Dan Harrington....asgdfasd!

[Vinland]

He was in such good shape in the Main Event! Another final table perhaps this decade....

I was so pissed....
Oh well thats my early morning rant...

[Deanglow]

go phil ivey imo

[bigspenda73]

Goo Benyamine, Ivey, CTS, Urindanger (I think, maybe Trex, not sure which one), Elky, Prah, etc...

Fuck hachem, tran, sebock, phillips, esfandiari, etc...

[Vinland]

Why no love for Hachem? I agree for Esfandiari....too annoying, he ruined High Stakes Poker for me...

[bigspenda73]

hachem is a whiny little bitch, and he got my chat banned on PS

[BennyLaRue]

Eastgate is still in it. Kinda surprised.

[bigspenda73]

more surprised that Dennis Phillips is in it, reports say he folded a set of a 2-tone flop on Day 1 just to "survive".

[Jason]

How far does Eastgate have to get to be in the same class as Harrington's back to back final tables or Raymer winning and then getting top 30? And which of those two feats was more impressive? I think Harrington's back to back was slightly more impressive. I guess I'd have to see how many were in Raymer's field versus how many were in Eastgate's field, but a top 50 would probably put him close in fields so deep people were turned away.

[Illfavor]

go phil ivey imo

[Jack Sawyer]

Ha, Prahlad Friedman is still in, and David Benyamine, and Noah Boeken,

this one's TV showing will be quite impressive imo.

[Fnord]

What's with all of the name players suddenly going deep again? Did they change the formats this year or are there more weak/tight players to pick on vs stations?

[Erpel]

What's with all of the name players suddenly going deep again? Did they change the formats this year or are there more weak/tight players to pick on vs stations?

Aren't you answering your own question?

It seems probably that todays fish is weak tight rather than a calling station because it's fairly easy to get a slight clue and not put a lot of money in unless you have something. That could make it easier for the pro to steadily build a stack because nits are looking for excuses to fold all the time and are generally not aggressive enough. While it's not true that donkaments favour calling stations, they probably do add more variance for the pro than weak tighties.

Likely theory, thanks for that.

[Illfavor]

Ivey is 3/64 last I saw. Wow what a huge deal it would be if he's one of the N9.

[Vinland]

I think it would be a huge help to keep poker in the spotlight by having one of, if not the biggest, names in poker at the FT.

I just hope he doesn't run into a bad hand like in 2003.

[Jason]

I think it would be a huge help to keep poker in the spotlight by having one of, if not the biggest, names in poker at the FT.

I just hope he doesn't run into a bad hand like in 2003.

Don't forget that him losing that hand paved the way for the biggest boom in poker ever. But, I agree, having Phil Ivey make the final table would definitely be a good boost. I am more worried with him getting off his game. A couple of years ago I seem to remember he was getting deep again around top 30 or 40 and made some crazy aggressive plays early and seemed to donk himself out.

[yourfather]

Elky, Hachem, Benyamine and Eastgate are now out.

[Illfavor]

I think it would be a huge help to keep poker in the spotlight by having one of, if not the biggest, names in poker at the FT.

I just hope he doesn't run into a bad hand like in 2003.

Don't forget that him losing that hand paved the way for the biggest boom in poker ever. But, I agree, having Phil Ivey make the final table would definitely be a good boost. I am more worried with him getting off his game. A couple of years ago I seem to remember he was getting deep again around top 30 or 40 and made some crazy aggressive plays early and seemed to donk himself out.

Yea. I sure am worried about Phil Ivey donking off his stack deep in the Main Event.

[Jason]

Like I said, I seem to remember in 2005 he had a big chip advantage and he made what appeared to be some ill advised bluffs and aggressive moves and quickly lost chips and finished 20th. Lon and Norm even made a comment like he could coast to the final table and they didn't understand why he was trying to force the issue. Maybe I'm not remembering it right, but that's how I remember it. Hopefully he'll do whatever he needs to do this year to make it.

[Illfavor]

Like I said, I seem to remember in 2005 he had a big chip advantage and he made what appeared to be some ill advised bluffs and aggressive moves and quickly lost chips and finished 20th. Lon and Norm even made a comment like he could coast to the final table and they didn't understand why he was trying to force the issue. Maybe I'm not remembering it right, but that's how I remember it. Hopefully he'll do whatever he needs to do this year to make it.

[ ] Lon and Norm provide legitimate criticism of tournament play.

[Jack Sawyer]

Please, anybody but Esfandiari to win.

Crap, I think I just reverse-jinxed him, just like alst year with Peter Eastgate.

Bah.

[BennyLaRue]

Ivey Cracks Ward's Kings

Joseph Ward raised to 205,000 from under the gun, and it folded around to Phil Ivey who called from the small blind. The flop came {7-Hearts}{4-Clubs}{Q-Spades}, and both players checked. The turn brought the {7-Diamonds}, pairing the board. Ivey bet 350,000, and Ward made the call.

The river brought the {4-Diamonds}, putting a second pair out there. This time Ivey bet 750,000, and after thinking a bit Ward made the call.

Ivey showed {9-Clubs}{7-Clubs} for sevens full, and Ward {K-Hearts}{K-Diamonds}. Ivey moves up to 11.3 million, and Ward is now at 8.8 million.

Sick, sick hand.

[Jason]

The good news is Phil made it to the November 9, but the bad news is that he only has 5% of the total chips in play sitting in 7th place. On the other hand, one double up would put him in the middle of the pack with an average chip stack. If he doubled up twice through the chip leader, he would be the chip leader. So, I guess it's still up for grabs, but it'll take some work.

[Vinland]

Is it just me or is the chip counts insane this year? Last year the leader had about 27 million and the short stack had about 900K....
More starting chips this year?

As for Ivey, I dont know what the starting blinds are, hopefully he will have some room to work and maneuver his way through...
Nice that he made it though....it looked grim for a bit there in the early evening...

[Jason]

Yes, I thought the starting stacks had been $10,000 every year, but I believe they started with $30,000 this year.

[Extremophile]

Well it doesn't really quite matter he has 1/5 of cheap leader's stack. The blinds are the main issue. It is written on the website that people were very agressive and they lost 80 bb something. If the blind levels are still low and Ivey has 20-30bb, he has a very decent chance to take it down. I guess noone knows what the blinds are.

[Jason]

As of July 15, 2009 @ 22:22:26 Vegas time, the blinds were @ level 33 $30k ante with $120k/$240k blinds. If they started @ level 34, that would be $40k ante and $150k/$300k blinds. So, Phil would have an M of 12, which is definitely room to maneuver, but when I played tournaments, anything 5 to 10 was when I really got cautious and looked to get some chips. Anything 5 or less was usually push/fold. So, again, definitely possible, but some work left to do and not a lot of room for any big mistakes early.

[Deanglow]

phil has like 40bb its a lock

[bigspenda73]

if phil has like 10bb+ its a lock

.

[kingnat]

I've been trying to convey to non-poker folk just how fucking awesome it is that Ivey is at the Final Table... Can anybody help me make some type of comparative statement involving some other type of sporting event??

[bikes]

I've been trying to convey to non-poker folk just how fucking awesome it is that Ivey is at the Final Table... Can anybody help me make some type of comparative statement involving some other type of sporting event??

Tom Fucking Brady

[dthorne04]

i'm pulling for the redneck to win, last time some redneck with a retarded last name won the ME it seemed to work out fine for the poker community

[BennyLaRue]

I've been trying to convey to non-poker folk just how fucking awesome it is that Ivey is at the Final Table... Can anybody help me make some type of comparative statement involving some other type of sporting event??

There isn't a really good comparison since dominating the poker world isn't quite the same as dominating another sport. But it's most like Tiger Woods being in the final pairing on Sunday at Augusta, except imagine him doing it with a rule that says bogeys get you eliminated immediately.