UPDATE: Maria Konnikova has written about this incident on Substack. In an article entitled 'My first WSOP bracelet: What happens when victory is tainted with bullshit?' Konnikova talks about how proud and happy she was to finally win a WSOP bracelet.
In the article, Konnikova writes: "I know people tend to look down on online bracelets as somehow less real than ones won on the live felt. And I know that 468 players – well, 464, if I’m being honest, since four of those entries were my own – is far fewer than the several thousand that most summer live events routinely get. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud and happy. I’d been working hard for multiple years to get here, not knowing if any gold bracelet, live or online, was ever in my future. And it felt incredible to finally make it happen."
Unfortunately, she woke up to WSOP commentator Norman Chad's tweet, which singled out her bracelet win for criticism.
She talks about the "two cardinal sins," according to Chad. Firstly, that she won her bracelet online and that players had to be in one of three states – New Jersey, Michigan, or Nevada – to be able to enter. (As opposed to a live WSOP event where you would have to be in "one specific location, Las Vegas – in order to play.")
Secondly, that she "dared to rebuy. In a rebuy event."
Konnikova makes it very clear what she believes Chad's intentions were.
"So let me just say this: Norman Chad absolutely did want to throw shade on me. Otherwise, why single me out, why tag me, why the personal touch in that final bit of prose? She ran out of chips. She re-entered. She ran out of chips again. And on and on.
"I’ve never met Norman Chad. I don’t know what he has against me. But it’s definitely something. I am far from the only bracelet winner to rebuy—indeed, I happen to know that multiple winners of this online series in the last few weeks rebought multiple times. But I am the only one who he has chosen to single out. And the only way I stand out from the others—or from most of the live winners this summer, as most events are re-buys and the freezeout format is a rare breed—is a simple one. I’m female."
Long-standing WSOP commentator Norman Chad caused a stir on poker Twitter on Monday night when he slammed Maria Konnikova's first WSOP bracelet win.
Konnikova won it online in an $888 buy-in event on WSOP.com’s Michigan/Nevada/New Jersey platform. The Crazy 8s event attracted 468 entries but it was the non-unique aspect of this field that led to Chad's latest rant.
Konnikova, playing under the James Bond-inspired screenname ‘vesper1ynd’ fired four bullets on her way to victory, and Chad wasn't happy.
Talking on X, Chad started his post by saying, "This is not to throw shade at Maria Konnikova, who just won her first WSOP bracelet," before throwing shade on the popular PokerStars ambassador.
Chad: Re-entries devalue WSOP bracelets
"Here is how it happens," continued Chad. "She played in the $888 NLHE Fall Crazy 8s event, online. You had to be in Michigan, New Jersey or Nevada to enter. Online. She ran out of chips. She re-entered. She ran out of chips again. She re-entered. She ran out of chips again. She re-entered. And she ended up with all the chips, and a bracelet."
Lots of players, including Konnikova's OG mentor Erik Seidel rushed to her defense – and said the same thing. It's one thing to have a strong opinion about whether re-entries devalue WSOP bracelets, but it's another to single out a player and criticize her after such a big win.
Actor and comedian Michael Ian Black also stepped up.
He continued in another post saying, "Just seems shitty to call out a winner by name, as if that person did anything out of the ordinary or wrong."
Weeds writer Matt Salsberg weighed in on the controversy and said that Chad's post was a "bad look". He pointed out that there were dozens of other winners that Chad could have posted about, so why pick on Konnikova?
And lots of other players took Chad to task over his post, which many saw as inappropriate and unnecessary.
There were some players who thought that Chad had a point, although even some of his supporters thought the specific post was inappropriate.
What do you think about Norman Chad's latest outburst? And what do you think about unlimited re-entries and WSOP bracelets? Do you think it's right to single out individual players for criticism? Let us know in the comments below.
