2005 WSOP final table: player commentary

[grapabo]

It aired Sunday night on ESPN2 for the first time (at least the first that I saw). The show had both Hachem and Dannennman doing separate commentary. It was mildly interesting, with these tidbits:

- Dannennman stated that his strategy had been to play tight and run all-in to make the superior players uncomfortable in their decisions, which was basically what worked for Tiffany Williamson, minus the table etiquette gaffes.

- No revelations on the mystery A-? hand for Andrew Black that got beat by trip kings.

- Before the heads up battle, Dannennman virtually concedes that win or lose, the battle is going to be short.

There might be some other strategic items of interest, and if you missed it, ESPN 360 (their on-demand video resource) still has the show on their rolls.

[Bartman387]

[ QUOTE ]

- Dannennman stated that his strategy had been to play tight and run all-in to make the superior players uncomfortable in their decisions, which was basically what worked for Tiffany Williamson, minus the table etiquette gaffes.


[/ QUOTE ]
This isn't quite correct. His plan was to put the pressure on the other player. This does not mean to go all in, it simply means to go after the other players chips with large raises at opporitune moments. Also, Danneman seems to have a better concept of poker, in general, than Tiffany.

[Matt Williams]

I loved it when Hachem talked about the hand he was pushed off of when the queen on the turn would have given him a straight. He was kind of complaining, but not really. Then he starts laughing and says something like, "I can't complain too much, I'm happy with the overall results."

[Mr. Orange]

I thought the commentary was interesting. Dannenman was entertaining but didn't add much though. Basically all he said was "i wasn't as good as the other players, so I just keep pushing"
Interesting hearing Hachem's take on the Q7 all in hand. Frist time I saw this it seemed like an odd play based on his otherwise tight play, but after he explained it made perfect sense.
He also made a few digs on Kanter which i found funny.

[Rottersod]

This is the first time I watched the final table again after it first aired (and after listening to the live commentary for those 13+ hours), and I came away with the feeling that Hachem got very lucky by being able to let go of hands when he was re-rasied by two other players pre-flop. I think this happened twice. If just one of those players had called or hadn't caught a large hand to begin with Hachem would have been knocked out much sooner. The way he won this was completely different from 2003 and 2004's winners.