Over the weekend, longtime actor and poker enthusiast James Woods stirred up some controversy on social media by asking his more than 3.9 million followers on X if they felt they had received "any benefit whatsoever from the COVID-19 'vaccine?'"
The 55th World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe on the Strip in Las Vegas is currently underway. Later this week, cards are thrown into the air for the $10K Main Event.
With hopes of taking home the $11 million (or more) first-place Main Event prize, many of the greatest poker players in the world are present in this city. Many of the WSOP players taking part in the series—which started in May and ends on July 17 with the Main Event—are friends with Woods.
Woods stated that after coming to Southern Nevada, a number of his friends have told him they've fallen unwell. The two-time Oscar nominee—whose credits include "Casino," "The Onion Field," and "Salvador"—then asked his millions of fans if they were happy they had the COVID-19 vaccinations as a result of that.
Unwelcome Visitor at WSOP
Many WSOP participants have mentioned feeling under the weather lately. It is uncertain if the illnesses are caused by the coronavirus or something else, such as the flu or the common cold, as the days of required COVID-19 testing are long gone. Woods continued to speculate that COVID-19 is to blame despite this."'
"Literally every vaccinated person I know contracted the disease. Their symptoms were those of a cold of varying degrees. Did anybody reap any benefit whatsoever from the COVID ‘vaccine?'” Woods asked.
“All my friends who took the never-ending series of ‘booster’ shots had worse and worse reactions with each one,” Woods continued. “The number of young, healthy people dropping dead around the world seems connected to the ‘vaccine’ being foisted on them, often as an employment requirement. In retrospect, the only people who benefited from this drug and this obviously engineered Wuhan virus were the pharmaceutical giants and Trump haters.”
Woods has been a self-described "staunch supporter" of the former casino tycoon for many years, so he is not a Trump hater. Woods claims that in July 2018, The Gersh Agency, his longstanding talent agency, terminated his representation due to Woods' endorsement of Trump.
The actor's tweet about the COVID-19 vaccine's benefits during the WSOP received a resounding amount of praise from the public. On the X platform, about two million individuals saw the tweet.
“None of us regret not getting it,” said one Woods follower who seemingly agreed with the actor.
“There are so many injuries and deaths that resulted from those shots and nobody is willing to talk about,” added another. “Good for you, sir.”
"It was a mass poisoning,” responded another.
“I had five jabs, got COVID this May on a flight. My throat felt like I swallowed broken glass for five days during which drinking water felt like acid,” claimed another.
Opposing Sentiments
Not everyone agreed with Woods.
"The original vaccine worked against the early versions and protected against the Delta version which killed so many people in late 2020 and early 2021,” a person claiming to be a doctor countered. “The vaccine likely prevented millions of deaths. But after Omicron in November 2021, the vaccine was absolutely worthless.”
Another tweet stated that the goal of the vaccinations was to "greatly reduce the seriousness of the infection" rather than "prevent" people from contracting COVID.
Although some of the illnesses that are purportedly circulating in Las Vegas may be caused by COVID-19, WSOP participants have reported feeling a little under the weather even before the coronavirus became a thing. Many players at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, home of the World Series of Poker, were afflicted by a Legionnaires' outbreak in 2017. It was discovered that the hot water heating system of the resort served as a conduit for the bacterial infection.
Woods' Background in Poker
In 2017, Woods revealed to CardsChat that he became interested in poker in 2002. Since then, he has consistently attended poker tournaments in his home city of Los Angeles as well as in Las Vegas.
The Hendon Mob, a database of poker players, states that Woods has earned over $430,000 in live cash. His greatest payout was in 2006 when he earned $39,859 by placing second in the $10K LA Poker Classic main event.
He has participated in nearly 30 Las Vegas WSOP events. He earned $28,832 by placing seventh in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout in 2015.