Dammit Paul! Yer not making it easy for us to worship you.

[Daliman]

Normally, I'm a BIG fan of Paul Phillips, from his poker ability, to his humor, to his poker dickhead exposing ability. But his most recent blog entry I have a few problems with.

Now, in a blog entryfrom earlier this week, PP makes a case that Todd Witteles/"Dan Druff" assumed an alias on Negreanu's site to "defend Todd". Then in the most recent entry given at the top of this post, he mentions how Todd is "about as easy to read as the big E on the eye chart" and that, regarding the QJ vs AA hand where Todd made the straight on the turn and Peter Costa made a crying call with AAA, that "he would have made at least one and almost certainly two more bets."

OK, first off, it's well known I'm not much of a limit player, but exactly where are these extra bets coming from? Unless it's from Todd betting out on the turn,(which is a GREAT strategy if you KNOW he has a set, but has its drawbacks otherwise), I don't see how he gets 2 more bets from "likely the best limit hold'em player in the world" (really?). Because if you can figure PC would normally reraise the turn, you also have to figure that he can fold the river, 11-1 or so to call be damned,(another "Math guy" logic hole, as Negreanu calls PP and some others?). And how is the hand played "superhumanly well" by PC? He pays off the river AFTER TW says, "If you don't call, you'll always wonder" when there is an easy and obvious 4 card straight on the board.!?! Then, when Todd chimes in on the subject, giving a well thought-out explanatory post, PP essentially dismisses him like an annoying puppy, since TW, of course, isn't in PP's REALM as a poker player, even though TW now has 2 WSOP events played, with a 3rd and a bracelet to his name(small sample size, doesn't prove anything, yadda yadda.....) No one will deny Paul's intelligence, or his poker skill, but I think very few would put him in the top 10 of ANY poker discipline, as he did for himself in ( I believe, but can;t find the link) NL hold'em.

Secondly, considering the fact that this guy has never been on television before, was encouraged to be boisterous by ESPN, and was obviously very excited to be where he was with the opportunity to make that kind of $$$, to come off badly under those circumstances is hardly something that should be held against him. It ain't like he pulled a Fischman or anything. The fact he is being nominated as "wsop lamer of the year" for coming off badly on TV by a guy whose earliest TV appearances either were described as "Smug", "Stupid"( his play, not him), or "gay", (which he still gets, and deservedly so.) is beyond laughable.

Paul will probably read this, because he misses NOTHING on the internet, and he may or may not reply, and may or may not be snidely funny(I'm hoping for may [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]), but you'd think someone that lives in a glass house would not only not throw stones, but also wouldn't walk around naked in it.

[shaniac]

[ QUOTE ]
Secondly, considering the fact that this guy has never been on television before, was encouraged to be boisterous by ESPN, and was obviously very excited to be where he was with the opportunity to make that kind of $$$, to come off badly under those circumstances is hardly something that should be held against him

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it is something that should be held against him. When the producers tell the players that they shouldn't be shy, most people understand what that means. If you've never watched televized poker or for some other reason don't understand the kind of things that play well on tv and which don't, your best best is to sit there and shut the hell up. Since Todd chose not to, he deserves what's coming his way.

Also, where did Paul call Peter "likely the best limit hold'em player in the world." I don't see it.

Your post reads as if it was written by a 15-year-old.

[Kevmath]

The antics Witteles did are things you'd expect from someone as young as E-Fro or Hersh, not from someone who's in their 30s.

I believe it was Norman Chad who said Costa was one of the best limit players in the world.

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]

Normally, I'm a BIG fan of Paul Phillips, from his poker ability, to his humor, to his poker dickhead exposing ability. But his most recent blog entry I have a few problems with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Respect? Absolutely - he's very intelligent, often has interesting things to say, and appears to be one of the few people in the poker world who don't have a burning desire to fellate Stuey Ungar's corpse. But worship? I dunno about that.

I personally prefer reading things from others (for example, Greg Raymer or Phil Gordon regarding poker or Paul Graham and Joel Spolsky regarding technology) who have a lot to say and can say it eloquently without employing a condescending tone.

[AcesUp]

I was at that final table with Todd, and just wanted to throw out a couple of points...

- First, I'm not a big fan of Todd, nor do I dislike him; I have no agenda here but to provide some commentary;

- I had played with Todd for much of the second day of the event, and never saw him do anything that resembled the kind of antics that he portrayed when it got down to the final 10. In fact, I think EVERYONE at that final table was confused by Todd's transformation from earlier in the day;

- Yes, ESPN did tell people to talk and emote, but they certainly never encouraged anyone (at least not me) to be obnoxious or to play up to the cameras.

- Todd mentioned in one of his posts on another forum that the announcers made everyone at the final table look bad. Perhaps I was watching a different broadcast, but I'd have to disagree. Costas was made out as a very strong, world-class player (and playing with him a couple times, I'd agree). Van Nuys was given the respect deserved of a former bracelet winner. E-Fro was made fun of a tiny bit, but overall was portrayed as a strong young player. And other than making fun of my stare and only showing two hands of my 3.5 hour marathon heads-up match, I didn't feel like I was portrayed in a negative light whatsoever;

- I've seen Todd since that event, and for the most part he is a very calm and rationale human being. As for his playing style, I must admit that I've never, ever seen anyone who is able to accumulate or lose chips in limit hold'em as he is; his play is super-aggressive and bordering on reckless, but if he can harness his enthusiasm he'll likely turn out a very decent player;

My take on Todd is very similar to my take on Phil Helmuth; they both love the attention and the cameras, and both lack some basic social skills that the rest of us have that keep us from doing stupid things when the lights are on us...


-Aces

[scrapperdog]

[ QUOTE ]
As for his playing style, I must admit that I've never, ever seen anyone who is able to accumulate or lose chips in limit hold'em as he is; his play is super-aggressive and bordering on reckless, but if he can harness his enthusiasm he'll likely turn out a very decent player;

-Aces

[/ QUOTE ]

You do realize he is a winning high stakes cash game player right? He has been a pro player for years, plays in the internet 100/200 game (long before he won any WSOP money) and took down another WSOP event this year. He already is far more than a decent player....
Your posting this without realizing that Todd is an accomplished pro player shows that all kinds of people can do "stupid things".

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As for his playing style, I must admit that I've never, ever seen anyone who is able to accumulate or lose chips in limit hold'em as he is; his play is super-aggressive and bordering on reckless, but if he can harness his enthusiasm he'll likely turn out a very decent player;

-Aces

[/ QUOTE ]

You do realize he is a winning high stakes cash game player right? He has been a pro player for years, plays in the internet 100/200 game (long before he won any WSOP money) and took down another WSOP event this year. He already is far more than a decent player....
Your posting this without realizing that Todd is an accomplished pro player shows that all kinds of people can do "stupid things".

[/ QUOTE ]Get off his nuts.

Tell Danny Druff to meet me in the big game and he will see whats up.

[Daliman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Secondly, considering the fact that this guy has never been on television before, was encouraged to be boisterous by ESPN, and was obviously very excited to be where he was with the opportunity to make that kind of $$$, to come off badly under those circumstances is hardly something that should be held against him

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it is something that should be held against him. When the producers tell the players that they shouldn't be shy, most people understand what that means. If you've never watched televized poker or for some other reason don't understand the kind of things that play well on tv and which don't, your best best is to sit there and shut the hell up. Since Todd chose not to, he deserves what's coming his way.

Also, where did Paul call Peter "likely the best limit hold'em player in the world." I don't see it.

Your post reads as if it was written by a 15-year-old.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, ok, well I guess you have tons of TV experience, but with your mature mind, you may remember Norman Chad making kinda a big deal out of calling him that on the telecast.

Why do I get the idea this response is shaded by cheatergate?

[Sykes]

Paul showing that he has no clue what variance and standard deviation is.

You sidestep the point:

his ROI for every $2 bet was $2.02.

If someone is buried in debt it is far more likely their ROI per $2 bet is something less than $2.

[AcesUp]

[ QUOTE ]
You do realize he is a winning high stakes cash game player right? He has been a pro player for years, plays in the internet 100/200 game (long before he won any WSOP money) and took down another WSOP event this year. He already is far more than a decent player....
Your posting this without realizing that Todd is an accomplished pro player shows that all kinds of people can do "stupid things".

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess based on my experience playing with him for a few hours, I never would have known he was a "winning high stakes cash game player."

Not saying he's not, just saying he hid it well...


-Aces