Shaundeeb vs Fossilman today (5CD!!!)

[Biggle10]

Good call.

PokerStars Game #8966220323: Tournament #45118158, Freeroll 5 Card Draw Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (100/200) - 2007/03/18 - 14:40:46 (ET)
Table '45118158 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: FossilMan (1310 in chips)
Seat 2: shaundeeb (1690 in chips)
FossilMan: posts the ante 10
shaundeeb: posts the ante 10
shaundeeb: posts small blind 50
FossilMan: posts big blind 100
*** DEALING HANDS ***
FossilMan said, "yep"
shaundeeb: raises 100 to 200
FossilMan: calls 100
FossilMan: discards 3 cards
shaundeeb: discards 3 cards
FossilMan: checks
shaundeeb: bets 200
FossilMan: calls 200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shaundeeb: shows [3h Tc 3s 2h 6c] (a pair of Threes)
FossilMan: shows [Ts 6d Js 8s Th] (a pair of Tens)
FossilMan collected 820 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 820 | Rake 0
Seat 1: FossilMan (big blind) showed [Ts 6d Js 8s Th] and won (820) with a pair of Tens
Seat 2: shaundeeb (button) (small blind) showed [3h Tc 3s 2h 6c] and lost with a pair of Threes

[THEjDonk]

You beat me to it. I agree. Raymer should bluff. It seems so obvious that shaun had a weak hand, and Raymer still has to bet to win the pot.

[flafishy]

So who won?

[Murakawa]

Fossilman won. I have a feeling that shaundeeb is the better draw player (I've seen him playing 5/10, 10/20 quite a bit) but I wasn't particularly impressed (sorry shaun). He's definitely good, though,

[danerrrr]

really how much skill is there in this?

[Biggle10]

[ QUOTE ]
really how much skill is there in this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think any single HU SnG is mostly luck. If the two of them played a few more, I think I'd give the edge to shaundeeb assuming neither adjusted their play.

[Tom Bayes]

[ QUOTE ]
really how much skill is there in this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you talking about draw poker or HU poker matches in general?

I'm of the opinion that while it's not the hardest form of poker to learn, there is definitely skill in 5CD and a skilled player will quickly skin an unskilled player.

That being said, even though Raymer admittedly has not played much 5CD, a player with his brain and his knowledge of poker theory who has played lots of other non-holdem games would be up to speed very quickly if he chose to play regularly. While Shaundeeb picked draw partially because of Raymer's lack of time playing the game, I think he would have fared much better if he had played a PokerStars pro with less experience in non-holdem games and less of a grasp of poker theory; names like Moneymaker, Rousso, and Ramdin come to mind. Hell, I don't think Victor Ramdin is any good at NLHE.