Editor
The WSOP has made more rule changes for the upcoming 2025 WSOP, significantly affecting the later stages of tournaments.
Following the controversy surrounding the 2025 WSOP Main Event, eventual champion Jonathan Tamayo won with the help of his rail, who gave him advice in between hands. The rail had a laptop there crunching the numbers on his hands and feeding Tamayo real-time information.
There was an outcry from the poker world following Tamayo’s win, as many did not like the idea of players using electronics for help. This led to the WSOP adjusting the rules before WSOP Paradise with the “Tamayo Rule”.
The rules have again been adjusted, and restrictions on electronics have been increased. The new rule states:
No devices will be allowed to be used in the tournament room during these late stages of streamed events and no coaching from anywhere within the tournament room will be allowed; this includes viewing of the tournament stream and usage of any electronic assistance. Failure to adhere to this rule will result in a penalty for the participant and removal from the tournament room for the spectator.
This is a much stricter rule than anything previously determined. It bars electronics for the final three tables of streamed events, including people on the rail. That leaves no room for people to send information to a player while they are at the table, as they would have to wait for breaks to retrieve anything and adjust their tournament strategy accordingly.
There has been some pushback on this rule, as there are questions whether it is too restrictive or just an overcorrection to the WSOP not enforcing the rule last year, which created the Tamayo situation in the first place.
In an ironic twist, this announcement of electronic device restriction comes right as the WSOP introduced WSOP+ for tournament registrations. Time will tell if there will be any incidents where players get in trouble for breaking this rule and claim they were using WSOP+ to register for another event.
