Paul Phillips, $2-5 Mirage

[NiceCatch]

Alright, the man is a professional poker player. I'm not justifying his actions; they certainly lacked class, and his last post was pretty embarassingly immature. But what did you expect, Gandhi? I find it funny that so many people feel the need to comment on it, and are disappointed in his conduct. Ram, you know what? He probably ISN'T a better man than that, anymore than Phil Hellmuth is. Once again: HE PLAYS POKER FOR A LIVING.

Now on to some real poker thoughts...
-Would Paul dare play that way at a much higher stakes game? I think El Diablo's post was pretty appropriate... he owned a small-stakes game, and so what. Everyone knows Diablo can play, and would expect him to whoop ass at such a game. Given his bankroll, why couldn't he? Paul did exactly the same thing.
-Which once again brings us to bankroll. Yes, bankroll, sweet bankroll... truly the king of the NL poker world. Is there any one other factor more important to successful play at NL hold 'em than bankroll (assuming at least three functioning sensory organs, and a brain formed to the level of a reasonably intelligent 16 year-old)?

Finally, An informal poll. Who's the player you love to hate more: Paul Phillips or Phil Hellmuth?

[pokergripes]

What's wrong with you people? In PP you've got a very talented pro who spends a ton of time thinking about the game, and he's bothering to spend incremental time here talking about it with the likes of us (plus he's pretty funny to boot)--what's the goal of all this "you're ruuuude" crap?

To convince him not to post here anymore? I know, you guys all think you're plenty good, have lots of your own stuff to say and write, etc.--but you don't (neither do I), we benefit from the better players who bother to engage in the debate here on poker play, and whining about rudeness shouldn't even be in the top fifty issues list, let alone a leading item in the discussion.

[pokergripes]

Amen to that. Seriously, when did "mid-, high-stakes" pl and nl players become such a bunch of ninnies? You guys are supposed to be libertarians for pete's sake, you should be happy pp didn't stab you with a dagger when you racked up chips and left his game, then came back to say that it was nice to take some of his money and leave (oh, sorry, that it was "nice playing with him")... [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[NiceCatch]

Umm... Paul ran away on his own, instead of standing his ground and defending (or modifying) his behavior. Obviously he's a little sensitive. He was treated the same as anyone else on this board would have been, given his behavior. KaneKungFu comes to mind... however, KKF is man enough to be responsible for his actions and not run away. KKF took whatever criticism he was given, dealt with it, and continues to post. Paul decided that he'd rather not be criticized.

Quite frankly, there are plenty of intelligent and talented poker players on this board, and plenty of insightful commentary will be posted by these players. I wouldn't worry too much about Paul not posting.

[pokergripes]

Yeah, I agree he was treated "the same as anyone else on this board would have been"--that's just a shame, since he was adding lots of incremental value (both analytical and entertainment), which probably should have meant better treatment (since he was doing it for free). But that's ok, eventually it will just be you whiney guys and vince debating big bet poker analysis--that will be great stuff! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JoeC]

So we should treat Paul Phillips different because he graces us with his presence here? Please. There are plenty of good players here, and they take heat all the time.

[trying2learn]

okay...i'm gonna keep this thing going (which is probably my first mistake.)

do you guys really think PP isn't going to ever post on 2+2 anymore? i find that highly unlikely. it would be a shame if that were so, but he's got his personal blog and rec poker that he posts on as well, so it's not like those who are all upset can't track the guy down if they want to.

personally, i think this whole thread has gotten completely out of whack. too much of a 'ta do' on both sides of a silly argument.

[pokergripes]

yes, you should treat him better because he provides you a huge net benefit by thinking about the game and sharing it with you for free. that is, you should treat him the way you'd treat a teacher in a school, not the way you'd treat someone in a relationship of equals--and for the same reason, i.e., respect for their greater stature (assuming you treat teachers with more deference for reasons beyond their ability to give you a bad grade)

[jmgurgeh]

[ QUOTE ]
Amen to that. Seriously, when did "mid-, high-stakes" pl and nl players become such a bunch of ninnies? You guys are supposed to be libertarians for pete's sake, you should be happy pp didn't stab you with a dagger when you racked up chips and left his game, then came back to say that it was nice to take some of his money and leave (oh, sorry, that it was "nice playing with him")... [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I guess Ram really did mean to put up some smack talk when he walked over to Paul, as evidenced by lines in this thread such as "I do respect your game and you seem like a nice guy," and "I don't say this with any air of grievance and would welcome the chance to play at your table again."

Gripes, I think you have officially surpassed Paul in posting the most asinine material in this entire thread. Again (apparently you missed this before), the issues presented were not attacks or whining; the only whining was done by 1) Paul and 2) people who lamented that Paul won't be around to tell them how much they suck anymore.

And we're supposed to be libertarians? Do you even know what a libertarian is?

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
Who cares that he comes off as an arrogant prick. He's a damn poker player.

The fact that he posted some very good advice in this thread (especially to bruiser's question) makes me sad you all love to chase him away for being 'classless' or whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]