bye bye William

[Mohican]

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2025/07/kassouf-escorted-banned-wsop-main-event-2025-49158.htm
I'm pleased that this has happened. For me, he tries to be as obnoxious as possible within the rules and norms of poker. He genuinely makes people not enjoy the game and his actions are very much against the spirit of the game. Now a precedent has been set, he'll think about how he can proceed at the next poker table he plays on. However, I doubt it very much. You only have to listen to his exit from the casino to see his take on the situation/poker/life.
Gd riddance

[verndog158]

Have played a bit with Will. Agree it looks like he went over the top, but do you think the wsop floor treated him unfairly/ out of line with the shot clocks / penalties etc?

[Mohican]

Have played a bit with Will. Agree it looks like he went over the top, but do you think the wsop floor treated him unfairly/ out of line with the shot clocks / penalties etc?

I think he has brought it upon himself with  his constant antics.

[EssexPhil]

Had the misfortune to share a table a fair few times.

He is undoubtedly a talented poker player. And there are occasions when there is a purpose to his speech play.  If he could restrict his antics to twice a day I could understand and appreciate it. I was 1 of very few people who defended him when he behaved appallingly at a Grosvenor Casino a few years back. We all make mistakes.

But that is not what tends to happen. What happens is that your table is playing less than half as many hands as every other table. Purely because of his vanity and incessant grandstanding. Which is 1-paced and, frankly, dull. It amused me that Kenny Hallaert apparently treated every other player on the table to ear plugs so that they could get a break from this tiresome egomaniac.

He is a waste of flesh.

[RED-DOG]

Total **** Should br banned for life.

There is no excuse for not showing people respect. I bet he doesn't act like that when he meets a stranger on the street or, God forbid, in a bar

[du pont]

Have played a bit with Will. Agree it looks like he went over the top, but do you think the wsop floor treated him unfairly/ out of line with the shot clocks / penalties etc?
No not at all. I thought they were very lenient. He was acting like a complete idiot all day. They should’ have penalised him earlier. He was talking incessantly while others were playing their hands. No consideration whatsoever, me me me. He was standing up whilst playing his hand, which isn’t really allowed. Every time it was his turn to act  ( and he had 10 3 off) he would just turn his back to the table and look over at the other tables. Then somebody called the clock, he would say it’s for 10 millions dollars and my tournament life, which it wasn’t as he was always folding. I didn’t hear anyone else say that. He was belligerent and obnoxious all day. He was calling the other players pussies n pricks! I’m surprised nobody at the table gave him more stick. Like Red Dog said he wouldn’t dream of acting like that outside of the poker room. Let’s be fair his previous ‘chip stealing’’ from friends shows his true character.
Having said all of that, as the last Brit I was still rooting for him.
I don’t think he’ll be very welcome at poker tables in UK from now on.

[DropTheHammer]

I’ve also had the misfortune of sharing a poker table with him. His incessant speech play makes it very hard to concentrate/think. He was delighted with himself for getting me allin pre when he had AA, I tabled KK and sarcastically congratulated him on convincing me to shove.

That was probably 8 years ago and since then all this stuff came out about him being a thieving scumbag so I’ve been anti-railing him for a while. In May I went to DTD to play my first live tournament in 5 years and who did I  see outside smoking as I walk up, but this very tosser    I was like “fml”

Did anyone else notice he immediately tries to befriend new dealers to the table, obviously in an attempt to curry favour/get preferential treatment. And his pathetic attempts to chat up that female pro who was stuck next to him for a couple of days was one of the most cringe things I have seen at a poker table.

[Doobs]

I have shared a table with him and I am definitely not his biggest fan, but...

I thought this was really badly handled on day 7.  The time to stop him was on earlier days when he was doing the likes of stalling with T5 off utg.

Day 7 he was given a 10 second clocks on hand 1.  I watched 2 hours on Saturday night and they barely gave him time to think before clocking him whenever he had a decision.  Remember one spot where he had QJ or QT suited and 12bbs after a Kenny Halleart open.  Thought it was a shove away from the main event, but he got no time to think it through.

I thought the table were just behaving like a lynch mob at times.  Pretty sad not one of them seemed to realise it was a wrong and asked if they weren't going a bit far.  Thought there was a bit of scope for someone to step in and calm the situation..

A whole round penalty for calling someone a "prick" seems excessive when he is on 12bbs, especially when there is a good chance he was being a prick at the time (certainly a couple of them were). 

Another round penalty for "bitches" when 7bbs seems crazy. I have never took a hand penalty for swearing and have said worse at a table. 
Felt like a power trip by the supervisors, as was swiping his T9 on a QJx board when one of his opponents was deliberately hiding his chips (hate twats that do this, just show your bloody chips, never gets enforced enough fwiw).  Give him penalties for excessive stalling or talking whilst others are thinking, not for minor swearing and trying to get a better view of chips).  Think it should be a fair game for all, and it isn't ok to rig the game against those you despise.

And it wasn't Hallaert who got the ear plugs, it was Adam Hendrix AFAIK.

And FWIW, Kassouf nicked about £150 from his mate from memory.  He lost his sponsorship and still gets vilified for it now (I even liked one of Barry Carter's posts taking the piss).  But that number is nothing on his loss of equity on day 7, and is nothing in comparison to a recent theft on these boards. I thought it was pretty shitty at the time, but think it is time people just moved on from it. 

Have heard a few say that this will lead to bad behaviour by others, but just can't see it.  We went through this 9(?) years ago and I struggle to remember anyone doing a Kassouf after, and can't remember many mini Hellmuths either. 

Finishing on a more positive note, would like to see Halleart or Margets win. Sat next to Hallaert in Vegas 3 years ago.  Really nice fella, and good for the game.  Margets would be such a good result though, maybe Krissy B would be more deserving, but she is pretty high up in most deserving women. Been at the top a long time, and about time one of the last longer women wasn't doom switched late on.  Mizrachi would also be good for the game, but he has had more than his share of run good this year.

[celtic]

I have shared a table with him and I am definitely not his biggest fan, but...

I thought this was really badly handled on day 7.  The time to stop him was on earlier days when he was doing the likes of stalling with T5 off utg.

Day 7 he was given a 10 second clocks on hand 1.  I watched 2 hours on Saturday night and they barely gave him time to think before clocking him whenever he had a decision.  Remember one spot where he had QJ or QT suited and 12bbs after a Kenny Halleart open.  Thought it was a shove away from the main event, but he got no time to think it through.

I thought the table were just behaving like a lynch mob at times.  Pretty sad not one of them seemed to realise it was a wrong and asked if they weren't going a bit far.  Thought there was a bit of scope for someone to step in and calm the situation..

A whole round penalty for calling someone a "prick" seems excessive when he is on 12bbs, especially when there is a good chance he was being a prick at the time (certainly a couple of them were). 

Another round penalty for "bitches" when 7bbs seems crazy. I have never took a hand penalty for swearing and have said worse at a table. 
Felt like a power trip by the supervisors, as was swiping his T9 on a QJx board when one of his opponents was deliberately hiding his chips (hate twats that do this, just show your bloody chips, never gets enforced enough fwiw).  Give him penalties for excessive stalling or talking whilst others are thinking, not for minor swearing and trying to get a better view of chips).  Think it should be a fair game for all, and it isn't ok to rig the game against those you despise.

And it wasn't Hallaert who got the ear plugs, it was Adam Hendrix AFAIK.

And FWIW, Kassouf nicked about £150 from his mate from memory.  He lost his sponsorship and still gets vilified for it now (I even liked one of Barry Carter's posts taking the piss).  But that number is nothing on his loss of equity on day 7, and is nothing in comparison to a recent theft on these boards. I thought it was pretty shitty at the time, but think it is time people just moved on from it. 

Have heard a few say that this will lead to bad behaviour by others, but just can't see it.  We went through this 9(?) years ago and I struggle to remember anyone doing a Kassouf after, and can't remember many mini Hellmuths either. 

Finishing on a more positive note, would like to see Halleart or Margets win. Sat next to Hallaert in Vegas 3 years ago.  Really nice fella, and good for the game.  Margets would be such a good result though, maybe Krissy B would be more deserving, but she is pretty high up in most deserving women. Been at the top a long time, and about time one of the last longer women wasn't doom switched late on.  Mizrachi would also be good for the game, but he has had more than his share of run good this year.

Nice post, particularly about all the Will stuff. I

[tikay]

I'm with the majority here.

I do agree that 10 seconds to make a decision late in the world's biggest poker Tourney is unfair in itself. But that's on HIM. He was warned repeatedly & chose to ignore the warnings, so I've got zero sympathy in that respect. Modern society more & more resents authority, but in a game where 8,000 or so people have paid a lot of money to participate, you can't have 1 individual spoiling it for so many.

As an aside, I DO wonder if he's got a bit of a problem upstairs, or what the odious Gregg Wallace amusingly describes as "neurodiversity". I was watching his body language carefully, & he was hyper hyper animated, arms, hands, fingers, head all active & pointing in different directions, speaking 20 to the dozen every hand. Or maybe he was on something. But a normal person does not act like that.

I don't like being part of a pile-on, so in his defence, I think the way he handled his bit of thievery a few years ago was spot on. GTO damage limitation is to come straight out in public with your hands up, which is exactly what he did with a full admission & apology on Twitter.   

[tikay]

Given the choice, who would you prefer to share a table with, Will Kassouf or Martin Kabrhel?

I do think Kassouf needs a new script. We've had booyaa, coconuts, 9 high like a boss for years now.

Whereas at least Kabrhel is bringing fresh stuff. His NOT LIKE THAT really amused me.

[Ironside]

I personally wouldn't be able to sit at a table with him, it would end up with me being arrested.

[du pont]

Given the choice, who would you prefer to share a table with, Will Kassouf or Martin Kabrhel?

I do think Kassouf needs a new script. We've had booyaa, coconuts, 9 high like a boss for years now.

Whereas at least Kabrhel is bringing fresh stuff. His NOT LIKE THAT really amused me.

Agree with most of your summary of Kassouf. I watched all of it Saturday and he was being an arse all night. He was tanking on literally every hand. The players weren’t ganging up on him, it was his own doing. He wasn’t just tanking he was also incessantly talking like a complete dick with no consideration for anyone else. If had folded quicker on 90% of the hands that he was always folding then the others wouldn’t have been calling the clock. I agree that the floor should acted earlier in the tournament and warned him of his ‘speech play’. It’s not speech play when he’s not even in the hand. It’s I’m Will Kassouf and I can act like a dick whenever I want.
I was also thinking the same about was he having a breakdown or was the bugler about??
Ps… deffo Kabrhel, he’s actually very funny a lot of the time. I know he has history and can overdo it, but he can be so amusing and he does it when playing against the ‘elite’ in $250k buy ins.

[Doobs]

I wouldn't really want to sit with either.  But you get rough and smooth tables.  So many other stallers at tables.  The ones that just sit there for a minute every single hand before folding to balance their folding range.  So many who berate the fish, and teach everyone "how to play".  Not really sure I'd want to play with this version of Hallaert either.  All mute and with shades Vs the friendly fella I played with a few years ago (guess final stages of the main event explains it). 

I had no problems with the ban afterwards, seemed reasonable as not affecting equity in the tournament, and think it was clearly deserved.  Likewise, he did bring it on himself, hard to argue against that either, just think everything was a bit too heavy handed.

Forgot he folded a straight too under time pressure on a short clock when the river paired.

Doug Polk has done a video that is quite balanced.  youtu.be/gPXJ14gTQFI

Dunno what Du Point is on about the table speed on day 7 was clearly fine overall, and have played on a lot worse.  Kassouf was getting no real opportunity to stall more than 30 seconds and others took longer at times.  It is late in the main event, and a TV table, so was as quick as can be expected. Decisions are tougher when playing for many thousands. People can watch back as it should all be on poker go for day 7. Think people could watch the whole thing rather than clips. 

Don't know about neurodiversity, a few said it, just think he was getting more and more agitated with the situation, so was likely damaging his own chances more than others. There is a good chance that it is some kind of mental issues, and I don't think it was a drug thing, as he always talks ,"too much".

[EssexPhil]

A lot depends on how you define "a drug thing". Because real life is very different from the way the media portrays it.

People immediately think of addictions to illegal drugs. And, in relation to that, I completely agree with you. He does not fit that particular profile. As you rightly say, he is always extremely vocal. This is not the behaviour of someone taking "recreational" drugs.

But there are probably more "drug addicts" who do not fit that particular profile. There are millions of people addicted to prescription medication. Who, in order to seek to contain 1 medical condition, exhibit various other problems due to the "cure". Those people are more likely to exhibit the sort of symptoms, and the consistency, of these sorts of behaviours. Who take the same medication every single day.

He is not a stupid man. Far from it. Which, to my mind at least, begs the question as to exactly why he does not learn from past behaviours.