How do you Solve a Problem like Kassouf? Three of the Best Tournament Directors Weigh In
Kassouf 86ed Speaking exclusively on the latest episode of ‘The Chip Race’, poker professional and tournament director Kenny Hallaert gave
Three of the Best Tournament Directors Weigh In on William Kassouf Being Banned from WSOP
Kassouf 86ed
Speaking exclusively on the latest episode of ‘The Chip Race’, poker professional and tournament director Kenny Hallaert gave a frank interview which included a conversation about William Kassouf, the man who received penalty after penalty in this year’s WSOP Main Event. Hallaert had a front row seat for much of Kassouf’s antics, as he did back in 2016 when both also made deep runs.
Bad as it was almost a decade ago, The 2025 edition of the Kassouf show was turbo-charged with a more manic energy. There were the classic soliloquies, punctuated by catchphrases old and new, but there was a darker, meaner flavor to his delivery. Where he used to try to disrupt the flow of play, now it seemed like he wanted to break the game altogether. His argumentative nature turned into outright hostility and abusiveness. His impudence morphed into nastiness.
Kassouf Eliminated
As soon as Kassouf was eliminated by Hallaert on the feature table, he was informed by WSOP officials that he was banned for the remainder of the series. The next day, The Venetian made the decision to ban him from their WPT event. WPT’s executive tournament director Matt Savage posted the news on social media clarifying that “the WPT doesn’t ban players. The partner casinos make the rules in regard to that, and we support their decisions”.
Kassouf’s behavior and past transgressions now beg a question for tournament directors. What do you do if William Kassouf shows up at your event and registers? Hallaert made his feelings clear on The Chip Race, giving some credit to the TDs at the WSOP, saying “I think the WSOP TDs handled it okay. If it were me though, I would have been more strict. I would have put him on a penalty even earlier.”
WSOP TDs Both Too Lenient and Too Harsh
Hallaert’s opinion seems to be the most common within the community. There is a sense that the TDs escalated abruptly, from not stamping down on his stalling at an earlier juncture to punishments that were too strict later on. For example, I think the TDs should have applied Rules 40c and d which state:
- All Participants are entitled to expect civility and courtesy from one another at every table and throughout the WSOP area …. This rule shall include, but is not limited to, any Participant whose personal hygiene has become disruptive to the other Participants seated at their table. The determination as to whether an individual’s personal hygiene is disruptive to other Participants shall be determined by WSOP Personnel which may, in its discretion, implement sanctions upon any such Participant who refuses to remedy the situation in a manner satisfactory to Host Properties.
On the flipside, I do not think his hand should have been killed when he got out of his seat. I also think that when staff gave him 15-seconds to act on all future decisions, that should have come either with a few time-bank cards or been extended to 30 seconds on turns and rivers. There is, however, a ‘boy who cried wolf’ aspect to all of this. Kassouf repeatedly argued that he had real decisions when he patently did not and so, it came to be that when he did, he was deprived the luxury of time.
Postmortems are all well and good, but what is important is that tournament directors think ahead and devise a plan for how to deal with Kassouf, were he to show up at their tournament. He is banned from Grosvenor Casinos for palming roulette chips in 2018. The WSOP will have to decide whether to reinstate him next year. It remains to be seen whether other operators will take pre-emptive action against him. With that in mind, here is a Q&A that I did with Hallaert (taken from his interview), Savage and Irish Open, EPT and Battle of Malta tournament director Glenn Doyle.
Would you speak to Kassouf before the start of play or on arrival?
Hallaert: “If it was my tournament and he shows up, I probably have a talk with him before play starts. Given his history, I would tell him what he’s allowed and not allowed to do and that would be his one and only warning.”
Matt Savage: “I would definitely speak to him before the tournament began and did after the 2016 event.”
Glenn Doyle: “If I'm aware of something that a person has done (even if it's at another event) that was bad for the game, which drew a lot of attention worldwide, I'd be putting a temporary block on their profile that they cannot register for an event until they speak to me first. I believe that if someone is willing to do something at one event, they will be willing to do it at other events.
"So just because the issue that they caused wasn't actually at an event that I am TDing, it carries over. A lot of TDs worldwide also pass on knowledge of situations that have occurred for the greater good of the game. If I'm running an upcoming event and I find out that a person who may bring the brand into disrepute is coming, I would try to contact them beforehand to clearly outline how the situation will go if they show up to an event.”
The first time he was clocked, would you treat him same as anyone the first time they got clocked?
Matt Savage: “I would explain that his stalling and disruptive behavior would not be allowed and that if we had repeated clock calls he would have penalties instead of a reduced clock.”
Glenn Doyle: “If a player has been the subject of these antics before (either at an event that I am at or another event), they would not be treated the same as a player that has never (to the best of our knowledge) done stuff like this before. The software that we use has an amazing feature to put notes on a player and the floor staff can see the note that was written and act accordingly.”
How many clocks/disruptions before you would issue a personal shot clock for him or give warning or penalty.
Glenn Doyle: “I don't think it's a black and white number of clocks/disruptions before a player gets his own cap on time or a warning/penalty. I don't feel we can have a blanket rule for this situation and would need to be dealt with on an individual basis.”
Matt Savage: “For me, it’s not just about the clock being called, although that is obviously a major issue. Kassouf breaks multiple TDA rules with his behavior and it would not be tolerated as it creates an unpleasant environment for others. I would issue penalties when he breaks those rules too.”
Kenny Hallaert: “As I said before, he would already be on a final warning, which would include me imposing it upon him that he couldn’t talk any more at the table.”
Would you consider disqualification and how far would the type of antics we saw at WSOP have to go to warrant that?
Matt Savage: “Yes, it would absolutely be on the table. Too many penalties and he would be disqualified.”
Glenn Doyle: “I have no problem DQing (and potentially banning) a player for multiple infractions of a serious level. By constantly acting slowly, it can be detrimental to the other players on the table, and other players in the tournament. It can also be looked at from a business decision - if one player is causing a number of issues to annoy other players, they may not choose to play another event or choose to not show up to the next festival.”
Kenny Hallaert: “Absolutely disqualification is a possibility. In terms of banning him, that is of course for operators or casinos to decide. This has been a topic of some conversations with people from the business. For example, I am still a board member with the TDA and we do have a group chat and often we discuss rulings and there are a lot of respected people in that group.. Jack Effel, Matt Savage, Toby Stone… many people that have lots of experience and Kassouf has certainly been a topic of conversation. [However], it is still up to every operator whether they want to have him or someone like him in their tournaments.”
Image Sourced from Poker.org
Recent Poker News
Joshua Bolton Wins Poker Hall of Fame Bounty Event in Las Vegas
The British player Joshua Bolton won Event #92 on the 2025 WSOP roster this week as he beat American rob
Michael Mizrachi Wins 2025 WSOP Main Event for $10 Million
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi finally grabbed the one title that had always eluded him: the WSOP Main Event. Already one
Comments