[palman]

Well here's nothing for a first post on 2 + 2, but this is just absurd.

50-40 in a heads up match? Obviously I understand you're just angle-shooting for the eventual match, jockeying for position for the best +EV situation, etc.

You mention over and over that you take greater pride in being more mathematically or logically sound than other players (e.g. Daniel) and that is all that matters to you.

But fact of that matter is you are in the business of selling poker books. 99% of your potential customers don't care about your given superior skills in technical games that no one plays. In fact, if these games were the ones that were the most popular, you couldn't make a living selling books and this site wouldn't exist. The most mathematically sound would win much more often that 99% of the public wouldn't have a chance, and wouldn't be able to learn to have a chance.

I've always loved your books, and they have helped me greatly. But upon lurking on 2 + 2 I was severely turned off by your massive ego. Based on both conjecture and what others have said, these feelings are not those of a great minority. Everyone loves watching someone with egomaniacal tendencies fall, and whether true or not, in the minds of most reading this whole saga, you have fallen. If you knew nothing about poker and were told to learn from someone asking for 50-40 odds in a heads up match, what would your first thought be?

You're In the business of poker, and like it or not, that no longer means Hi-Lo games with no qualifier, or anything close to it.

I wouldn't fault anyone for not wanting to risk the absurd amounts of money Daniel wants to play, but I wouldn't expect someone without the money or even ability to obtain backers In such a supposed "+EV" situation to be so egomaniacal. Saying that you with your superior mathematical mind can't be a favorite when you can choose between any of 10 games, and that even with getting odds you don't jump on the chance looks bad. No matter what logic you give, it looks bad.

You don't sell enough books to claim that $500/hr is not worth your time, and saying you don't need to prove anything to anyone by playing isn't what your target market believes.

Image value is clearly +EV here, because your target market feels Daniel is god at the tables, and it wouldn't adversely affect your image. Winning would do wonders for the crowd that wonders why you haven't been winning tournaments.