More than 120 members of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) convened at The Venetian in Las Vegas in late February, and to the delight of board members Linda Johnson, Matt Savage, Dave Lamb, and me, it was a resounding success. Not having met for almost four years, our goal was to try to establish new rules as well as clarify and discuss previous rules.
The TDA was formed in 2001 by the four above-mentioned poker enthusiasts, who wanted to standardize rules within the arena of tournament poker. To get a rule added to the TDA requires unanimous agreement. Approximately 20 tournament directors attended the 2001 meeting. Everyone wanted standardized rules, as long as they were consistent with their own house rules. There wasn't much willingness to compromise, so we were able to adopt only 14 rules during the inaugural gathering, which made for a very frustrating and nonproductive meeting. The following year, with 40 tournament directors in attendance, we struggled to get 38 rules adopted. At this past summit, the delegates heeded Linda Johnson's opening comments to the group, requesting that attendees be flexible and willing to compromise for the good of the industry. She said, "You will all be called on many times to vote on rules during the summit. Once we determine that a large majority is in favor of a rule, we will take a second vote. At that time, we request that if the rule is something you can live with, even if it isn't the way you are currently enforcing it, please vote with the majority so that we can get some rules adopted." Time and again, we were amazed and thrilled that we were able to get 100 percent agreement on issues in our second vote. If the vote originally was close to 50-50, we usually passed on that item and moved on to another topic.
With the cooperation of the attendees, we were able to combine and revise several previous rules and adopt some new ones. Here is a summary of some of the biggest changes made to previous rules. These rules went into effect on March 15 and can be viewed in their entirety at www.pokertda.com/rules.htm.
Penalties - The penalty system has been completely reworked; players receiving a penalty are now required to sit out a designated number of hands, rather than a set amount of time. Here is the exact wording of the new rule: A penalty may be invoked if a player exposes any card with action pending, throws a card off the table, violates the one-player-to-a-hand rule, or similar incidents take place. Penalties will be given in cases of soft-play, abuse, or disruptive behavior. Penalties available to the tournament director include verbal warnings and "missed-hand" penalties. A missed-hand penalty will be assessed as follows: The offender will miss one hand for every player, including the offender, who is at the table when the penalty is given, multiplied by the number of rounds specified in the penalty; for the period of the penalty, the offender shall remain away from the table. Tournament staff can assess 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.
Dead Hand - The rule regarding when a hand is dead preflop has been changed to read as follows: A player must be at his or her seat by the time all players have been dealt complete initial hands in order to have a live hand. (The old rule required you to be in your seat.)
Etiquette - Repeat etiquette violations such as excessive chatter that annoys opponents, folding out of turn, and delaying the game can now be penalized. Soft-play will be penalized and chip dumping will lead to disqualification.
Calling the Clock - If a player has the clock called on him, he will be given a maximum of one minute to act on his hand. (This provides the tournament director the discretion of giving a shorter amount of time if the same player constantly slows up the game.)
Chip Race - A line has been added that reads: Players are encouraged to watch the chip race.
Reopening the Bet - A clarification has been made regarding the half-bet rule, as follows: 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.
Oversized Chip - The following sentence has been added to the oversized-chip rule: To make a raise with a single oversized chip, a verbal declaration must be made before the chip hits the table surface.
One Player to a Hand - It is now a written TDA rule that a player may not read a hand that has not been tabled.
English-Only Rule - A line has been added to the English-only rule that allows both English and the local language to be used in international play.
Communication Devices - The no-cellphone rule has been expanded, as follows: A player may not use a cellular phone, text messaging device, or any other communication device at the table.
Balancing Tables - When moving a player to balance tables, there must be a predetermined procedure to decide from which table the player will be moved. The rule also states that in flop games, when balancing tables, players will be moved from the big blind to the worst position (which is never the small blind). Play will halt on any table that is three or more players short. In stud-type games, players will be moved by position (the last seat to open up at the short table is the seat to be filled).
Unprotected Hands - A sentence has been added that states that if a dealer kills an unprotected hand of a player who has raised, the raise will be returned if it has not yet been called.
Consecutive Cards - It is now in writing that a player can receive two consecutive cards on the button in the event that the dealer accidentally exposes the button's last card.
Tabled Hands - A sentence has been added to the rule that states that a dealer cannot kill a winning hand that was tabled. It reads: Players are encouraged to assist in reading tabled hands if it appears that an error is about to be made.
Verbal Declarations and Acting Out of Turn - This rule has been clarified, as follows: Verbal declarations in turn are binding. Action out of turn may be binding and will be binding if the action to that player has not changed. A check, call, or fold is not considered action changing.
In my next column, I will discuss the new rules adopted by the TDA, and some of the great suggestions on procedures that were shared. In the meantime, I applaud the attitudes and dedication of all who attended the 2007 TDA Summit. It was such a great meeting that I am looking forward to the next one.
Class dismissed!
Jan is available to host poker events, seminars, and tournaments. You can contact her through her website at www.cardplayercruises.com or via e-mail at [email protected].
