Smartphones banned in Social Experiment poker event
Stripped back second event at this year’s California State Championship to ban tech and sunglasses in order to bring back social poker.
Event organisers of the upcoming $100,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold'em Triple Stack Social Experiment event at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles have outlawed the use of paraphernalia in a move to encourage social engagement at the poker table.
Tagged #thesocialexperiment, according to tournament director Matt Savage, the event is an attempt to strip back poker to its purest form and create social interaction by removing the use of peripheral items that act against the game’s sociable nature.
To that end, players at the event will not be allowed to use mobile phones or headphones to encourage chat and interaction, while hoodies and sunglasses have also found themselves on the banned list in order to promote a friendlier vibe, "filling the room with the warmth of social interaction", according to Savage.
The @CommerceCasino $100,000 GTE $350 "Social Experiment" will be no electronic devices allowed, headphones, hoodies, or sunglasses allowed. https://t.co/aZeLEW2nl6
— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) March 24, 2017
Some of these items have proved controversial in the past, in paticular sunglasses, as they effectively eliminate eye-tells and have even previously become embroiled in cheating storms.
For those that find the new conditions tough going, the event’s structure sheet has cheekily labelled the game’s breaks under titles such as “Check your emojis”, “Like whatever you’ve missed”, “Call your mother” and “Well done”.
Do you like this idea? Is tech ruining live poker? Let us know in the comments:
