The younger generation of poker players has often been praised as an aggressive group of people who aren’t afraid to push their chips in whenever possible. However, not everyone is a fan of this younger generation, and some people are even accusing them of not knowing poker.
The 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem is the one who’s most visibly upset about the overly aggresive play of the younger players and he made this clear to the media when he said, “I had quite a bit of respect, but you know what? They know nothing about poker.” Hachem finished this statement by mentioning, “These kids really know nothing. These kids are just ….. idiots.”
Hachem and Peter Eastgate were the only two former WSOP Main Event champs left and they were fortunate to be among the last 150 players left. But Hachem still isn’t happy and even continued his rant by saying, “We’re playing for one of the biggest prizes in history and they’re getting … .five hundred million blinds in there with second pair. To me, the reason I’m upset is because it’s disrespectful. We’re playing in the World Series, we’re not just having fun at a local home game. These guys are pushing chips around like it’s nothing.”
In doing his best Phil Hellmuth impression, Hachem is one of the first major players to speak out to the media on how much he hates this aggressive style that the younger players are bringing. Of course, if these players are making people like Hachem fold hands then one might argue that they’re doing a good job. And I don’t see Hachem cashing in a whole lot of other WSOP events so it’s hard to say that he’s an expert on exactly how one should play the game. We’ll see what he has to say if he busts out in the next session.