The dealer must announce all bet sizes and 'ante first' wins in the big blind ante debate, under new guidelines by the TDA.

Last week the Tournament Directors Association summit took place in Las Vegas. It's where poker operators from around the world meet up to discuss the streamlining of their rules.

Perhaps the headline change agreed this year would be the banning of face masks at the poker table. This is a tactic employed by some players to cover up poker tells, but the new ruling states that:

Clothing or other accoutrements must not continuously obscure player identity or become a distraction to the game.

The debate on masks at the table came into sharp focus earlier this year when Christoph Vogelsang made a habit of covering his face with his hoodie:

Example of face covering in above poll. I’m also interested why you think it should/shouldn’t be allowed and if you feel getting tells and social interaction is a part of game. Would playing with more players like this affect your enjoyment? Also remember this is a job for some. pic.twitter.com/IAkQtek2ED — Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) January 8, 2019

The dealer must announce bet sizes

Perhaps the fiercest debate in live poker right now is the 'ante first vs big blind first' rule regarding the big blind ante system when a player has been whittled down to a single big blind. Eventually the TDA concluded they would lean towards 'ante first'.

The most controversial change, however, may be the new ruling that dealers must announce bet sizes as mandatory. Normally a dealer only has to say 'bet/raise or all-in' and a player facing the bet then has to ask for a count. This new ruling has been argued to both make the game faster and smoother for casual players, as well as helping to keep dealers more engaged. However, some professional players do not like the ruling because they believe they have an edge over inexperienced players not well versed with counting chips.

One rule change that has been shelved for another day is whether players should be forced to stack their chips in piles of 20 to make counting stacks easier for everyone at the table. It was argued that it would make it too much work for the dealer to police.

The next Tournament Director Association Summit will take place in 2021.

Do you agree with these new rules? Let us know in the comments: