Maria Konnikova Discusses Criticism Surrounding First WSOP Bracelet Win

PokerStars ambassador and author Maria Konnikova won her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet earlier this week. But the victory was surrounded by a bit of criticism from Norman Chad, who opposes unlimited reentry/rebuys. Chad was none too thrilled with Konnikova buying in four times en route to winning the $888 buy-in online poker tournament.

Despite Chad’s comments, the popular poker ambassador does in fact own a gold WSOP bracelet. She wrote a lengthy Substack to discuss her thoughts on the criticism, and she didn’t hold back.

You can read an excerpt below.

Konnikova on the WSOP Win

This Monday, in the early hours of the morning—around 3am PT, to be exact—I won my first ever World Series of Poker bracelet. It was in an online WSOP event, the $888 Crazy Eights, in a field of 468 players, after almost ten and a half hours of play.

I know people tend to look down on online bracelets as somehow less real than ones won on the live felt. And I know that 468 players—well, 464, if I’m being honest, since four of those entries were my own—is far fewer than the several thousand that most summer live events routinely get. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud and happy. I’d been working hard for multiple years to get here, not knowing if any gold bracelet, live or online, was ever in my future. And it felt incredible to finally make it happen.

When I woke up later that day, I was still slightly delirious—it’s hard to sleep with all of that adrenaline!)—but very happy. After first taking up poker in 2017 for The Biggest Bluff, I’d done it! I’d finally won a bracelet! I decided I would spend a few hours reviewing my play, run a few sims, and then write a piece for my readers about the whole experience. I’d talk about my decision making during the run-up to the win, reflect on mindset, and dissect a few pivotal hands. It was a solid plan. And then I checked Twitter.

Before going to sleep, I had posted a photo of my win—the same one you see above. There was an outpouring of support and congratulations; it made we feel incredibly lucky to be part of such a great community. And then there was the other reaction. The reaction that decided to take this moment to use me as an example of…well, I’m not quite sure. Everything wrong with tournament poker these days, I think it is.

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The poster child (man?) for this response: Norman Chad, WSOP announcer for the last however many years. I’m not actually sure what his official title is, but he does the WSOP broadcasts with Lon McEachern. And, even though he has never met me, he apparently has Many Issues with my win (not to throw shade or anything).

I recently rewatched the first few episodes of Game of Thrones. In one, the wonderful Peter Dinklage, aka Tyrion Lannister, visits the famed Wall that guards the Seven Kingdoms. As he tells Benjen Stark how impressed he has been by his visit, he says, “But…” And Benjen interrupts him. “My brother once told me that nothing someone says before the word ‘but’ really counts,” he counters. And, indeed, it does not—as Tyrion then demonstrates by essentially negating all of his praise. You know what words most reliably signal that great offense is about to be given? I don’t mean to offend, but… You can be sure that whatever is coming next is a nasty as it gets.

So let me just say this: Norman Chad absolutely did want to throw shade on me. Otherwise, why single me out, why tag me, why the personal touch in that final bit of prose? She ran out of chips. She re-entered. She ran out of chips again. And on and on.

I’ve never met Norman Chad. I don’t know what he has against me. But it’s definitely something. I am far from the only bracelet winner to rebuy—indeed, I happen to know that multiple winners of this online series in the last few weeks rebought multiple times. But I am the only one who he has chosen to single out. And the only way I stand out from the others—or from most of the live winners this summer, as most events are re-buys and the freezeout format is a rare breed—is a simple one.