Pros reaction to 2004 WSOP

AaronO · #1 06-17-2004, 02:23 PM

I heard a lot of pros were upset with the number of players at the WSOP this year. I think Helmuth said something about no "big names" ever winning again with all the amateurs that entered. I always thought pros liked a lot of dead money. Any thoughts?

Big Country · #2 06-17-2004, 03:30 PM

There is a point where too much of a good thing (dead money players) turns bad.

With so many players, some of them will get lucky.

On a smaller scale: If at a table with 9 fish that are calling no matter what, your odds of winning are all shot. Because of all of them, they are getting proper odds to call you with inferior hands. The more of them there are chasing, the more your premium starting hands go down in value. I believe Sklansky caleld it something like "Implicit Collusion" in TOP.

Grivan · #3 06-17-2004, 04:06 PM

You have it wrong. The more fish the merrier. It takes a different style to win, but it is a much easier style to play.

Richie Rich · #4 06-17-2004, 05:18 PM

If I were a pro, and playing a no limit game, I'd want a lot of "dead money" players at my table. Sure it would take a slightly different strategy to win (i.e. bluffing the calling stations won't work), but I think it would become relatively easy to build a respectable stack.

Now if we're playing limit, then that's a completely separate issue...