WSOP Final table

[Marky147]

They should have hired jared then!

Not sure that will have helped them disregard the fact they're playing for millions of $$

[cambridgealex]

Agree with pleno on most of his points tbh. Watched a bit and thought the same. Very surprised. Not saying I could do better or wouldn't freeze under the pressure, I have no idea. But everyone's allowed their opinion from the armchair.

I think Esfandiari is vgood at his job - his job is to appeal to the masses and give both sound analysis but also entertain people, speak in a language that everyone that plays/is interested in poker understands.

The "Just wanna take it down preflop with JJ" must be a level, but even if not, thousands of viewers will love to here that even the best struggle to play dem fish hooks!

[FUN4FRASER]

Shocker that people aren't playing completely optimal strategy on a live final table

THey had months to prepare

Didn't watch all of it but I think Esfandiari's commentary was excellent

He suggested at one stage that when you have jacks it's the best scenario when everybody folds, he picked up on none if the terrible passiveness or suggested that they should be leveraging stacks and he said on a board that you needed a straight to vbet when it was v clear that 2 pairs were vbets.

Also the constant arselickong of jc tran who was supposedly widely recognised the best player at the table. Widely recognised by who exactly? He folded qjo in sb with 12bbs and esfandiari didn't say a word maybe he is his friend. Also qts was limp folded bvb with around 10nbs

Everyones an expert obviously even in a pressure cooker environment.

One or two errors ofc I understand! In a 30 pound fo I'd make mistakes too but asides benefield and lahovort everybody see,ed to make really really big errors.

Must be the worst final table in history. They just folded until they could cooler eachother. Ironic that duhamel is McLaughlins coach and he folded to a 4.4x 3bet in position with a9 when duhamel is a station it seems.

Btw has anybody seen the Dennis Phillips ak hand?? What?!?!?!

Pretty sad but  Im sure I remember the Philips hand against Demidov right ? 

Demidov Raise with AQ ,Phillips 3 bets , Demidov 4 bets  Phillips Flats...A flop of something like J 10 x sees Phillips Donk out and Demidov Pushes all in ..Philips...Folds  but the question is why didnt Philips Jam Pre  ?  Suppose its easier from the rails with the pressure and all

[celtic]

Wasn't Phillips a rec player though? Fk, I could think of a thousand recs that would make an arse of that hand in those circumstances v demidov. I see it every week, never mind on the final table of the biggest comp in the world.

[TL900]

think youre being way too harsh on everyone pads lol. McClaughlin was the only one i thought played super bad tbh (and i dont mean his KK get in)

[CHIPPYMAN]

It's always easy to say how bad player played when we watching on tele . It's always difficult to play live in big occasions . They playing for lots of $$$$$$$ . If they are laddering , that's standard !

[Honeybadger]

I watched the first 5 hours of the final table (so missed the KK hand... wtf happened?), and I thought the standard of play was pretty good considering the huge pressure each of the players must have been under. The fold with AQ was seriously impressive, and Benefield folding TT might seem 'easy' when watching at home (I thought he was dwelling with QQ or AK, since it seemed so clear to me - watching at home with no pressure - that JJ/TT was a fold) but can't have been anywhere near as straightforward in the moment.

It is so easy to criticise small technical errors from the sofa, but I was genuinely impressed that none of the players lost their heads under the pressure and made catastrophic errors. Seems a little silly to criticise anyone's play unless you have actually been in such a high pressure situation yourself - I have no idea if I'd be able to cope under such pressure without blowing up in some way or other!

[stato_1]

Esfandiaris job is commentator not tv nerd

[stato_1]

And I haven't any done any maths but I'd say given icm Implications etc, depending on exactly when it was, I'd be wholly unsurprised if given that you'd raised with JJ, getting folds is a better result than not doing

[titaniumbean]

Agree with pleno on most of his points tbh. Watched a bit and thought the same. Very surprised. Not saying I could do better or wouldn't freeze under the pressure, I have no idea. But everyone's allowed their opinion from the armchair.

I think Esfandiari is vgood at his job - his job is to appeal to the masses and give both sound analysis but also entertain people, speak in a language that everyone that plays/is interested in poker understands.

The "Just wanna take it down preflop with JJ" must be a level, but even if not, thousands of viewers will love to here that even the best struggle to play dem fish hooks!

THIS.


If you liked the commentary pads then the whole world would think it was awful.

Similarly if you thought they all played perfectly the man on the street would thing that all of them were just wind-milling randomly at the buttons.

Tran seems pretty awful though, live tho.

[Tal]

I read somewhere that JC Tran used to have a philosophy that he would rather make a good fold than a good call. No idea whether that's still in play, but it's a completely different mentality to the majority of the field, who want to make the TV Hero Play.

Poker as an entertainment package (and it HAS to be an entertainment package to have any medium term sustainability as an entity) needs people with different mentalities in approaching the game. The "in a vacuum correct" play is one part of a much wider picture, which, in this specific instance, includes a suitcase full of Benjamin Franklins.

Whatever you or I make of one specific play, these guys are in a completely alien situation and the dynamics are different to anything these people have experienced. This will mean they call when they should raise or fold. It will mean they'll bet 250 when online they'd insta-350. They'll swallow when they'd normally be stoic. Some of those things may be deliberate. In my view, they SHOULD be doing some things differently to if it were the DTD Deepstack final or a $5 STT. They should be doing that because everyone else will be, too, and you should be adjusting to their play.

But then this is No Limit Holdem so the winner will be the one who gets the tall and pointy ones against the matching pictures

[cambridgealex]

These pros make themselves look v bad imo, whether what they say is true or not

http://www.pokerlistings.com/wsop-tweet-relief-cheap-shots-from-the-cheap-seats-36777

[celtic]

These pros make themselves look v bad imo, whether what they say is true or not

http://www.pokerlistings.com/wsop-tweet-relief-cheap-shots-from-the-cheap-seats-36777

Looks almost word for word what pleno wrote...

[stato_1]

I do have a little sympathy for the pie chart banter but that aside Alex is right IMO. Sam razavi spot on.

[Marky147]

Read all of Timex's last night, but hadn't bothered hunting any others out.

Considering how intelligent these guys are, how well they have done out of poker, it's amazing to see how bitter and juvenile they can act over something they should be doing cartwheels about!