“Horrible for poker”
The talk of the poker world the last few days has been the cheating allegations against Martin Kabrhel, who finished third in the $250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event on Sunday. Multiple players at the final table and at tables with him on previous days suspect he was marking the cards and were made very uncomfortable by his frequent standing in what they believe was an effort to get a better look at the backs of their hole cards. Other poker pros tweeted that they have had bad experiences with Kabrhel in years past, either because they think he was cheating or simply because of his behavior at the table (or both).
People have been calling for Martin Kabrhel’s ban from the WSOP for cheating. On Tuesday, though, both Chance Kornuth and Justin Bonomo posted long tweets explaining that even if Kabrhel wasn’t cheating, he should still be banned for making everyone think he was cheating.
Kornuth started by applauding WSOP floor managers for how they handled things on Sunday, saying they examined the decks and found no evidence of tampering. He went onto explain, however, that Kabrhel is taking advantage of his reputation as a possible cheater to influence the table at the WSOP.
“He is using this past version of himself to make players in a $250,000 buy-in scared to bluff him because he “might” be cheating (he very loudly and suspiciously suggested that there were sticky substances on the cards during the $250K FT a few days ago).
“He stands up and makes a show of looking at players cards when he’s faced with almost any decision – he knows that he’s been accused of marking cards in the past and wants players to be thinking about that – a huge angle shoot.”
“To INTENTIONALLY give the illusion you are cheating in any event, especially the highest of stakes should not be tolerated,” Kornuth continued.
He also discussed Kabrhel’s general poor behavior, in general, including “openly and consistently abusing Alex Kulev,” citing TDA rule #70, which states, in part, that an “etiquette violation” is “persistent delay of the game…abusive conduct…and excessive chatter.”
Kornuth concluded: “One thing is for sure: Kahbrel’s constant abuse, tanking and angle shooting is horrible for poker and he needs to be stopped.”
“Beyond issues of bad sportsmanship”
A few hours later, Justin Bonomo expressed his opinion, echoing Kornuth’s sentiments. He gave examples of tournaments he made tons of money in, yet are some of his worst memories because of the experience he had. Some of those experiences were because of Martin Kabrhel.
Bonomo specifically points to the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl, during which he said Kabrhel was “accused of at least 3 different forms of cheating in this one tournament.”
He explained that it wasn’t Kabrhel just being annoying or engaging in table talk, but rather, “He gave everyone the impression he was cheating, and that is not ok.”
“What Martin does goes far beyond issues of bad sportsmanship,” Bonomo continued. “He was being so incredibly shady that players had no choice but to watch him, and the floor, and the cameras, and the spectators, rather than focus on the poker.
“This isn’t some clever form of deception. And it’s not just incredibly unpleasant. It’s incredibly unfair. Game integrity should be a right that players have. And one that the casinos and staff work hard and transparently to maintain.
“The assumption of game integrity shouldn’t be some optional privilege that a “skilled miscreant” is allowed to rob the other players of.”
Bonomo concluded: “Even if we’re unable to definitively prove that he cheated, he should absolutely be barred for depriving his opponents of the assumption that their games are fair. That is simply not an acceptable thing to do.”
Image credit: PokerGO.com
