The FIDPA And Its Fight For A New Set Of Rules

Published on 22 Jul 08 10:50 by Drakhor

The 'Federation Internationale de Poker Association' (FIDPA) lead by the Dutch poker pro Marcel Luske fights for a standardised set of rules for tournament poker for quite some time already. Now, the project is supposed to be presented.

Already in 2002, Luske founded the 'International Poker Federation' (IPF) with which he campaigned for a consistent set of rules in Europe. Last year, the IPF turned into the FIDPA. The goal of the organisation is now a standardised set of poker rules which is valid worldwide.

But this is far from everything. The FIDPA is also supposed to arrange and organise tournaments independently. The stated aim of 'The Flying Dutchman' is to expand the FIDPA to the biggest international poker organisation. For this it cooperates with the 'Tournament Directors Association' (TDA) as well as notable poker room managers.

Together with people like McClelland - responsible for the poker tournaments in the Bellagio Casino - and Bob Ciaffone from the TDA, they agreed upon a new set of a rules which should be presented to the public in the near future.

So far, an international set of rules was still missing. There are guidelines by the TDA, but they were often regarded as insufficient. The new set of rules, the 'International Poker Rules' (IP-Rules), will be made up of 80 guidelines which bear on the current 40 guidelines of the TDA. The needed flexibility due to local law statutes or individual house rules should still remain in place according to the FIDPA.