High Stakes Poker thread (10/15) (spoilers possible)

[suzzer99]

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If one more person posts here about how Farha is a great gambling player who plays a superb loose aggressive style that none of us nits understand because we're all too unimaginative, I am going to need to punch something.

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sammy is not the problem. it's the opposite of sammy that makes things difficult. sammy clearly knew that when he played the K7 that there was a chance that even if he hit the king he'd go bust. he took the chance. he told phil the exact truth. he didn't know that he was good.. he was gambling. players like sammy will felt you. they'll also stack off to you.

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What the hell does any of this even mean? You can't call 25K preflop with those stack sizes with K7 against a tight player and win money. It just can't be done.

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If he routinely makes that call against players like PH, of course not. But you have to admit it is possible he makes it up in advertisement value (not HSP, later). Not to mention entertainment value from busting Phil with that hand, possibly even tilt value from PH directly after.

Face it Chirs, Farha's just operating on a level that you can't comprehend. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[JDesab]

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Face it Chirs, Farha's just operating on a level that you can't comprehend. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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QFT

[Hendricks433]

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But you have to admit it is possible he makes it up in advertisement value (not HSP, later)

[/ QUOTE ] this is the only explanation for his play. His play is just so bad.

[augie_]

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I'm so sick of the Sammy,Eli show, can we replace them with more interesting players, please?? And the commercials were ridiculous.

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Does anyone else think the game would break if these two left? The real pros aren't going to sit there and nit it up with "sweaty Phil."

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agree, would be game suicide to take these people out

[ChrisV]

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as we've seen he's liable to raise big then check the flop.

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By this you mean raise big and then check the flop when you hit your king right?

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so now you're likely going to see 4 cards for 25k .. not a bad proposition.

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Yes it is. It's awful. You're a massive dog against his range and liable to get the worst of any postflop action, given that your hand if you make it (a pair of kings) is not exactly tough to spot. The only way you'll stack your opponent is if you flop three sevens, whereas you're likely to lose some money flopping a seven and substantial money flopping a king when behind.

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strict starting hand requirements are for beginners. once you play long enough you realize that.

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I take it I'm the beginner here and you're the expert?

Tell you what, let's ask someone who's actually played 200/400 with him:

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Sammy farha is the best action I ever seen in a 200-400 game (GUY/NOAITIMA aside). He raises to 1400 70% of hands and bets the flop then usually folds if you do anything else.

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Farha is not displaying some mysterious supernatural poker power beyond the ken of mortal TAGs. He's just playing badly.

[suzzer99]

I think Farha just doesn't care that much if he wins or loses--from a money POV. He wants to win for the challenge and excitement of the action. At the end of the day he's probably more happy about a thrilling mild winning session than a boring, grindy one winning twice as much.

Therefore - chance to bust PH with K7 = excitement and action.

Obviously the play sucks from any logical poker analysis POV.

[Flip-Flop]

I like Farha and his style of playing.
I guess it doesn`t fit with the "I read 100 books and been studying poker for decades and this is just bad play PERIOD!!" kind of mentality.
It`s on a different level.

Here is a question for the Sammy haters.
How do you explain the fact that such a "bad player" has been winning at poker for years playing the highest stakes available?

Chew on that for a while and if the only answer that you come up with is "Just a gambler that has been running good" then I know enough about you.

[suzzer99]

Has he really been running that good? Does anyone know? Or does he just have more money than god? Also 2nd in the 2004 WSOP can't hurt. But the way Sammy plays that could be gone in a weekend.

[JDesab]

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Sammy farha is the best action I ever seen in a 200-400 game (GUY/NOAITIMA aside). He raises to 1400 70% of hands and bets the flop then usually folds if you do anything else.

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so this is similar to playing 2/5 and raising to 17 each flop. then continuation bet. make your opponent have a hand.. pressuring your opponent .. then when he pushes back... don't continue building a pot that you likely won't win.

that's bad?

do you play no limit very much?

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By this you mean raise big and then check the flop when you hit your king right?

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do you think that hellmuth was not very near to calling sammy on the river? do you think that wasn't all acting. do you think that if sammy would have not talked it up giving his hand away that hellmuth would have called.

perhaps you choose to not believe all indications that phil was about to call sammy on the river there.

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strict starting hand requirements are for beginners. once you play long enough you realize that.

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I take it I'm the beginner here and you're the expert?


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i apologize if you think i'm attempting to guage your level of expertise based on your posts. i will tell you that your opinion sounds more like that of a newbie afraid to lose his small bankroll moreso than an experienced player who realizes that he needs to bankroll himself adequately to allow him to actually play the game.
if you have very strict starting hand requirements in nl holdem ... you may not be a beginner but you play like one.

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Yes it is. It's awful. You're a massive dog against his range and liable to get the worst of any postflop action, given that your hand if you make it (a pair of kings) is not exactly tough to spot. The only way you'll stack your opponent is if you flop three sevens, whereas you're likely to lose some money flopping a seven and substantial money flopping a king when behind.

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ok genius. if we only play hands that we believe we can stack our opponent with.. what would that be. you have to play to have a chance to ever stack your opponent. i've stacked more opps with 26 off than i have with AKsuited. what's your experience? usually the opponenet made some huge mistake during the hand. do you not notice that most times that you stack an opponenet he was either ahead preflop or ahead on the flop and you came from behind to bust him? hell.. in this hand if hellmuth bets 50k on the flop who's to say that sammy doesn't fold his weak k to him. whose to say that he doesn't push all in. that's gambling. if you don't like gambling then the style is not for you. but that doesn't make you right and the gambler wrong. have you ever read anything about sammy farha. the man has paid his dues. we're seeing him tilt a little. i have a sneaking suspiscion even with all the bad luck and bad plays he's made so far, he'll still be able to put together the 500k to play later in the season.

[OnTheRize]

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Has he really been running that good? Does anyone know? Or does he just have more money than god? Also 2nd in the 2004 WSOP can't hurt. But the way Sammy plays that could be gone in a weekend.

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2003 WSOP. He's been playing in WSOP for atleast 15 years.

No one back's continually losing players ( aside from Ted Forrest ). He must win sometime ^_^