Hygiene a Major Problem at This Year’s World Series of Poker

With Twitter, the popular social networking and micro-blogging service, us peons now get a glimpse of what players at the World Series of Poker are really thinking.  And what's the issue they are addressing the most this year?

Poker player hygiene.

Mario Ho:  "And here I thought I was home free with an empty seat to my left for two hrs only for it to be filled by another smelly guy. Odor Tally +1."

2:59 PM Jun 19th from Tweetie

Doyle Brunson:  "they should have a hygiene policy at tournaments. Some foreign guy sat next to me and smelled so bad i almost gagged at the table"

1:20 PM Jun 17th from web

The site PokerTips.org warned against staying at the WSOP host hotel, the Rio, and cited the hygiene factor.

"While it can be really convenient staying at the Rio and thus being just a short walk away from the WSOP action, it can also run the risk of driving you insane. The Rio is not a part of the Las Vegas Strip. In the summer, it effectively becomes an island of poker players. While that might sound exciting right now, it can get really tiresome after just a couple of days. Poker players are annoying, smelly, and disgusting people who stand in the hallway complaining to someone who isn't listening about how their Ace-King got cracked. It doesn't take a whole lot of exposure to that environment before the thought of getting the hell out of there sounds fantastic."

Personal hygiene at the poker tables made the news earlier this year when a player was kicked out of the Atlantic City Borgata for his offensive odor.

Michael Wax went on a 17-hour poker binge without having applied a long-lasting deodorant. 

Wax said he told casino officials: "There's no question I stink. I'm not denying it. I do have an odor. I've been playing for 17 hours."

He filed a complaint with the Casino Control Commission, and he told AP that he wants an apology from the Borgata.

Ace King, Gambling911.com