Earlier this week, we discussed how Patrick Serda and William Kassouf made a deal in the 2016 EPT €10k Prague high roller. On the surface, it seemed like a pretty standard chop, with the amateur Serda receiving €719,000 because he had a 4-1 chip lead, while William Kassouf got €532,000.
But according to a blog post by Max Silver, the deal was much more complicated than two players agreeing on a sum of money. Instead, it also involved giving Kassouf the title.
Silver was involved in the deal because he had a piece of Serda’s action. And he was having trouble making any headway towards completing the deal.
“I asked Patrick how much he cared about the title/trophy, he said it would be nice but it wasn’t hugely important to him and maximizing EV was more important,” wrote Silver.
“I then proposed to Will that if it was allowed by the tournament organizers, did he want to take the trophy and title in exchange for a $10k difference than chip chop numbers.”
At first, the tournament director said that they couldn’t hand over a tourney title in a deal. Then he decided that it would be fine if the players wanted the trophy to be involved.
“Despite pretty much all of his friends telling him to take the deal Will wanted to fight on, he wondered if he’d regret having ‘not gone for it.’”
Silver added, “I strongly felt the deal was great for both parties, Patrick would get more money and Will would cement himself in poker history, not a one hit wonder. I believe that if Will plays his cards right after making the deal he would stand to profit significantly more in future career opportunities.”
At a 4-1 chip disadvantage, this seems to be a pretty good deal for Kassouf because he received over 40% of the money and a tournament title. And given how he’s already made a big name for himself, Kassouf stands to benefit quite a bit from adding a tournament high-roller title to his resume.