The World Series of Poker (WSOP) will get rolling again with its winter festival starting on December 6th in The Bahamas. This will be the second iteration of WSOP Paradise, which shows signs of becoming a new regular December destination for the poker world.
There is a lot of anticipation of the upcoming series and one of the key questions that was on a lot of players’ minds was how the WSOP would deal with the continued debate about electronic assistance at the tables, including laptops and more. And the WSOP answered that question with a series of new rules.
Background
Now why is there so much consternation over this topic? It all stems from what happened at the WSOP in the summer in Vegas, primarily at the Main Event. Eventual winner, Jonathan Tamayo, got in a lot of hot water when it became apparent that he was being coached on the sidelines by two top pros. Joe McKeehen, who already knew what it was like to win the WSOP Main Event having done so in 2015 and Dominick Nitsche, a high-stakes player who runs poker training software.
While coaching on the rail is completely fine, they were using a laptop and clearly reviewing decisions on a solver. Tamayo ran back and forth from the table as often as possible during the entirety of the Main Event final table in order to go over previous hands. Tamayo would even go over between hands during heads-up play
The optics ended up looking bad for poker as Tamayo got the win over true amateur player Jordan Griff, with many in the amateur poker world calling Tamayo a cheat. It was also a bad look for solver technology as a whole.
There were raging debates on social media all throughout the poker world about how bad it was for poker that it was allowed to happen the way that it did.
The Tournament Directors Association (TDA) reacted by amending their rules a few months later in October to try and help assuage some of the controversy (link page).
New WSOP Rules
Now the WSOP has decided to officially amend the rules with WSOP Paradise on the horizon in an attempt to clarify. The new WSOP rulebook has specifically targeted electronic assistance and coaching.
Interestingly enough, the rule has also targeted not only the players’ ability to watch the live (delayed) stream, but those who are on the rail as well.
Rule 63b in WSOP rulebook:
Electronic Assistance and Coaching: Players and spectators are not allowed to use charts, apps, or any other form of electronic assistance in the tournament room. Failure to adhere to this policy will result in a penalty up to disqualification for the player and removal from the tournament room for the spectator.
Spectators are also prohibited from providing live assistance or coaching. Failure to adhere to this rule will result in a penalty for the player and removal from the rail for the spectator. Non-players on the rail must adhere to the **WSOP Terms & Conditions, including no viewing of live streams on an electronic device.
There was also some clarification on when a streamed tournament is down to just three tables as the rule continued…
Device Removal During Streaming Events: When a tournament reaches three (3) tables, all players’ electronic devices will be removed. Players will only be allowed to have their devices back during player breaks or after elimination.
No devices will be allowed to be used on the tournament rail during these late stages of streamed events and no coaching from the rail will be allowed; this includes viewing of the tournament stream and usage of any electronic assistance. Failure to adhere to this rule will result in a penalty for the player and removal from the rail for the spectator.
There are also the same set of rules about electronic devices at the table during a hand that have been in place for a while.
What is clear from these new rules is that the WSOP wants to avoid a repeat of what happened in the WSOP Main Event. While WSOP Paradise will not have the same stage as the summer WSOP has, it will nevertheless be a huge event.
It will also be a proper testing ground for these new rules to see if they satisfy what people have been asking for.