My last column dealt with the lack of dealer procedures at the
World Series of Poker and other major tournaments. In this column and the next one, I will examine two common rules that cause a lot of problems. In general, they end up annoying the innocent, without doing anything to punish the guilty. The first is the "No Cell Phone Rule." The second, which I'll discuss in my next column, is the "No Telling the Truth About Your Hand Rule."
The 2007
WSOP rules include this one:
82. Cell Phone Rule: A player who wants to use a cellular phone must step away from the table. Any player on the cell phone or texting a messaging when the dealer delivers the first card from the deck will have a dead hand. No cell phones can be placed on a poker table.
(Notice the phrase "texting a messaging"; hopefully, more thought and competence went into the creation of these rules than went into their proofreading.)
Why should this rule exist? There are two possible explanations. One is that the cell phone or text messaging could be used to cheat. The second is that cell phone use is discourteous and annoys other players. As far as I know, there has never been a case of cell phone cheating. The idea that someone away from the table can know more about how to play a hand than the player at the table is patently absurd. The proponents of the rule argue that a spectator may be able to see one player's cards and let another player know what they are. In general, it is hard for spectators to see anyone's holecards. Even assuming a conspirator with good eyesight, who is able to see a player's cards and rapidly text them to his partner, why should he bother? Wouldn't it be faster and attract less attention to use some sort of hand signals? For example, left-ear scratch is a bluff, right-ear scratch is a big pair, and so on. There are also a number of hidden devices that can be used for communication, by vibration, mild shock, and so on.
Clearly, this rule can't stop cheating, so perhaps it was designed to prevent players being from discourteous and annoying. That makes some sense, but isn't the penalty a little too severe? Why not tell players to put their phones on vibrate and text away from table? There are people with friends, families, and businesses who need to be available for important communications. I have played in and/or watched many of the largest cash games in the world, and none of them have any restrictions on phone use. If those players aren't worried, why should the
WSOP worry?
The last problem with rule No. 82 is that it is inconsistently enforced and leaves room for a variety of interpretations. At one point, Paul "X22" Magriel stepped away from the table to complete a call. The call ended and he returned to his seat while cards were being dealt, and his hand was declared dead. Another player was playing some video game on a Game Boy, and the dealer mucked his hand, thinking he was text messaging. Many people had phones on the table, occasionally without penalty. Many people answered phones and said, "I can't talk now. I'll call you on the break." Some were penalized and others got no penalty. David Singer's opponent in a key hand had his cell phone ring, looked at it, turned it off, and returned to the hand without a penalty. Under the frequently enforced letter of the law, his hand should have been dead. Clearly, what he did was "worse" than just having a phone on the table, and, in fact, many hands had been killed just for taking a cell phone out. On the other hand, from a rational point of view, Singer's opponent wasn't cheating, received no unauthorized information, and didn't deserve to have his hand declared dead.
It is clear to me that this rule has to be expunged from the rulebook, or at the very least substantially revised. The fact that the people running the tournaments often don't even play poker, but love to show how smart and powerful they are, leads to the creation of these ridiculous, draconian rules.
Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bar, Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston and Avenue A in New York City.
