[Tilt]

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I think it's laughable how all these people know that they could lay these hands down.

"Matusow blowup with KK."

"Black's 2 donkey plays"

"Hachem should have pushed with his jacks"

It's easy to be a critic when you see all the cards. It's poker, players bluff. Do you throw away your cards every time someone raises? Dannenman is the one who's been sitting there for 14 hours, I think he has a little better insight to Hachem's play than we have watching 20 hands over 2 hours.

Nobody plays perfect.

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Many 2+2ers make better laydowns every day.

Danneman's play throughout the final table was based on such surface level play its laughable to hear you defend him. He basically looked at his cards, looked at the board (if it had been dealt yet) and decided whether his hand was better than average strength. If so, he pushed.

You think Hachem (an oviously experienced pro) didn't notice that? He was looking to trap him as soon as he got heads up. He knew that Danneman couldn't make a good laydown of any reasonably strong hand. Danneman only got as far as he did because (as seems to happen often at the WSOP) very good players failed to recognize how much of a rookie he was and tried frequently to bluff him or tried to induce bluffs.

He didn't even think twice about calling. He didn't even look and say "geez, how much will I have left if I fold? What could he have?" He was just hoping the ace was good or that he'd catch if it wasn't. And so into the middle goes - what? 3.5M in dollar terms that they were contending for at that point? - with only about 5% pot equity.

So fine, its easy if you see the cards on TV, sure. But based on what I saw there was no evidence that Danneman really even made a thoughtful decision. And I tell you, it may be easy to say now, but if were HU for the bracelet I believe I would have thought about a lot of things, such as:

I raised preflop, I have been raising mostly aces since we have been shorthanded, there's an ace on board - why isn't he worried about that?

He's relaxed, he's talking to me - when have I seen that before from him?

Could he have the nuts?

Has he bluffed me all-in before? Does he expect a call or fold based on the last 13 hours of my play?

If he is bluffing, does he have outs? What are they?

Where do I stand if I fold?


If you are going to defend his call, defend it with some logically deducted theory of why he should think his hand is best. But what people are saying (that top pair is a monster heads up, its late and he's tired, or its easy for you to say cause you know the cards) is not a very compelling defense.