[bruce18lee]

I am a good friend of Rafi Amit and was present during the controversy. I realize there was a previous thread concerning this topic but I wanted to add a couple of thoughts as someone very familiar w/ the situation.

First of all, the F-bomb rule is ridiculous and an ineffective remedy to player/dealer abuse. The F-bomb rule itself has done very little to change player behavior. It still comes down to the discretion of dealers/floorpersons, and this incident has shown that implementation of this rule is not a solution. On day two of the tournament, Vinny Vinh told the dealer that he would "knock him out" if he exposed Vinny's hand after Vinny had shown the hand to another player. The floor was called, and Rafi was actually one who supprted letting Vinny off w/ a warning.

So whats worse, Vinny's behavior or when Rafi says "[censored] it, lets gamble"? Rafi didn't say the word in a malicious way whatsoever. Vinny, on the other hand, is constantly taunting others. I think its obvious the rule is a bad solution and ineffective. Also, the rule is inconsistently enforced. I have played at numerous tables this year where the F-word was used and ignored.

I couldn't believe that this event wasn't televised. ESPN missed out on probably the most exciting headsup match of the tournament. It would be great if the public got to see what a piece of [censored] Vinny Vinh is (something that most in the poker world already know). Vinny flat out lied in his video interview on cardplayer when he said that he didn't have anything to do w/ the penalty being issued. I also wish that people could see how the situation was handled by the floorperson Jack Effel. Jack basically allowed a player to triple his chips in a headsup match w/ half a million dollars on the line w/ a decision that was very debatable. I think Jack failed miserably in protecting the integrity of the match.