Featured image by World Poker Tour
Every year, the WSOP Main Event creates some fun narratives and introduces us to a variety of characters, ranging from stoic poker professionals to complete goofballs who find themselves deep in a poker event for the first time ever.
Somewhere in between the two is Will Kassouf, a British poker player we got familiar with in 2016, when he made his first Main Event deep run, and caused quite a ruckus with his table antics.
In 2025, Kassouf once again ran deep in the Main, and once again he was the main talk of the town, as he kept surviving day after day despite all the penalties, shot-clocks, and other nuisances.
Will eventually finish in 32nd place last night, and won $360,000 for his efforts in the Main Event. Upon busting, he was informed by tournament staff that he was banned from the WSOP for the rest of the year and escorted off the premises by security.
The big question is: Should Will Kassouf have been banned from the World Series of Poker, and are his antics a net positive or negative for the game as a whole?
Why Was Kassouf Banned?
Will Kassouf is a player known for his use of “speech play” at the tables and various shenanigans aimed at taking his opponents out of their comfort zone.
While such antics are tolerated, and even encouraged to a degree in poker, Kassouf takes things to a whole new level, which can get frustrating to other players at times.
Kassouf started his 2025 Main Event run in his characteristic fashion, chatting up players left and right, taking a minute to fold trash hands, and trying to get in everyone’s head.
It worked for a while too, as Kassouf built up a big stack that allowed him to progress all the way to Day 7 and get down to just a few tables.
While his shenanigans were recorded and reported since the early going, it got worse as days went by. With the pressure mounting, his opponents got progressively more frustrated, and the poker community had split emotions about Kassouf’s behavior.
Near the end of Day 6, Kassouf was informed that he now had only 10 seconds to act on every street of every hand, one of the harshest penalties we have seen in tournament poker.
As Day 7 started, he was told his clock would be restarted to 30 seconds, but when clock was called, he once again got a 10 second countdown.
This, combined with other penalties he was issued (including a one round penalty for calling someone a “prick”), caused frustration in Kassouf too, who believed he was not breaking the rules.
Ultimately, the WSOP staff decided to let Will play out his Main Event, but banned him from playing any further events this year. Whether Kassouf is banned from Caesars properties or not, remains a mystery.
Is a WSOP Ban a Fair Penalty?
There is no question that Kassouf’s table antics and behavior are disruptive to the events he plays in and the other players in them.
However, he is not the only player who engages in such behavior to throw his opponents off their game. Martin Kabrhel is a known example of someone who engages in speech play on a regular basis, while numerous young poker professionals take their sweet time in making every decision.
So, was Kassouf banned for stalling and trash-talking, or is it simply that the WSOP staff didn’t know how to deal with him, and decided the easiest thing to do was to ban him from the Series?
Surely, a complete ban from the WSOP for someone who seems to enjoy tournament poker more than most of us is a very harsh penalty, and a middle ground could have been found to ground Will Kassouf and allow him to stay in the game.
Will Kassouf is Good for the Game
Whether we like it or not, poker fans and viewers want to see drama and antics, rather than robotic players playing with sunglasses and hoodies and making the “perfect GTO” decisions in every hand.
Over the last few days, it was Kenny Hallaert who has held the chip lead, Michael Mizrachi who was making poker history, and Leo Margets who remained the last woman standing in the Main Event. Yet, all anyone could talk about was Will Kassouf!
His table banter can be too much at times, but it creates drama, conflict, and a villain story that the players watching WSOP on PokerGO and YouTube want to see.
The Main Event coverage is long and tedious, and it’s stories like this that engage the fans and make poker interesting for the average Joe watching at home.
Those who have to face the likes of Kassouf at the tables may experience short-term discomfort, but in the grand scheme of things, what the playful Brit does at the tables, is good for the game!
What Could WSOP Have Done Differently?
The biggest issue with Kassouf, Kabrhel, and other similar players, is that they have too much time to berate other players and stall on every hand.
Fortunately, the solution to this problem has already been invented and implemented in many poker events. It’s called a shot-clock and time banks!
The WSOP Main Event is a massive tournaments that attracts many recreational players, and giving all of them a shot clock would be both impractical and bad for the event, as many recreationals would not want to play with the time pressure.
However, for the likes of Kassouf who get the clock called on them repeatedly, the penalty should be that they are given a shot clock and a number of time banks, similarly to what high rollers experience on a daily basis.
This way, the trash-talkers would be limited in what they can do, while still given a fair chance to play poker and compete without a disadvantage.
Putting players like Kassouf on a 10-second clock, however, seems unfairly harsh, and takes away their ability to compete at all.
The WSOP should do better in dealing with such situations in the future, and ensure that the rights of all players are taken into consideration, even when their name is William Kassouf.
