The Reason Why Banning Phone Usage In Casinos Is Harder Than You Think

As co-founder of the Poker Tournament Directors’ Association (TDA), Matt Savage has been a recognized authority on the rules of the game for over 20 years.

During that time he has overseen the tournaments at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the Commerce Casino in LA, Bay 101 in San Jose, and the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he is currently Executive Tour Director. He’s also been involved in hundreds of televised poker shows for ESPN, Travel Channel, Fox Sports and more.

Ahead of this weekend’s TDA Summit, we caught up with Matt to discuss some of the most pressing talking points of the summer. In the first of this two-part article we raised the issue that’s been on many lips at the WSOP: the use of real-time assistance (RTA) at the poker table.

Do you think any concrete steps will be taken at this summer’s TDA Summit to address real-time assistance (RTA) usage at the table?

Matt Savage: Yeah, absolutely. I think that the rule that they have in place at the Wynn, and I think it’s at the World Series as well – that you’re not to be able to use those RTA tools on the floor – is a good one. Enforcement of that, of course, is the biggest issue.

I think if they have a rule like that on the books, and if the TDA can put something like that in play, it’s going to make it a lot easier for us to regulate that, and it will discourage the use of it.

If the players know that when they get caught using it, that they could face penalties or disqualification, they will stop doing that – because they know it’s a rule. Right now, it’s not a rule across the board, and therefore, people feel like it’s okay if they use it.

Is there the possibility for harsher repercussions? For example, something more than just a DQ from a single event?

MS: No, I don’t think so. I think that we have to start somewhere, and I feel like if people start to see that people are getting penalized or even disqualified for the use of those tools, it will definitely discourage those people from doing so. So, I think that’s a good place to start.

I don’t like, and I’ve never liked, the instant disqualification of anybody for something that they didn’t know was a rule. An instant disqualification, I feel, is too harsh, too strong, and because of that, I would not do that.

“I use my phone way too much myself at the table”

There’s been some talk about a flat no-phones-at-the-table ban. Is that viable, in your eyes?

MS: I actually put that up as a poll on X and more people wanted to have no phones at the table than didn’t, which I was shocked by. I use my phone way too much myself at the table. I’ve only played one event this summer so far, but I noticed that I was using it way more than I should have been.

And the fact that so many people have come and said, ‘Hey, if you took phones away from me, I couldn’t play because I have family concerns or I have work concerns that I need to deal with.’ I just feel like completely banning the phone in 2024 is going to be a very, very tough task, to get all of us that are in that room at the TDA Summit to agree.

I will definitely bring it up as an option, but I don’t feel like we’re going to get everybody to agree on that and I don’t think that will ever become a TDA rule.

But who knows? Every two years this discussion comes up, it becomes a little stronger, it becomes a little more of an issue. In the future, it may come up, but I don’t think it’s something for 2024.

What does the future of poker look like as wearable technology becomes more mainstream and accessible?

MS: We already have rules on the book for enforcement of using those technologies during the play of the hand, but I don’t think that we’re strong enough on the phone usage at the table. I think we should probably look at enforcing that a little bit better.

I think with the glasses technology, I definitely don’t want any of that at the table. I think we can discuss that and probably put that on the TDA rulebook that you cannot be using those glasses at the table. That’s something I will bring up and will happen, so I do think that is something that we will add.

In his career Savage has worn a lot of hats – as well as giving plenty away

But of course, with voice technology and the glasses technology and phone technology, all those things are something that we need to get ahead of because it’s coming. There’s going to come a time where you can actually just use your glasses to read your hand, have AI go right into your ears and say, ‘This is what you’re supposed to do with the spot.’

We want to get in front of that to stop it, and I think that we will do that at this year’s TDA Summit.

Will the WPT look to set the standard when it comes to preventing RTA usage, or defer to the TDA to set precedents?

MS: Well, as the Executive Tour Director of the World Poker Tour, we do follow TDA rules – all of our partners do as well. I think it’s something that will happen at the TDA first. And of course, if something comes up like that, the WPT will adopt that, and our partners will adopt it.

There are rules that are across the board that we use as the TDA, and our partners use on the WPT as well. I think it’s definitely coming. I think that there are some things that are going to happen at the summit that will change the way we do the rules on the World Poker Tour as well. I’m happy to bring those rules to the WPT.

It’s lucky that, since I’m the Tour Executive for the World Poker Tour, I can bring those to the WPT quicker. As soon as the TDA meeting is over, I can contact all of our partner casinos and say, ‘Hey, this is a change we made. Have you already submitted it and, if you haven’t, can we make this change?’ I think that that’s what will happen.

Facemasks have been another hot topic this year

Where do you stand on players that use hoodies, sunglasses, or other items to hide their faces? Is it time for tournament directors to draw a line?

MS: Yeah, I will be pushing for that. Basically what it will be is: you can wear a mask, fine. You can wear sunglasses, fine. You can wear a hoodie, fine. But you can’t wear all three.

Bestbet Jacksonville already has that two-out-of-three rule. You can wear two, but not all three. I’ll push for that. There are a lot of different casinos around the country and around the world where you can’t have your face completely covered anyway, so I think that that’s something we will look into.