By whatever metric one chooses to use, the Czech player Martin Kabrhel was one of the standout stars of this summer’s World Series of Poker.
His loud, incessant chatter — including frequent use of his catchphrases, ‘Not like that!’, ‘Casino Royale!’ and ‘This is so embarrassment!’ — seemed tailormade to get under his opponents’ skin, and often did.
Yet for many viewers of the stream and on the rails in Las Vegas his emotional outbursts and near-constant commentary provided an extra level of entertainment in what can often be a quiet, guarded atmosphere.
That reputation for playing to the rail has no doubt helped push him to the top of the list when it comes to filling seats for livestreamed games, and Hustler Casino Live (HCL) has wasted little time in adding him to their ‘High Stakes Thursday’ lineup.
The HCL stream on Thursday, July 24 will feature Kabrhel alongside other familiar faces such as Nik Airball, Britney, Peter, Steve and Money Tilt founder Señor Tilt. They’ll be playing a $100/200 cash game with a buy-in of $50,000.
With Kabrhel's star burning so brightly right now, this is looking like one stream audiences won't want to miss.
Encore performance after stellar WSOP
Kabrhel’s theatrics drew understandable accusations of attention-seeking during the summer series in Las Vegas, but he could not be accused of lacking when it comes to poker talent.
A dozen WSOP events cashed included a bracelet win (the $1K Mini Main) and three more final tables — including a seventh place finish in the $250K Super High Roller — saw Kabrhel cash for over $2 million, with five six-figure wins.
In a hotly contested WSOP Player of the Year race, Kabrhel finished fourth behind only Michael Mizrachi, Benny Glaser and eventual winner Shaun Deeb.
Fan reaction to Kabrhel's HCL appearance has been generally positive on X, though some commenters have suggested it may be an episode to watch with the ‘mute’ button handy. Others have called for fellow motormouth Will Kassouf to be added to the line-up, after his disruptive antics in the WSOP Main Event drew comparisons with Kabrhel’s own particular brand of apparent chaos. Others still predict the action will be too triggering to view.
The prodigal son?
Of course, Kabrhel has played on the HCL stream before and, true to form, his appearances have not always been controversy-free.
One session in particular comes to mind from late 2023, in which Kabrhel won a big pot from Andy Stacks before he unexpectedly left on short notice for a ‘meeting’, though Stacks believed he was actually heading off to a private game without him.
PokerOrg spoke with Stacks after the session to talk through the hand and explore the aftermath — check the full story below.
When Kabrhel returned to HCL several days later, he was not welcomed with open arms.
How will things go down at the HCL table on Thursday? Will Kabrhel carry his hot form from the WSOP into the cash game arena in LA? Will he be looking to mend fences, or burn bridges? And how many times will he yell ‘Not like that!’?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
