My first post about the David Singer generated so much discussion I feel compelled to comment further. Here is the rule in question as stated in the 2007 World Series of Poker rule book: “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.” From what I witnessed the only way the French guy (whose name is something like Michel Petrolist—Bruno Fitoussi told me the guy’s name but Fitoussi’s accent is pretty thick) violated the rule was if he could read a text message on the face of his phone.
My memory of the moment is somewhat hazy. As they say, it all happened so fast. I remember hearing the man’s phone ring. I recall him taking it out if his shirt pocket. I believe he held it in front of his face and looked at the face of the phone the way you would if you wanted to see who was calling you. He then turned off the ringer by touching a button on the side of the phone and quickly returned the phone to his shirt pocket. All this happened in about three seconds.
After the incident took place, Singer refused to leave the tournament area until the matter was further investigated. Tournament Director Jack Effel quickly got involved. For him the most important question was whether or not the French guy had used his phone to receive a text message, a question Singer believed to be irrelevant to the matter at hand. If Singer were on the Supreme Court, he would be viewed as a conservative as he seems to favor a literal interpretation of the law (at least in this case. From what I know of Singer he’s actually quite liberal in his beliefs and when not involved in a controversial elimination he’s a really nice and easy-going guy.). Because of the strange nature of his elimination, Singer asked the Tournament Director for a refund or the chance to re-enter the tournament on one of the remaining Day Ones.
Steve Frezer, the floor supervisor who made the initial decision, had the tapes reviewed from the surveillance cameras overhead. The cameras confirmed what I saw, that the French guy didn’t open his phone and answer a call but merely turned the ringer off and put it back into his pocket. The tournament staff even went so far as to take the man’s phone to see if he could have received a text message in the several seconds he handled his phone. From that investigation it was determined that the man would have had to press three buttons in order to receive a text message, which he clearly did not.
The tournament staff is upholding the initial ruling. Singer plans on taking this issue up with the Nevada Gaming Commission. It’s unfortunate that this situation had to happen on the first day of the biggest poker tournament in the world, but it seems like it was bound to happen eventually because the rule is somewhat vague and only sporadically enforced. The David Singer Rule when instituted some time in the near future will hopefully clear up this ambiguity so something like this never happens again.
When observed from behind the scenes, it’s clear that the main event of the World Series has become more of a made-for-TV spectacle than anything resembling a normal poker tournament. It’s all very choreographed and staged, and none of the players would ever dare complain because they’re the principal actors. For many of them, this is their one shot at stepping into the limelight and they’re not about to mess it up by refusing to sign a waiver or laughing at the absurdity of it all.
This morning WSOP officials hosted a “Town Hall Meeting” for the players. The general idea was to provide a forum for players to ask questions and offer criticism for this year’s WSOP. Nolan Dalla moderated while Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and Tournament Director Jack Effel fielded the comments/questions.
