[schwza]

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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.

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nice post.