Poker: Pro's vs Joe's

POKERSTARS GAME #4767198356: TOURNAMENT #23839198, $200+$10 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - MATCH ROUND I, LEVEL I (10/20) - 2006/04/28 - 02:34:51 (ET)
Table '23839198 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: yeau2 (1320 in chips)
Seat 2: Tom McEvoy (1680 in chips)
yeau2: posts small blind 10
Tom McEvoy: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yeau2 [3c 3s]
yeau2: raises 40 to 60
Tom McEvoy: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [2s 4d 5h]
Tom McEvoy: checks
yeau2: bets 60
Tom McEvoy: raises 120 to 180
yeau2: raises 320 to 500
Tom McEvoy: calls 320
*** TURN *** [2s 4d 5h] [Ks]
Tom McEvoy: checks
yeau2: bets 760 and is all-in
Tom McEvoy: calls 760
*** RIVER *** [2s 4d 5h Ks] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tom McEvoy: shows [5d Ac] (a pair of Fives)
yeau2: shows [3c 3s] (a pair of Threes)
Tom McEvoy collected 2640 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2640 | Rake 0
Board [2s 4d 5h Ks 9d]
Seat 1: yeau2 (button) (small blind) showed [3c 3s] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: Tom McEvoy (big blind) showed [5d Ac] and won (2640) with a pair of Fives

So yea, that bastard beat me in 7 hands for $200. PLEASE do not tell me I played this hand wrong, because I know I played this hand wrong. Anyway, this brings my record against "pros" heads up that I am aware of at 3-2, as follows:

$1000:
Stevesbets (forget his real name, its not Steve though): 2-0
Emptyseat88 (Scott Fischman): 0-1
$500:
Sdouble (Josh Scheln): 1-0
$200:
Tom McEvoy (Himself): 0-1

Note, this is a list of players I consider "pro" in the sense that I have seen them on TV or have significant confirmed tournament winnings of a large proportion.

How Does Santa Come Down the Chimney, Daddy?

Where is all the money coming from in poker? Well I think it is coming from 3 distinct sources. In each of them, the situation is much more complex than I think I’m describing it. In one sense they are a hierarchy – higher stakes ‘entrants’ losing (Andy Beal), medium stakes playing for entertainment since the wife doesn’t give it to him anymore (middle manager), low stakes college player dumping his 7-11 job money while drinking (me).

This is one way to look at the people giving money to the games. Although many of us (myself included) are not winning as much as we think we are, and many are much more like break-even players over the long haul, the money that people are making (and in some cases, is significant) has to be coming from somewhere.

However, from a psychological standpoint, there can be three unique reasons which also fuel the fire. I think on a subliminal level, it’s the drive to win for everyone. Only for some, however, is it the case. Andy Beal, for example, has been extremely confident he can beat the world’s best players in a HU battle. For him money has no longer become the issue, it has become the idea that he can still beat someone out of something, to win the race. But doing so, without the proper skill level, and most importantly bankroll management, people without a infinite money supply like Beal are going broke, and in doing so are giving money to the game we know and love.

Psychological player 2: this player is playing purely for entertainment value. May have a gambling problem, may not. But one thing for sure is this is a less vocal part of the poker community but keeps it afloat and medium stakes everywhere. They’re playing for whatever – maybe to release tension, maybe because they saw it on TV, maybe because they want something to do while drinking, maybe whatever. It’s the cool thing to do now, thank goodness, and when thousands of players are donating a couple hundred dollars each a day, and some donating much, much more (…Paris), it adds up enough to keep the players coming back and the games afloat. Another aspect which until recently did not exist is many casinos holding mid stakes tournaments which are attracting many casino players, there for entertainment, to come check out what that stuff on TV is all about.

Player 3: Inexperienced ‘expert’. This is likely the most silent of the three players discussed. If they are just coming into the game they much dump many bets into the games they are playing until they learn the ropes, and many give up in the process which brings money in. They often time come in because of a $5 tournament they won with friends or a freeroll they win on a poke website. Others go onto to learn the games and beat them regularly, but these examples are at most sporadic. There are players in this situation who are moving up in games (or playing bigger than themselves), thinking they can beat a game that cannot be beat. It’s like watching TVLand where they just show repeats, and you're seeing:

Step 1: Build bankroll by beating your regular game.
Step 2: Dump entire bankroll to a larger game you do not have experience in.
Step 3: Repeat.

I think these three players pretty much describe everyone who is donating money in the “long haul”. Correct me if I'm wrong. Flip side.

Griffin's An Idiot

Just another one of the many reasons to NOT lend money to people you don't know here. This story is in particular much more absurd then most could possibly imagine happenning to them, but hey, you never know. Understand the percentage of your roll you are willing to lend out and act accordingly.

WPT Foxwoods -- Main Event Day 2

3:35 AM...I finally had a chance to look around for the full list of chip counts for day 1. Found it at the one and only PokerPages, by Kaelaine Minton here. She states theres 157 players remaning, not the 158 stated elsewhere but I'm not sure about this miniscule detail nor does it really matter. The chip counts at Justin's table (11) are as follows, by seat 1, ascending:

1 Katikakis, Costa 37,600
2 Mitrokostas, Spyridon 93,100
3 Villa, Justin 55,000
4 Engel, Alan 55,000
5 Spain, Randy 36,600
6 White, William 24,500
7 Petro, Mike 28,700
8 Puzantyan, Allan 46,000
9 Cope, Tom 23,600

After displaying that, I like the situation he is in with many players averages stacked at on or short of the 55,000 average...they have the most to lose. He also is to the right of Spyridon who is chip leader at the table, 24th overall.

11:53 AM...Ari "BodogAri" Engel just doubled through at the table, AK to KQ pot committed on a flop of QJ4, but the turns a 10 and doubles up to 100k. CardPlayer Live Update log here.

12:50 PM...Out. Ko'ed with about 115 people left. After buildling early to about 70,000 he called a cutoff raiser preflop with 88 from the sb. Flop was all unders, he put the short stack all in and J called, but the guy had KK. A few more orbits and 19,000 chips remaining he had A4s on the button and stacked off and the bb called with QQ. A4 flopped a nut flush draw, turn was a queen, and river was a flush but it paired the board and QQ filled up. GG.

Big Cars, Bigger Buy-Ins

Justin qualified for the WPT Foxwoods 10,000 main event yesterday so he's up there right now still hanging around. They started with around 450 players and 20,000 chips and this'll stay updated as I hear from him.

12:11 PM...22,000 chips. He said he's table is extremely soft. Nobody recognizable.

3:23 PM...Around he'd guess 50 or 60 people have already dropped, although nobody at his table. He's got 26,600. Daniel Negreanu is right on the table behind him now. It's been raining kings for him he said.

4:44 PM...Negreanu's got a monster stack now. He was down to 26,575, didn't really see a hand. Massage people are everywhere near break time and was getting one. 200/400/50 level will double everything from this 100/200/25 level and should be the start of the real tournamnet.

6:20 PM...33,000 chips at the dinner break.

6:52 PM...Ate dinner with John D'Agostino and some other people at the dinner break. Hour and fifteen minute levels are absolutely perfect he said, and still hasn't had one showdown. Carlos Mortensen is out he said. One knockout total at his table. Only larger hand he won, 1200 raise mid-position from a semiloose aggressive kid, sb called and J called from the bb with A6 of diamonds. Flop is 947 two diamonds, sb check Justin bets 2500 the raiser makes it 7000 straight sb folds Justin stacks off raiser folds. His tables still very weak, and they are still 10 tables out to break..said they probably won't break until right before the end of the day or maybe not even until tommorrow. 3 Levels to go after dinner.

9:20 PM...41,000 chips, average is about 36 with one level to go and about 230 people left before the days over.

11:40 PM...Days over. 158 people left, chip counts still coming in. Justin's got 55,000 chips and says hes playing absolutely ridiculously good. Folded AA on the flop after raising preflop to one bet, board was KQJ. Play resumes at 11 AM tommorroww.

11:55 PM...They just took everyones chip counts so they should be posted on the internet soon I'm guessing. His final count was 55,500. Blinds ended today at 600/1200wante, so the pressure will increase tomorrow as well. By tomoroww evening people are saying they will be in the money. Negreanu is out on a side note, a flop of 5 7 10 when his set runs into 68 which had turned a 9 there was fireworks and Daniel didn't fill up and was gone.