Controversial player Will Kassouf wins UKIPT Dublin High Roller event

Will Kassouf — the controversial and talkative poker amateur — won first place in the €2,200 High Roller at the 2022 PokerStars UKIPT Dublin on Friday.

The event attracted 53-players for a prize pool of €102,820 ($109,950) after rake. Kassouf's cut of that pot ended up being €33,410 ($35,726) for first.

Kassouf's shenanigans have not made him popular in the poker world. Many would argue there were several more deserving finishers at the final table including Scottish pro Niall Farrell (3rd - €14,910) as well as Ireland's own Jason Tompkins (5th - €8,740) and Dara O'Kearney (7th - €5,400), the author of Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book.

However, lady luck does not listen to popular demand.

With only seven places paid, O'Kearney's finish was the min-cash and on the way to the money, one player, Terry Jordan managed to fire six bullets but hit nothing, taking home €0 for all that trouble.

Controversial talk

Will Kassouf was one of the stars of the 2016 WSOP Main Event. A loud-mouthed and obnoxious Brit-abroad-type who stood out among the solemn and sullen faces at the table. He even came with a handful of meme-able catchphrases. More importantly, he ran deep, managing to take 17th in the Main Event and guaranteeing himself plenty of TV coverage as well as a $338,288 payday.

He won an EPT event later that year and even ended up with a sponsorship from the Grosvenor chain of UK casinos.

Then in 2018, he was accused of palming a friend's £100 chips at a Grosvenor roulette table. Grosvenor and he parted ways and he issued a non-pology on Twitter in which he referred to "a drunken error in judgment."

Since then, he has occasionally cropped up at poker events, winning an Irish Poker Masters event in 2020. And more recently, his appearance at the Irish Poker Open earned him a dressing down on film and in print from David Lappin. Lappin cited the palming incident in his excellent hatchet job as well as accusing Kassouf of lying in interviews and "thieving time from his tablemates."

The critics notwithstanding, Kassouf has been pretty pleased with his recent return to the spotlight, tweeting: "UKIPT Dublin 2022 High Roller Champion Mission accomplished! I now have two High Roller titles and trophies to my name."

2022 UKIPT Dublin High Roller complete final table results

Featured image source: Niklas Morberg used under CC License.