New Moneymaker Book --- Guy deserves credit

[PokerPaul]

I just finished reading his new book detailing his background and his adventure to the wsop championship.

I was always a bit skeptical of his performance, based on limited TV clips, and general gossip being passed around. He has often been berated among poker circles as "lucky" and other negative things.

Well, after reading the book, which i thought was great,
i must say that i have changed my opinion somewhat.

First off, give credit to MM for portraying himself as the degenerate gambler he is (or was before WSOP), and not using the book to give himself a better image given his now celebrity status.

I kept hearing how he was "lucky" and his performance was of the weakest WSOP winning performances when compared to all the great champions prior to internet age.

Well, not only do i think his performance was at least as good as other memorable champions, i think it may be the best ever.

When you take into account that he had to win a $40 sattelite with 25 people in it, followed by winning another sattelite with close to 2000 people in it, and then follow it up by winning the 876 person wsop tourney all in a row, i find it very hard to chalk it all up to luck.

You gotta play well to make it throug that many people and stages and win all of them outright.

Yes he was probably not the best player in the world when the WSOP started, but he learned quickly as the tournament progressed and adjusted his strategy.

The funny thing is, for all the "luck" people claim he had, every champion must get lucky a few times and draw the card they need to get through. However, when you look at it he was almost never in a position where he was allin and needed to draw from behind to stay alive.

Many of the big hands when he was trailing to 2 or 3 outs (brenes, ivey) surely would have cut his chances down significantly, but he wasnt allin and still would have been around.

I only recall 1 or 2 spots where he was allin and trailing and get the draw.

And those hands were more than offset by some of the great reads he made on people to take down huge pots.

For instance, taking on the only other stack bigger than his at table Dutch Boyd, hes sitting with small PP on something like T25 board and dutch pushes.

He had both the proper read, and the guts to take him on and risk losing 5 days worth of work and a multimillion dollar payout on that weak hand, but one he knew he was ahead regardless.

See for me, even if i had the proper read, i still don't think i would have the guts to follow it up in that situation with calling him down, which is probably why MM turned into the champion, and i likely would just make it far but not top spot.

For all us WSOP champion wannabes or WSOP virgins, i thought it was a great read on what goes on in the head of a newbie WSOP player, and how it feels to build a stack and survive from day to day.

I'm seriously thinking of buying into main event after that....

[Iplayragstoo]

I thought he pushed on Dutch, and dutch called him???

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought he pushed on Dutch, and dutch called him???

[/ QUOTE ]

Dutch pushed, he called.

[Fat Nicky]

I agree with everything in your post.

[tdarko]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with everything in your post.




[/ QUOTE ]
me too. he made some excellent decisions in the tourny and when he didn't make the correct one (against brenes) he didnt make excuses he comes out and says he got lucky.

and the hand against ivey, everyone on this board would have played it.

[Tyler Durden]

It should be noted that it's incredibly difficult to win the big one on your first try. You're not used to the pressure, the long hours, the stress, etc.

[dogmeat]

Thanks for posting. I don't know anything about MM other than seeing him win the WSOP. Honestly, that's enough for me. I've laughed at some of the plays I've seen on TV, but anybody that makes a televised final table has been playing good poker for several days.

The posters here that point out why they hate player X or player y are more than likely VERY jealous. I know I'm even jealous of Tyler D who came in 125. Admit it, that's [censored] awesome!

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[billyjex]

I read the book as well.

He played very, very aggressive. He didn't let the pros bully him around and constantly put them at a test for their chips, which was hard for them to deal with. He got incredibly lucky on the AA vs. 88 hand where he turned a set, but even against Ivey, Ivey got lucky on the turn and MM resucked.

In the book they also describe a hand where Moneymaker made a stonecold bluff late in the tourney (it wasn't on camera because they weren't filming at that moment, MM believes) in a large pot with just A high. I don't think I'd have the balls to make half the moves he did with what was at stake.

MM knew he was against better players and make the adjustments accordingly.

[PokerPaul]

exactly.....

and like i said...even on the hands against brenes when he made incorrect read and was left with only 2 outs.....he wasnt even the one allin..brenes was.

But also keep in mind, the whole reason the big pros had to start respecting him is because he had built an enormous stack. Even if they knew they had more skill and experience, one false move against that "fish", and they're toast.

I think its even tougher to be up against an unpredictable fish who's libel to go allin on anything versus a well known pro whom you could kind of put on a hand.

[buriedbeds]

As a side point, I really liked his commentary on the Rounders soundtrack. With the other people he was commenting with (Johny Chan, Phil Helmuth and Jesus), and knowing how he's often put down in poker circles, I thought he'd come off badly, but he really comes off very well. He's very humble, talks about still having a lot learn, and talks about a lot of things that lower-level players can relate to (the degenerate "worm"-like friend he has, for instance). I really thought that he came off well, and I'd be interested in checking out the book because of it. I think he's a good player, one way or another, and that, with his long path through 2 satellites, just to get into the money would have vindicated him as a very strong player. He drew out a few times, sure, but you have to win races to win tournaments.

-bb.