Kassouf the Clown?
7 years ago22 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 â 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 â with veteran Cliff Josephy calling him a clown on several occasions.
The loud-mouthed Londoner didnât 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 â telling Kassouf:
"We donât need the clown showâ, and then repeatedly saying âYouâre a clown!â
âSo, youâre all trying to gang up against me?â he shrugged, as Josephy and Moss fist-bumped each other â and the tone of the table was set for the rest of the day â regular visits from Tournament Director Jack Effel after the other floor managers couldnât 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 âdisruptiveâ then heâd be penalised. The other players, clearly exasperated by his lengthy thinking over each and every hand and play, even started joking about Kassoufâs normal buy-ins â a lowâblow, but an easy target for the ârevengeâ most of them looked like they were plotting.
(Photo: Cardplayer.com)
âAggravate, antagonise, accumulateâ â Norman Chad on Kassoufâs 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 â and when he was forced to with a warning, he resorted to mime! Eventually Matuson folded, Kassouf showed his bluff (a 9-high against Matusonâs folded pocket queens!), and Jack Effel pulled the Englishman aside and gave him a one-round penalty for âtauntingâ his opponent â close to two rounds as Kassouf then dithered at the table with his mobile phone and coffee.â
The penalties and restrictions handed out to Kassouf seem to be as random as some of the Englishmanâs own mutterings, and Daniel Negreanu even tweeted to that effect:
Just heard TD Robby say you can't talk when another player is facing a bet. Huh? What? Since when? Lol. Making up rules on the fly.
â Daniel Negreanu (RealKidPoker) October 20, 2016
But in a recent pokernews interview with Jack Effel, the big man behind the WSOP rulings explained:
"When itâs bothering all the other tables, then I have to come in and say, âHey guys, youâre not the only ones playing in this tournament⌠Even if itâs 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 donât want the one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Itâs not fair to the other players in the tournament and I have to keep everyoneâs best interests at heart here, not just Will Kassouf's.â
(Photo: WSOP.com)
And so the Will Kassouf show rumbles on â and it makes for car-crash viewing at times â but I have to say that even though heâs annoying as hell, the other players this week did themselves no favors at all with their own behavior!
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