Hasan Habib on Calling for Your Entire Stack Early in the WSOP ME

[FortunaMaximus]

Hubris.

[Village Idiot]

I'm not folding there unless Villain accidentally lifts his/her cards too high while I'm looking in his/her direction and I see he/she has AA.

I also think any pro is nuts to pass up a significant edge there. And over 2-1 if it's KK vs. AK is a significant edge even for the best pro on the planet.

[NoahSD]

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was this a thinly-veiled attempt to make the WSOP ME field that much weaker

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I've had this theory for a while.. glad I'm not the only one.

Edit: But I also know that a lot of these pros are really bad at talking about poker and only slightly not bad at thinking about poker. No idea about Hasan Habib specifically.

[DVaut1]

Sounds like a clear example of deliberately spreading false information to me. I suspect even the most donkish of donkeys (like me) knows how wrong it would be to fold KK if you knew your opponent had AK.

[canada_dry]

Complete and utter nonsense from Habib.

A reasonable chance to double up quick in a major event is a GODSEND not something to avoid. Imagine the kind of "smallball" game he could play with 22K when the field is sitting with 10K and all very *excited* to be there, playing their best TIGHT game. 22K could easily grow to 30K without much effort. With 30K, you could afford to take a coinflip chance and so your FOLD EQUITY would go through the roof. Habib himself said he'd fold KK preflop, and so furthering this reasoning, couldn't someone with a sizeable lead then just BULLY everyone into folding. I mean who could call an all-in with a mere JJ? Or even with TPTK on flop? Geez, would Habib then be folding middle set early on?

What dribble..

[redCashion]

Is Habib one of those guys who scrape their way to the money and seldom make the final table? I know I've seen him on at least one final table but am curious as to his general rate of success.

[adanthar]

"many tournament pros are bad at poker"

[Rusty Nails]

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"many tournament pros are bad at poker"

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I think that tournament poker has changed a lot in the last few years and a lot of older tourney pros are clinging to ideas that have been proven wrong. That and they realy suck at poker.

[KneeCo]

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I wouldn't pass up a 55-45 advantage, let alone 3-1 or 4.5-1. It seems pretty dopey to me.

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In bizzaro first-hand-of-the-ME-can-see-what-villain-has-and -he-overpushes-1000BBs I would never fold KK to QQ or AK, or AK to AQ but if I had 77 someone pushed AK before me and there wasn't another chip in the pot other than the tiny blinds I'd have no issue with someone who let that minuscule edge go given that winning the flip doesn't severely impact your expectation in that enormous field but losing obviously does.

[canada_dry]

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I think that tournament poker has changed a lot in the last few years and a lot of older tourney pros are clinging to ideas that have been proven wrong. That and they realy suck at poker.

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Absolutely!! Poker *used* to be an easy game for seasoned pros because most people (25 years ago) never read a thing about poker, didn't know the stats etc.. Now everyone and their dog has a read a book. Doyle Brunson may have been able to push around the clowns he played with back in the 70s but good luck doing that today. Doyles chances at winning a major tourney are about as good as any of the other top 50% of players. The more evenly distributed the skill level, the more luck determines the winner. The skill level in poker is widening, and therefore luck is playing a bigger and bigger roll.

For example: Take the top 300 players in the world and put them in a tourney together. The winner of that tourney would be as random as pulling a name out of a hat. Luck will produce the winner.

Furthering this logic, Habib MUST BE WRONG in his thinking because you CANNOT win a major tourney by solely outplaying your opponents BECAUSE A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE FIELD IS AS GOOD AS YOU ARE. You must take your chances when they are given to you and run with, and then pray the cards will be kind.