World Series of Poker Twitter Wars Get Ugly
The World Series of Poker Twitter battles are getting mighty ugly with no sign of waning.
There have been angry Twitter accusations lodged against the likes of Phil Hellmuth for allegedly accepting a check recently from defunct online poker company UB.com along with battles between Sam Trickett and Andrew Feldman. Elsewhere, tournament director Jack Effel and player Corey Burbick engaged in a Twitter battle over the WSOP refund policy. And, oh yeah, how can we forget the retweet by World Series of Poker Twitter account manager Seth Palansky bashing player Jon Aguiar that ultimately got Palansky into hot water. He was later removed as the man behind the WSOP tweets.
These are just some of the Twitter battles that have waged on over the past month as documented by PokerStrategy.com’s Barry Carter.
But there are more than usual, leading Carter to ponder:
Probably the biggest reason I can suggest is that this year there are less sponsored players today than we have seen for years, and less hope for up-and-coming players to sign an endorsement deal. As a direct result, everyone feels a lot less compelled to act on their best behaviour.
Causing controversy on twitter or calling out a player who is sponsored by a room they would like to be sponsored by would likely hamper a player's chances of getting, or keeping, a lucrative sponsorship deal. That is not really a problem any more, so there is no reason to remain tight-lipped and keep your opinions to yourself.
I think another big reason why we are all of a sudden seeing a more confrontational culture on twitter this year is down to one man, who has actually been relatively quiet this series - Daniel Negreanu. His "Weekly Rant" videos captured the imagination of a lot of players this year, where he called out a string of high profile figures in the game (mainly Annie Duke, of course).
Carter also cites “the feeling of anonymity” when it comes to social media that makes one’s more embolden to carry on a fight.
Not that there is a whole lot of anonymity on Twitter or even Facebook. Carter terms it “the illusion of anonymity” since the individual’s identity is readily known.
“The twitter war is here to stay in poker, as social media is becoming more popular and powerful with every day that passes,” he warns.
- Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com
