PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

This tournament is also trying to prove the old poker adage, "If the 10th best player in the world sits down to play with the other 9, he's gonna lose his shirt."

But what interests me is the psychology of the men at this table. If another old poker adage is true that "If you can't spot a sucker at your table in the first 10 minutes...you're the sucker," then who at the Poker Superstars tourney can't find a sucker? Do you think each player believes he's significantly superior to at least one other player?

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

There were no suckers, which would have made them all suckers if they had to buy in with their own cash.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

It seems to me that all of the players have great respect for each other with the exception of Gus. Howard specifically isolates him a couple of times apparantly believing that he held superior cards (which he did). Chip seemed to be specifically isolating him with the AK hand seemingly knowing that Gus was likely to have a hand that was dominated (which he did).

I have noted watching Gus in the WPT events that he gets extraordinarily lucky frequently to win these events. Fully realizing that some luck is required to win these events, on has to admit that the suck out against Hoyt when Gus was all in with the dominated pair only to come back and win it was tremendously lucky. I believe that when his results come back to aproaching normal, we won't be seeing him win so many finals.

Regards-

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

I'm going to agree with the poster that I'm replying to... I think Gus is the only person at that table who couldn't see a sucker; it seems that Howard and Chip Reese both made very blatant attempts to exploit Gus's loose play (and probably some others that I can't remember), and it was just unfortunate that Howard lost that first hand with his cowboys. (Of course, he did come back with some lucky weak ace/paired kicker hands, but that's besides the point.) It seemed to me that the other players for the most part did not want to tangle with each other in the second episode until Gus busted.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

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There were no suckers, which would have made them all suckers if they had to buy in with their own cash.

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They did buy-in with their own cash, 400K of it.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

Chris Ferguson said "You show me the player that everyone thinks is the luckiest poker player and i will show you the best poker player." I think Gus is going to show everyone that he is not just lucky and win the PokerStars Invitational.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

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It seems to me that all of the players have great respect for each other with the exception of Gus. Howard specifically isolates him a couple of times apparantly believing that he held superior cards

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Everyone, including gus, knows that gus has loose preflop standards. That doesn't make him a sucker at all. Even if the other players reraise him constantly attempting to isolate him, he still may be the best player at the table.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

I think that if this is true, gus will drastically change his style of play somewhere down the line. If he can go the first 4 rounds being a maniac and getting 4th place or so, then when the big one rolls in he can change it up and be a bit more by the book.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

I have noted watching Gus in the WPT events that he gets extraordinarily lucky frequently to win these events. Fully realizing that some luck is required to win these events, on has to admit that the suck out against Hoyt when Gus was all in with the dominated pair only to come back and win it was tremendously lucky. I believe that when his results come back to aproaching normal, we won't be seeing him win so many finals.


Yeah, it's luck.

Alternately it could be that his post flop play is amazing normally, allowing him to play more hands than other top pros and that you don't see the hundreds of small pots he picks up on TV, not to mention how more action he's going to get with premium hand holdings.

It's not luck. It's talent. The fact that most people (myself included) can't comprehend how he can play that way is a good indication of this.

Re: PokerStars Invitational: who couldn\'t see a sucker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think that if this is true, gus will drastically change his style of play somewhere down the line. If he can go the first 4 rounds being a maniac and getting 4th place or so, then when the big one rolls in he can change it up and be a bit more by the book.

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The way he talked in his post-game interview, he seemed to indicate that this was part of his plan. Either that or he was just planning on being ultra aggressive in the play-in rounds in order to give himself a good chance at a big stack in the finals.