Schumacher’s open was met by a 3-bet from Haxton, who left a single 5k chip behind. Not realising this ‘chip behind’ detail, Bogarin called in the big blind and when Schumacher re-shoved he went into the tank…as did Haxton!
When Bogarin finally folded, out of turn, he still didn’t realise Haxton hadn’t committed his last 5k chip.
After 6 minutes in the tank, another player at the table, Yuchen Chen, finally called the clock. As Haxton’s countdown to act reached 4 seconds he called.
Johan Schumacher: A♦ K♥
Isaac Haxton: 3♣ 3♦
Board: 9♥ A♠ Q♥ 5♥ K♠
The run out eliminated him in 99th place for $70k.
So, what was the issue?
Well, Haxton — who sits in 8th spot in the all-time moneywinners list with $55,463,796 — was stalling for a $15k payjump. If one player had busted while he was fake tanking, then he’d have walked off with $85,000.
Negreanu brought the subject up in his daily WSOP vlog, where he explained: “In this case, there is no decision to be made. There is now world where he (Haxton) is folding, so the only reason to take any time whatsoever is to stall/steal for a payjump.”
DNegs has long been against the ‘chip behind’ strategy, claiming it is bad for the game. Here he pointed out that the rest of the table were “essentially colluding” as they all benefit from any payjump.
“Frankly I’d be embarrassed to do it,” said Negreanu, pointing out Haxton is a “highstakes pro playing highstakes buy-ins…in a $10k”.
Twitter/X poker wasn’t best pleased with Haxton’s actions either…
Table shouldn’t tolerate 6 min tank with one chip left. That is literally stealing from the other participants that aren’t doing that https://t.co/rddrQhnLyQ
— David Baker (@audavidb) July 12, 2025
Negreanu responded to Baker’s tweet: “Question: Has the player had a reasonable amount of time to act? Answer: Anything over 5 seconds warrants a clock in this situation. Clock should be called no later than 30 seconds and if no player calls it, the floor should call a 15 second clock to put the last chip in.”
Calling Time on Kassouf?
Calling the clock has been an issue this week in particular at the Main Event, with English motormouth Will Kassouf the main culprit.
Kassouf, vying with Martin Kabrhel for the least-liked poker player in the world tag, had the clock called on him 23 times during day 6. The floor gave him a 10-second clock for all of level 28 as punishment for his excessive tanking.
Although he was later given a reprieve from his time issues, as we go to press he has been threatened with DQ and expulsion from the casino by Tournament Director Jack Effel. More on this story tomorrow in our daily WSOP round-up!
