ShareAt last week’s Hustler Casino Live 24-hour high-stakes game, Martin Kabrhel found himself in a particularly embarrassing situation . The Czech high-stakes pro arrived to take a seat at 6am and was declared persona non grata.
No sooner had he shown his face at the door of the private room, the players were all mouthing “oh no”.
After a quick discussion, the players began to ask for chip racks when it became clear Kabrhel was sitting to play.
It wasn’t clear what the main reason was for shunning the Czech, because there were so many to choose from.
Firstly, Martin Kabrhel has been one of the least favourite opponents in the high-stakes scene for a while now. His lengthy tanking in what should be considered a basic spot is a common source of annoyance.
And then there is his style of table-talk. Each to their own but many players have complained that he annoys them during play.
All of that said, it wasn’t a great look for poker to see someone shunned like that on not just a high-profile show but on a 24-hour high-stakes special.
While Martin Kabrhel was preparing himself outside of the room, one of the players complained that he played too well, although there was some disagreement. Nik Airball replied that he played “too annoying”.
Someone else mentioned that he was fresh and preying on a table that had been going without sleep for a full day.
And then there was some bitterness from Andy Stacks who thought that Kabrhel hit-and-run in an unethical way the last time he played.
Apparently, Kabrhel left in a hurry claiming he had a meeting to conduct but we heard he was invited to a super-soft private game, leaving Stacks infuriated with everyone running when he was $600k in the hole.
Stacks had a bit of a public blowout that night, leading him to apologise on X/Twitter for his behaviour.
“Last Thursday on HCL, I watched myself light $600k on fire in a few hours. The players who were up bailed one by one mid stream.
“I panicked as the game quickly vanished into thin air. I regrettably vented my frustration on stream and to anyone I wanted to hold responsible. Not my proudest moment.”
The hand in the tweet above probably didn’t endear Kabrhel to him over the weekend.
Even though he wasn’t able to sit and play, Martin Kabrhel remained polite and tweeted his thanks for the invite, adding that he would have liked to have played with Alan Keating.
This seemed to have won him some new fans.
“Marin , you played great and handle yourself like a pro , they didn’t let you play because those guys were scared of you . I’m a new fan of your Sr.”
