Why does this guy even play poker?
 

I was reading the latest CardPlayer magazine and their coverage of the recent Bay 101 WPT tournament and came across this:

"Half an hour after the dinner break, 46 players remained in contention, and the action, on the tournament money bubble, switched to hand-for-hand.

While players often tighten up right outside the money, Ed Pellegrini's play attracted attention from both fellow participants and fans. In an effort to cash, Pellegrini folded pocket aces preflop twice, playing the hand (and winning) only after being dealt rockets for the third time."

What is the deal with this guy and why does he even play? If you are not going to play pocket aces preflop, you ought to just stay home. Can anyone give me an excuse for this?

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

he got interviewed by CP - he said its his general bubble strategy, fold every hand - might can find it on there

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Thanks for the info. I'll look for it.

My feeling though is you only get monster hands like that a few times during a tournament and you've got to make the most of it. Otherwise, just stay home.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Tournament Circuit post

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

What a moron. I remember reading it when it was live. I really hope he didn't cash.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
What a moron. I remember reading it when it was live. I really hope he didn't cash.

[/ QUOTE ]


Ed Pellegrini Eliminated 11th ($70,000)
Ed Pellegrini gets all in for his last $97,000 preflop with AK from under the gun. Amir Shayesteh makes the call from the small blind and shows KK. The board comes 5433Q and Pellegrini has been eliminated from the tournament.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

While I have my doubts, I once was told that this is a free country. Why can't he play the way he wants?

TSP

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

wow, someone played poker poorly once. amazing news guys. ty.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

You WANT people to flush away EV like this. Be happy.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
While I have my doubts, I once was told that this is a free country. Why can't he play the way he wants?

TSP

[/ QUOTE ]

I totally agree with you. But, you have to agree his play was moronic.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Why do we have to agree? His priority was to lock up a spot in the money, and he adjusted his strategy accordingly.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

so while AA is definatly dominate pre flop we all have those horror stories of AA being beat by 86 or something like that so obv this guy didn't want to be the victim of an unlucky break and played accordingly and 70K ain't a bad pay day

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

I love it. When they interviewed Ed and the others at the table, David Williams gave off the vibe that the OP did, why should this guy even be playing poker. Then Ed finished higher than Williams and 95 % of the rest of the field. $10k and up is a [censored] ton of money to some people. It is to me to me at least. I can’t fault him for wanting a piece of that. He did what it took to get into the money.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Why the [censored] are people being soft on him?

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why do we have to agree? His priority was to lock up a spot in the money, and he adjusted his strategy accordingly.

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/images/lmphoto_tom1.jpg

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I love it. When they interviewed Ed and the others at the table, David Williams gave off the vibe that the OP did, why should this guy even be playing poker. Then Ed finished higher than Williams and 95 % of the rest of the field. $10k and up is a [censored] ton of money to some people. It is to me to me at least. I can’t fault him for wanting a piece of that. He did what it took to get into the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

But did you read the tournament circuit thread posted above where a reporter for Pokerwire said that the guy bought in for the 10K. If that's true, there's no way the guy can be defended.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why do we have to agree? His priority was to lock up a spot in the money, and he adjusted his strategy accordingly.

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/images/lmphoto_tom1.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

[censored] brilliant.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why the [censored] are people being soft on him?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry...HOPE THAT WEAK TIGHT FISH BURNS IN HELL.

gawd, what was I thinking...

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I love it. When they interviewed Ed and the others at the table, David Williams gave off the vibe that the OP did, why should this guy even be playing poker. Then Ed finished higher than Williams and 95 % of the rest of the field. $10k and up is a [censored] ton of money to some people. It is to me to me at least. I can’t fault him for wanting a piece of that. He did what it took to get into the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

But if David Williams got rockets three times he may well have finished above this [censored].

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

To be honest I’m not sure Ed can be fully defended. He made an –EV move multiple times because of something that happened to him some 20 years before. What I will say is that he is human just like the rest of us and we all make –EV moves from time to time, in addition to that, we all know that Ed is not a top tier pro but rather a recreational player.

A lot of 2+2’ers have a real tendency to pounce on anyone who doesn’t make what the consensus deems the correct play is at all times. The consensus is usually right but thank god this isn’t a perfect world. I think this is an example of that. As was said earlier, if you were at Ed’s table at Bay 101 and you made a 3x ~ 4x raise looking to steal the blinds do you want Ed mucking or calling you.

Ed got an irrational fear that he was going to get his aces cracked and be out of the money just like so many years before. He did what he thought would propel him to the money. It worked, it won’t work all the time or even most of the time, but it did. End of story.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Why not at least push all-in preflop with em, eliminate getting outplayed, and also know you're a huge favorite if someone does happen to call.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why not at least push all-in preflop with em, eliminate getting outplayed, and also know you're a huge favorite if someone does happen to call.

[/ QUOTE ]

because that just makes to much sense.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Someone teach me how to get AA pf 3 times during the end of the tournament.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why not at least push all-in preflop with em, eliminate getting outplayed, and also know you're a huge favorite if someone does happen to call.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously. Those were my thoughts as well.
I can't imagine folding the nuts... why fold aces preflop? (Excluding those crazy situations that are 1 in a million) You're throwing away money.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

You people are stupid.

He folded AA preflop.

No one cares.

/end thread

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

I strongly advocate my opponents to fold AA preflop. Leave it be.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
You people are stupid.

He folded AA preflop.

No one cares.

/end thread

[/ QUOTE ]

Likely he had AA 4 other times during the day and didn't want to [censored] with well established poker math on the bubble.
Obviously he's been reading BBV.
Excellent laydown.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

how many chips did he have when he was busy folding? what was the average? what was his position out of how many people? not that i care, but beyond the fact that wtf, omg someone played possibly poorly one time so meh, it's possible it wasn't all that wrong if at all.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
how many chips did he have when he was busy folding? what was the average? what was his position out of how many people? not that i care, but beyond the fact that wtf, omg someone played possibly poorly one time so meh, it's possible it wasn't all that wrong if at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does any of that matter? You never fold pocket aces preflop in this tournament situation under any circumstance.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
how many chips did he have when he was busy folding? what was the average? what was his position out of how many people? not that i care, but beyond the fact that wtf, omg someone played possibly poorly one time so meh, it's possible it wasn't all that wrong if at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's funny this topic has come back to life. He was actually well above average, probably in the 40BB range. At first I thought the guy was crazy, but I think just cashing for him was a huge mental hurdle. Once he did that, I was a bit surprised to see him take 11th place.

He showed up in Reno too but didn't come close to making tough preflop laydowns on the bubble. Heh.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Be glad people like this play, they will be the ones handing you cash in the long run.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Would you fold if it was hand for hand and got put in by the sb and you have the smallest stack left......And a guy busted so your in the money if you fold in the WPT championship.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
how many chips did he have when he was busy folding? what was the average? what was his position out of how many people? not that i care, but beyond the fact that wtf, omg someone played possibly poorly one time so meh, it's possible it wasn't all that wrong if at all.

[/ QUOTE ]
About the only situation I can think this is possible is if he has such a short stack that even 2xing up isn't worth the risk of getting KO'd, like if he has less than 3bb's or so, is near the button, and there are one or more other shorter stacks around that are closer to the blinds, and even THEN it's pretty debatable. If he had enough chips to get them 3x, I'm guessing this was more than a one-orbit hold-on-for- dear-life situation. The fact that he actuall ponied up 10k cash for this event rather than sat'ing in cheap makes it that much worse.

So if by possible, you mean 1 time in 10,000, then yes, it is possible it wasn't wrong. But it was wrong. Just trust me.

If he was really that concerned, I'd think he could just make sure his opponent isn't getting better than 4-1 odds if he were to call vs his allin and he could raise allin, and say, "I 100% guarantee I have you beat right now, and I will show". I'm thinking everything but Kings is likely an instamuck, and kinds follow shortly behind. I doubt this would be against the rules.

And for all those saying, "who cares, someone played bad, /end thread", etc, etc; May I remind you this is a discussion forum. Some people find this subjuct interesting, even fascinating. If you don't, move along. No one is making you read posts, and some people want to DISCUSS things on a DISCUSSION board.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Would you fold if it was hand for hand and got put in by the sb and you have the smallest stack left......And a guy busted so your in the money if you fold in the WPT championship.

[/ QUOTE ]
Under this extremely convoluted situation, yes. But it could only happen once, not twice in one tourney, as is the case here.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

the real money is in the top 3 spots, anyone putting up 10k of their own money and playing not to lose is a ftard....i believe it was erick lindgren who said "donkaments are not about survival, but about accumulating chips"

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

God bless the teenage elitist swine of 2+2, without you where would we all be.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

the only time u can fold aces in a tourney is when the last lets say 5 people get entry to a bigger tourney, and someone is already all in with a caller and there's 6 people left and the all in is 3m, then folding ur rockets when ur right at the prize bubble is ok, or even smart.

But that's tardo, he easily couldve doubled up and finished 5th or better.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Kmon,
You are wrong there are definetely spots with bubble implications where you can fold AA pf.

This guy is an idiot I don't the live tournament rules but could he like shove and flip his cards face up or something like that. Or tell people I'm not going all in unless i get AA and than open shove when he gets it and show it after the hand or something.

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Kmon,
You are wrong there are definetely spots with bubble implications where you can fold AA pf.

This guy is an idiot I don't the live tournament rules but could he like shove and flip his cards face up or something like that. Or tell people I'm not going all in unless i get AA and than open shove when he gets it and show it after the hand or something.

[/ QUOTE ]you cant expose ur cards in a tournament

Re: Why does this guy even play poker?
 

Say you're on a gameshow. You're given an option after getting pretty far into the show. You can take on a challenge you have about an 80% of winning. If you succeed then the rest of the challenges on the show will be made somewhat easier and you'll have a slightly better chance of winning a huge prize. If you fail the challenge, then you're out of the game and get no money at all. You can also skip the challenge and be guaranteed a large sum of money - but the later challenges will be more difficult than if you had taken and won the challenge.

Put in this context, you'd be an idiot to accept the challenge - and an even bigger idiot as the value of the guaranteed prize (if you don't accept the challenge) grows.