Poll: Most / Least like-able players at the WSOP FT

[Hollywade]

I like Russian accents, but I don't like hole card camera nits.

[csquard]

I covered the WSOP ME for Stars Blog as well as PokerWorks. Take this for what it's worth, a view over the last three days of the event, except for Khan (I didn't cover him much but watched him from early on). Also, this is based more on watching interactions with other players, friends, and family. The only players I had direct contact with were Yang (asked a few questions about his faith after he won), Khan (couple brief conversations), Rahme (one discussion plus questioned his posse), and Lam (was on him most of the FT, talked a good bit to him before he left for dinner break and before he started HU).

1. Kalmar I may have only spoken to him once, but he was definitely living the dream from the time he got down to the final hundred or so. He's a guy I assume you'd want to head to a pub with or to a EPL match with.
2. Yang My buddy John Armbrust (out in 18th with AK vs AQ to Lee Childs) told me I should get on him when they got down to fifty players or so (Beat for me...). I've read alot about phoniness of his words and antics in a variety of threads, but I would definitely disagree. I too am a Christian and asked him several questions about his faith after he won (some in the Media had already started ridiculing him during the FT). I do question some of his actions, make no mistake (prayer for a card seems fairly bizarre to me). Having said that, he seems like an extremely humble man who had a very tough life doing what he wanted to do and not making any money. With Chris Ferguson watching him, I was struck by how out of place he would be with FullTilt vs. Stars, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
3. Hilm I have little to go on with this other than general persona around the table.
4. Khan I may get flamed a bit for this, but I think his antics had little to do with who he seemed to be away from the table. He was extremely generous in his support of other Stars players and qualifiers who were making it deep, and he was a real pleasure almost all of the time. He played extremely well for much of the tourney, which gets lost in all of his antics.
5. Watkinson Again, very little to go on here. Maybe that means he should be lower in likability, I don't know.
6. Lam I may have him too high or too low, I'm not sure. He definitely got schooled HU, he played extremely tight throughout the end game. In the heat of the last two days, he really seemed focused and reveled in all of it with his friends and family. I actually thought he had a great chance to make a run HU, but he was either so card dead or couldn't pull trigger to get in there with Yang. I used to buy into the whole I'm-here-to-win-not-to-move-up logic of MTT's. After this year's WSOP, I'm now more convinced that being a patient nit most of the time is a pathway to success unless you have the game of Strasser or Jacob. Yang obviously showed what you can do with a big dose of blind aggression in the face of tight play, and I'm sure last year's Gold FT hands were in the minds of some like Childs with his laydown. So I don't fault Lam with how he played except HU, when he should have changed gears.
7. Rahme He seemed nice enough, so maybe he should be higher. Maybe I was just depressed that someone who almost could be my grandfather got so deep and I was sitting there writing hands down in a notebook.
8. Kravchenko Little to go on here, although I thought he, Khan, and Yang would be the three to watch at the FT.
9. Childs Granted, his busting out my buddy didn't help much in my eyes, and I'm actually sure he's a nice guy. But somebody had to be last.

[petp_the_greek]

most - rahme. i like the old guys. they dont act like buffouns, and somebody whos been playing for so long deserves some final table glory. reminds me of the old italian guy from 1 or 2 years ago that put a beating on helmuth.

least - khan obviously, he could be a straightup guy outside the poker room, but who cares, the way he behaved shows some seriously lacking social skills....maybe he should get some real life friends and stop 45-tabling all day on stars.

2nd least - tuan lam; i like the canadians and all, but dude, if youre 41 years old, quit with the frosted spikey hair highlights and the white prada sunglasses...you seem like a jersey shore wannabe.

[PhlegmWad]

As a result of the feedback on this years final table, is there any truth to the rumor that next years PPV broadcast will feature Phil Gordon doing poker commentary, and Pat Robertson and Billy Graham doing commentary on the praying and various appeals to Jesus?

[dollybythehair]

Didn't really dislike any of the final table players, and i did actually grow to like Hevad so far as to have his antics downloaded to my mobile (cell). But I did vote for Jerry Yang, don't dislike him really, but as most people are saying, his constant praying was tedious (But it bloody worked for him....where are those rosary beads, im due for a sit n' go in a bit!). It appears Jerry has had a harder life than most in the ESPN interview he did, and he promised to give 10% to charity so good luck to the bloke (oh, he already got that!)

[KSOT]

[ QUOTE ]
i did actually grow to like Hevad so far as to have his antics downloaded to my mobile (cell).

[/ QUOTE ]

Somewhere out there, there is a support group for you.

[21times20]

do people really not see that there is something inherently wrong and possibly even un-christian about praying to god to intervene and give you a holy advantage over your opponents at a poker table?

[wheelflush]

[ QUOTE ]
do people really not see that there is something inherently wrong and possibly even un-christian about praying to god to intervene and give you a holy advantage over your opponents at a poker table?

[/ QUOTE ]it's not necessarily UN-christian, but it's not standard either. yang and the railbird fiance were probably just caught up in the moment and didn't bother to think about how it appeared. we all like to think we'll be as cool as allen cunningham when the cameras start rolling. that's unrealistic.

[KiwiMark]

Personally I liked the guys that were mostly quiet and acted with dignity. I disliked Yang the most for his out-loud praying, and I didn't think much of Khan's antics (though it was not as bad on the final table as it was earlier in the tourney). Childs was around middle for me, he wasn't too annoying, but he could have just played the cards and let his father quietly watch. Childs also put 5.5M chips into the pot then folded to a worse hand - very hard to like his play there.

Mostly I disliked Yang's overly aggressive too-big bets, I found myself rooting for his opponents in every hand he was in. I was happy for everyone that got doubled up by him.