Frustrated Poker Players on ESPN

[beanie]

I think I posted this, I was playing in the "Ante up for Africa" event and Shannon Elizabeth semi lost it when her AA got cracked by AJ. I also flopped 2 pair on her and check raised her on the turn after she aggro-ed off 2 bets. She looked at me and I smiled and said, well I can't call you and I said "that was sort of my goal actually, considering the last card might make you in some weird way". But her overall attitude was, "you might not know who I am but I am Shannon Elizabeth, professional poker player".

The attitude (Joe Hachem is by far the worst at this) comes from seemingly being ordained because you won something once. No one begrudges any of them the fact that there 55 held up against AK one time but the what you are saying does get annoying.

All of that said, they are only human, I have found myself frustrated in the manner that Phil Gordon was and I have actually said something to my opponents. It is difficult when you are getting miracled by players that believe they need to play to get lucky. There is a reason you only see a numbnuts hitting a 2 outer, good players fold in those situations.

I don't think Chris Moneymaker is thinking at all about the few times he got lucky and in fact he almost always had the worst hand when he won in this event. There is just a weight that is on you and because you lucksacked once you figure that at some future point you should be able to lucksack again. Unfortunately, the probability on that might be against you.

[ATrebek]

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At which point, I was thinking, Jamie should just shut up, play his cards, and stop trying to win every single hand.

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Is that what you say about the players on your favorite sports team? "You've won in the past, so stop trying so hard to win right now?"

Its the competition. Competitors want to win. Its that simple.

It doesn't matter what you have done in the past. You are playing in the here and now, and you want to win here and now. All of the emotion that comes with the desire to win shows in the moment, in this hand in this game.

A professional athlete on your favorite team that has won previous championships doesn't say, "Ah, what the hell, I've already won a bunch of these. I don't care if I make any plays this game." He plays to win at that moment in that game.

Over the long run, each of the poker players on TV may be content to some degree with their success and their bank account, but we are watching them express the desire at that moment -- win.

Previous success doesn't mean that you shouldn't continue to push yourself. That's a primary difference between winning and losing players.

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Did you read the post you're responding to?

Does a pro baseball player try to hit every pitch? He never said Gold shouldn't try to win the ME, just not every hand.

[Alex Jacob]

even dannenmann was really heated with hellmuth in that TOC brodcast if i recall..

if i ever manage to get unlucky on tv (unlikely!) i will try not to act like this, haha

[PaulSF415]

I thought Moneymaker was fine. Someone in the WSOP mentioned how miserable he looked at the table. The dude to me just seems like a competitor and he wants to win. Everyone has their own way of acting, but I do know that I'm not trying to smile and make jokes at the poker table, I'm trying to compete. Hachem seems like a nice guy, I always thought of his talk at the table just a way to find something to say, because the dude likes to talk. Devilfish, on the other hand, is a whole 'nother story. And Jamie Gold needs to shut up about how unlucky he is. One thing that people may not understand though is that these players may have been on a downswing before the ME even started. Especially for Gold, I wouldn't be surprised if he had been losing for months and months between the last ME and this one. No matter how fortunate you are to win the whole thing one time, it can still be taxing to lose time and time again. At some point it starts to get to you.

[Scorcho]

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YOU WON THE WHOLE THING FOR 12 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2006!! WHO CARES IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT ON DAY ONE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS. YOULL STILL HAVE 11.9 million dollars left over.



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Gold bought into the main event for $100k? What a fish.

[freekobe]

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YOU WON THE WHOLE THING FOR 12 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2006!! WHO CARES IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT ON DAY ONE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS. YOULL STILL HAVE 11.9 million dollars left over.



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Gold bought into the main event for $100k? What a fish.

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$10,000 X 10 = $100,000.

[HeroInBlack]

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YOU WON THE WHOLE THING FOR 12 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2006!! WHO CARES IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT ON DAY ONE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS. YOULL STILL HAVE 11.9 million dollars left over.



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Gold bought into the main event for $100k? What a fish.

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You write trip reports better than you read.

[Scorcho]

hahaha i'm a retard

missed the "ten years" part

Guess I should go take back all the high-fives I solicited from around the office for pwning a stranger on the internet

[Gydyon]

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Dude, YOU WON THE WHOLE THING FOR 12 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2006!! WHO CARES IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT ON DAY ONE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS. YOULL STILL HAVE 5.9 million dollars left over.

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[SmokeyRidesAgain]

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Dude, YOU WON THE WHOLE THING FOR 12 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2006!! WHO CARES IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT ON DAY ONE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS. YOULL STILL HAVE fking blueberries left over.

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