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WPT Executive Director Matt Savage has had it with post-Covid pandemic masking....but it's not because he believes face coverings won't protect individuals from catching the virus. To be clear, Covid is still around. Folks still fear catching it.
Savage is not happy with the evolution of masking into a fashion statement, and we're not talking about those cool Gambling911.com facial masks everyone and their mother were buying up (wishful thinking on our part).
Poker players have turned post-Covid pandemic masking into an art form.
Savage tweeted:
"Masks are here to stay and politics shouldn’t be part of this discussion but if wearing a mask should you also be able to wear a hoodie, sunglasses, scarf, or gator in addition?
"Give me your thoughts/solutions?"
Scroll down for those, but you get his point......
Jay writes:
"As long as they’re identified at rego, let them wear whatever they like in game. This argument about “but it’s live and I need to see their tells” is an ancient legacy of pre online play. I don’t ask someone to turn their webcam on when playing online so why care when it’s live."
Next @PokerTDA discussion
— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) June 4, 2024
Face coverings-enough is enough!
Masks are here to stay and politics shouldn’t be part of this discussion but if wearing a mask should you also be able to wear a hoodie, sunglasses, scarf, or gator in addition?
Give me your thoughts/solutions? pic.twitter.com/4HksE1Lt4c
Robbie Strazynski offered:
"My 2 cents: If a player chooses to wear a face mask for health (or any other) reason, that ought to mean they forfeit the right to wear any other article of clothing or accessory that further blocks the face. Hat OK. Allowing more than that strips live poker of one of its core elements."
dfsbrat writes:
"Well if you allow the face mask but nothing else. Then you’re basically saying you can have this chocolate chip cookie but I’m eating the chocolate chips. Another example would be what if someone say has transition lenses and in light their glasses turn dark like shades. Are you saying they aren’t allowed to see? I mean enough already. People who are still wearing masks when playing have only 1 thing on their mind. Tht is to cover up period. So I see it as they don’t think they can win without it. So let them. There are more tells then just the face you can use to extract info."
World Series of Poker bracelet record holder Phil Hellmuth got vocal on a couple of different platforms back in February, saying that Isaac Haxton was gaining an advantage and making the game less entertaining – all by wearing a mask.
"I have a lot of respect for him, but he's got to take that white mask off," Hellmuth said at the time. "He's using it to give himself an advantage because people don't read him as well when he has his face covered."
Hellmuth believed Haxton's mask had little to do with fear over catching Covid.
"When there are six people left in a tournament, you don't really have any real concerns for COVID and so that's just a tactic and a strategy and he's going to have to change that. That's not good for poker because we want to see his face and you're taking away one of the elements that we can use to beat him."
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