David Pham Chops

[Howard Treesong]

[ QUOTE ]
Follow the rules. If you don't, you will be punished.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a rather myopic view of rulemaking. Mrs. Treesong is pregnant, and I'm racing her to the hospital to give birth to another little Treesong. A policeman pulls me over for going 37 in a 25 zone. I tell him we have a baby on the way, and he responds: sorry, rules are rules. Follow the rules. If you don't, you will be punished.

I suspect you would not advocate that the policeman take ten minutes to write me a ticket in this instance.

The point here, of course, is a bit different. Nobody is surprised or outraged that the Bike floorman imposed the penalty on David. It's a situation where the the supermajority of poker players would agree that David's violation is technical only; it is not what the rule really seeks to prevent. The equities of the situation suggest that a classy opponent will agree that the rule is inappropriately applied, and do what he can to make it right.

I don't know that I would have thought to shout "F U C K" in these circumstances. I do know that I would not have permitted David to be blinded off.