High Stakes Poker thread (9/24) (Spoilers in Thread to come?)

[JoeDimaggio]

If somebody had a real hand in plenty of the huge pots he played that he won he would be a bigger loser than Daniel Negreanu was in season 2 of that game. For example, the A9 and K2 hands.

[Kimbell175113]

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If somebody had a real hand in plenty of the huge pots he played that he won he would be a bigger loser than Daniel Negreanu was in season 2 of that game. For example, the A9 and K2 hands.

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Let's not be hypothetical-results oriented. He played correctly against Sammy's range.

[gobboboy]

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wow I'm really starting to hate 2+2.The two times I post here I get berated and made fun of and then most of you guys make fun of the pros because they have a couple bad hands on TV. Im pretty sure all the pros could beat the online games at the highest levels and are probably beating them right now. Don't say the pros are terrible when you can barely beat the 1/2 on full tilt. If online players were better then the HSP game pros then they would be in Las Vegas playing live. Plain and Simple.

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of the players who crush the online games can't play in Vegas yet, and the others have higher winrates crushing your beloved pros at 200/400 online.

[EdmondDantes]

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The key thing to remember is this: just because we haven't seen Baxter play poker before, that doesn't mean he's never played poker before.

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I never stated what I'm saying is fact, this is what gives my analysis of Baxter.


#1)He looks like a newb when he counts out his chips for one, doesn't seem to be comfortable at the table in general of course he could be nervous but I would assume that nervousness wouldnt make you seem like you didnt know what you were doing, it would make you fumble around and drop chips, fumble chips, miscount etc, but not just look like you have a bad feel for moving around chips. I could be wrong though.

#2) On most of his courages calls he said stuff like "I think you've got me beat" or "I don't see how I can have the best hand" then calls anyways. He always called with a very unconfident voice as if he didn't know what was going on but just decided to call anyways.
None of his calls with top pair no kicker or 2nd/3rd pair seemed like he was thinking very hard then said call and looked over at the other player with expectations that he has the best hand. It always looked like he just kinda said "call" in a whatever voice without much confidence. Not to mention his body language was extremely weak while making most of those calls.

#3) I didn't like most of his bet-sizing. He bet too much a lot especially when he bigger then 1 pair.

Anybody is up to disagree with me, I am merely pointing out my opinions of what IVE SEEN. If people have evidence of Baxter being an accomplished Amatuer then I will believe them.

[/ QUOTE ]

As I posted in another HSP thread, I went to grad school at Stanford with Mike. He's a regular net winner in an LA cash game that plays as deep or deeper, and certainly tougher, than this game. However he may come off on edited TV, he's very smart and highly competent at cash games and, now and then, an occasional tournament...

Legends of Poker $2k NL results

Don't begrudge him for pulling a couple of nice pots against these name fish!

Edmond

[ronitonline]

Kimbell,

I see what you're saying but I disagree on some accounts.
I don't think Baxter is adjusting to anything, I think thats how he plays. I think he would make raises like that, and big bets like that in any other game. As I am saying his body language and speak give no signs of real analysis and legit poker thinking processes. He seems to be playing on the tip of his heels, playing exactly what he has the majority of the time.

One thing I can agree with you on which is a very valid point is that it does seem that players DO give him some respect, including Gabe. Great point, I'd have to talk to someone who knows more about Baxter I guess cause from these episodes its hard to tell.

[ronitonline]

Edmond,

I'm glad to hear the info, and I don't doubt that he could be a good player as I've stated. I don't know how other people have said it but you can't honestly say I haven't berated him in a bad way, I have just pointed out what I saw and what it meant to me, and what I know.

However your information honestly doesn't tell me much, he won 1 tournament and hes "in some big cash game", this is not saying you're lying or arent necessarily correct I'm just saying claiming someone plays in a game that is harder then HSP without any details is a bit hard to count as real evidence.

This does open the doors to me a lot more to accept him as a good player, however for now my judgement still falls more on the side of a typical amatuer player who has the ropes of things, but definitely isnt in a legit poker thinking process. I just feel like a lot of these raises and calls like I've said in the past he would make JUST AS OFTEN with the worst hand it just hasnt happened yet on HSP and might not happen.
I am firm on that outlook until someone can really prove that he is consistently winning at "just as deep and just as hard competition".

[Whitewash]

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If online players were better then the HSP game pros then they would be in Las Vegas playing live. Plain and Simple.

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I'm pretty sure it's a unanimous decision that there is more money to be made online than live if you are a NL player.

[EdmondDantes]

Roni,

I'm going to ask Mike about a number of hands he played in the next couple of days; I'll post excerpts. Yeah, he missed a bet with the AJ hand two episodes ago, and the 23 raise, flop shove was a mess, but in this episode, he seemed like he was just playing straightforward poker and hit a couple of hands. Why do anything fancy when someone shoves into you with an underset or you're sitting with Sammy who's obviously playing for the audience?

Mike did say that Sammy and Jamie were both tough to predict ("Those guys will play anything") so I can definitely understand him saying "You probably have me beat." and calling with top pair anyway. Sammy was playing his hand dark and I think Mike's comment was just a little face saving, in the off chance Sammy hit.

As for body language, he's just casual and self-deprecating by nature. He's sitting with plenty behind, both in bankroll and professional cred.

As for stats or data to back me up, I admit I don't have much. He's played two tournaments to my knowledge and won one of them (posted above). He plays in a cash game that sits bigger than the biggest that Commerce spreads and I'm pretty sure PokerTracker doesn't support it, ergo: no graph to post or datamining. Maybe he's just a lucky calling station, but from my perspective, I'm watching a guy who I know is smart, I know beats the market, who the producers seem to think would be competitive, who I've seen (with the exception of the 23 hand) get money in ahead and now he's sitting with a couple hundred of Farha's dough and another nice chunk of Eli's. And he won an LoP series tournament against a final table the included some pretty good tournament players.

Honestly, though, even if I didn't know him, it’s enough for me that he bets his hands and doesn't whine for insurance or ask to run it twice when he gets it in. These "pros" are embarrassing.

Edmond

[ronitonline]

Hellmuth is embarassing, and a lot of these pros don't make their money on holdem for one, and for two they arent at this table purely for +EV play or they would go find a table with a bigger buyin with worse players. They all talk about how much fun it is to be at the table.

I'm too lazy right now to reply about Mike, I'll do that in the morning.

[john voight]

As usual, 90% of the posters in the thread believe they can smash this game up. I'm guessing all the players are solid, the exception being Safai. Now, he maybe decent as well, but from the few hands I have seen, a good NLHE player (like a good NL100 player) can prolly beat him w/ ease. IMO that would be your main value.

Besides that, IDK. From the tv, the game plays way different from what online is like. I'm not sure you can adapt with in 100 hands and be totally in tune. Dont think for a second that pots would play out the way they do online, imo there would be a totally different dynamic to them. Now, I play low stakes, so IMO I am only evalutating online play (like 50-100+ via my ~80,000+ hands of railing. (rail tard LDO))

SO imo, safai is the only one bleeding. Hellmuth is not gunna bleed vs a good player imo. What i am saying is; IMO, a 3bb/100 NL400 player is not gunna handle this table. Break even? Maybe if the donkey spews, but once he leaves, IMO you are -EV. Now, obv if you are like a 50-100, or 300-600 player, I am not talking to you; you guys are prolly capable of handling any situation.

But im guessing most ppl who posted in this thread are like nl25 players. Which is all good. I'm w/ you guys.

Anyway, on to all the hate about FarharrrrrR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How the hell is it Farha's fault that the show sucked? Did he say to himself "okey im gunna play huge pots, and hopefully get air time". And then, did he go into the editing room and make sure they put his hands in?

Or maybe..... those 3 hands he played, were the only interesting ones out of the 4 hours, or whatever, they played. Maybe, ppl were all playing tight, and there was nothing to see besides some lame cbets taking it down on the flop.

Time and time again I am shocked at how naive most ppl are when it comes to stuff on T.V. I mean the show is geared for ppl. Not poker players, but people. Kind of like game shows are not geared towards some nerds who are in logic-based game clubs.

So, IMO, hurling insults at the players is stupid.


Sorry for the pissy tone guys, I am really pissed at someting non poker related, and so I am unleasing it on ppl I dont know. Although IMO, i'm not really attacking anyone, just saying I disagree, and myabe, I underestimate those who I disagree w/, and I overestimate the strength of the current lineup on HSP.