Harrah's releases 2007 World Series of Poker tournament rules

Detailed logo restrictions for players and an explicit ban on third-party registrations from gaming sites conducting business with U.S. residents are among the new 2007 World Series of Poker rules announced by Harrah's Wednesday morning.

Harrah's maintains that it has not allowed third-party registrations from Internet poker rooms that allow U.S. real-money play for the last two years. But last year's rules made no mention of it, and multiple sources have indicated Internet poker rooms handled the registration process for their online qualifiers in each of the last two years.

In addition to spelling out the ban on third-party registrations from online poker rooms accepting U.S. play, the new rules state that third-party registrations are only allowed when submitted by WSOP sponsors or by "land-based entities officially licensed to conduct satellite tournaments."

Enforcing these rules, however, may prove difficult. Registrations made in person may be paid for with cash, a cashier's check drawn from accredited banks and made out to registrants or the Rio, or with Rio gaming chips, including a new $10,000 WSOP branded Rio casino chip.

"If a player shows up with $10,000 and wants to register for the tournament, we will allow them to play," WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said. "It's nearly impossible for us to tell where the money came from. Just because someone is wearing a dot-net or dot-com shirt doesn't mean they qualified for the tournament online. People wear poker related clothing for more than one reason. I wear a L.A. Kings jersey all the time. I don't play for the Kings."

The WSOP's new logo policy adds a touch of NASCAR flair to the tournament.

Players may wear advertisements promoting dot-net sites, so long as the dot-net portion of the logo is the same size as the rest of the site name.

Players may also wear multiple logos, but all logos must be no greater than 12 square inches. This size limitation will eliminate -- or at least change the design of -- Full Tilt jerseys worn by the professionals who endorse the site, as well as the Poker Stars jackets online qualifiers wore last year.