I am looking forward to seeing Kassouf bust out nearly as much as I was to see Schwartz go down last year.

Yes, but did anyone ever ask him to stop talking while action was on them directly?

In the footage only the TD asked him to stop talking, the female with QQ never asked him to stop talking, she went on the 'is his hand dead' routine with floor staff. After the TD asked him to stop and he continued the lady never made any statement of "i asked him to be quiet or can you can you tell him to be quiet"

Ive posted in this thread i have played with Will a fair few times and anytime a player (not TD) has asked him to be quiet he has been.

This is where he is out of line...talking in multi way pots or when there is still action behind.

At the beginning of the clip she asks the floor "he's like breaking all these rules, and he's not getting any penalties...how come his hand is still live when he is talking about his hand?.." Then the other lady interjects that he is talking about his hand when there is action still pending, etc...

From my view I don't mind if you talk, when the action is on you, if that's your thing... As long as you don't waste time, which, he did on many occasions. But, when the action is on me , let me do my thing... and you should stfu. If I talk to you when it's on me than OK, game on...

Yes, call me a cry baby, it's all within the rules for you to talk when it's on me, BUT, it's disrespectful and will turn people off -> at the end of the day, less people playing the game...

It's like talking during a shot in golf. Legal, but you just don't do it.

Imagine you did not speak any english. Having him at your table would still be a mind numbing horror show that could be used in guantanamo to torture prisoners. He is the verbal equivalent of blasting a fog horn every 5 seconds.

The problem is not what he says, which is fine under the rules. Its not an issue of content but of noise and intent to psychologically harass and distract. If he can do that in what way is if different then someone playing loud annoying music?

what a fkn joke

guy did nothing wrong

further, he is actually IN the hand. he can say whatever he wants.

Played with him in the UK in some small tournaments as well ($100 buy ins) and he is the same, but if you listen to him he does give away his hand a lot of the time.

I played the Goliath in the UK this year not long after the main event and he got an almost ovation when he came into the casino for his deep run.

Personally think he should have just stayed still and calm once he was told to stop and be quiet, the fact that he did not is what got him the penalty.

As with most people in positions of authority that don't really mean much Jack was never going to change his mind once he had given the penalty so the attempt to explain it after from Will was a waste of time and he should have said nothing and just moved on.

I don't think he is bad for the game as long as he does not slow it down too much, if he does then people should call the clock more. He is divisive which for entertainment is not that bad, Trump has made a political career out of that trait.

i like Kassouff , he is very funny and seems like a really good guy

lol Americans at the table just cant handle his humour

He's just a wind-up merchant. It works for him, the OP vid is a case in point. Even though he pushed it with the hand gestures after the warning, it was still way OTT to get a penalty for what was just part of his strat, and really didn't break any rules.

I still believe she was more trying to get him a penalty then get him to shut up. She never directly asked for him to be quiet.

Agree with golf etiquette, but don't feel is bears the same weight here.

Agree to disagree

True story: I was about to play a live tournament next week for the first time in like 5 years. Watching this Kassouf guy take 2 minutes to fold 85o preflop and talk all this utterly annoying bull**** made me rethink, unreg the tourney and have my money refunded. It reminded me flawlessly of all the **** that I hate about live poker.

Americans can't even spell "humour".

Cool story, bro.

What did you do with the buy-in you got refunded ? Please share more.

Did you spend it like a boss ? Did you put it into a cool new skill-game machine to play ? Did you invest it in a municipal bonds fund ? Did you spend it on hookers and blow ?

Some subtle, understated, yet curiously side-splitting "humour"there, thanks for the laugh.

The only problem I have with the is the time he takes with the BS on every hand...really cuts down on the hands you play per level...

Being from Amsterdam I got high 9 times with my boss.

Just when was he funny? Do Euros get a kick out of his "coconuts" and "monkey nuts" lines?

I'm confused by this whole thing, if he did this to another man nobody would care. I personally don't believe in giving women preferential treatment so i think what he did was fine, good for tv as well.

Oh yeah this guy is so funny timebanking for minutes with random crap repeatedly. Whatever good he may do for the game with his manners is far exceeded by the negative that comes from being a timebanking douche.

Its all fun and games untill u have a player like that on the table. The ruling was just to show how bad the rules still are after all these years.

For the vast majority of Americans, watching the ME is their ONLY exposure to poker and it is the initial touchpoint for many potential players (and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. touchpoints). It's really not just a poker tournament, it's a television event that is a huge marketing opportunity for poker. It's the only tournamen the "average joe" might watch. For this reason, I think its OK to police "taunting" slightly differently than other tournaments--as long as it's clear to all players.

Based on what was shown in the episode (obviously tough to really know due to editing), I didn't think it crossed the line UNTIL he mimed after being explicitly told to be quiet by the TD. It was not "being friendly" at all as he stated, he's clearly intentionally giving the middle finger to the TD's warning. Without that I don't think he would have gotten the round penalty. I am all for "speech play," but if they ask you to be quiet after the TD has told you to during a big decision for the other player, you have to respect that.

Sure some pro players might lose a very slight edge by policing it this way, but I think the whole "any average joe can become a millionaire in a fun environment" theme that they promote for the ME is really great for the game long term. So the slight loss in edge is more than made up for in the impact to the poker economy.

Space cakes are cool.

Watching that video reminded me why I don't play tournaments.