It is five years since the World Series of Poker Main Event of 2016, when the British player William Kassouf dominated headlines around the world after a series of controversies.
From winning with a nine-high bluff in his own words ‘like a boss’ against Stacy Matuson, Kassouf descended into a kind of Main Event madness that only got worse (or better for TV poker fans) as the tournament progressed.
Then he ran into Griffin Benger.
Background to the Beef
It wasn’t just that Kassouf divided opinion with his play and behavior in general in that initial hand against Matuson. He kicked off a viral explosion of both hatred and worship in almost equal measure on social media, where his ‘hero or villain’ status appealed to the binary nature of poker fans. To some, Kassouf’s actions were inflammatory, gloating, and misogynistic. To others, he was ‘fun’.
As the furor — and the chips gained from the bluff for his tournament life – propelled him further through the Main Event, the qualified lawyer seemed increasingly out of his depth, with his repetitive phrases and table ‘banter’ infuriating all around him. Tournament Director Jack Effel had already given Kassouf two bans that forced the British player to sit out hands by the time the tournament reached the final few tables.
By that stage, Kassouf was deeply immersed in the belief that he was going to win the WSOP Main Event bracelet due to a combination of destiny and his ability to talk players into making a call, fold or raise – essentially any decision in order to shut him up.
One player who didn’t take kindly to Kassouf’s brand of chatter was Griffin Benger. With three tables about to turn into two, Benger and Kassouf shared the felt at the feature table under the heat of TV lights.
The final table was in sight.
Cowboys Shot Down by Rockets
The hand between the poker pro and the poker semi-pro was something that plays itself most times. It should have been simple for both men to get their chips into the middle pre-flop with pocket kings (Kassouf) and pocket aces (Benger). However, between them, the pair made a right mess of it.
Kassouf’s play is clearly to trap his opponent. He can’t know that he’s trapping a player who holds the only starting hand that is better than his, but therein lies the fun.
Benger is genuinely angry with his opponent while at the same time, playing him for the fool he perceives him to be. At several points, Benger virtually tells Kassouf his hand, but the Brit is simply too invested in his original plan — to trap his opponent while holding kings — to realize that he is on the brink of being able to make the best fold in World Series of Poker history.
That’s the greatest irony of all; Kassouf’s ego stops him seeing that Benger, whether irate, coercive, or inflammatory – would almost certainly only go so far with his pre-flop antagonization with the best pre-flop holding possible — aces.
Privilege? Check.
When Kassouf’s final insults start to wane, Benger tells him, famously, ‘Check your privilege’. It’s an amazing piece of delivery, because Kassouf barely even listens to it, continuing to move on with his premeditated schtick, caught in a loop of laborious jibes and needles that he himself becomes entangled in, like a stuck record playing in a recording booth that is locked.
Benger’s comment is outright hilarious. How the other players at the table don’t burst into peals of laughter at the utterance of such nonsense is a lesson in human dynamics, never mind table control. Benger is the sheriff and those around him simpering deputies, determined to help Benger catch his man and string him up by the nearest tree, even if taking out Kassouf, later on, would have been far easier than dealing with Benger.
Kassouf shoves, gets called, and shows his kings, being shown Benger’s aces once the hyperactive Canadian turns them over. Kassouf proceeds to lose his stack with the look of a man sent to collect a cheque for a million dollars only to discover at the last minute that the basket he has to pick it out of sits at the base of a guillotine. Benger blows every chance he has to say something witty on the reveal of Kassouf’s cards/delivery of the final card/the crowd’s reaction.
Five years on, the hand is still an absolute mess. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
