William Kassouf burst on to the poker scene four years ago, winning the hearts of minds of poker fans across the globe. At least that is how we remember it.
Ok, so Kassouf has been a polarizing figure in the poker world since his appearance in the 2016 WSOP Main Event final table, but he is a pretty good poker player at that. And although he may not admit it, the self-proclaimed “King of Speech Play” has seemed to mellow ever so slightly in recent years.
Kassouf has not won a major poker tournament since his victory in the 2016 €10,300 No Limit Hold’em EPT Prague High Roller in late 2016. But that changed after he took down Irish Poker Masters Main Event win this week. Due to the pandemic, the event was held online on partypoker. This meant that Kassouf couldn’t use his trademarked speech play to his advantage but instead used his poker prowess to take home the prize, of course, “like a boss.”
Perhaps most impressive is the path he took to winning the event. He qualified for the €1,100 buy-in event through a €109 satellite prior to the event and turned that good fortune into a €215,163 victory, defeating a hefty field of 1,341 layers.
Kassouf updated his Twitter followers throughout the match with updates on how he was doing, but this is what he had to say after taking down the six-figure prize.
IPM Main Event – The Result@partypoker @PokerNews
Absolutely buzzing to get through such a stacked field of 1,341 players to win it outright!
In for the min €109 and won the max €215,163 like a boss! Booyah!
Thank you all for the love & support.
🤑💪🏆💰🎉☝️#IPM #champion pic.twitter.com/keCHxmFhkT— William Kassouf (@WilliamKassouf) December 17, 2020
Still that Kassouf swagger we all come to know and love, but maybe with a bit of humbleness. Never change, William (ok maybe just a little).
Watch the final table of The Irish Poker Masters
partypoker featured coverage of the final table on their Twitch page and have since posted a replay with James Dempsey and Henry Kilsbane providing commentary through the day. If you want to check that out, watch below. Skip to the 6 hour and 17 minute mark to watch action once it gets down to heads-up
Final table of Irish Poker Masters
Some of Kassouf’s greatest hits
Even before becoming a “household” name, Kassouf was showcasing his speechplay during the 2015 EPT Barcelona:
Kassouf getting under the skin of Vanessa Selbst:
Mike Matusow goes toe-to-toe with the boss on Live at the Bike:
He even was the focus of a half-hour YouTube video from Doug Polk:
Of course, the hand that put Kassouf on the map was when action was down to the final two tables of the 2016 WSOP Main Event. It is here when Kassouf finally got to Griffen Benger — after 7 days of play in what has become an iconic moment in poker:
