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Will Kassouf Confirms Return to Las Vegas for 2026 WSOP

By Mrinal Gujare

3 hours ago

Mrinal Gujare 3 hours ago

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Will Kassouf cleared to return for all 2026 WSOP events despite 2025 penalties.
2025 Main Event exit followed repeated slow play violations and tense management interactions.
WSOP management affirms participation; enforcing stricter pacing rules if needed.

Image Credit: Austin Currington/Pokernews

Will Kassouf confirmed his return to Las Vegas for the 2026 World Series of Poker, refuting ban rumors. Following a controversial 2025 Main Event exit involving 23 clock calls and Jack Effel penalties, officials cleared Kassouf for all global events.

Will Kassouf from United Kingdom has confirmed his return to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this summer.

Speaking to PokerNews, Kassouf clarified his status for the upcoming series and addressed rumors regarding a potential ban following his dramatic exit from the tournament last year.

"I'll be there from the end of June through to mid-July for the final three weeks of the WSOP," Kassouf told PokerNews.

Speculation had circulated within the poker community that his removal by security during the 2025 Main Event had resulted in a permanent ban. However, Kassouf revealed that subsequent communications with tournament management cleared the way for his appearance.

According to Kassouf, the WSOP informed him that he "can play in all WSOP events worldwide." His return ensures that his signature presence will be felt at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas venues when the 2026 WSOP Main Event officially begins on July 2.

Kassouf originally gained widespread recognition in 2016 during a speech-play-heavy performance that culminated in a 17th-place finish. That run featured a notable verbal confrontation with Griffin Benger, which remains a prominent moment in Main Event history.

Nearly 10 years later, Kassouf deep-ran the world championship again, ultimately securing a 33rd-place finish on Day 7 of the 2025 tournament.

His final days in the 2025 tournament were defined by escalating tension over his pace of play. The issues began during a Day 2 flight, where Kassouf halted action for more than ten minutes while holding a king-high flush, the second nuts.

Opponent Sacha Cohen eventually called the clock, prompting Kassouf to call the French player and risk his tournament life.

Though Kassouf temporarily captured the chip lead on Day 6 after winning an aces-versus-kings cooler against Stephen Kehoe, his chip stack steadily declined. He concluded Day 6 ranked 54th out of the remaining 57 players.

Throughout that specific session, tournament staff were called to issue a clock on Kassouf 23 times. In response, officials implemented a strict penalty limiting Kassouf to just ten seconds per decision.

While this restriction was paused during the final level of the night, he bagged a relatively short stack of 2,850,000 chips.

Management Intervention

The friction carried over into Day 7, resulting in a direct confrontation with Jack Effel, the WSOP Senior Vice President of Poker Operations.

Faced with another ten-second shot clock for deliberate tanking, Kassouf protested the ruling, stating that "Americans can't take it" and arguing that staff were targeting him unfairly.

Effel, who previously managed Kassouf's behavior during the 2016 Main Event, intervened during a tournament break to defuse the argument. Effel offered to lift the immediate restrictions on the condition that Kassouf alter his conduct.

When Kassouf was later reassigned to the feature table, his allotted decision time was adjusted to 30 seconds, though tournament staff maintained the authority to reinstate stricter limits if his slow play persisted.

With the structural guidelines settled, Kassouf is now cleared to rejoin the international line-up this summer.