Home / Poker News December 2013 / 2013 Poker Retrospective – Part 6
2013 Poker Retrospective – Part 6
Posted by: Jo Martin - Sun, 2013-12-29 06:36
Like every year, the
online poker industry has been through lots of ups and downs through 2013. There were cringe-worthy moments bordering on the embarrassing, there were moments of elation, and moments of frustration as well. One of the most significant moments from the perspective of the standardization of the rules of the game was the adoption of the “First Card Off the Deck” rule by the Tournament Directors Association, hailed as a definite move in the right direction by many, but slammed by many a poker professional as frustrating and half-baked.
The First Card Off the Deck rule states that on the initial deal, when the first card is dealt, a player must be at his/her seat, otherwise, his hand will be considered dead, he won’t be able to look at it, and he will pay all compulsory bets (blinds/antes/bring-ins) as required. To be “at one’s seat” means – in the interpretation of the rule – that a player must be able to reach his actual chair at the table.
The adoption of the above said rule was done on July 26-27, at the Venetian Hotel and Resort Casino, where the Tournament Directors Association had convened for its by-annual conference. The First Card Off the Deck rule wasn’t the only tweak brought to the standardized rules of tournament poker at the meeting, but it was by far the most significant one.
Even though the rule has only been made official this summer,
PokerStars-sponsored events have had it in place for the last two years.
One of the professionals who spoke out against the rule was PokerStars’ own Daniel Negreanu, who basically said it was unnecessary and that he had never heard about anyone ever filing a complaint in regards to the First Card Off the Deck rule.
According to Linda Johnson of the TDA, the rule is meant to prevent players from walking to a table with their live hand at it and catching a glimpse of another player’s pocket cards.
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