Kassouf the Clown?

7 years ago
William Kassouf: The Clown?
08:36
22 Oct

(Photo: Pokerstars.com)

Anyone who has been watching the ESPN broadcasts of the Main Event in the run up to the final table next week will have seen the antics of Englishman William Kassouf – his table-talk the equivalent of verbal diarrhea (or diarrhea as Kassouf and fellow Brits know it).

But episode 12, the 7th day of play back in the summer, saw him being bullied and ganged-up on by the rest of his table – with veteran Cliff Josephy calling him a clown on several occasions.


The loud-mouthed Londoner didn’t take long to start winding-up his tablemates, with Jared Bleznick, Kenny Hallaert and Gordon Vayo not only annoyed by his speech-play, but also his ridiculously slow pace of play. It was Cliff Josephy, however, who most vocal – telling Kassouf:

"We don’t need the clown show”, and then repeatedly saying “You’re a clown!”

“So, you’re all trying to gang up against me?” he shrugged, as Josephy and Moss fist-bumped each other – and the tone of the table was set for the rest of the day – regular visits from Tournament Director Jack Effel after the other floor managers couldn’t resolve the tension between Kassouf and the others.

Kassouf naturally argued that everything he was doing was within the rules, Effel explaining that if it could be considered “disruptive” then he’d be penalised. The other players, clearly exasperated by his lengthy thinking over each and every hand and play, even started joking about Kassouf’s normal buy-ins – a low–blow, but an easy target for the ‘revenge’ most of them looked like they were plotting.


(Photo: Cardplayer.com)


“Aggravate, antagonise, accumulate” – Norman Chad on Kassouf’s strategy

In a recent article I wrote about his day 5 appearance, which resulted in some serious confrontations with fellow players and tournament director:

"As Stacy Matuson tanked for her tournament life, Kassouf simply could not stay quiet – and when he was forced to with a warning, he resorted to mime! Eventually Matuson folded, Kassouf showed his bluff (a 9-high against Matuson’s folded pocket queens!), and Jack Effel pulled the Englishman aside and gave him a one-round penalty for ‘taunting’ his opponent – close to two rounds as Kassouf then dithered at the table with his mobile phone and coffee.”

The penalties and restrictions handed out to Kassouf seem to be as random as some of the Englishman’s own mutterings, and Daniel Negreanu even tweeted to that effect:

But in a recent pokernews interview with Jack Effel, the big man behind the WSOP rulings explained:

"When it’s bothering all the other tables, then I have to come in and say, ‘Hey guys, you’re not the only ones playing in this tournament… Even if it’s not directly affecting the table or no one at the table cares, it could still be affecting the other tables. When I feel other players in the tournament are not having a good experience because we have this one person that disrupts, I don’t want the one bad apple to spoil the bunch. It’s not fair to the other players in the tournament and I have to keep everyone’s best interests at heart here, not just Will Kassouf's.”


(Photo: WSOP.com)


And so the Will Kassouf show rumbles on – and it makes for car-crash viewing at times – but I have to say that even though he’s annoying as hell, the other players this week did themselves no favors at all with their own behavior!


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Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

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