Comments on tonight's WPT

[Easy E]

Comments from WPT in L.A's Commerce Casino:

How could Gus NOT bet his 73d on the turn or river with a board of 9A982, after raising pre-flop and betting the flop? Checking it down for image, without having to risk chips? And how could Andy not raise or bet with TT (I think) at any time- letting Gus bluff off chips? A planned strategy to let Gus be aggressive early in the tournament?

I wasn't going to waste my time with Vince's comments any more, but a couple jumped out at me. First one, about Bob Stupak- "(he) practically built Las Vegas". Vince, are you KIDDING me? Influential, yes. Trend-setting? Definately. Study your history, Vince....

Bob Stupak made a bold all-in move early with J7h.... and the quote "To attack... is to win. To defend... is to lose" was a great quote! (Any Sun Tzu fans out there? Was this stolen or paraphrased?)

Andy, why did you keep putting your head down and hiding your eyes? Were you trying to block tells? Sure seemed to me that you did it when you weren't sure about your hand (when overcards were on the board). I noticed that, in the shot of the earlier rounds, with Gus to your right, you were doing it there as well... care to explain?

Again with the call only, Andy, with A8 against Gus' turn bet of the board 859T..... is this a general strategy of letting Gus bluff out? Put the head down again with the T36K bet by Gus.... not sure if this is a tell or not (see above)

Was Gus' early play allowing him to set up Andy into checking all of the time?

Daniel, as chip leader, calls with ATh against David Pham's raise... and then DOESN'T raise David's flop bet when KhAc9c comes?

Would anyone take Bob Stupak's "I just have Jacks" comment as anything but a sign of a) weakness and b) I'm not calling? I'm sure he was fishing for a reaction, but isn't that a little TOO obvious?

Steve? is short-stacked, not playing much of anything. Gus raises, Bob reraises all-in and Andy overcalls. Steve agonizes over AJd. Would anyone else even THINK about calling in this situation with AJsuited, for only a portion of the main pot vs. getting busted out?
I would have mucked those cards faster than lightning... would that be a mistake?

A call Daniel made with 33 confused me. I can see calling Gus on the river, but the turn call when the board is Q696 (can't remember if a 2-flush was out there as well)... huh?

Andy AGAIN just calling Gus' action. No river bet, when Gus starts checking and the last cards are T and Q? Andy, were you THAT afraid of Gus?

The all-in jump-up on the turn, when the Queen came out, by Steve was a REALLY poor move. Daniel went out on Gus' trips bet (after Gus checked the flop) because of Steve's "announcement" that he had a Queen, I'm convinced.

Daniel's call of Gus' bet on the T26 rainbow flop, holding 54d, seemed weak.. Can't remember the chip positions.... I know Gus was being overly aggressive, but a gutshot seemed to be a bad call here.

Andy, not looking down at the board (but off into space) against Gus, then bet the turn, then checking your card when the Queen caught you, before betting the river.... didn't you blow any chance at a call here?

Shana- I REALLY wish they'd give her some more meaty material, or something to indicate whether she's just eye candy or she has a poker brain behind the looks. She still seems to come across as polished and professional, but the puff pieces are TOO puffy! Maybe I'm identifying or something, but I really wish we could find out whether she should be involved or not. I still can't tell.

I noticed Daniel lost the sunglass usage when he had a lot of chips, then went back to them when Gus sucked out on him later.... interesting.

NICE move by Andy to checkraise Daniel with J4h on the 899 flop. But against Gus, he seems overly cautious- the AQ hand with the KJJx on the board was BEGGING for a bet somewhere, with Gus checking his understraight draw. Andy, what was your logic against Gus? Sure seemed fearful/tentative.

And it cost you later. WHY exactly did you call Gus' T140K bet, after he bet his T3 two pair on the turn? You'd seen his three treys on an earlier hand.. and you didn't have top pair (i think you had second pair).

Shortly? thereafter, you called Gus all-in with A8off. Were you expecting Gus to attack your blind? Were you steaming about the full house above? You had the better hand, I admit, but I wonder if you made a mistake calling all-in?

Also, since you were there, Andy, did it seem Daniel started playing more cautiously, especially when you were stung by the full house hand, in order to insure that he got to the WPT Championship? He knew that Gus couldn't win the token...

Daniel- didn't you learn from Andy's mistake? DON'T look at your cards and bet T25K!!! I knew Gus was folding before the camera even switched! Bet more, don't check cards, you probably? would have been looked up by Gus.

Gus' reraise of T100K with A6c, over Daniel's raise to T50K, was interesting- more a function of his chip position?

VVP quote, paraphrased- "If you see a player playing with his chips (ala Gus), don't walk- RUN out of the casino, he's going to take all of your money".... Yeah, I think I read that in Caro's "Book of Tells". Value was at least $12,500 on THAT tell...... (right!)

Daniel CHECKS his AJ on a turn of 98cATc??? You were punished by the poker gods because of that, with the 6 on the river making Gus two pair. The glasses came off after that- a sign that you were defeated?

Seemed like Daniel was steaming about the 6 when he kept calling Gus' pocket Kings, with only a pair of 4's (one on board, one in hand)..... and then to go all-in with QToff, for ~T200K, seemed like you made a bad decision (any thoughts on this, anyone?).
And the poker gods punished you AGAIN, giving you hope with the T... and then bringing the Jack to bust you.

Very interesting show, very entertaining. And my favorite part? A supremely ironical comment (with one insert by me) by VVP- "If you can't spot the sucker at the (broadcasting) table, you're it!"
Take those words to heart, Vince....

[TimTimSalabim]

I don't know if Shana really knows a lot about poker or they're just feeding her lines (I prefer to believe the former, it feeds my fantasy of the ultimate woman [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] ). I had to pause my Tivo to linger over the sight of her holding the stack of poker books (and so that I could see which ones they were -- SuperSystem, Sklansky's TPFAP, Hellmuth's new book, Cloutier/McEvoy's book, and Big Deal).

As for the poker, the one hand that stands out to me as being played poorly was Daniel's AJ. The flop came A98 and Gus checked it, which to me means one thing: he made top pair. Otherwise he would bet it. I noticed that Gus nearly always bet the flop if he had nothing. You've got to assume then that you're ahead with AJ v Ax, and the pot is huge, so don't give your opponent a chance to draw out, put the hammer down and move in, and give yourself a chance to win it right there. Of course, to say that Gus got very lucky to outdraw him is also true.

[Easy E]

Daniel posted his thoughts on that AJ hand on the Unofficial WPT site that Andy Bloch put together. He actually PLANNED to play the hand the way that he did.... and the poker gods punished him.

[Wingnut]

I missed the ending last night, but from reading the review I take it that Gus won, making him a 2-time WPT winner. What does this mean for the championship final? Can he sell his seat, or is there just one fewer player?

Thanks,
-David

[ACBob]

Easy,

On the last hand, Daniel AJ and Gus A6, Daniel bets flop and Gus takes some time to call. Flop is AT9.

Gus even remarks, "This may take some time." The crowd laughs.

Gus checks the turn and then Daniel checks. Arrgh! Not only should Daniel know he has Gus in trouble but also has an open ender draw.

I know it is hindsight but the money should have gone in. Gus may have called anyways but you know you made the right play.

Bob Lewis

[TimTimSalabim]

Unofficial WPT site? Care to share the URL?

[Fmonti]

I believe the seat goes to the 2nd place finisher, Daniel. Also agree with a couple of the other posters that the AJ should have been raised by Daniel, Gus may have called anyway but we'll never know..

[glen]

I think it can't be understated how much of a dope that guy Steve is. . . his moronic cheer about possibly staying in the tournement with what would probably have been about a blind could have changed the whole course of the tournement. Not only did Andy not call, but he might have tried to make a move, or he may have called. I think he had 77s that hand. Gus was getting called with much worse all night. I saw the replay of that, and you could tell that Gus was pissed, since he was angrily mumbling to himself. . . They should have thrown a cash penalty his way. . .

[Rushmore]

[Easy E]

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