The Poker Scandal That Turned WSOP 2025 Into a Circus

03 Sep 2025

Beginner

This material is for beginner players

WSOP 2025 was supposed to be the pinnacle of poker — the stage where legends are born, bracelets are claimed, and every hand can make or break a career. But this summer didn’t go the way anyone expected. Instead of epic bluffs, heart-stopping calls, and historic wins, the headlines were about something else entirely: stalling, arguments, and a whirlwind debate over what’s fair in tournament poker.

What should have been the ultimate showcase of skill turned into a battleground over rules, ethics, and the future of the game. From players deliberately draining the clock to maximize pay jumps, to Daniel Negreanu’s public crusade for reform, WSOP 2025 had it all — drama, division, and a demand for change. So this is the story of how a poker scandal shook the world’s biggest stage, exposed a flaw long ignored, and pushed the game toward an inevitable transformation.

The 2025 WSOP was supposed to be a celebration of skill, strategy, and the beautiful game of poker. Instead, it spiraled into one of the most embarrassing chapters in recent memory. What should have been poker’s greatest showcase turned into a circus of stalling, theatrics, and abuse of the clock.

The issue wasn’t simply slow play — it was a systematic exploitation of the rules that reduced the game to a frustrating crawl. Players, fans, and even Daniel Negreanu labeled it a black eye for the industry.

Martin Cabrhel was already notorious for endless tanking and constant chatter at the table. But in 2025, he took his antics to new extremes, frustrating opponents and spectators alike. His reputation as one of the game’s slowest and most disruptive players was cemented on the biggest stage of all.

Will Kassouf also returned to the WSOP spotlight, bringing back his trademark style of verbal jousting mixed with painfully drawn-out decision-making. During the Main Event, Kassouf had the clock called on him over 20 times in a single day. His speech play, once amusing to some, now felt like a deliberate weapon to drain the clock and tilt opponents.

The most shocking incident, however, came from Ike Haxton — a player widely respected for his intelligence and calm demeanor. In one hand that quickly became infamous, Haxton spent six full minutes tanking on a page jump in the Main Event.

The situation was simple: with only a single chip left, he faced an all-in that left no real decision. Folding wasn’t an option, yet Haxton used the time hoping another player would bust first, guaranteeing him a higher payout.

This wasn’t just about individual players pushing the limits. The scandal exposed a deeper problem: fundamental flaws in the WSOP clock system. By failing to regulate pace of play effectively, the rules allowed players to exploit gray areas and turn poker into a tedious waiting game.

Under the current WSOP rules, when a player calls for a clock, the process is far from efficient. The dealer must first check with the floor staff to determine whether the player has had a “reasonable” amount of time to act. Only after that judgment is made does a 30-second countdown begin — and even then, it can vary or be shortened for repeat offenders.

The result? By the time enforcement kicks in, the damage is already done. Hands crawl, tables stall, and the flow of the game is broken. Even worse, the system places the burden of enforcement on the players themselves. Competitors are forced into the awkward role of policing one another, often against big-name professionals in high-pressure spots. Many hesitate to call the clock out of fear of looking unsporting — giving chronic stallers free rein to abuse the system.

No case illustrates this better than Will Kassouf. After countless delays and clock calls, the WSOP finally placed him on a strict 10-second verbal countdown for every decision. But even that wasn’t enough to stop the chaos.

Things escalated until Kassouf was ultimately banned from the remainder of the series following his Main Event bust-out. His removal from the tournament floor was messy, captured in a surreal exchange with security as he protested, argued, and insisted on interviews even as he was escorted out of the event center.

Martin Cabrhel’s behavior throughout the summer became another flashpoint in the stalling debate. At multiple final tables, his constant delays ground the action to a halt, frustrating opponents and spectators alike. Eventually, tournament staff had no choice but to intervene, imposing a mandatory 10-second shot clock on every single hand he played.

Controversial or not, Cabrhel still managed to put together several deep runs — and even walked away with his fourth WSOP bracelet. His results only added fuel to the argument: if slow play can be both disruptive and profitable, then something in the system is broken.

No one was louder on the issue than Daniel Negreanu. In his daily vlogs and social media posts, Negreanu branded the stalling epidemic a “black mark on the game”, demanding immediate reform from tournament organizers.

Negreanu pointed to incidents like Isaac Haxton’s infamous six-minute tank with a single chip left as prime examples of angle shooting. With 99% of his stack already committed, folding wasn’t even an option. The delay served only one purpose: waiting out another bust on a pay jump.

A Divided Community

Not all pros agreed with Negreanu’s harsh stance. David “ODB” Baker sided with him, calling Haxton’s tanking nothing short of stealing EV from opponents who play honestly. Meanwhile, others like Johnny Moreno defended the move, arguing that Haxton was simply maximizing his equity within the rules as written.

Even among the high-stakes elite, the incident became a litmus test: was it shameful angle shooting or just smart poker? Negreanu, however, went beyond complaints. He began pushing for a comprehensive reform package — one that could redefine how tournament poker handles pace of play.

Negreanu’s solution found inspiration in an unexpected place: professional golf. He picked up on comments made by Bryson DeChambeau, who argued that slow play in golf could be fixed by timing entire rounds.

DeChambeau pointed out that it’s not complicated: time for each player on every shot, from the moment they set down their bag to the moment they swing — and hold them accountable if they fall behind. The only reason it hasn’t been done, he said, is because people are too afraid of being exposed as slow players.

The Chess Clock Vision

Negreanu’s proposed system wasn’t just any generic clock. It was a sophisticated, increment-based model designed to balance fairness with pace of play. Here’s how it would work in poker:

• Five-second delay: Every player would get an automatic 5-second grace period before their clock starts. This ensures routine actions like folding or making a standard raise don’t eat into their main time bank.
• Increment reward: Act quickly, and you get rewarded. Each time a player makes a decision within the delay, they gain an extra 5 seconds added to their bank.
• Building reserves for tough spots: Over time, this system allows players to stockpile time for genuinely complex or high-pressure decisions, while penalizing those who habitually stall.

Negreanu argued that this approach would not only make poker faster and more watchable, but also more fair. Instead of forcing players to self-police or rely on floor staff, the clock itself would become the enforcer.

While Daniel Negreanu’s chess clock proposal is still just an idea, other tours have already proven that timing systems can work. Triton Poker has been a pioneer, using action clocks in every event with great success. Their tournaments move faster, remain engaging for fans, and avoid the endless tanking that frustrates both players and viewers.

But bringing such innovation to the WSOP is a different challenge. The series employs hundreds of dealers each summer, many of them temporary hires brought in just for the festival. Adding clock management to their workload would require extensive training, not to mention significant investment in equipment.

There’s also player resistance. Some insist that unlimited thinking time is a fundamental part of poker. They argue that big tournament decisions deserve as much time as needed, and that forcing snap choices with a clock risks pushing players into mistakes. In their eyes, strict time systems could reduce the very skill element that makes poker compelling.

Yet, as the 2025 scandal showed, the status quo is no longer sustainable. Unlimited tanking has turned the game into a circus, with high-profile incidents embarrassing the industry on its biggest stage.

The fallout from the WSOP has accelerated conversations that might have otherwise taken years to develop. The days of unlimited thinking time in tournament poker appear numbered. The debate now isn’t if timing systems will become the standard, but when and how they’ll be implemented.

The 2025 WSOP was supposed to showcase poker at its finest, but instead it exposed one of the game’s most glaring flaws: the unchecked abuse of time. What began as isolated stalling tactics from players like Martin Cabrhel, Will Kassouf, and even Ike Haxton escalated into a full-blown scandal that left fans frustrated and professionals divided.

Yet out of controversy often comes progress. Daniel Negreanu’s push for reform — inspired by solutions from other sports — has reignited the debate about timing in poker. Systems like chess clocks and action timers may not be perfect, but they represent a necessary evolution. As Triton has already proven, the game can be both fair and fast when the right structure is in place.

Poker thrives when skill, psychology, and strategy are at the forefront — not when players stall for minutes on end with no real decision to make. The scandal may have turned the WSOP into a circus, but it also served as a wake-up call. The future of tournament poker will almost certainly include timing systems. The only question now is whether organizers will embrace that change swiftly, or continue to let outdated traditions drag the game down. One thing is clear: if poker is to grow and remain a respected mind sport, the clock must become as much a part of the game as the cards and chips themselves.