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The very next hand, at a different table now, I'm still talking about throwing away pocket queens when I pick up pocket queens again and open for $1,800. Incredibly, the big blind moves me all in! This time, I feel that my opponent has J-J or worse, but I still fold my hand faceup. The big blind shows 7-7. I don't mind this at all. After all, I could have gone out if he hit a 7. Besides that, who in WSOP history will ever lay down Q-Q in back-to-back hands for a single reraise?
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Wow, this sucks.
If you lay down a hand when you consider yourself a 4.5 to 1 favorite because you think you're BETTER than that, you suck and you're full of yourself.
Phil has incredible talent and an equally incredible childish ego. He is actually skilled enough to make terrific reads but is so in love with playing "his way"-- that weak-tight small-pot style-- that he will make laydowns even when he "knows" he is ahead, just to prove how smart and disciplined he is. (And then he whines when he finally gets the money in and takes a beat, or when someone plays aggressively at him and forces him out of that comfort zone-- c.f. Toto Leonidas, 2003 U.S. Poker Championship; read Hellmuth's
cardplayer article on the subject.)
I would rather be the "guy who busts two people in a row with QQ" than "guy who laid down QQ twice in a row to reraises", but that's just me. I'd rather win than prove to everyone how clever I am. But I don't play tournament poker for other people's approval.