Here’s All the Big Changes & Topics from this Year’s TDA Summit XII

Earlier this week, the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) held its biennial summit, which debuted back in 2001. The TDA Summit XII was held inside PokerGO Studio and attracted more than 200 industry folks from around the world.

“The goal of the TDA remains that we want a standard set of rules that players, tournament directors, and card room managers can reference,” said TDA board member Matt Savage, who recently appeared on the PokerNews Podcast to talk about the summit.

“It was an eventful meeting again. No major rule changes this time around, but some good tweaks to existing ones,” said famed tournament director and PokerStars Ambassador Kenny Hallaert. “It’s always good for the game of poker to share some our experiences from PokerStars events with the rest of the industry and pick up new ideas from other operators.”

Likewise, PokerStars EPT Tournament Director Toby Stone told PokerNews: “The beauty of the TDA Summit is the mutual exchange of knowledge. Our core focus is always on making tournaments safer, fairer, and more enjoyable for the players. While the EPT is proud to already implement a lot of the cutting-edge rules and security measures being discussed, the summit is about lifting the global standard together. A huge congratulations to Matt Savage on 25 years of the TDA. What he started back then has transformed the live poker landscape, and his ongoing work continues to protect and grow the game we all love.”

PokerNews was on-site for the TDA Summit XII and put together this highlight video:

Savage Shares Changes

PokerNews also consulted with Matt Savage to summarize the big takeaways from the TDA Summit XII.

Here are some of the most important and biggest changes as offered by Savage:

• Stronger language for restricting and penalizing abusive table talk and more importantly hate speech.
• The dealer button does not belong to the seat and the button can be moved to get the most players dealt in.
• Players creating passive action (check/call) out of turn action heads up are not be allowed to have aggressive action (bet/raise) if the action changes to them.
• All-ins-Players must put in ALL of their chips or NONE of their chips to go all in. You will no longer be able to put a small amount of chips in the pot when going all-in and the dealers should be trained to push the chips back when placing the all-in button in front of the player.
• One chip behind/virtually all-in scenarios – This has been deemed a strategic maneuver and so some rooms were forcing all-in’s and should no longer do that. Players bear a responsibility to instruct the dealer that they are not all-in if the dealer put out the all-in button and players may not conceal the chip in any way.
• Players that have chips in hand or in a rack must proceed directly to their table without delay. This includes alternates and when breaking tables.
• While no new rule or procedure was created, new technology available was brought up and everyone is told to be more vigilant about to electronics allowed on the table and that meta glasses are strictly prohibited.
• Mixed games had a section in the Summit for the first time and that will extend even further in 2028. The TDA is committed to putting mixed game rules and procedures into the rule set and expanding over the years.
• Chip penalties were added as a tool for poker floor to use instead of orbit penalties because there are negatives for players not allowed to be at the table and their chips getting blinded off while on penalty. This will go into much depth in the new rule set.
• The topic of calling events “women” instead of “ladies” during to multiple request but no clear change will be made. I suggest calling them women’s event because players are not offended by the term “woman” but some are by “ladies.”
• Pets at the poker table was a topic but all agreed that while it has become an issue and that legal questions can be asked it should be handled by trained security if there is an issue like a barking dog, animals that may bite staff, etc. players CAN be moved due to allergy or even fear but no rule and handled case by case.
• Chips in stacks of 20 when available is now a rule and not just a recommended procedure.
• With big blind ante is used it is the player with the larger stack after putting in the ante receives the higher prize because they can bust that player and not vice versa.
• Random table break was discussed and widely accepted now as a procedure but it is not mandatory. Table break orders should no longer be posted at any point.
• When levels go up, the dealer is now permitted to raise the blinds and the floor while they should still be announcing it is not the ONLY way the blinds will be raised.
• While it is up to the house to determine rake, structures, and schedules some major discussion was raised about registration being open to long and ways to get players to get into tournaments earlier. Max late registration has become an issue when keeping it open when the starting big blind average is too low and close to the money.
• By house policy players on live streams must show cards prior to the flop and release forms should reflect this as a rule.

Savage also shared that the TDA is in the process of creating a new website, a new interactive app, and updating testing and certification for the TDA.

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, host of both the PokerNews Podcast & MPST Podcast Presented By PokerNews, and 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.