$2.8 million is a lot of money to play for on a livestream, so you can understand that players will have a few quirks about game security.
That's the top prize after 115 entries turned out for this year's $100K High Roller at the World Series of Poker, and the final nine will return to fight for it on Friday.
In the meantime, a hot debate on Day 2 kicked up at the table after one player refused to pass his cards over the RFID reader. It wasn't an outright refusal, just a preference to wait until the end of the hand.
Should players be required to do it at the beginning of the hand? Or can they wait until all of the action is complete?
Production needs that information eventually, but some players are more comfortable giving it away after everything is done.
Martin Kabrhel, who found himself deep in the $100K on Thursday night, took exception to that.
To scan or not to scan
We would hear from Kabrhel on the topic in the level before the dinner break, when he jousted with Sam Soverel over scanning the RFID cards in the box next to their chips on the table.
Kabrhel was on one today, from needling Kristen Foxen after her bustout hand to screaming several times for no apparent reason. It was another evening at the WSOP.
They were heads-up in a raised pot, and Soverel had yet to slide his cards across the scanner.
"He needs to scan his cards," Kabrhel said to the floor staff. "Tell him to scan his cards."
Soverel ignored the request and Kabrhel continued to insist. Others at the table were indifferent. It's probably fine to do it after the hand, they told Kabrhel.
PokerGO's founder Cary Katz, seated at the same table, tried to deescalate the brewing nonsense.
"Just scan the cards," he pleaded to Soverel.
Soverel was locked in on not scanning, and Kabrhel continued to ask for "the floorman." Floor staff approached and Soverel spoke up.
"They said I could do it at the end of the hand," he told the tournament director.
It was confirmed that Soverel's cards were not scanned and Kabrhel continued to beg for them to be moved over the RFID device. All of this, of course, while their hand continued.
Floor staff tried to get Soverel to scan his cards and move on, but Alex Foxen stepped in.
"I don't think you can make him," Foxen interjected. "As long as they get scanned. He just wants to wait until the end of the hand. I think it's reasonable."
"So, he has the special treatment, or what?" Kabrhel snapped back.
Anyone can do that, Foxen told him.
Game integrity at hand
The issue at hand is perhaps an added bit of personal security in livestreamed tournaments. High-level pros are naturally suspicious of emerging technology, hacking, and the fact that members of production can know the hole cards while the hand is in play.
High-stakes pros will sometimes prefer to scan their cards once the hand is complete. Production presumably has time during a delay to add the appropriate graphics, so it's reasonable to consider that it shouldn't cause much of a problem.
"We're playing for a lot of money," Soverel said. "I'm not doing that."
"I'm not doing it, either," Kabrhel said, finding common ground on the issue once it involved protesting something. The table seemed to show consensus on the issue.
Tournament staff pushed back a bit in the name of peace and love before Soverel explained why it might matter.
"What if someone in the tournament has been banned for cheating before?"
"Great question," responded the TD, but no names were mentioned.
Meanwhile, production was asking nicely and the players didn't seem to care. To them, integrity was paramount. Production staff has plenty of time to figure it out on the other end.
While all of that was going down, Kabrhel still wanted a ruling for the current hand. "So, he can scan his cards now?"
Soverel would scan his cards at the end.
Check out the entire scene:
'Gotta be a better way'
The discourse on X kicked up after the hand went live.
"Seems fine to scan at the end, doesn't it?" Jeremy Ausmus replied.
"I hope poker as a whole comes together on this," Matt Vengrin added in a quote tweet. "These guys are playing for a lot of [money]. Can’t production just get the scan after and put the cards in if they are on a delay? Kudos to Sam/Alex here imo. Gotta be a better way."
Others chimed in, like Andrew Gnatovich, who some might know as X-famous LVCabChronicles. Gnatovich has spent time as a dealer before working in WSOP production this year.
"Yeah, so, Martin is in absolutely no position to lecture anyone about scanning cards," Gnatovich said on X. "He's one of the worst offenders of it and he does it on purpose."
Gnatovich also suggested that it would make an already delayed livestream that much more difficult to pull off.
In the end, allowing players to scan their cards at the end of the hand seems like a reasonable position to take. RFID scanning, production leaks, and other forms of hacking the livestream are nearly impossible in a Nevada casino, but the chances are not zero, so why not take the extra level of personal security?
The $100K would roll on for 10 full levels on Day 2 and nine runners lived to see Day 3. They'll all make at least $255K, with $2.8 million waiting for the winner.
Kabrhel will return on Friday, along with Foxen and Soverel, among others. They're all chasing the chip leader Christopher Nguyen.
Play resumes at 2pm Vegas time.
2026 WSOP $100K High Roller Day 3 seat draw
- Teun Mulder - 8,845,000
- Alex Kulev - 5,550,000
- Alexandros Theologis - 9,955,000
- Christopher Nguyen - 17,200,000
- Sam Soverel - 3,420,000
- Biao Ding - 4,750,000
- Martin Kabrhel - 5,215,000
- Alex Foxen - 2,220,000
- Yuri Dzivielevski - 11,800,000
