WSOP on ESPN thread (10/9 - ME Final Table)

[kailua]

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Looks like Erik Seidel has some company in the "Hole Card Camera Nits Club." Annoying.

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I know many will say "but ESPN helped create the poker boom," but if they're not gonna add some cash to the prize pool I have no problem with any player not giving away free info for ESPN's benefit.

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Chad's classic comment concerning Seidel..

<<If you don't want to show your cards, you should be playing on the radio.>>

[cbloom]

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Yang: I think the A9 call vs Watkinson was terrible. I also think his consistent raising of 5-10X the BB is pretty gross. I watched the entire FT, and although Yang didn't play awful in the sense that he played very aggressively, it is extremely obvious he lacks fundamentals in his play. The JTo all-in call and the A5o call after Rahme reraised him huge are two of many instances that come to mind.

Another is the hand where he c/r Lam, by far the tightest player at the table, w/ 2nd pair, AT, for value. That hand is one example of many instances where Yang could have easily been in terrible shape, but ended up being in a coinflip type situation when the money went in.

I will say this: If Yang realized he sucks at poker and could never compete w/ the other players at the table, I think he played pretty well as his bet sizing eliminated a lot of skill from the tournament. I also think Yang is a tool and don't care how "nice" he is. Praying at the table and calling other players/Norman Chad your "idol" sucks.


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Yeah, obviously Yang is lacking on some levels, but he correctly pushed big bets with people who just playing such weak small-ball poker.

People keep calling out his oversize preflop raises. Yes, that is a small technical error, but if your opponents play horribly against strange size raises, it's not really a bad thing. And if you have the big stack and everyone is scared to repop you, it's pretty powerful.

Knowing that he was not the "best" player at the table, Yang played something like the right style to maximize his chances - push hard, make marginal calls, try to get in races when you're the chip leader, make everyone else risk going out.

[Dima2000123]

I agree about Yang playing optimally for his skill level, and IIRC Yang said that it was his plan all along. He figured that the only way he would win was by playing very aggressively and getting lucky, and went for it. He was lucky to dispose of all the dangerous opponents early on, and then it was like taking candy from a baby when it got down 4-handed.

[UATrewqaz]

Yang appeared to be nothing special in the poker department. A nice guy away from the table.

Lots of terrible players at the final table and a few pretty decent ones it seemed, most of which got knocked out early.

8 million thumbs down for ESPN, I watched the live broadcast and if this is the best 2 hours they could come up with they are truly pathetic broadcasters.

[Novles]

i didn't watch this live, but i can assume which half of this forum is retarded.

Hint in white: <font color="white">the 80% of this thread half. </font>

[XXsooted]

As others said, the telecast didn't capture the final table dynamic at all. It was like ESPN went out of their way to make Yang look like a luckbox (or at least more of a luckbox then he actually was). They showed all these hands that went to showdown, but in untelevised hands Yang was picking up blind after blind as the other players were waiting for each other to bust out. Yang 3bet Kravchenko like 8 times or something, and all but the KK and the AK he folded. Now Yang obviously would get killed in the long run against anyone, but in this particular situation, the Main Event Final Table with lots of money on the line and everyone on the table playing really tight, his over-aggressive strategy was much better than what anyone else was doing.

[RacersEdge]

The dueling prayers was pretty interesting with Yang vs. Watkinson's gf, but I guess God gets that a lot in sporting events.

Poor Childs - probaly won;t be sleeping for a few days now. His line "there are thnigs that could beat me" still cracks me up.

And I wish people would just stay in their freaking seats during the game.

Oh yeah, Rahme asking to kiss Yang's picture of his kids was funny/creepy - "well, they're my kids".

[Bad Beat Bill]

I thought it was funny since I have a friend who plays pretty much exactly like this sometimes, and while he's really not a good poker player, this strategy is surprisingly effective, and if your opponents are card dead it's very tough to fight against. For most of these players, each step up in the pay ladder is huge, so they're going to be folding more than they should anyway.

[JDesab]

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I still can't believe Yang called off 8.7 million with A9. So sick.

Lee's move had great fold equity. But again Yang = calling station.

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are you blind!!!???

yang had a strangle hold on the table. he had taken all 8 players hostage within the first 90 minutes. when this hand came up .. it was obvious that the all in move was to try to get the upper hand on yang. yang showed the table that he had enough chips that he'd call with a huge range of hands. this bad call did as much to stitch up the championship for yang as any other hand. did you see the shocked looks of yangs opponents when they saw what he called with? he had half the chips in play. he could afford to make this call.

the posts on this forum are so amateur. yang was the only player at the FT that wasn't afraid to go bust. the only player that stepped up his game to try to WIN. yang played a fantastic 16 hours of poker to capture the ME title. you donks are criticizing. none of you would have the stones to step up in the first 90 minutes of play and take down the chip leader practically single handedly.

if you want to criticize the holy roller stuff those are all there. the guy played strong all night. for that he should be commended.

calling station??!! he used his stack like a club. he kept the opponents' heads spinning.

[vixticator]

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They showed all these hands that went to showdown, but in untelevised hands Yang was picking up blind after blind as the other players were waiting for each other to bust out.

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, Yang was picking up the blinds and 3betting nearly EVERY raise. He grabbed a ton of chips doing this. Then he'd make a (probably) terrible call and go right back to his plan. Once he showed a few times that he was going to play back and call/raise really wide the first couple players, Hilm, Watkinson, etc., starting opening up and making moves. The others just kept folding into 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. It worked out for them at least. Heh.