Imagine being the most hated poker player in the world ( Ed. – Will Kassouf had not yet returned to the mainstream at the time of recording ).
Actually, imagine being one of the most hated poker players in the world. Every time you sit at a new table, you can feel the uncomfortable energy. Every move you make will be analyzed and scrutinized by your peers. The media will follow you everywhere you try to go and capture your uncomfortable interactions. And let's face it, you're going to have a lot of them.
This is the story of Martin Kabrhel.
Martin Kabrhel has been playing high-stakes tournaments for a long time. He has over $14 million in live tournament earnings on his Hendon Mob, including a massive victory for $2.99 million in a 2018 WSOP Europe $100,000 High Roller.
One thing you might not know about Martin is he's also an online poker player. As I understand it, under the screen name “Goir,” he would play high-stakes online on PokerStars. I actually played some 200/400 heads-up with him back in the day. This is like 10 years ago or so. So he's been playing high-stakes poker for quite some time.
When you play high-stakes poker for that many years, you would think you'd understand all of the ins and outs of etiquette at the poker table. But when it comes to Martin Kabrhel, you'd be wrong.
A small selection of Martin's antics
And while Martin might be cashing for large scores in high roller tournaments, this kind of abrasive behavior at the table has not made him many friends.
In fact, a couple of years back, Martin's antics at the 2023 World Series of Poker were one of the largest stories of the summer.
I made that one.
Martin was accused of cheating because he was visibly seen scratching the back of cards, although nothing was ever proven against him. If you want to see more, you can check out that video.
During that scandal, here were some of the things that his peers had to say about him, including this tweet from Andrew Robl, saying:
That is a crazy piece of information. Think about how many tournaments that could be, especially when you consider Andrew Robl cashes in over two tournaments a year. As a matter of fact, over the last six years, Andrew Robl has cashed in countless live tournaments.
All jokes aside, certainly Andrew Robl has played with Martin in a number of high rollers and different Triton stops and things like that. So, it does carry a lot of weight when someone like Andrew Robl weighs in on this issue.
It wasn't just Robl who weighed in on the Martin Kabrhel situation. High-stakes tournament pro Dan Smith also had some words for Martin after busting a high roller:
Episode from WSOP 2023
He's not arguing he's not bad. He's just saying there's probably someone more annoying out there.
I don't want to completely rehash that video. So the point here is, his antics have been noted for some time as extremely annoying. There have also been accusations levied that he might be cheating in poker tournaments.
With the 2025 World Series of Poker in full swing, Martin is back to his old ways, causing untold havoc to unsuspecting MTT players. In fact, some rules at the WSOP have been changed, and you have to wonder if it's specifically because of Martin.
With this type of behavior in mind, I do have a question for you.
Back in May, the WSOP had to release an official statement that Martin Kabrhel’s clock was reduced to 10 seconds after incessant tanking. According to this tweet:
This picture is what I imagine Martin looked like when he heard the news. I’m surprised we don’t see more pictures of Martin. They’re less intrusive.
Can you imagine how annoying you must be to have your clock reduced to 10 seconds for every decision?
Although, I could think of a spot that might help.
With 20 players left, approaching the money in a $250,000 High Roller in May as well, Martin Kabrhel had someone go all-in and he had to make a very tough decision with Ace King.
Hard call
Was this a slow roll? Was this not a slow roll? There were people weighing in on one side. In Martin’s defense though, Ace King can be dangerous on the bubble.
Unrelated. Not to go full off topic here for a second, but I played a $2,500 the other day and I get all-in at the end of Day 1. There are 10 players, nine cash. The short stack goes all-in. I go all-in over the top. The big stack goes all-in over the top and the big stack eliminates both of us.
I get ninth, but then I find out I don’t get paid because prizes don’t start until Day 2. I basically bubbled inside the money.
Back to the World Series of Poker
Martin Kabrhel was constantly asking Nick Schulman to take off his sunglasses even though Schulman had already explained that they were prescription. It culminated in something quite unexpected.
– “Can you put your glasses down please, for watchers, for spectators? Nick?
– "What’s that pussy?"
– "Glasses down, please.”
Nick Schulman SNAPS on Martin Kabrhel! pic.twitter.com/pPV4LTGhSm
— Jeff Boski (@ICuRaRook) June 17, 2025
I’m sorry, Nick, but I’ve got to take Martin’s side here. Using that kind of language on a poker stream while people are watching is, simply put, unacceptable. And as a community, we must stand together on this one.
That’s, I think, what makes it so difficult with Martin. He has these moments where he’s horrible and annoying and just brutal to deal with. And then you have these fun, capturable clips like this one here, where all of a sudden a hand that would otherwise be totally un-notable becomes a centerpiece of the conversation because it’s so fun to watch.
Is Martin Kabrhel Good for Poker?
It’s pretty easy to make the case that he is not good for poker. You don’t have to look too far.
- He’s constantly rude to players or dealers.
- He makes people extremely upset to be at the table.
- His behavior sometimes looks like it might even be cheating, or gives off the illusion of cheating.
And these are certainly things you don’t want to deal with when you are playing poker.
I think it says something if you’re a high-stakes poker player and none of the people around you want you to be there.
But there is another side to the story. And there are some people that seem to increasingly like Martin for chopping up the monotony of these boring poker tournaments.
A recent poll was run over at PokerGO on their WSOP broadcast, and here were the results.
That poll is extremely interesting and shows some clear-cut data. It also tells me that 46% of people own earplugs. That’s got to be a burgeoning industry at the World Series of Poker. I’m considering setting up my own stand. We’ll call them Ear Dougs, for when there’s someone that’s too much like Doug at your table and you just need some peace and quiet.
You know what I love about this? This man is so used to getting ignored. He gets one clap and he’s got to clap back himself as appreciation to the fan. This guy right behind her too definitely sees the whole thing unfold and he’s like: “Nope, I’m out, bro.”
Another good aspect to the Martin Kabrhel story is that poker does need more villains.
We talked about this on my podcast with Alan Keating. Texas Mike also weighed in on the subject, tweeting just a few days ago saying:
“I still find Martin Kabrhel super amusing. Poker needs villains and he might not be so bad with the cameras off. Good luck to him and to us on bullet number two.”
Some of the most famous poker moments in history come from people that are villains, like Tony G, Phil Hellmuth, or Eric Persson.
For storylines to have good guys, you got to have bad guys. It creates a character arc. It creates dramatic moments. It creates excitement. And so, it’s certainly good for us to have some players that we hope lose.
You want my opinion? Well, this might be a kind of hot take, but I think this is actually good for poker. Not the stuff where he tries to look like he might be cheating. That’s just [ __ ]. We should not have that. Not allow that. That’s ridiculous.
But in terms of being entertaining, and being a villain, and being captivating — we absolutely need more of that. The problem with high-stakes poker these days is there is no personality anymore. It’s just a sea of faceless people playing high rollers. Especially Ike Haxton.
We need people to bring back making poker fun to see, and fun to watch, and fun to play.
That said, I won’t be playing any high rollers in the near future. So have fun, everybody.
In the 899th episode of the PokerNews podcast, which aired in the midst of the 2025 WSOP, Martin Kabrhel’s behavior was also a major topic of discussion. Participants — Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, Kayna England, and guest Maria Konnikova — agreed that it was unbearable. But there were also attempts to find positives in Martin’s antics.
Mike Holtz : I've not—I've not liked him as a person or a poker player for a very long time. And I've come around. I've come around now. I gotta say, I like his antics. I think he's good for the game. I think the stuff with the marking of the cards and everything was weird and not cool. And I don't like any of that stuff. I think that's—that's very strange. Not even saying that he was cheating, but just the idea that he's planting the seed in everybody else's head that I might be cheating, you know? I—I don't like that. And the rest of the players didn't really like that, right? So it makes sense.
As of now, like, I like the banter. I—I like the old—it’s got an old school vibe, you know what I mean? Like he's—he's witty. He—he balances it out. It's—I—it's cool for me to watch. And when I was watching the 250K, my—my, uh, my first thought was like, "Oh, let's see how many viewers there are." And there was like 26,000 viewers or something like that. 25,000 viewers. Yeah, that's a good amount for the WSOP streams on YouTube.
Kayna England : I was watching it yesterday too. And, I think I agree a little bit. When they were streaming it on YouTube. Um, no, I was watching it and, I agree. I think he's entertaining. I don't know. But also like in small doses. Like after a while, it was starting to be too much. Like other people are in hands, like, I don't know. He’s a character. He's putting on a show.
Maria Konnikova : I don't like putting, like, negative energy out there. But, I am just going to completely disagree with you guys. I think Martin is such a negative for the game. I don't think it's amusing. Having played with him many times, I don't think it's funny. He stalls because he knows it gets under other people's skin and it makes it unplayable. Right? If you have to call the clock on someone every single hand...
You have to be an outstanding person to make Maria Konnikova react like that.
I want all my energy to go toward playing good poker, being in a good space. He does everything possible to get you out of that headspace. It's not even needling. It’s just being obnoxious for no reason.
Let me give you an example. Last year at the World Series, I was in the 25K, which was my biggest buy-in. I never play that high. It was a big deal for me. It could be a big deal for anyone. I was in a big hand. He was not in it. He was at my table, and I had a big decision—for all of my chips. I was thinking, and he would not shut up. He kept saying, “Oh, Maria, blah blah blah.” I’m like, “Dude...” Then finally, when I ended up calling and was all in, he got up from his seat, walked over, stood behind me, and started making noise. I’m like, “Dude, this is not okay. You can’t be in my personal space. You can’t be doing this.”
I do not find it amusing at all. I think it’s a huge net negative for the game. Every time he does this, he should get penalties. That behavior should not be applauded. It’s not good for viewership. The 250K had a lot of viewers because there were some of the best players in the world there. It had nothing to do with Martin. I disagree with that.
Holtz : but yesterday, literally everything on Twitter was like, "This Kabrhel—this is crazy. I hate him. I like him. He's good for the game. He's bad for the game." So I tuned in.
Konnikova : I think he's not always good. And I don't think he's good for players. He creates a very bad atmosphere at the table.
And it's not okay. And the card-marking thing—yes, I know he wasn't actually cheating that particular time—but he wanted people to think he might be, which is also incredibly uncool.
And I mean, I am so, my next book is about cheating, um, in games. And like, I have zero tolerance for angle shooting, I get so pissed. And the fact that he capitalizes on this, it's like basically one big angle shoot, right? To try to get people off their game. Just trying to gain EV and I think that’s nasty. I think it’s bad.
I just I don’t want those kinds of behavior rewarded. Instead, like, there are people who are fun and good for the game, right? Like, you know, Gambledore on there. He's good for the game, right?
I'm pretty sure he's going to enchant a castle for the next few years.
You know, like, people who bring, like, good—good energy and, like, showmanship, that’s fine. That’s good. And there are people who are personalities. And you can be a personality without being an absolute [ __ ].
Holtz: I remember after the William Kassouf thing, there was a bunch of annoying people at the table trying to be Will Kassouf. It was just horrible. $1/$2 games in Delaware in the back alleys, everyone was being Will Kassouf.
You're right. I'm back to: he sucks again. That sucks. For 20 minutes last night, I enjoyed his antics.
