And then there were six...

   In my last post I discussed the first three eliminations. This post will talk about the next three. Six players to go and "short-handed" poker begins. This is when the value of hands goes up. Hands like A-8 off that you throw away in the beginning now become raising hands in certain situations. As I watched the footage on Youtube I noticed that was where Pius Heinz started to try and run over the table. Only problem was Ben Lamb wouldn't let him.

   First to go out in this phase was yet another of my horses, Eoghan O'Dea who wins the Player I'd Most Like to Have a Beer (or a Guinness) with award. His bust out hand was Q-6 off, but the hand that crippled him was A-9 vs Ben Lamb's Q-8 suited. O'Dea raised coming out with his Ace and Lamb reraised all-in. O'Dea took some time to think before eventually making the call. I think O'Dea felt like he was ahead and he was right. The luck o' the Irish was not on his side as Lamb rivered an 8 to win the enormous pot leaving O'Dea with just 2.5 million or so in chips. And right before the dinner break! Ouch! I'd almost rather just bust before the break. Maybe O'Dea saw the opportunity to bust the best player at the table, but I still think it was not the right move for that situation. He was right that he was ahead, but that's pre-flop. The hand isn't over till that river is dealt. With a little patience he could have gone deeper into the tournament. I suspect O'Dea will be haunted by that hand for some time. Still, he played well and I'm willing to bet this is not the last we'll see of him.

   The next victim was 5th place finisher Phil Collins who wins the Loudest Entourage award. It seemed like he was just having an off night. Maybe the cards just weren't coming for him. I've had MANY nights like that! His bust out hand was A-7 suited in diamonds vs Heinz and his 9's once again. The flop came 4-5-6. The turn was the 9 of diamonds giving Collins all sorts of outs. The river didn't work for him though and Heinz won a pretty good sized pot. Okay, once again I don't agree. Collins still had 18 big blinds. It ain't much, but it's enough to stick around for little bit. You don't have to move with the first Ace you see. Maybe even just try to make a raise and win the blinds and antes. If you get reraised, just fold, but youth often lacks patience and I believe this to be the case here.

   In 4th place was the Most Resembling a Cop award winner, Matt Giannetti. Giannetti was the ONLY player at this final table with sunglasses. Frankly, I'm happy too see that. I don't like sunglasses at the table. I think it shows weakness. Letting your opponent see you stare at the middle of the table can be more intimidating than the shades. They look douchy (is that a word?). Nothing against Giannetti, he's a damn good poker player, but I just don't think the shades are necessary. He was crippled by Ben Lamb when his J-J lost to Benba's A-7 suited in hearts. Lamb hit the flush and Giannetti was hurting. He eventually busted with A-3 off vs Lamb's K-K. Giannetti probably had the most impressive showing of all. I thought he played patiently and picked his spots with precision. He's a pro no doubt about it. In fact, I was shocked to learn that he took down a WPT event during the four month hiatus. Yikes! Great job Matt, but please, lose the shades. You don't need 'em and you're probably a better player without them.


   Giannetti's bust out ended the day. On Tuesday 3 players (Pius Heinz, Ben Lamb, and Martin Staszko) would return to determine who would walk away with 8.7 million dollars and the highly coveted gold bracelet. That's all coming up next. Till then...

The WSOP Main Event 2011

   So this being my first post into the blogosphere, I thought I'd begin with my thoughts on the WSOP Main Event. For those of you who know the game of poker (specifically No-Limit Hold Em) all of this should make perfect sense to you. For those of you who don't forgive my use of its lingo throughout this post. In fact, much of this blog will be about poker and the direction the game is going both live and online. But first The Main Event.

   In 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the biggest poker tournament in the world. An amateur who paid $40 on an online satellite and ran it to 2 million dollars by winning the Main Event. In the 3 years following, the Main Event grew from 839 entries to 8773 in 2006. aka The Jamie Gold Year. In the few years following that the number of entries declined a bit. This year there were 6865.  Not too bad considering the DOJ's smackdown on the big online poker sites in April. Next year will be the year we should see the full effects. I'm guessing the over/under is 4800.

   The true problem for the game right now is its lack of an ambassador. A Michael Jordan if you will. Or a Tiger Woods before all his troubles. The online thing has just rubbed everyone the wrong way and these well-known pros now just seem shady. The Jamie Gold thing was a black mark as well. Personally, I'm rooting for a big name pro to win it. Someone relatively upstanding that can maybe promote poker and have a positive influence. I think it would legitimize the game. Phil Ivey I'm talkin to you!

  Although Phil Ivey isn't in it this year (in fact he boycotted this year's World Series) I think there are some names at the Final Table this year that could do the game some good. First on my list is the hottest (meaning he's on a good run people) player in the world right now Ben Lamb. If he wins it would be an absolutely epic year for him at the WSOP and arguably the best run in the post Moneymaker era. The guy had already made over a million dollars at this year's WSOP before the Main Event even started. It would give him two bracelets and two other Final Tables, one of which was an 8th place finish at the Player's Championship. It would also make him WSOP Player of the Year. In a word: impressive. Did I mention he's only 26?

   Next up is Bahdi Bounahra. He's from Belize. He's the oldest player at the Final Table at 49. It would be pretty fun to watch an old man (relatively speaking of course) whip a bunch of twenty-something's asses. It'd be a great story and great for the country of Belize.

   Finally is Eoghan O'Dea. He has two scores over $250,000. His father cashed in the Main Event 6 times. He's from Ireland and that would be cool to see an Irish champion wouldn't it?





  Well, those are my picks for this year. I'll write again in a couple of days with a full analysis of the Final Table and my thoughts and feelings regarding the results. Till then....