Poor Commentary on WPT last night...

[manku]

I don't know if I can watch the WPT shows again, esp. after listening to some of the bad commentary, in particular:

Hand with Phil H. and Blond Woman (forget name):

Any case, blinds are small. Heads up.

Flop: 8-x-x, with two diamonds. BW has nut flush draw. Phil has pair of 8's. Phil checks, BW checks behind. Announcer is stunned that BW checked with nut flush draw. Personally, I think that's how you have to play it. Didn't I read somewhere that in PL/NL you should often (if not always) check when a raise would be a disaster. In this situation, if raised, she might have to lay it down. Take the free card, and suck the opponent in if you hit. The pot was unraised. In limit, a bet (semibluff) is automatic.

One hand I was amazed at was PH's non raise with trip queens against PG's queens full. Most players I know would push it all in.

Again, Kathy Leibert shoves in her stack with Q-10 (poor hand) and loses to J-9. According to odds, she is only a 2-1 (or was it 3-2) favorite. And the caller was getting 3-1. That's not a bad beat. It's a bad play in my book.

Finally, watching Phil G. go on tilt the final round was quite enjoyable. First, he doesn't bet his four flush and loses a bundle. Then, he calls a couple bets with two garbage hands that could only beat a bluff or by pulling a miracle card.

Manku

[Jimbo]

"One hand I was amazed at was PH's non raise with trip queens against PG's queens full. Most players I know would push it all in."

Phil Gordon is known for playing any two soooooted cards. If I remember correctly the turn card also made a heart flush possible. I imagine this is why Phil was so cautious, at any rate it showed a lot more self control than I had given him credit for in the past.

[sdplayerb]

I thought that was a pretty obviously play on the river.
If a raise will only be called on the river when you lose, there is no reason to raise.
Especially with a flush and paired board, Hellmuth could not have won anything more with his hand by raising.

[RollaJ]

I think BW (aka. Harmon) played an awesome game, she really was an example of how a great poker player plays.

Phil Gordon played like crap, and was a perfect example of how not to play. But what can you expect when winning the money means nothing to him?

The Fin kid who won played rather well, and that hand where he kept bluffing even when being played back at was amazing since he only had ace high.

As for the format they used for the tourny I think it sucked and took a lot of the excitement out of it for me, of course that is IMHO only /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Joe Tall]

Phil H showed his genius by laying the trip Qs down, just as he layed down the KQ hand vs. Harmon's AA, actually I was surprised he even called. Phil G caught some monster cards to put him in the chip lead and it was wonderful seeing him tilt in the final heads up.

[ohkanada]

If you like playing NL tournies and you want to get better then I think it would be silly to stop watching WPT just because of the announcers. You should be able to learn something by watching how they play their big or little stacks. It also shows the stealing that is required to win NL tournies.

The neat thing about the WPT is seeing some of the best players at the final table and playing shorthanded. I think it would be better to show the last 9 players because game is different. Highlights of the final 2 tables would also be great.

I would rather have the format that they had the 1st 2 weeks rather than 2 4 person tables. I wasn't impressed with the "amateur" table. I can't remember the exact stacks but calling re-raises with J9o is not going to win you too many pots. The "pro" table was fun to watch but would have been better with more players. I like Hellmuths play so it was good to see him. The david vs golliath was not very impressive. The amateur played much better than he had on the other table. I don't know if he could read Gordon or if he had just decided that Gordon would try to push him around so that is why he kept re-raising. The only hand Gordon hit I thought he played it too fast. He should have given the other guy a chance to re-raise the flop bet instead of betting all-in.

Ken Poklitar

[sdplayerb]

I definitely agree they should show more than just 6 handed. Really, a very small % of the time do you play 6 handed in a major tourney. Good thing is, if so you are at the final two tables. But new players need to improve a lot to get there.

I think the "pros" were screwing around as it was a freeroll, and from what i've read some of them wouldn't get the money....allegedly.

Gordon did get his money, but after winning $250K, the $25K buyin was not a big deal, so he played way too fast..semi screwing around.

On the J9 hand. He was trying to steal, but then was getting like 2.5 to 1 on his call allin. So I don't think it was a bad call. He does seem to be a heck of a headsup player. I learned some from watching.
On the hands we saw, Juha didn't slowplay and I think Gordon assumed he didn't have a big hand since he kept pushin.

I'm looking forward to next week. All the players are 50+ years old, so should be quite a bit different.

SD

[Bubmack]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The david vs golliath was not very impressive. The amateur played much better than he had on the other table.

[/ QUOTE ]

However, It is easy to play better when the deck runs all over you!!!

I thik Phil G was well aware of how poorly and aggressive the amateur had played and he was trying to put him in spots that would make it impossible to call a bluff bet. Unfortunately, he wasn't bluffing.

I think Phil G - should have played tighter and picked his spots carefully to catch "the swede" bluffing.

Bubs

[Cazz]

My biggest complaint about the program is that they always show you the players' hands early in the action. I would prefer that on some hands they speculate on the players' holdings before peeking. Occasionally they should let the flop hit before seeing what the players have. They wouldn't have to do this on every hand, but occasionally it would be nice. The way they do it now, its like fast-forwarding to the end of a movie and watching the end first.


BTW, in "Murder on the Orient Express" the murderer is everyone.

Cazz