HSP Season II Wrap Up

[Rottersod]

Now that season 2 has finished airing I've been thinking about what we saw and who the big winners and losers were and just as important for an ongoing TV series with repeating characters, who came across better or worse to the TV audience.

Big Money Winners:
Gus
Phil

Big Money Losers:
Daniel
Mike

Did they win, lose or draw?:
Eli (probably down)
Jen (up)
Ted (can't recall)
John J (up a little)
Eric L (up a little)
Antonio (up? How much?)
Doyle (can't recall)
Todd (down. how much?)
Sam F (down)
Zeidman, Booth, Chamenara, and the other one (who knows?)
David G (who cares?)
Grinder (can't recall)
Daniel A (same as above)
Mihn (same as above)
Barry (same as above)

Who came off better for the TV audience:

Eric played well and had enough aggressiveness to show that he can play at this level but he still sometimes had that "deer in the headlights" look. Overall I think he made a good impression.

Jen Harmon showed that she has the game and mind set to play all the time at these levels (and indeed she does so). A good mix of aggressive playing.

Antonio played well and showed that he can read others very well but he is clearly playing out of his comfort level. Still, he came across well on TV.

Barry played good solid poker and was willing to tighten up his game to accommodate the looseness of the others in order to maximize his pay-outs. It may not make for exciting TV except when he does end up getting paid. He also had some funny stories and seemed generally more relaxed this season.

Ted Forrest came off as a guy that just knows how to play, period. A guy you want to stay away from and one with a killer poker attitude. The one thing that may have brought his likability down was the last 2 episodes where he seemed out of sorts, like he wasn't feeling well. He also seemed not to like having David Grey to his right talking to him the whole time. I also get the impression that Ted prefers to sit at the table ends rather than in the middle so he doesn't have to swivel his head around as much. He seemed to be doing a lot of squinting the last 2 shows. That's just my 2 cents from watching on TV.

Mihn came across quite well in his short appearances. He really turned his game up a notch.

Who came off worse for the TV audience:

This may be a tie between Daniel N, Mike the Mouth and Eli. Daniel just wore on people and was obviously titling at the end of the season (remember that this was actually just 3 days of poker). People soon forgot how many times he lost after flopping the nuts due to his seriously deluded plays later on.

Eli. What a tool. First he takes forever to do anything early in the season and then he becomes the human calling station. Some of his plays were incredibly dumb and he came across as a fish.

Mike. Ooh la la. What would a season of HSP be without a foil? Last season it was Phil Hellmuth and this time Mike provided the TV audience with a Shakespearean play throughout his time on HSP II. Hubris may soon be defined as "see Mike Matasow". And the fact that the other players actually paid him to stay and then raped him for all his money showed to everyone how easy it is to set him up for failure.

David Grey. Seriously, what was he doing on this show? He may have outdone Bob Stupak as the most annoying guy on the table because Stupak usually wasn't even sitting at the table.

Semi Annoying:

Phil Laak. Can this guy get a sentence out of his mouth that makes sense? He was a major luckbox or else someone donked off his chips to him (he should be giving Mike 25% of that pot as a thank you) and had a C list celeb/GF looking over his shoulder whenever he got involved in large pots like she was staking him.

My hope is that for season III the producers pay more attention to the table makeup, especially at the beginning. At the beginning of the season this year there were too many tourney players playing out of their range and it took a while for the game to settle in. It would be a better show if they started with the seasoned high stakes pro's sprinkled with some newer faces and then have others join later on. Also, at least 1 less player at the table so that the game opens up a bit more.

Finally, cut out the props. They do nothing for the TV audience and distract from the game. I'd much rather hear the players discussing their hands or telling stories.

Oh yeah, the shots of the waitresses were great. Keep them coming. Maybe we can have a few lap dancers next season? That would be the icing.

I can't wait for season III.

[dStrangefate]

IMO the following players came off very well in terms of their play and attitude: Doyle, Antonio, Phil L, Erik L, Barry G

These players seemed a little outclassed (if not exactly weak): Zeidman, Sheikhan, Grey, Elezra, Todd, Chamanara, Juanda, Matusow

Of course, who knows, given the editing? Juanda might have played brilliantly, we just didn't get to see much of him, and Grey seemed to be cold-decked. Zeidman, Todd, and Elezra all made some poor plays to my eyes, but then don't we all from time to time? I actually thought Elezra and Matusow played fairly well until they got tired/bored and started tilting off chips.

I would like to see the following done to improve the show:

- Cut down on the unknowns. Zeidman, Chamanara, Nassri, etc, are nice enough guys with plenty of money I'm sure, but they're not really that interesting to watch. If the game needs some wealthy amateurs to attract the pros (and I doubt it does) stick with guys like Jerry Buss who at least have some claim to fame outside poker.

- Elimination of props

- Pre-selected tables and rotation. Talkative, charismatic players should be spaced out among the episodes, so the show flows more evenly. This season seemed to start out very lively then got rather subdued as players like Matusow, Farha, Sheiky, Laak, etc, left. Ended on a bit of a whimper. Also, there needs to be some sort of forced rotation so we don't have to watch the same players every week. I don't mind watching Negreneau play but he was in every episode and nearly every hand. High Stakes feels like the Daniel N show sometimes.

[NoExtinction]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO the following players came off very well in terms of their play and attitude: Doyle, Antonio, Phil L, Erik L, Barry G

These players seemed a little outclassed (if not exactly weak): Zeidman, Sheikhan, Grey, Elezra, Todd, Chamanara, Juanda, Matusow


[/ QUOTE ]

Gained new respect for Eric L and Phil L watching HSP. Both did better than I expected among that group

John Juanda outclassed/weak? No sir

Phil H and Mike M seemed the most "outclassed" other than the amateurs. Though wtf was Daniel doing with his relentless payoff wizardry..

[Yuv]

It's funny how guys I thought were total douchebags like Antonio and Phil L. turned out to be not only way better poker players than I thought, but some of the cooler guys on poker tv.

[Eponymous]

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It's funny how guys I thought were total douchebags like Antonio and Phil L. turned out to be not only way better poker players than I thought, but some of the cooler guys on poker tv.

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Yeah, their antics during tournaments really turned me off, and I used to think Antonio was a donk. But they seem to act different with a table full of pros. Antonio played really well and would have won big if he didn't get coolered a couple times. I have a different opinion of both of these guys after HSP.

[legend42]

I give Antonio credit especially for the way he played Doyle. He knew Doyle was likely unfamiliar with his game, and would probably mark him as timid-predictable, which could make Doyle bluffable. Then he followed through with a couple nicely timed moves against him.

Probably won't be able to do it again too often, but it was still good poker.

[Suigin406]

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It's funny how guys I thought were total douchebags like Antonio and Phil L. turned out to be not only way better poker players than I thought, but some of the cooler guys on poker tv.

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Yeah, their antics during tournaments really turned me off, and I used to think Antonio was a donk. But they seem to act different with a table full of pros. Antonio played really well and would have won big if he didn't get coolered a couple times. I have a different opinion of both of these guys after HSP.

[/ QUOTE ]

my thoughts exactly...

[Rottersod]

[ QUOTE ]
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It's funny how guys I thought were total douchebags like Antonio and Phil L. turned out to be not only way better poker players than I thought, but some of the cooler guys on poker tv.

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Yeah, their antics during tournaments really turned me off, and I used to think Antonio was a donk. But they seem to act different with a table full of pros. Antonio played really well and would have won big if he didn't get coolered a couple times. I have a different opinion of both of these guys after HSP.

[/ QUOTE ]

In a nutshell you've nicely summed up why we like HSP more than we do TV tourneys. In tourneys you can play and act like an a$s and the worst that can happen is that you are knocked out and lose your buy-in (and many of these guys are staked or won satellites). In HSP you are playing for real money - yours - so your game better be good, and if you try any of those antics you will end up getting someone pissed off at you and chances are he or she is a better player.

[TuNeCedeMalis]

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It's funny how guys I thought were total douchebags like Antonio and Phil L. turned out to be not only way better poker players than I thought, but some of the cooler guys on poker tv.

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I was suprised too.

[inferno]

I rather see play like bg than dn, what a joke. Respect to barry and phil L. Last episodes were a joke