Time to Give Poker Superstars 2 Another Chance?

Poker Superstars 2 is garbage. I remember watching Poker Superstars 1 and seeing Lederer and Ivey bluff, get bluff raised, and then bluff rereraise themselves and thinking that this was the best poker I've ever watched on TV. These guys don't have enough chips to do anything, there's more play at the end of a Party Poker Sit and go.

[MeanGreenTT]

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Another point was when Tomko was on the shortstack and Todd (barely had Tomko covered) had TT vs Tomko's T8. He called Tomko's all in (or put him in? Dont remember the action) and was actualyl cheering for and regretting the move. I think Tomko luckily hit trip 8s, but again, someone else may correct me. (he didn't, Todd won and Tomko was left with T150K)

The whole thing was rather silly. Sure, it may have been more "strategic," but I hated it. It was sickening to watch how this played out and what Todd "had" to do to ensure his playoff spot. It kind of ruins the integrity of the game if you ask me.

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IF it was really all that bad and IF Todd was only looking to "strategically" advance then he shoulda auto-mucked the 10s to Tomko's all-in push, KNOWING that if he beat him, it's MUCH LESS likely that Grey with over T1,000,000 would be the 1st knocked out, which HAD to happen.

Even the announcers commented on how he "misplayed" the last 2 hands, he wasn't playing optimally to advance, he was playing poker and couldn't help himself [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Bozeman]

There were 2 horrendous plays in this match.

Runner-up: T. Brunson calls Dewey's allin when Dewey will have less than 100K (out of >3M) if Todd wins and Todd will be out if he loses. And rooting for 8-8 means Todd is either braindead or he thinks he has Dewey covered. But if he thinks he has Dewey covered, he is an absolute idiot since then calling gives approximately -100% EV, and regardless any halfway intelligent player should get a chip count before making this decision. However, this is not the stupidest play, because if he wins he puts Gray in a difficult position of needing to wait out Tomko, he may be able to throw chips to Dewey, and he needs to win, so he'll need chips sometime.

The worst play is:
Gray raises ~300K (enough to put Dewey allin) from the button, Brunson raises allin from small blind, Tomko calls from bb, and then Gray folds. Folding is unconscionable here.

As for whether or not it is poker, I won't argue either side of that, but the game they are playing is an interesting one.

[whiskeytown]

for some reason, I have this strange dislike of a final round with it just heads up -

I sorta want my final tables to be 6 or 9 handed, ya know....

RB

[SoftcoreRevolt]

I must say, the two playoff episodes have been very entertaining to watch. Not the best "poker" but certaintly more watchable than a 9 handed hour long broadcast on ESPN where the first 6 hands are people busting.

[Easy E]

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It was sickening to watch how this played out and what Todd "had" to do to ensure his playoff spot. It kind of ruins the integrity of the game if you ask me.

And while I doubt any of it happened this tourney, it widely opens up the possibility of collusion to ensure one person continues onto the next round, or to ensure that one person DOESN'T continue to the next round. That's not exciting poker to me.

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I think it's rather interesting in it's own way, similar to keeping a short stack around near the bubble so as to allow your big stack to keep stealing blinds... or raising out a strong player so a weak player gets the chips in a pot that you have a better shot at capturing in a cash game.

Your last point, while a good one, doesn't strike me as too likely given the individuals involved. Not impossible, of course, and so it is a negative.

[3rdEye]

I hate this playoff system. You'd think the creators would have recognized that it would screw up the incentives of the players--e.g., the Todd Brunson fiasco in the second match.

[SavageMiser]

It's going to happen to every 4th-place player in the second match. It is kinda stupid that the organizers didn't figure this out before, but I do find the warped plays kind of amusing. Way better than any show with the word "Ultimate" in it.