Like a bully or a boss?

Was the anger directed at William Kassouf by the other players in the Main Event coverage justified?

The big talking point of the WSOP (and perhaps the poker year) was the antics of William Kassouf and the reaction of the rest of the players to him. Kassouf stalled and constantly talked to the point of frustrating his table mates. However a great number of them were abusive to him even though (from the footage at least) he was never abusive, he was just annoying.

I totally agree that stalling is an annoying and short sighted thing to do. It’s a real pet peeve of mine because it can ruin the game for a lot of people, especially amateurs. I’m generally quite a calm stoic person at the table but the most frustrated I’ve ever been at the tables was when somebody kept stalling for no good reason. While I was entertained by Kassouf, I am quite glad he won’t be at the live finale because stalling on a live broadcast would have ruined it for an audience of millions of potential new players. 

I am also against abuse at the table for the same reason. A fun, friendly and sociable game is the loosest one you will play in and it keeps recreational players coming back for more.

Abuse? 

This is the important distinction though; despite the accusations leveled at him, I did not see any abuse coming from Kassouf. I saw plenty directed at him but the only thing that came from his mouth were questions and statements about himself. All of which was very annoying, but not abusive. If there was abuse, I’m pretty certain ESPN would have shown it given they were already painting him as the villain and it would have made for better TV.

Kassouf was in the wrong stalling as much as he did, but the collective reaction to him was worse. The word ‘bully’ was used against him which is funny because the entire table ganging up on him looked like the textbook definition of bullying to me. Because he is so animated and disruptive I don't think he should be surprised when the table balks at him, but the sheer anger and weight of numbers against him was ugly.

Some of the players in the final few tables of the Main Event have been around the game for a long time. It baffles me that they seemed completely unprepared for an annoying player at the tables. It seemed that the players who were the most disgruntled by Kassouf were the established professionals, not the amateurs. Surely these guys have played with the likes of Tony G, Mike Matusow, the Devilfish and Phil Hellmuth over the years? All of whom are much more verbally aggressive than Kassouf.

An unwelcoming environment

I don’t particularly want to call out any single player in this instance because we don’t know what was left on the ESPN cutting room floor and it’s not fair to judge anyone on a single outburst when it’s the highest pressure event in poker. Rather than point to anyone individually, the ugly collective response to him during this year’s Main Event coverage seems symptomatic of a general fragility and entitlement that appears to be creeping into modern culture.

We have too much comfort and luxury these days, especially if you are making millions playing a card game. We have it so easy that even the slightest inconvenience is now deemed an act of abuse. You only need to look at the US Election and Brexit this year to see how completely intolerant we are all becoming towards people with opinions we don't like. Considering this is a game where you can literally leave somebody financially destitute after one hand, we should all be a little more thick skinned about trivial things like spending time with people who annoy us. 

There were no winners in this affair, even though the WSOP has attracted a lot of attention as a result. Kassouf’s stalling is really bad for the game and I for one hope it might push the Main Event towards a shot clock. However, a mob of professional players throwing temper tantrums on the biggest stage in poker makes for a very unwelcoming environment, one which could be just as off-putting to potential new players watching ESPN.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Let us know in the comments: