[Gramps]

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Discussed on the 2nd episode of Poker After Dark by Hellmuth, Sheiky, and Huck.

The bet: $10k per hole.

The rules: Ivey plays at TPC Summerlin (Vegas course that he frequents) from the reds...forward-most tees...or ladies' if you're non-pc [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. Corey plays from the tips, or black tees. I thought I caught that Corey would play a different course, but not sure about that.

Anyhoo, Ivey scrambles with himself, meaning he gets to hit each shot 2-3 times (not sure how many) and take the best ball. Pavin plays straight up.

From the discussion, Hellmuth implied that Ivey was worse than a 15-handicap.

For what it's worth, Sheiky and Hellmuth said they'd bet Pavin. Huck said they were out of their minds.

Who's your $$ on assuming Ivey is a 15-handicap? How about 10 or 20 handicap?

P.S. Most of us have seen footage of Ivey playing golf. He's improved big time from 3 years ago at the American Poker Championship, but still ain't pretty.

P.S. Negreanu says he's the best putter he's ever seen (from his forum).

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Me likey. If Ivey really is nails at putting, the 2 or 3 shots is a much bigger advantage than it would be for a "normal average" golfer - even if Ivey doesn't hit it far enough/consistently enough to set up good birdie opportunities, a great putter can manufacture many more par saves and birdies seeing that he gets a read on his first putt, and another chance or two to nail it if the first one doesn't go in (and it's his "home" course, so he probably has a pretty good read on all the greens already anyhow). Scoring in golf is mostly about the wedge game/putting anyhow, and if his normal issue is getting it off the tee in play, that's alleviated a bit here. Also, if his ball striking normally creates "high variance holes" where he gets in trouble (O.B., hazard, etc.) it's not such a big deal, since it's a skins match. I would think an 18 hole score would favor Pavin here, b/c even with only one shot, he's probably less likely to have blowup holes.