[smoore]

Well cool, it's over. I had to go to bed at about 3am (the break where they showed Varkoni), I had some work to do this morning.

That was a WEAK final table... they let Gold just run them over. Even Cunningham seemed off his game. It's obviously very tough to play against such a massive chipstack that seems to hit every flop but c'mon... play back at the guy SOME.

Gold was a complete cardrack. Way to go Gold! He basically gave a clinic on how to play a massive chiplead with relatively small blinds. Any play he makes with any two cards preflop could be defended (except calling AI with trash) and boy did he milk it!

I could not believe the incredible amount of limping, especially on the button. Is this the new way to play deepstack tournaments? I sure hope not because I suck at it

The insane amount of card showing blew my mind too. WTF?

Loved the coverage, glad the announcers shut up some. There wasn't enough play by play, IMO. I would have preferred some more detail about pot size and such. I *will* be purchasing it next year, I hope they do more with the graphics, showing bet sizes and action. That would take a lot of pressure off of the announcer.

and... DISCUSS!

[bmwguy525]

I don't think Cunningham was off of his game. He got very unlucky against Binger, which stopped the momentum he had going then. Then he rebuilt by playing aggressive postflop, then he got low again when he got caught up in a couple pots. His final hand he was pissed that Gold had called a 1.1 mil raise, and then re-called Allen's 6.5 mil all-in with KJ. Bad luck for Allen that he flopped a K, cuz Binger had a K also, and that's just how it goes sometimes.

I agree that there was way too much card showing, but I thought the announcers were just fine and the guests they had on there were great fun. That rock paper scissors for $100 was crackin me up cuz I'm a big roshambo player myself.

The one thing that really, really pissed me off was the crowd. All the obnoxious cheering and calling for cards when a player was all-in really irritated me. The clap chanting and all that nonsense is retarded, it's a poker game. IF i ever make it to a spot like that I'm telling my whole section to shut the hell up, and if they started cheering or chanting I'm gettin up and walking away.

[scottwire]

For a little while when there were still 6 or more players, Cunningham was really playing aggressive and raising a lot of pots preflop. He had that one hand where he called Gold with Ace high and he seemed like he was ready to kick ass.

Then that call he made with QJs against AQ seemed to change the mood of the table again.

I think that QQ vs JJ hand that Gold won and knocked out Richard Lee who was in 2nd place with 6 left at the time made everyone very timid to play back at him.

I had to go to bed when it was still 5 handed so I can't comment on the rest.

[RTBrandy]

Nothin to his skill, but I thought Gold came across as a bit of a pompous ass....

of course, I say that from my couch, watching him on TV, so that sums up my credibility...

and a bit off topic, but when Helmuth was being interviewed/announcing...
MAN IS IT HARD TO LIKE THAT GUY.!!!

I respect his play, but he really makes it difficult to listen to him.

[99%evil]

I can't believe Jamie Gold thought he played so well, did anyone see his post win interview at Cardplayer? He said he could read everyone, came off as really arrogant to me, I didn't seee any super play from him, I still can't believe wasicki (sp?) didn't call with a stright flush draw, that hand could have gotten him closer to having chips to hurt Gold. Not at all impressed, with Gold's attitude. I liked Binger, I went to bed when he was short stacked in 6th place I was happy to see he pulled off 3rd. I had hoped Cunningham would outplay Gold, but the stcks were too crazy.

[smoore]

Originally Posted by bmwguy525

The one thing that really, really pissed me off was the crowd. All the obnoxious cheering and calling for cards when a player was all-in really irritated me. The clap chanting and all that nonsense is retarded, it's a poker game. IF i ever make it to a spot like that I'm telling my whole section to shut the hell up, and if they started cheering or chanting I'm gettin up and walking away.

Agreed. If I ever get to that spot I'm just going to have to listen to an ipod or something. I'd imagine I'll be paying enough attention to not interfere with action

[99%evil]

Originally Posted by scottwire

For a little while when there were still 6 or more players, Cunningham was really playing aggressive and raising a lot of pots preflop. He had that one hand where he called Gold with Ace high and he seemed like he was ready to kick ass.

Then that call he made with QJs against AQ seemed to change the mood of the table again.

I think that QQ vs JJ hand that Gold won and knocked out Richard Lee who was in 2nd place with 6 left at the time made everyone very timid to play back at him.

I had to go to bed when it was still 5 handed so I can't comment on the rest.

I loved his comments, how he left poker for a while so he could make 100-200 million dollars...That's one guy I wish would go broke.

[hachkc]

Originally Posted by RTBrandy

and a bit off topic, but when Helmuth was being interviewed/announcing...
MAN IS IT HARD TO LIKE THAT GUY.!!!

I respect his play, but he really makes it difficult to listen to him.

I liked the point at which one of the announcers says something like this to Phil:

"I'm sorry Phil but we do need to get BACK TO THE GAME at hand."

Phil was running on about something while they were in the middle of the hand.

[pankwindu]

Originally Posted by 99%evil

I can't believe Jamie Gold thought he played so well, did anyone see his post win interview at Cardplayer? He said he could read everyone, came off as really arrogant to me, I didn't seee any super play from him, I still can't believe wasicki (sp?) didn't call with a stright flush draw, that hand could have gotten him closer to having chips to hurt Gold. Not at all impressed, with Gold's attitude.

Well, I don't remember any big mistakes from Gold, so maybe he has a point?

Also, I heard that Negraneau over on the Sirius broadcast said he agreed with just about everything Gold did and that he would have played just about the same way.

If you replaced Gold with Negraneau and kept everything else the same (even the table talk, since Daniel often does chat quite similarly) we would all be gushing over his big stack play and how he manipulated the table.

I for one say Congratulations Jamie Gold! Just because he's an arrogant, slick, Hollywood producer type doesn't mean he's not a great poker player.

[bolgenmod]

Posted this in other thread before I saw this one (obviously I am still waking up):

I thought Gold played pretty well, but he was also a little annoying with his table talk. And his post-game interview showed him in a MUCH better light. But still, I can't say that I exactly like the idea of a multi-millionare from Malibu winning $12 million.

But there were really only two other people at the final table who I thought played a really good game. One was the young guy Doug Kim who looked like one of those WPT wannabees you see at the casino or on the WPT all the time. But he did not act all cocky and annoying like that type -- he really seemed like a nice enough kid and was not letting Gold run all over him like the others even though he had the worst position at the table with Gold to his immediate left. (BTW, he was the only FT player NOT eliminated by Gold.) The other was of course Allen Cunningham. He played great (as you might imagine), but also pretty much lost most of his coin-flips. Oh well.

And Phil H, Scotty, and Mike the Mouth were great in the booth. Jesus Ferguson was also great, but I missed his crazy wallet which gun and shadesofgray said was very hilariously large.

I have to agree with smoore -- almost no one played back at Gold. Of course, most of the time they did, he had a hand. And it cost him almost nothing (in terms of percentage of his stack) to make aggressive plays and/or loose calls.

For those who didn't see it -- the most exciting hand of the tournament (don't know blinds -- was at approximately 11:15 EDT):

Gold raises for 800k and Cunningham calls from BB.

Flop 8h-3d-8d

Cunningham checks, Gold bets 1m. Cunningham calls.

Turn 2c

Check-check

River Qs

AC checks, Gold bets 2m. AC thinks, Gold talks too much. AC calls and WINS with Ace high!! (A9.)

Outstanding!!