Negreanu Doesn't Like "The Rule"
If you've been following the poker industry as of late, you've heard all about "the rule," which refers to the new rule change implemented by the TDA and EPT that declares that a player's hand is dead if he or she is not present at the table for the start of the deal, and is appropriately named "the first card off the deck rule."
Many players, including Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, are firmly against this rule change and claim that it's bad for the game. Fellow Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier wrote about the rule change on his website recently, which you can read by clicking here. Negreanu was just overheard discussing the rule with his table.
Negreanu explained that there was no real reason that would merit the rule being changed. Previously, the rule was that a player's hand was dead if he or she wasn't present when the final card off the deck was dealt preflop. Some of the players at the table said the reason for the rule was because it's to avoid cheating from a player who may run back to a table, but take a second to peak at another player's hand from behind. Negreanu said that shouldn't matter.
"The rule's been the same for 50 years," he said. "And that's never been a problem. If it was a problem, people would be complaining. Plus, if someone is looking behind at a player's cards, that's cheating and you can just disqualify the player from the tournament. That's easy to catch."
Another player brought up that the rule is also in place to stop people from running around the tournament area. Negreanu responded to that as well. "They're still going to run around," he said. "They'll just run faster."
Negreanu and Mercier aren't the only players against this new rule change. Professional Dan O'Brien has been very outspoken about the rule on Twitter, and Paul Volpe recently voiced his opinion about the rule in an article by PokerNews' Rich Ryan while at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.
The general sense is that "the rule" isn't overly liked by poker players, and they feel they are being a little too controlled. When Negreanu was talking about the rule with his table, he expressed that poker is about the players and the rules made to govern the game should be in favor of the players.