So the WSOP is 80 % complete and British and European success has been very limited , in fact awful. The Hendonites , bad beatites, general usual names and blonde sycophants have all failed to get close to any bracelets and have been thumped by the yanks , aussies etc. WITH ONE EXCEPTION
John Gale gets the bracelet he should have got last year to go with his WPT title , He is clearly Britains and perhaps Europe's best player and is amazingly never recognised as such. No doubt at the end of this year when the judges in helsinki submit their candidates for Europe's best , it will be the usual list of sycophants and Gale's name will be absent. What a farce !!!
After coming back from Vegas a little bit disillusioned with poker I've been giving stuff like this some thought.
There are countless players swanning round the Rio with their names plastered all over themselves like some sort of quasi sports stars due to a sponsorship deal with some obscure poker site or another.
Frankly I have only heard of about 50% of the sponsored players and respect the play of maybe 10% of those I recognise.
There is alot of conjenture over who is/isn't the best player in the world, Europe or whereever.
The truth of the matter is that there is virtually nothing to choose between the best 50 players in Britain. The difference in their results is purely down to variance.
Peter Costa is an excellent player. For about a year he was unbeatable. Everyone was saying he was Europe's best player. But for the last two years he has hardly won a thing. Is he a bad player now? No of course he isn't. He was just running particularly well two years ago and now he is running very badly.
And that is the case with John Gale now. He is not "the best player in Europe". He is just running very hot. Winning more than his share of 50:50's and having his big hands hold up. It will change. But when it does, he won't be a bad player.
One thing I'm sure won't change. John Gale is a gentleman who handles defeat and victory in a dignified manner. I wish I could say the same about the prima donna's wearing all the sponsors gear strutting about like peacocks at the Rio who blame anybody except themselves when they get knocked out of a comp.
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