Hollywood Home Game . . . They Were Better Than A Lot Of The Pros

[InternetPokerPro]

I was amazed at the quality of play. With the exception of Alisha Tyler . . . I think these guys as a group played better than a lot of the WPT final tables.

Who would have thought it!

[Taxman]

While I am admitedly an inexperienced NLHE player, they seemed pretty weak to me, underbetting the pot nearly every time, rarely using their ability to go all in or even to bet/raise more than the minimum. It looked like they highlighted prolonged periods of weakness with unwarranted agressiveness. Not all of the plays were bad of course and some looked pretty good to me (I only had half an eye on it so I'm afraid I can't be too specific). Feel free to correct me if you disagree.

[Easy E]

Actually, not too bad for amateurs, I thought, especially after seeing some of the crappy Bravo Celebrity "Poker" play.

[Easy E]

Okay, the first WPT Hollywood celebrity charity challenge match! Let’s see how much it puts Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker” to shame.

I missed the first few minutes, posting my regular “Poker on TV” list for the week. Did they explain what they were playing for- hopefully escalating prizes for holding on? Are they “copying” Bravo in that the winner of this tournament goes on to challenge the other “satellite” winners at a final celebrity tournament?

I like the new hands graphics- pretty clear to see. I don’t like the moving “World Poker Tour” banner at the top, however.

Too bad they’re not playing for their own money. Seemed a little strange to have a dealer shuffle and run the game, but NOT deal… but it does give it a bit of a “real” home game feel to it. This could serve as an example for more people to try tournaments and “real” poker in their home games.

Aisha, why did she check the Aces when the Queen falls on the river, after Fred checked turn and river? I did like her bluff bet with nothing when the Ace falls on the river, but to show her hand? I hope that she thought that through!

I loved how Drew Carey and Fred Savage lit into Vince and Mike about their chattering in the background!

The red ‘lifeline to the pros’ card was an amusing idea- Jen Harmon and Daniel Negreanu (sp?), eh? They clean up pretty nicely…. But will “WWTBAM” be suing for trademark infringement? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Proving once again what happens when you fall for this, Jack’s huge sunglasses should have been a warning….

I was impressed by some of the folds, especially up front, by the celebrities. At least they seem to have a clue about play. However, I lost some respect for Mimi, trying to fold her BB hand when everyone just called. I thought she knew better!

Aisha is not as good as I thought- too much calling in the wrong spots, rather than fold or preferably raising like the hand where she flopped the top pair Queens with the weak kicker.

I liked Drew’s preflop raise with 77 from up front, though it might be a pretty standard move here. I didn’t like his check on the turn, however.

Why did they let Steve get away with a string raise when he had TT? And Aisha calls with T8off? Is she playing almost every hand or something? I did like her bluff and followthrough on the turn, but the amount was WAY too low- $8K??? Almost anything can call here! Bluff big, or don’t bluff at all, Aisha!

We see a chip count… and Drew Carey is leading? How the hell did that happen? How about SOME clue as to what happened- maybe a short synopsis after the commercial break? It would have a lot of value IMO for the “real” WPT season with the pros.

Aisha’s string raise, after calling, was even worse than Steve’s!!! What’s the floor doing back there, besides trying to look handsome?? Cut this crap off, Matt Savage! You know better than THAT!

I liked Jack Black’s call and then reraise with the Jacks. What happened to the percentage winning graphic for each hand? Disappeared pretty quickly. Jack calls time when the Js on the turn traps him against Aisha’s nut straight, then he goes all in…. and Aisha uses her red pro card?!?!? What, she needs some advice on which dance to do? That’s the WORST use of a lifeline that I’ve ever seen- “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” should sue again, for defamation of character!!

Hey, we’re having a remake of “Big Hand for a Little Lady” !!! Henry Fonda et all can sue as well!!!

Interesting casual layout with the directors’ chairs for VVP and Mike Sexton.
The commercial breaks seem decently spread out, not too excessive early on. We’ll see what happens at the end. Anyone track the poker vs. commercial time ratio? Why do I think that we won’t be so lucky when NBC gets a WPT show next week during the Super Bowl pregame?

Mimi seems to be getting all crappy hands…. Yet later, after a commercial break, she shows up as the chip leader with 450K+! again, how in hell did THAT happen?

Steve has that perfect home game “snap and deal a card” action going.
Vince, are you going to patent your dumb “showtunes going off in his head” line??

Aisha seems trapped in the “must bet” syndrome, no matter who is in or what has happened previously… bad bad bad. Drew Carey’s play was way too tight weak.

Wow- playing for charities, post-loss lounge, comments by announcers, pros on hand for the game…… who’s the thief- WPT or Bravo’s celebrity poker? I think someone posted back during my Celebrity Poker posts that WPT came first…. Pretty cheesy of Bravo if true.

After seeing some of the chip leads change because of off-screen moves, I really think an occasional graphic, showing the percentages of preflop call/fold and hand win/loss percentages would be VERY interesting to show. Might help explain how people jumped around in the standings. Again, more for the regular WPT tournaments, not the celebrity/Hollywood home game shows.

Steve’s use of his lifeline card with Q4d when short-stacked was a good use. I bet he’s thinking NOW “what the hell did I do letting those ‘pros’ override my instincts?!” And what was with Daniel N’s overacting on the “based on the mathematics” comment??
Aisha calls the all-in for 40K? With another player in? So much for the value of an Ivy League education- I bet Dartmouth’s enrollment goes up 20% (“If SHE can get in there, certainly I can!”)

Just like in Bravo’s show, Mimi’s trying to run the poker game for everyone else- is that a bit arrogant, acting as if she’s the only knowledgeable player at the table? Then again, it might be true….

I wonder if Mimi’s bluff-raise of Aisha’s trip 7’s would have worked if Mimi had made it a much larger raise than 70K? Probably not…

I really think Aisha’s aggressiveness is covering up for a flawed poker strategy- a lesson for all of us out there facing semi-maniacs. While I didn’t like Fred’s 100K steal raise with a gutshot Broadway draw, against the “Sure I’ll call!” queen, I REALLY didn’t like her bet into Fred on the following street with only middle pair. Or is that a good aggressive move in shorthanded poker?

I really didn’t like Dan and Jen’s advice to Fred telling him to go all-in with J8off preflop, even if he had a fair portion of his stack in already. He was lucky to suck out on that hand to stay alive.

As I suspected, the commercial breaks are getting out of hand near the end of the show. WPT better be charging much more for late commercial time slots!

I wonder if Fred Savage’s fiancée is still thrilled about getting married to the madman?!? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I didn’t like Mimi’s all-in with 99, until I realized that the Calling Queen was still playing… KToff?? Good fold by Fred with his King-crap hand.

Wow, nice sailor’s impression by Aisha with the curse-out of Fred after sucking out on her with her crappy pair of fours- she deserved it for playing so badly most of the latter half of the show. I wonder if she’ll show up on RGP complaining about bad beats and action flops? Maybe talk to GCA (or GCB?) about the scamming by WPT officials…

Is there any hand that Mimi SHOULDN’T have called Aisha’s blind raise all-in with? 74off wasn’t too far from the bottom, but with her chip lead and Aisha’s auto all-in before seeing her cards, was there anything she shouldn’t have played? Maybe 32off?

Oh god, the stupid money drop from the ceiling when it’s heads up again… and I just noticed that there wasn’t any audience! With celebrities playing? I wonder why that decision was made?

And we’re closing in on the WPT 10:58 rule (it’s 10;53 as I wrote this). Fred only has 2 blinds worth of chips in his stack- too few chips to have any decent play at this juncture!! I did like his raise to 200K with K7off in the small blind, thought it might be a little heavy given his chips. With the blinds and antes so high, almost no-thought poker? I was a little surprised with Mimi’s all-in reraise with Q3h, since she had a 3:1 lead, but she didn’t have that many chips relatively either.

10;56 hand, no end. 10:57 hand, no end. 10:58 hand…. No end!? 10;59 we end it.

Vince did have several of his crappy comments again, though it wasn’t TOO stupid. I didn’t like the “She’s got the big one!” and “you can’t read this girl”- girl!?!?

All in all, even with the celebrity handicap, it’s good to have the WPT back with some semi-decent poker.

On to the Super Bowl and the winners’ challenge tournament!

[jasonHoldEm]

Fred Savage's reaction to (dealing out) and flopping the stone cold nuts was the beauty that is poker.

J

EDIT: Not stone cold nuts...but you know what I mean...sigh.

[kingstalker]

Anybody esle notice that anytime Mimi had a good hand she would pull her hair back, and when she had a bad hand she would stare down her opponets?

[Bill Murphy]

Mimi needs some coaching before the WPT championship, obviously, but she at least seems to have an idea of how to play. Hell, two hours reviewing the tape w/Dan & Jen would make her better than a couple of "names" I can think of.

And whatta hottie still, after all these years.

[InternetPokerPro]

When the players used their red card to query the experts about whether they should call and put themselves "All In", Daniel's first question both times was "How much do you already have in the pot?".

In my mind that is totally irrelevant. What is relevant is:

1. Quality of your hand.
2. How big is your stack?
3. How big is the pot?
4. How big are the blinds (i.e. can you fold and live to fight another day?).

Am I missing something here?

[TimTimSalabim]

I believe he was just trying to determine the answer to the first and most important question, how much is it to call.

[TimTimSalabim]

I assume you're exaggerating just a wee bit. Mimi is a good amateur player, for example, but I saw major holes in her game. She'd get slaughtered at table of top pros. Even a table of average pros.

[mosch]

The prizes consisted of a charitable donation, and first place got a seat in the $25,000 WPT Final. Obviously they're not favorites to do anything useful with their seats, but I've seen deader money than Mimi.

[Daliman]