Negreanu's latest blog update...

[Easy E]

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He should be commended for making a stand for what is right.

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To me, Danny comes across here as a jealous nit, as much as I despise Hellmuth and wouldn't give him a dime.

We went through this last year with Danny. If those of you on Danny's side feel this is something that should be battled, I'm betting you're going to be continually frustrated over the next few years.

[Easy E]

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There is no winning argument for Harrah's side. It's awful for appearances, a totally half-assed and unfair gesture, and whichever whimsical character at the head offices of the WSOP OK'd this should realize by now that inviting the 3 non-qualifiers to the event was a fairly significant screwup.

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Which unfair gesture is that, exactly? Adding 3 players that they choose to generate revenue for their own freeroll tournament?

Besides, this is Harrah's. How could anyone be surprised by this, given the abuse they've taken for their past actions?

Whining about a 2% loss of equity in a freeroll tournament just seems like a good way to try to kill off more of these kinds of things.

I'll wait for anyone to give me hard figures that prove this change is damaging enough equity, so as to make entering the qualifying tourneys a bad decision.

But, this doesn't affect me at all either, so c'est la vie

[lozen]

I agree that Annie Duke should be an automatic. Hey in Golf they give sponsors exemptions also. I like daniel but sounds like he is pissed that he wasnt invited.

[Jacques]

If you give me $18000 you can have your $500 anytime Greg [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If I had qualified for the TOC, I know I wouldn't mind if they invited these 3 players. Now, I'd like to hear whether those who really qualified mind about it.

From my perspective it is a freeroll and it is understood that the organizer has some leeway.

Maybe some people played those qualifying tournaments just to be in the TOC and are upset and don't consider this a freeroll but part of their equity when they signed up for the qualifying tournaments. I'd be curious to know if someone who qualified really thinks that way, especially those named in Daniel's post.

[ohkanada]

The ironic thing is with 30 players left, Hellmuth, Chan and Brunson are alive, with Hellmuth #1.

Ken

I agree with Daniel that they should not have changed the rules in mid-stream but many tournaments do so we need to wonder what his motivations are. He attempts to come off as the champion of the little guy by invoking a series of amateur names however my guess is it is just more sour grapes on his part. He was POY for the WSOP last year, didn't get a piece of the TOC last year since he didn't join in the chop and he wasn't invited this year.

I could be wrong but I don't think so. He doesn't really care about the little guy. It's just a chance for him to take a swipe at Harrahs and keep his name out there.

What about Jesus (perhaps others) with multiple top-20 circuit finishes? Wouldn't their results decrease the field by a player, and thereby add equity to each participant?

While I am not saying that this additional equity should be viewed as direct and fair compensation for the addition of the three extra players, surely it must be brought into consideration, since the justification for Danny's anger is wholly based on the -EV of the additions.

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If Daniel had been approached and offered an exemption would he have refused for the reasons he mentioned? Seems very unlikely.

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He would have played and kept his mouth shut. More sour grapes. He's just pissed that he was POY last year and didn't get an invite while Hellmuth cries like a baby on TV and gets one.

I could be wrong but I don't think so. He doesn't really care about the little guy. It's just a chance for him to take a swipe at Harrahs and keep his name out there.

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I assume this means that you know Daniel very well, as you are making some strong statements about his motivations.

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But I think Daniel is much more sensitive to issues of right and wrong than the large majority of poker players.

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What brings you to this conclusion? The fact that he has won a handful of tournaments and plays in high stakes cash games? Just curious.