The Tournament Director's Association (TDA), founded by industry vet Matt Savage (photo courtesy of his site) and others, met last week and announced some new rules for tournament poker and clarifications on other rules. As Tim Lavalli reports on Poker News, "The organization meets annually to discuss the addition of new rules and to amend, restructure or eliminate current rules. Over one hundred directors from properties and poker tours throughout the world convened to continue the TDA mission of adopting "basic standards, rules and procedures that will positively impact the Poker Industry." The discussions this week involved both the potential addition of new rules as well as an evauation of how the current set of thirty-eight TDA rules have worked since their adoption."

This year's summit resulted in lots of clarifications of rules, particularly the rules about being at your seat when cards are dealt to make sure your hand is live or to call time on another player, and also to aid in balancing tables. The TDA meets every year to go over the standardized rules, which are available at their website.