Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

i can fill everyone in on the mystery. here's how pham went from chip lead to short stack.

this summarizes 90% of the pots pham played.

"pham opens for [3xBB] in [any] position. xx calls [or re-raises, and pham mucks]. the flop is xxx. pham bets, xx raises, pham thinks, and mucks."

repeat 15 times, and you have how david pham goes from commanding the table, to pissing away the whole tournament.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

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Even if he reads me for a bluff, most of the hands I'll be bluffing with will notch AT.

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by that you mean AJ, AQ and AK?

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Or any PP. or Ax that paired the kicker.
There's not much AT beats here.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air time!
 

One more final table for this kid and he will be HUGE.

GG Shane

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air time!
 

LAGgyist RoShamBo playa this side of the mississip though......

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

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gotta admit though gracz was pretty impressive

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I think Gracz is an interesting--and possibly great--player, but I wasn't impressed, per se, by those calls. They were remarkable calls made in the midst of very marginal situations.

Despite ESPN showing his AT vs. my KJ hand as the first one he played, in reality he had been rather active--and his stack seemed to fluctuate between 100-275K up to that point.

In the hand that made the Milwaukee light segment for the show, he played the 99 in a way that I would never dream of playing it. He called Pham's raise preflop, called a bet on the flop with one overcard, the turn got checked by both players, and when a king came on the river, Gracz called off 80K--most of his chips at that time--with 99 on a KJXXX board. Granted, 99 vs a David Pham raise is a huge hand, and with his stack I would have pushed allin preflop in a heartbeat, but he put himself in a dangerous spot by the time the river peeled. He mentioned in his interview that he gets his most sincere thrill from executing big bluffs, and I'm pretty sure he derives a similar satisfaction from making huge, improbable calls and being right.

Vs. Law with 22, he again made a huge read and put a lot on the line for it. Many players, even with the read, would wait for a better spot (see Ferguson vs Prahlad). Ditto vs me--he made a perfect read and I give him credit for going with it, but it was remarkable to me that he would risk most of his stack on it.

When I pushed, I remember that look on his face--it came off prety accurately onscreen and was the same nonplussed look he gave CT when he pushed--and it was clear he thought I was on an absurd move. Next time, hopefully I'll have quads.

I learned a lot from watching Gracz; his style really played contrary to most of what I take for granted about NL tourneys. He played hands passively and forced himself to make big decisions on all streets. His success certainly speaks to a finely-tuned ability to make such decisions, but I'd like to think that I'll be able to exploit his tendencies next time I face him. It was a learning experience.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

I guess I will be the lone dissenting voice. No offense, but I thought you came off as a bit of a tool. Everything you did seemed to me to be forced for the camera: the stuff with Gordon, the kiss blowing. It just all felt staged.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

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No offense, but I thought you came off as a bit of a tool.

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How could I possibly be offended by that? Actually, I tend to agree, but chalked it up to self-conscousness.

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Everything you did seemed to me to be forced for the camera

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I'll have to go with the Dan Druff Defense--the producers made me do it.

Anyway, I appreciate your candor and I'm relieved that most people don't seem to share your feelings.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

so i already asked this on the thread but ill ask it again

was the easy rider thing they said legit? did you ride around the country on a chopper or what

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

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was the easy rider thing they said legit? did you ride around the country on a chopper or what

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It was more like a metaphor; Chad was just trying to communicate that I led a sort of meandering existence after high school until poker.

Chad writes a syndicated newspaper column and wrote a little about me based on the stories I told during the ESPN interview.

Couch Slouch link.

Re: Our own SHANIAC on TV tonight. Hopefully he gets some good air ti
 

word ill check it out. nice showing in the event btw