Posted on: July 1, 2024, 12:48h.
Last updated on: July 1, 2024, 01:05h.
Longtime actor and poker aficionado James Woods caused a bit of a stir on social media over the weekend when he asked his more than 3.9 million followers on X if they think they reaped “any benefit whatsoever from the COVID-19 ‘vaccine?’”
The 55th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is in full swing in Las Vegas at the Horseshoe on the Strip. The $10K Main Event gets cards in the air later this week.
Many of the world’s best poker players are in town with dreams of winning the $11 million (or more) first-place Main Event prize. Woods is buddies with many of the WSOP participants participating in the series, which began in May and runs through July 17 with the culmination of the Main Event.
Woods tweeted that many of his cohorts have told him they’ve become ill since arriving in Southern Nevada. That prompted the two-time Oscar nominee, whose credits include “Casino,” “The Onion Field,” and “Salvador,” to ask his millions of followers if they’re glad they took the COVID-19 vaccines.
Unwanted Guest at WSOP
A slew of WSOP players have reported feeling unwell in recent weeks. With the days of mandatory COVID-19 testing long in the past, it’s unknown whether the sicknesses are due to the coronavirus or something else like the common cold or flu. That didn’t stop Woods from speculating that COVID-19 is responsible.
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 is no Trump hater, as he’s been a self-labeled “staunch supporter” of the former casino magnate for many years. Woods says his longtime talent agency, The Gersh Agency, dropped him as a client because of his support for Trump in July 2018.
The response to Woods’ tweet regarding COVID-19 vaccine benefits amid the WSOP garnered was overwhelmingly in support of the actor’s opinion. The tweet was viewed by nearly two million people on the X platform.
“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 person tweeted that the vaccines were “never meant to prevent” people from getting COVID but “to greatly reduce the seriousness of the infection.”
While COVID-19 could be the culprit for some of the sickness that’s reportedly going around in Las Vegas, WSOP players have reported falling a bit under the weather before the coronavirus was a thing. In 2017, a Legionnaires outbreak infected many players at the WSOP host Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The bacterial disease was found to have spread through the resort’s hot water heating system.
Woods’ Poker History
Woods told CardsChat in 2017 that he took an interest in poker in 2002. He’s since been a regular at poker tournaments in Las Vegas and in Los Angeles, where he resides.
According to the poker player database The Hendon Mob, Woods has more than $430K in live cash earnings. His best payout came in 2006 when he finished second at the $10K LA Poker Classic main event to win $39,859.
He’s played in almost 30 WSOP events in Las Vegas. In 2015, he finished seventh at the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout to win $28,832.
