New Rules at the World Series of Poker Tournament
As it is the world’s top poker tournament I suppose that everybody is familiar with the World Series of Poker (WSOP). It is still so successful because of the fact that the organizers have continuously changed. For example today everybody has a mobile phone. But twenty years ago nobody even thought about a distraction that a mobile phone could have cause during the Flop.
Nowadays it is forbidden to use a mobile phone during the tournament because players can cheat and use them to send messages. These little devices can also effectively distract players. Therefore a Rule 52 has been introduced in the tournament guideline, and it says that the WSOP contestants are not allowed to use mobile phones; device with access to the Internet, and other electronic accessories within one table’s length from a participants table.
In 2008 the WSOP finale will take place in Las Vegas at Harrah’s Casino Hotels. What is important, a few more rules are going to be introduced in this year’s tournament. The WSOP organizers have drawn some conclusions from the previous tournaments, and this year they want to restrict players’ freedom of speech, to reduce the amount of uncontrolled reactions during the event. Players will have to pay a penalty for any of the following actions: theatrics, conduct, gestures, any kind of physical actions (including interactions with tournament personnel), and other inappropriate behavior. Different disciplinary actions will also be taken against those WSOP participants who will misuse any of Harrah’s’ property (including chairs, table etc.). No more antics are going to be accepted during the tournament.
According to Rule 44 the rule makers can reject any technical criteria that violate the fairness of the tournament. And as far as the WSOP is concerned “fairness” can be determined by many things. Just look at the restrains about the electronic devices.
All players that are going to be disqualified will not get a refund, and their chips will be removed from the game. Those contestants that will lose by default will be deprived of both the refund and their chips.
Apart from all these restrictions the WSOP organizers have recently enforced a special technical rule in the tournament which will give more power to the players. Previously, on request of another participant, players had to show both hole cards at the end of a hand. Now they can show only one of them.
Other WSOP rules stay the same. And because there is a record breaking jackpot to be won at this year’s tournament, the competitiveness is expected to be higher than ever. The WSOP tournament is not the only one that currently takes place at internet’s top poker rooms. There are many other interesting online satellite tournaments going on at different online casinos, but they can not compete with the popularity of the World Series of Poker.
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