Communication Breakdown?

by , Jun 29, 2009 | 9:59 pm

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!”


5 Comments to “Communication Breakdown?”


  1. Jack
    says:

    It is a celebration of poker not a Donkament!


  2. Johnny Hughes
    says:

    Sounds like on the TV game show. “I want a life line. I’m going to text my poker coach. He knows this guy’s bluff/solid hand record.”


  3. Earl Burton
    says:

    Dan,

    A suggestion for replacing “donkament” is “Super Hyped Initiation Tournament.”

    Put the letters together and you’ll get the answer.


  4. Vinny B.
    says:

    Ahh, glad I have gotten some people thinking, even if those thoughts are how to better mock the donkeys.


  5. TBR
    says:

    It’s got to be a dead hand. This happened during the first day of the 2007 Main Event at Dallas Pokerer Chris Como’s table (he was sitting close to me). I don’t recall the specific action, but there was a very big pot, and one person who already acted and put a bunch of his chips in the pot (calling the initial better on the river, I believe) answered his cellphone while the third guy was contemplating a call. His hand was declared dead. Turns out, he would have won the pot. Don’t what would be the difference between calling and texting. Didn’t this come up last year during the ME involving David Singer? He went all-in, and I guy looked at his phone and pressed something before calling? Singer went ape-shit.