The World Series of Poker recently released its rulebook for the upcoming 2010 series. New to this year, players arriving after the start of the third level of play (cough cough Phil Hellmuth) will be pleasantly surprised to see they’ve been removed from the tourney and are left to drown their sorrows in crab legs and prime rib at the casino buffet. This “no show” policy removes a players chip from play and money from the prize pool, holding it at the registration cage until it is collected by the entrant.

The 2009 logo policy is still in place, which bans the promotion of firearms, drugs, tobacco, lotteries, defamatory or obscene content, pornography, libel, or “advertises any online gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents.”

Thanks largely in part to the impact Twitter has had on the poker community, the most profound change for 2010 is  that cell phones are once again permitted back on the tables, but only for those players with cards in the muck. Guidelines state:

“All cell phones and other voice-enabled and “ringing” electronic devices must be turned off during tournament play. Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other player at the table. If Rio, acting in its sole and absolute discretion, believes a player is communicating with another player at the table, both parties will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and face imposition of additional penalties as described in Rule 37. All players desiring to talk on a cell phone must be at least one table length away from their assigned table during all said communication. Those individuals who talk on a cell phone not at least one table length away from their assigned table shall be subject to a penalty to be determined by Tournament Staff. No cell phones or other electronic communication device can be placed on a poker table.”

View all eight pages of WSOP regulations here (Adobe Acrobat reader required).