How costly is a one round penalty in a poker tournament?

While the WSOP ban is what we are talking about, William Kassouf's regular penalties in the WSOP Main Event cost him a fortune in equity.

I didn't want to give William Kassouf any more attention after his infamous WSOP ban, but there was something I was too curious about to ignore. 

I think it was understandable that people may have thought Kassouf was a trash-talking genius during his deep run in 2016, but in 2025 he exposed that he was no brilliant tactician. His antics got him banned, very predictably. 

An even sillier unforced error from Kassouf was the many penalties he incurred during the tournament, again for predictable, avoidable reasons. Towards the end of the event Kassouf was nursing a short stack, so this made his penalties even more costly. 

Seven buy-ins in equity wasted? 

How costly? Well, that's what I wanted to find out. I was going to do this myself with an ICM calculator but Derek Wolters did this for us during the Main Event. Derek is a great guy to follow, he runs the ICM numbers and buys ICM action every year in the Main Event. 

WSOP Main Day 7 ICM pic.twitter.com/ceOdPWXBjn

— Derek Wolters (@derek_wolters) July 12, 2025

If you look bottom right in the spreadsheet above, Kassouf is the player who started Day 7 with a 2,850,000 stack, which was 13.25bbs. His stack was worth $385,129 at the start of the day, with every bb being worth $27,026 to him (Almost three buy-ins). 

Kassouf started Day 7 by getting a one-round penalty right away, which meant that with blinds and antes, it cost him $67,565 in equity. This is not a perfect estimation, lots of factors would influence what it costs him (A big blind is worth way more to a short stack than a big stack, for example), but as a rough figure, it's usable. That one orbit penalty cost him roughly seven Main Event buy-ins in equity, and he incurred many penalties during his Main Event run. 

It also goes without saying that, had he had a bigger stack, he may have gone further than his eventual $300,000 cash for coming 33rd in the WSOP Main Event. 

The lesson here is that if you think taking a penalty is worth it, if it means you can get under your opponent's skin, think again. 

Have you ever been penalised in a live event? Let us know in the comments: