WSOP Clarifies New Apparel Rules

The World Series of Poker has released its official rules for its 38th incarnation, slated to begin June 1, 2007. Of particular note is the “more liberal player-apparel policy,” which had been the subject of much recent speculation in light of the banning of all advertisements from online poker rooms which accept U.S. customers. This includes both dot com’s and dot net’s.

Harrah’s will, however, allow players to advertise for online poker rooms, as long as it is not a dot com that does business with U.S. players. Thus, dot net (play money) sites are allowed, as are the dot com (real money) sites that have cut off Americans. Obviously, no U.S. player would be wearing a logo for a non-U.S. friendly room as the result of winning a seat through the site, but it is conceivable that an online poker room that has banned Americans would still want to pay a player to wear its gear if that player was going to get plenty of camera time. Several online poker rooms jockeyed for players at televised final tables in 2006, so it is not unlikely that it would happen again in 2007.

The “dot net” label must also be the same size as the rest of the text on the logo. In the past, this suffix was often tiny, essentially eliminating any differentiation between it and a “dot com” logo.

Additionally, players are allowed to wear as many logos or ads as they would like, as long as no single advertisement, logo, or other patch is more than twelve square inches.

There are many other apparel “no-no’s” such as profanity, advertising of illegal substances, an conflicts with official WSOP partners. The entire list of apparel regulations, as well as all of the official rules for the 2007 WSOP can be found at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/registration/2007/.

Originally published 3:12 PM Wednesday, February 28, 2007