didn’t hear it. And he tossed in his 200 intending to call. Upon learning there was a raise, the SB tried to take his 200 chips and muck his hand. That’s when someone protested, and eventually the SB called floor.

The floor gave the player two options: He could either abandon his hand and the extra 200 he threw into the pot (400 total), or call the 1,200. It would not be legal, however, for him to muck his hand and retrieve the chips he errantly put in the pot not realizing there had been a raise. The percentage of the undercall in relation to the raise made no difference.

According to WSOP rules, the only time a player can pull chips out of the pot is if he makes a call (or a raise?) out of turn, and the player in front of him raises. At that point he can pull back his chips and throw away the hand (or call, or raise).

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.

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.

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.)

Chris Moneymaker

741,000

151,000

Bruno Fitoussi

715,000

45,000

Michael DeMichele

690,000

25,000

Lex ‘RaSZi’ Veldhuis

625,000

95,000

Emil “whitelime” Patel

615,000

95,000

Justin Bonomo

570,000

120,000

Kyle ‘krisqueen’ Wilson

520,000

-75,000

Alan Sass

440,000

20,000

Matthew “adz124″ Marafioti

415,000

126,000

Andrew ‘good2cu’ Robl

410,000

175,000

Doshi Suresh

405,000

-15,000

David ‘WhooooKidd’ Baker

400,000

190,000

Neil Channing

380,000

130,000

Ted Forrest

380,000

-65,000

Sorel Mizzi

370,000

199,000

Alex Jacob

370,000

100,000

Isaac Haxton

364,000

77,000

Marco ‘CrazyMarco’ Johnson

350,000

75,000

Balint Barta

350,000

153,000

Andy Black

345,000

-5,000

Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern

345,000

153,000

Shahryar Eslami

345,000

225,000

Neil Chriss

330,000

40,000

Phil Ivey

325,000

70,000

Tony G

320,000

-10,000

Evan McNiff

320,000

140,000

Steve Zolotow

315,000

120,000

Nam Le

310,000

-40,000

Matt Giannetti

305,700

98,700

Phil ‘OMGClayAiken’ Galfond

300,000

-50,000

Alec Torelli

297,000

7,000

Huck Seed

290,000

-10,000

Markus Lehmann

280,000

20,000

David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott

280,000

-40,000

Barry Schwartz

250,000

-35,000

Vitaly Lunkin

249,000

74,000

Matthew Glantz

244,000

89,000

Mark Seif

236,000

-94,000

Antonio Esfandiari

235,000

-130,000

Adam Junglen

232,000

52,000

Bill Chen

230,000

65,000

Jason Mercier

227,000

-7,000

Humberto Brenes

220,000

25,000

Doyle Brunson

215,000

50,000

Eric Kesselman

210,000

60,000

JC Tran

210,000

21,000

Brian Townsend

204,000

54,000

Dale Pinchot

202,000

82,000

Kenny Tran

200,000

45,000

James Mackey

200,000

120,000

Frank Kassela

198,000

-112,000

Ville Wahlbeck

195,000

-23,000

Noah Schwartz

187,000

-13,000

David Pham

183,000

-27,000

Steve Billirakis

180,000

-15,000

Josh Arieh

175,000

73,000

Scott Seiver

173,000

-62,000

Kirill Gerasimov

170,000

37,000

Lee Markholt

163,000

-52,000

Charles Lehr

156,000

-64,000

Terrence Chan

150,000

20,000

John Duthie

150,000

-50,000

Greg Raymer

148,000

-4,000

Mark Dickstein

140,000

20,000

David Benefield

137,000

-23,000

David Chiu

135,000

15,000

Hoyt Corkins

130,000

-75,000

Russell Rosenbloom

130,000

-30,000

Chad Batista

125,000

35,000

Johannes Strassmann

125,000

37,000

Mike Matusow

122,000

34,000

Amit ‘amak316′ Makhija

120,000

-62,000

Vanessa Rousso

114,000

-41,000

Chau Giang

105,000

-105,000

Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson

101,000

-47,000

David Singer

100,000

-11,000

Jeff Lisandro

95,000

-65,000

Brian ‘tsarrast’ Rast

92,000

-28,000

Robert Suer

90,000

-15,000

Chris Moore

89,000

24,000

Steve Weinstein

88,000

-32,000

Hasan Habib

83,000

-72,000

Chris Moorman

72,000

37,000

Shawn Buchanan

65,000

21,000

William Molson

60,000

-16,000

Scotty Nguyen

45,000

-1,000

Clark Hamagami

0

-182,000

Marco Traniello

0

-110,000

Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuro

0

-237,000

Dan Shak

0

-123,000

Tim Phan

0

-71,000

Steven Rosen

0

-77,000

Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier

0

-67,000

Peter Gould

0

-180,000

Nicolas Levi

0

-212,000

Vivek Rajkumar

0

-245,000

Bill Edler

0

-130,000

Randy Dorfman

0

-4,400

Luke ‘IWEARGOGGLES’ Staudenmaier

0

-62,000

Tobias Reinkemeier

0

-124,000

Jason ‘pr1nnyraid’ Rosenkrantz

0

-38,000

Homan Houshiar

0

-120,000

Phil Laak

0

-63,000

Jeremy Rafalowicz

0

-120,000

Richard Geyer

0

-85,000

Raymond Faltinsky

0

-91,000

George Adams

0

-91,000

Josef Monro

0

-64,000

Phil Hellmuth

0

-178,000

Weikai Chang

0

-120,000

Nenad Medic

0

-124,000

David Einhorn

0

-230,000

Steve Sung

0

-84,000

Doug Mackinnon

0

-135,000

Jean Gaspard

0

-140,000

Ludovic Lacay

0

-130,000

Shannon Shorr

0

0

Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith

0

-64,000

Philippe Rouas

0

-30,000

Brett Richey

0

-32,000

Daniel Alaei

0

-197,000

Howard Lederer

0

-67,000

Cory Zeidman

0

0

Dennis Phillips

0

-110,000

Freddy Deeb

0

-72,000

Joe Hachem

0

0

Doug Lee

0

-64,000

Alexander Kostritsyn

0

-140,000

Michael Binger

0

-20,000

Kathy Liebert

0

-65,000

Masa Kagawa

0

-120,000

Kido Pham

0

-105,000

Nikolay Evdakov

0

-100,000

Erick Lindgren

0

-42,000

Andrew Scott

0

-155,000

Yevgeniy Timoshenko

0

-52,000

Alex Keating

0

-105,000

Andy Bloch

0

-42,000

Sandor Demjan

0

-185,000

Aaron Been

0

-21,000

Gavin Griffin

0

-82,000

Matt Woodward

0

-112,000

Jay Kinkade

0

-120,000

Gavin Smith

0

-100,000

Eli Elezra

0

-105,000

Jennifer Harman

0

0

Jeff ‘ActionJeff’ Garza

0

-50,000

Daniel Hood

0

-51,000

Blake Cahail

0

-103,000

Shaun Deeb

0

-50,000

Mikael Thuritz

0

-8,000

Phil Tom

0

-41,000

Chris Ferguson

0

-112,000

Barry Greenstein

0

-68,000

Brandon Adams

0

-112,000

David Benyamine

0

-138,000

Ivan Demidov

0

-115,000

Corwin Cole

0

-115,000

Phillipe Boucher

0

-120,000

Annie Duke

0

-114,000

Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller

0

-200,000

David Williams

0

-24,000

Johnny Chan

0

-40,000

Eric Liu

0

-110,000

Peter Eastgate

0

-13,500

Daniel Negreanu

0

0

Florian Langmann

0

-38,000

Isaac ‘westmenloAA’ Baron

0

-16,600

David Steicke

0

-120,000

John Juanda

0

-101,000

Sergey Rybachenko

0

-135,000

Peter Jetten

0

-14,300

Steve ‘gboro780′ Gross

0

-63,000

Dwyte Pilgrim

0

-8,000

Bryan Colin

0

-111,500

Jonathan Little

0

-145,000

Dario Minieri

0

-76,000

Christian Harder

0

-75,000

Ted Lawson

0

-122,000

Per Magnus Ummer

0

-2,300

Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan

0

-54,000

James Calderaro

0

-120,000

Scott Montgomery

0

-120,000

Jim Bechtel

0

-120,000

Erik Cajelais

0

-3,800

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.