Chris Moneymaker is not a fish

[SaintAces]

discuss.


I personally can't stand the heat he takes and I think he is a fully capable player. any other opinoins?

[Robk]

I played with him in stars 2/4 NL (back before 3/6 was spread), although only for a few hours. I thought he was about the third or fourth best player at the table but it was a pretty tough lineup.

[Ulysses]

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discuss.
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I personally can't stand the heat he takes and I think he is a fully capable player. any other opinoins?

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Well, after talking w/ JA Sucker last night, all I'll say is that Chris might have some work to do on his 20-200 spread limit game.

On a more general level, I've said this before: I don't think anyone is likely to win the WSOP w/ that size field without a fair amount of luck. I also don't think anyone is likely to win the WSOP w/ that size field without a fair amount of skill.

[kingstalker]

After he got knocked out of last Sundays 500+30 he played a 300+20 SNG, gank was one of his opponets, he won it playing very solid poker.

[krazyace5]

I think it stems from jealousy.

[J_V]

there is truth to it...he's not great. But then again, most of the best pros aren't.

It's more so people thinking "damn, that coulda been me."

[theBruiser500]

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there is truth to it...he's not great. But then again, most of the best pros aren't.

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What do you mean by this? And, what pros are you referring to?

danny

[Greg (FossilMan)]

I've little experience playing with Chris. However, I did not see him make any terrible plays on either the WSOP telecast, nor the few times I've played with him on PStars. There are other players, both live and online, who have very strong reputations, and whom I have seen make terrible plays.

So I conclude that even if Chris isn't a great player, he's certainly not a poor player. I suspect he is somewhere between the ranks of well-above average and excellent. Unless he's somebody who sometimes goes on big tilt, I am pretty sure he is a +EV player at almost any level.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[ohkanada]

I noticed on Pokerpages that he is in 6th place in the WPT 5k NL event that just started yesterday at the Bay 101. Appears to be 45 players left, so maybe we will see him on the travel channel as well as ESPN.

Of course he could still be a fish, but until one of us end up 1st in a 5 day event, I guess I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Ken Poklitar

[J.A.Sucker]

Chris is a very nice guy and I've played a bit with him over the past few days. He also plays TOURNAMENTS very well. He's one of the chip leaders at the end of Day 1 at Bay 101 this week, and I think he's got as good a shot as any at making the final table. I also think that he's a more than capable player when he's playing well. However, in a live game, most people can't play their best all the time, and this is likely his primary problem. This isn't a knock on him, it's just a fact. I know players who are better than I am, but I know that I win much more money than they do in live action games for one reason. I don't tilt. That's my skill, so I play live. A tourney player doesn't really need this skill, since one big beat and you're done anyway, and the survival attitude makes steaming less likely.


Chris also doesn't adjust to game structures as well as some - I would let him play my money any time in a live NL game as long as the stack wasn't terribly deep, but if it got deeper, I don't know. Also, he didn't adjust to the funky spread limit structure that we were playing and I don't think his skill set is well-suited to limit poker. However, the guy's got tons of heart and good card sense. He's also been playing quite a bit of poker since his win and has improved a great deal, I think, mostly because his confidence level has improved. One could see how big of a deal confidence is in his game even watching the WSOP replay. That play he made on Farha headsup was tremendous. Ironically, if Farha had thought that he was a better player (and one capable of making such a play), it wouldn't have worked, because Sammy would have called instead of waiting for a better spot to get his money in. That's poker, and Chris did a hell of a job.

For those who are jealous of the man, don't be. People should really be happy for him; he's just a normal guy, and is still down-to-earth, as opposed to most of these pain-in-the-ass tourney guys who have been annoying the hell out of me for the past week. I wish him luck in the Shooting Star, and hope to see him at the final table.

This is just my opinion, but I'm Just Another Sucker.