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- Last year's Main Event winner Conniff admits to choosing potential for more winnings over faith
- Orthodox Poker writer Robbie Strazynski refuses to cover tournament during holiest of holidays
- Jewish players took to Twitter to express discontent with tournament scheduling
- Reformed Jewish poker player says okay to play during Passover but not Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah
They may claim to observe the Jewish religion but some poker pros would rather gamble than observe one of the more holy holidays, that being Passover.
When the Jewish Chronicle cornered Asher Conniff as to why he was participating in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Tournament of Champions, an embarrassed Conniff said he understood it was "a major Jewish holiday and I would like to be home with my family". "But," he reflected, "I play poker for a living and they chose to schedule it when they did."
Orthodox Israeli-based poker writer Robbie Strazynski told the Jewish Chronicle he refused to cover the event due to the scheduling conflict: "I believe a lot of Jewish poker champions who qualify for the event will be skipping it,” he said. “It’s more important to remain involved in the tradition."
Belgian poker pro Baruch Thaler, also an Orthodox Jew, also refused to participate in the Main Event as it spread into the Sabbath.
A number of poker pros, in fact, took to Twitter to condemn scheduling the Tournament of Champions to coincide with Passover, which was observed from April 22 through the 30th.
Passover or Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsɑːx/; from Hebrew פֶּסַח Pesah, Pesakh, is an important, biblically derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. Passover lasts eight days and the first two and last two days are observed as full days of rest, not for playing poker.
While some Jewish poker players like Conniff would prefer to prioritize the game over religion, others like Melanie Weisner won’t go all in, at least when it comes to certain Jewish holidays.
Saying she is "on the more reformed end of the observance spectrum".
In other words, Weisner won’t play poker on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah.
Conniff, incidentally, went on to finish the Tournament of Champions event in 19th place. Last year, he won the main event and the nearly $1 million in cash prize that came with it. But there was one big difference between this year’s tournament and last year’s.
In 2015, Passover fell one week prior to the main event.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
