Give Arieh a Break

[The Ocho]

I know I'm in the minority here, but it looked like most of his questionable comments (not all, of course) were not even directed at the other players. He didn't really rub it in to the players who, frankly, were making suspicious calls (except the Demetriou hand, where he admittedly got a bit out-of-line). I took most of his comments to be incredulous outbursts that his opponents were playing in the way they did. For example, I couldn't believe Dean called with those jacks, and apparently neither could Arieh. He didn't berate the guy, he basically just said "what the hell is he doing calling with jacks?!" to himself or a rail-bird friend; but the mics picked it up.

Some people were making some awfully suspect calls from what espn showed on tv. I would have said the same things as Arieh did in most of his situations. Actually, I would have cursed a lot more. I wouldn't berate an opponent, but would have expressed my frustration in a similar way.

Luckily, I don't have a mic on me when I'm playing.

[Easy E]

Given Arieh's play, would someone PLEASE explain to me why calling with a big pocket pair is such a "bad play"

Josh thought a little too much of himself in my opinion.

[The Ocho]

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Given Arieh's play, would someone PLEASE explain to me why calling with a big pocket pair is such a "bad play"

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I'm never happy getting in that much money in preflop with jacks. I realize that Arieh appears aggressive, but even he can pick up a hand. You might catch him moving in on you with tens or something like that every once in a while, but calling off your stack with jacks when you definitely are not in a position where you have to (as Dean was, his stack was pretty healthy if I recall) is not the optimal play imo.

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Josh thought a little too much of himself in my opinion.

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Agreed. But apparently he is skilled enough to back it up. I assume many excellent players have this same view of themselves. Maybe Arieh's mistake in this regard was simply being a bit too candid in his espn interviews.

[brassnuts]

Yeah, the ESPN mic's did pick up a lot that probably wasn't mean to be made public. Like when he complained about Williams calling with 55. He said to a railbird, "This is a joke, he's got 1.5 mil and calls 500k with 55..." blah blah blah. The call was horrible and I would have probably said the same exact thing.

[Moovyz]

It's ok to say things like "I wouldn't call with that" but he kept saying (and I'm parapharsing all comments into 1 general one here) "Can you believe this idiot would call with that hand". This is especially bad when he made very similar plays. He seems to think that he should get everyone to fold when he bets, just out of respect because he's "such a great player". These comments come because he feels he isn't getting his due respect.

The icing on the cake was when he whispers to David Williams "Wax the Mother F_____!!" on national T.V.

At first, when I read his apology for a previos outburst, I thought maybe he made a comment in the heat of battle and was genuinely sorry. I know now that this guy is a classless egomanic.

[Moovyz]

The call wasn't horrible. First the call was $375,000 more and getting 2 to 1 on a 50/50 hand if Josh had 2 overcards, which he did. 2nd, he still shouldn't have said what he did.

Don't forget, Josh was actually behind before the flop.

[ohkanada]

Please, the call was terrible. He should either move in or muck. Sure maybe he is planning to bet out on any non AK flop but we will never know.

Ken

[SmileyEH]

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The call wasn't horrible. First the call was $375,000 more and getting 2 to 1 on a 50/50 hand if Josh had 2 overcards, which he did. 2nd, he still shouldn't have said what he did.

Don't forget, Josh was actually behind before the flop.

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This shows a clear lack of understanding for nl holdem.

-SmileyEH

[JARID]

When you play an aggressive style like Arieh does I don't think you can really be surprised when people call you with a little bit less than premium, but still good holdings.

Perhaps if Dan Harrington had come over the top of David's 55 he might have reconsidered calling given Dan's tight image.

If he wants to act like an a-hole about it then thats his business and he can deal with the consequences. (IE-people's perception of him.)

-Jarid

[ghettorat]

You are being too nice, Arieh thinks WAY too much of himself. They should call him Hellmuth Jr.