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You are the Tournament Director Series 2: The F bomb Rule

Player A starts abusing player B at the table. He is threatening him with violence and hurling insults at him. Player B, who has been calm and perfectly behaved, says 'shut the fuck up'. Player C who has just arrived at the table in time to hear this last remark says 'hey, call the floor, he said Fuck.'

You are called to another table where a player in the course of telling a joke on a very good natured and friendly table has according to the dealer used the 'F word'. None of the other players corroborate this but the dealer insists that he heard it, although he doesn’t know exactly what the player said.

Danny McDonagh Danny
At Crown we only apply the F bomb when a player is abusive towards another player or staff member or the F word is said in a very loud manner audible to other tables/the crowd. I would give a penalty in the case of Player A but not B.

Re a joke, if I felt any person was insulted on the table I would caution the player. If the joke was in extremely poor taste I would consider a penalty.

Applying penalties for swearing IMO needs to be adaptable to a whole range of situations as demonstrated above.

Thomas Kremser Thomas
I don’t like this rule and I don’t use it in any of my tournaments. Poker is a game of emotions and a player shall be warned not to use abusive language. If he ignores, he shall be penalised.

Matt Savage Matt
I DO NOT support the F bomb rule; I WOULD penalize the player who was threatening the other player. There are so many swear words that are equally as offensive as the F word and therefore the rule makes no sense. I will penalize a player for vulgar or abusive language if it is offensive or directed at another player, dealer, or floor staff.

Roy Houghton Roy
a) Ask the dealer. Dealer repeats what's happened. Why did he make this comment? Penalise the abusive player. Poker tournaments [tournament directors] are like a football referee, you have to have a little leeway. You have to use a bit of common sense. Situations like that where you have to give a ruling, I rely a lot on my dealers.

b) I'd say to the dealer - I suggest you keep your mouth shut unless any of the players object. You are dealing the game you're not actvely involved in the game. You just quietly deal and don't call me over for no good reason.

Luke Ivory Luke
In the first situation, I would establish with the dealer exactly what had happened and reprimand Player A for abusing other players and ungentlemanly conduct, reprimand Player B for reacting inappropriately to it and penalise them both with a 20 minute penalty. (I would also reprimand the dealer for letting it get so far out of hand, he should have called the TD once Player A had started to threaten violence).

Mel Judah Mel
The F rule overall is a good rule so players do not get out of hand. Unfortunately the rule is upheld even though its context is sometimes inoffensive.

Mob Verdict

Barny wrote an article all about the F-Bomb, ‘F is for Farce’ you can read it here:

So the Mob say F@#* the F-Bomb rule!

Matt gives a perfect answer and Roy is the only TD who addresses the problem that the dealers are put in a difficult position by this rule and we feel that is important as well.

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