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Alexandra Botez and her sister are two of the biggest Chess stars on the planet, due in large part to their 1.4 million YouTube subscribers and engaging Chess videos that often receive millions of views.
She’s now a rising figure in the Poker world, a journey that was supercharged when Botez played in a high-stakes and high-profile cash game with Mr Beast, Phil Hellmuth, Ninja, and others. In that game, Alexandra Botez won a massive $340,000 pot off Mr Beast. Botez then went on to finish ‘in the money’ at the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 1040th for $17,500.
Hans Niemann Gets Dragged By Poker Community For Comments On Alexandra Botez’s Poker Journey
Hans Niemann is also a well-known name in the world of Chess. He was the player accused of using adult toys to cheat at live chess, accusations he was recently cleared of. It is worth noting the investigation was into cheating in live chess tournaments, and a separate investigation by the Wall Street Journal determined he ‘likely’ cheated at online chess ‘more than 100 times.’
On Tuesday, Hans Niemann shared a video to Instagram and Twitter where he questions the ‘brand responsibility’ of Alexandra Botez. The clip starts with a video of Alexandra Botez saying “now that we’ve grown bigger we kind of have more brand responsibilities… The image of (a) little kid promoting…” and it cuts off there.
Hans Niemann starts talking over the clip, saying “I think that as soon as you get a million subscribers, that’s when you should start promoting Gambling, Poker, making money off of that… I think that’s a very responsible thing to do for your brand.”
Niemann goes on to say “I think that’s a very responsible thing to do for your brand… Is to promote degeneracy and help people get addicted to gambling.” He then goes on to discuss how he’s “sure” that young kids are signing up for Poker accounts to “gamble all their savings away.” His comments in the video below drew an immediate reaction from Alexandra Botez and the poker community.
Botez Responds To Hans Niemann’s Attacks
Responding to Hans Niemann’s criticisms, Alexandra Botez took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to defend herself. She initially re-shared with the caption “Clear drama bait. Poker is the only form of gambling that can be considered a sport. I have never done any other gambling content and minors cannot legally play poker… Not to mention many chess players have streamed poker because of the strategic overlap (Hikaru, Levy, Magnus).”
From there, things escalated. Botez replied directly to Hans Niemann, saying “I get that you’re upset at the world for how everyone responded to the cheating accusations. Always down to discuss any issues you might have with poker or otherwise if you want to actually chat. If it’s just for clickbait and views, then you’re no better than everyone you criticized for piling on you.”
Hans saw Alexandra Botez’s reply and appeared to be using it for engagement. He wrote back “Profiting off of gambling of any kind is highly immoral. You are paid by these poker sites to get your viewers addicted and lose their hard-earned money. For every player that you sign up, YOU MAKE MONEY. How do you think they recoup the ridiculous amount of money that they pay you.”
Botez then responded again, writing “In the Piers interview you recently said that cheating online is “meaningless”. Curious to see you police morality while displaying such questionable ethics of your own.”
“The only online poker sponsorships I’ve done were community free rolls, always mentioning to my community that they should only play stakes they’re comfortable with or play sans stakes. I understand that gambling can be addicting, but poker is different than roulette – it is a game of skill, one that I have come to love and believe does teach transferable skills in the same vein as chess.”
“My “poker sponsorships” have almost entirely been me updating people on my tournament journeys and thanking whoever hosted or helped with buyins.”
Poker Community Rallies Around Alexandra Botez
From there, the poker community saw the interactions and recognized that Hans Niemann wasn’t just attacking Alexandra Botez but he was attacking the game of poker.
Daniel Negreanu, arguably the most famous poker player in the world, responded on X and wrote “Wait, aren’t you the dude who allegedly stuck buzzing a— beads up his a– in a chess match? That is you right? The a— bead guy? Poker is a strategy game you clown. So is chess. You can gamble on either. Or you can play either for fun.”
TeamPokerFlops wrote in defense of Botez. They replied “Bro definitely watermarked his video, aware it was a bid for virality. Chess and poker share a storied dialogue, weaving in and out of each other’s worlds for years. It’s common to see chess maestros delving into poker, and vice versa. There’s substantial reasoning behind this intertwining; they’re siblings in the realm of strategy. @alexandrabotez masterfully elevates both domains, spotlighting them on her platform with unwavering passion and finesse.”
Another person wrote “comical that this admitted cheater thinks he can just come out and the be the integrity police for everyone else. Give me a break.”
Hans Niemann continued to share replies on his own feed, claiming that Chess players promote poker because they “are paid more money if your viewers lose money on the website,” calling it “basic economics.”
It appears to have never crossed his mind that Poker and Chess players are cut from the same cloth. The skillsets required for both games overlap in many ways. Poker is also inherently more social than Chess as it’s not always a 1-on-1 game.
This should serve as a lesson: never fall for rage bait.