Litvinov's Card Protectors
Artem Litvinov seemed to have a little bit of an issue with one of the rules of the European Poker Tour.
If you head over to the EPT rules page, Rule #28 under Tournament Poker Rules — Procedure states the following:
28. Foreign Objects - There will be no foreign objects on the table except for a maximum of one card cap. This includes foreign gaming chips. As per Rule #3, Electronic Devices are not permitted to be placed on the table or on the rail.
Litvinov had two card protectors on the table, both coins about the size of a poker chip. He was told he had to remove them, but argued against it as the objects were coins and not "foreign gaming chips" as is stated in the rules. Litvinov got a copy of the entire list of EPT rules, and had Yevgeniy Timoshenko help translate things to him to better understand.
Litvinov's argument seemed valid, but the tournament staff also had their own valid point, and that was that the two coins somewhat resemble chips when on the table, which can cause players to make a mistake. It didn't help that Litvinov placed the coins under one of his stacks, the blue T5,000 stack, which made it look a little bit bigger.
In the end, it was ruled that Litvinov had to take one coin off the table and the other could be on the table, per Rule #28 of only being allowed on card cap. The coin left on the table was to be used as a card protector and not stacked up with his chips.
Litvinov joked about the other coin, holding it in his hand and asking if it was fine if he just held it in his hand. He then sarcastically asked if it was fine if the coin was on top of his head, and he put it on top of his head to show the floor staff. The floor staff chuckled, but reminded Litvinov not to have the second coin on the table.
A little bit upset the ruling didn't go his way, Litvinov walked to the edge of the tournament area and gathered two chairs from empty tables. He spread them a few feet apart, put one foot on each and held himself in a split position while bending at the waist to stretch out. This isn't uncommon to see from Litvinov, who regularly practices martial arts off to the side of a tournament when he feels like kicking up his adrenaline (see photo). After a minute or this, Litvinov went back to his seat.
Not too long after, Litvinov had another issue as his opponent in a hand had an electronic device on the table, which according to EPT rules, aren't allowed on the table:
3. Electronic Devices - For the avoidance of doubt, the term Electronic Device includes, but is not limited to the following devices, both known and unknown: [Email and Texting Devices, Telephones, iPads, eBooks, etc., Laptops, Net books, Computers, etc.]. Electronic Devices are not permitted to be placed on the table at any time. They may be in a player’s pocket, on their lap, on a side table, but never placed on the tournament play.
Litvinov was upset he had to remove one of his coins, but this player had his phone on the table during a hand. After the argument was over, Litvinov was a bit steamed and began doing some of his martial arts off to the side to let off some more steam.