Last week, veteran commentator Norman Chad let slip that the WSOP organisers might have attempted to sabotage the WPT World Championship.
He tweeted that the WSOP angled to get a flight delayed from the Bahamas knowing that it would be full of poker players trying to rush back to Las Vegas in time for the $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship.
Although we expect there to be a bit of a rivalry between the two major series organisers, this seems like a step too far, if it is true.
There’s no doubt that everyone was surprised to see not only the WPT and WSOP running two series in parallel but also doing it at the same time as EPT Prague, one of the most popular stops on the calendar.
But when Chad posted the following on X/Twitter, many thought he was trying to stir up controversy unnecessarily.
“Congrats to the @WPT,@pliska007,@SavagePoker & @WynnPoker for hosting 3,835 players for the WPT World Championship. 3,835.
“Nice. I remember early in the poker boom, when the @WSOP Main Event blew past 4,000 - in 2005, with 5,619 entrants - it felt great. You'll get there.“
It didn’t take long before the abuse started flying around.
Ryan Laplante replied:
“Remember when @WSOP and @GGPoker guaranteed 15million and paid out less due to "staff fees", while @WPT and @WynnPoker guaranteed $40mil, and paid out the full 40....?
“Oh yeah, just happened. Maybe don't publicly bash the best brands in the industry while supporting toxic 1s.“
MGM’s Director Poker Strategy Sean McCormack was furious, calling Chad a clown who knows nothing about poker tournaments and “barely knows how to commentate on one.”
Chad said he didn’t mean it all in a mean way, making it out to be a mis-fired joke.
Responding to McCormack, Chad wrote:
“Wow, Sean. Just wow. I know nothing about running tournaments & might barely know how to commentate on one, but I was complimenting the WPT and their great turnout.
“I need to learn how to express myself more clearly. But at least we found out how you feel about my poker work”
We look forward to seeing if these two cross paths in the near future!