The €10,000 High Roller event of European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona 2013 kicked off yesterday with a large number of renowned pros among the 168 entrants. Daniel Negreanu was one of them but only until Level 3, when got eliminated after an awful quarrel with the tournament director over the enforcement of the new TDA Rule #29.
During Level 3 (25/150/300) of the EPT Barcelona 2013 €10,000 High Roller event, five times WSOP champion Daniel Negreanu happened to be talking to Philipp Gruissem, who sat at the table next to Negreanu’s, before returning to his own and posting the small blind. He did not sit down but stood next to his chair and kept talking to Gruissem. Meanwhile, cards got dealt and then the dealer mucked his hand and took his blinds, in accordance with the new Rule #29 of the TDA guidelines. Negreanu, who had already been known for criticizing the rule, turned back to the table to see his hand mucked.
The controversial Rule #29 of the Tournament Directors Association says that “a player must be at his seat when the first card is dealt on the initial deal or he will have a dead hand. A player not then at his seat is dealt in, he may not look at his cards, and the hand is immediately killed after the initial deal (…)“At your seat” means within reach of your chair. This rule is not intended to condone players being out of their seats while involved in a hand.”
The dealer referred to this rule when she mucked Negreanu’s hand, despite the pro’s claim that he was right beside his chair, regardless of turning towards the other table. "I was right there! I was standing right there," he started shouting and a floorman was called over. "I was standing right behind my chair talking to Philipp. I was one step behind my chair. I had already posted my small blind," he went on, drawing the attention of other players at neighbouring tables.
The TD, however, agreed with the dealer, making ‘KidPoker’ go furious. First, he tabled his K-T cards, while the hand was running for the rest of the players and then pushed blind all-in in the next one. He dropped several lines in the process, including the likes of “These f***ing rules are so stupid they make me want to shoot myself in the face!” Despite the TD’s efforts to calm him down, the Canadian was raging out of control.
Upon referring to the rule, he stated “I’ve read the rule! I know exactly what it says! Alright, here we go. I’m all in blind. Let’s do this.” He pushed his stack of 25,000 to the middle and Timothy Adams called from the SB with pocket sevens. Negreanu checked his hand, tabling A:h 3:h. The board came 2:h 2:d 2:c 5:s J:d. The pro then stormed out of the tournament hall and kept raging on via his Twitter.
"The first card off the deck rule is so poorly enforced it makes me not even want to play! So absurdly anti player and customer service," he tweeted, and then continued:
"I put my small blind in and was standing next to my chair. Dealer kills my hand immediately. So I just literally quit the tourney lol"
“I was 100% aware of the rule and did NOT break the rule. It was ruled 100% incorrectly by the TD because the rule is absurdly stupid.”
Later, ‘KidPoker’ posted on a forum a longer entry, in which he described the situation in a calmer way and stated that he had already made up with the tournament staff and is, in fact, considering re-entering the tournament. He accepts responsibility for dealing with the situation in an inappropriate way but maintains his view on the absurdity of the rule and that the tournament director was mistaken. Also, he generalises the problem, saying:
“It’s no secret that I, and the VAST majority of players don’t like the first card off the deck rule, but this was the first time it’s implementation actually cost me personally. My rage had to do less with the situation then it did the realization that currently the players are powerless. I’m committed to changing that and making sure that the players are heard before the games rules are tampered with further without player input.”
