WSOP Poker Player's Championship notebook: The 'F Bombs' were flying

6 July 2011

By Vin Narayanan

For 15 minutes Tuesday, F bombs were flying at the WSOP $50,000 Poker Player's Championship. In fact, the only thing missing from the event was Cee-Lo Green singing his hit song F**k You (Warning: Link includes adult language).

The fireworks began when Scott Seiver dropped an F bomb with just three tables remaining in the tournament. Owais Ahmed believed the F bomb was targeted at him, and complained to the tournament staff that Seiver was berating him, which is a violation of WSOP rules. After talking to players and the dealer at the table, the floor official ruled there had been no malicious intent on Seiver's part and declined to impose a penalty.

Ahmed immediately asked to see WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, saying having an F bomb thrown your way was malicious by definition.

As Ahmed awaited Effel, Seiver was moved to another table in order to balance out the field (the move had nothing to do with the dispute). Seiver told players at his new table that he couldn't believe Ahmed wanted to penalize him for saying "f**k."

Within minutes, and with a growing crowd of television cameras, still photographers and reporters looking on, Effel talked with a still-seething Ahmed, the dealer and one of the players at the table. All three said Seiver was looking in the general direction of Ahmed when Seiver spoke.

Effel then told Seiver he was issuing a one-hand penalty. When Seiver objected to the penalty, which ended up costing Seiver a $5,000 ante in Razz, Effel said if he'd been on the floor during the incident, he might have given Seiver a one-round penalty. Seiver gave up the argument and sat out the hand. But things didn't end there.

Seiver took to Twitter to complain about the one-hand penalty.

"@oerockets is a huge piece of shit with no ethical code," tweeted Seiver. "Disgusted by him for calling multiple floors until Jack decided to give a penalty."

Ahmed, who goes by the handle @oerockets on Twitter, brought Seiver's tweet to Effel's attention on Twitter (no, I'm not making this up).

"@WSOPTD Its [sic] against the rules to berate players," tweeted Ahmed to Effel. "How can u allow him to berate me on twitter?"

Effel, who uses the @WSOPTD Twitter handle, responded to players on Twitter.

"@scott_seiver The truth U directed the F-word towards another player & received a 1 hand penalty resulting in a loss of one 5K ante in Razz."

And of course, other players are weighing in on Twitter as well.

"@scott_seiver Hellmuth said it 50 times the other day, and AT someone with no penalty," tweeted David Bach.

"@scott_seiver @WSOPTD that rule, ruling and penalty are all disgraces #freescott," tweeted Leo Wolpert.

So what did we learn today about F bombs?

1. You really should leave that territory to Cee-Lo Green.

2. If you drop an F bomb but don't direct it at someone, you should be OK.

3. If you do direct an F bomb at someone, hope Effel doesn't hear it.

4. Phil Hellmuth doesn't get punished for his F bombs because either nobody complains or there's a double standard.

5. Just because a fight is over at the table doesn't mean it isn't continuing on Twitter.

6. Effel will even referee fights on Twitter.

7. While F bombs are bad, "bitching" is perfectly OK. Jeffrey Lisandro demonstrated the proper technique when he told Hellmuth that he didn't "want to hear his bitching about luck anymore" after Hellmuth drew to a six in Razz, beating Lisandro's perfect 7 and wheel draw.

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Casino City's Aaron Todd and I ran into Ben Lamb (he was 12th in chips with 15 players remaining at the time) at the Poker Kitchen during the dinner break. He and Aaron ordered steak quesadilla. I went for the cheese quesadilla with jalapeño peppers.

While the quesadillas were cooking, Lamb arranged to dine and rest during the 60-minute break in Frank Kassela's trailer (a lot of players have trailers in the Rio parking lot to escape the crowds in the Rio during breaks). No, Lamb did not invite us (but he doesn't really know us). But he did invite Ahmed. Ahmed declined the invite and ate in the Poker Kitchen with an attractive young woman. And there ends today's WSOP Page Six report.

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If you ever need to use the bathrooms at the Rio during the WSOP, the best time to do it is 10-15 minutes after a player break. During player breaks, hundreds -- and during the Main Event, thousands -- of players descend on the bathrooms in the Rio in a span of 20 minutes and absolutely destroy them. But Rio has an amazing staff of attendants working the restrooms. And 15 minutes after the break is over, these bathrooms are in pristine condition again.

Last night, I visited the Rio facilities 15 minutes after a player break (hey, I like clean bathrooms) and overheard an unfortunate conversation. A player was explaining to his friend how he learned to use public toilets.

"I learned to use public bathrooms when I was in jail in Washington, D.C.," a player told his friend. "There were 10 or 12 guys around so you just had to do it."

There was more to the conversation. But it was too unsettling to publish. Suffice it to say this is one conversation I wish I'd never heard.