Players like Dietrich Fast are going to have to ditch the headphones and tablets to play #TheSocialExperiment (WPT Photo)

At one point or another in your live poker travels you’ve probably found yourself at a table full of players wearing some combination headphones, sunglasses or hoodies all with their heads buried in their phones.

Well, the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles has announced an experiment that might be right up your alley. As part of the upcoming California State Poker Championship, “The Social Experiment”, is a $350 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed tournament which doesn’t allow players to wear headphones, sweatshirt hoods, sunglasses or use electronic devices like phones or tablets.

The tournament is brainchild of Matt Savage, Commerce Tournament Director, and Justin Hammer, Commerce Tournament Coordinator. The tournament structure includes the pair’s reasoning behind the event.

“The #SocialExperiment is an attempt to create social interaction amongst players. Cell phones, sunglasses, headphones, and hoods will only be allowed outside of the tournament area, or on break.”

Players who use their electronic devices, or break any other of the special tournament rules, will be penalized. While registration is still open the penalty is three hands. Once registration closes the penalty escalates to a minimum of one round.

The reaction from those on social media was mixed, but Savage was quick to reinforce that the idea is an experiment and not something that the TDA, which Savage is the head of, is considering for widespread implementation.

The two-day event begins Saturday, April 29.