High Stakes Poker w/ Gabe Kaplan

[BigStar]

I love poker so this is definately biased, but I love Gabe Kaplan and the way he cuts on players appearance and especially thier play. It comes on GSN which not everyone will watch, but if you like poker it is by far the best poker show on the air. Gabe is the man and the poker is top notch with these guys playing with usually a half a million dollars to start with, it is un-matchable. While watching the World Series of Poker on Espn , you only see great hands go head to head. In this show, you will see guys make 100,000 dollar plays with nothing or making great calls with instinct to read other top notch players. Tom Dwan is the the latest big thing to hit poker and he schools pro's as if they were amateurs off the cpu, even tho he does tend to catch a lot of luck. Doyle is still the man and makes his money, but this show is the only way to go for ultra poker fans.

 

[FloridaRob]

I am a big fan and play a lot of no limit poker. Kaplan is funny. He is friends wtih my wifes ex who is a big poker player who actually won one of the side events and a brecelet at the WSOP a few years ago before it got so crazy. A friend of ours finished 12th or 13th in the WSOP this year and we will watch him play tonight on ESPN.

Dwan drives me crazy. he is schooling the pros in playing. The guy has the guts of a burglar. He makes moves I have no idea how he makes but I never see the guy lose. Incredible player for such a young age. Doyle just needs to retire. I never see him make a move in the game. You know if he bets he has the best hand. Easy to get off of if you are playing him.

Love the game.

 

[BigStar]

Yeah Tom Dwan is the man and is def the new face of "new school" poker. That is really cool that you know a bracelet winner, the best I have done is win a couple of smaller tournaments in AC. That's really cool that you know Gabe, his jokes are so dry that most don't get em but he has me cracking up the whole show. Did you see Dwan beat Helmuth in the Heads up championshio, out flopping hellmuth w/tens when hellmuth had aces? Hellmuth still brings it up everytime they play. I know he is the poker brat with 11 bracelets but he is obviously intimidated by this kid. He continually mentions how great other players are in front of him and then wonders out loud, " I wonder where Dwan will be in 5 years". Hellmuth obviously has a great tournament strategy but he simply cant hang in these cash games. Though, I will give him credit, he cleaned up in the latest "Bash Hellmuth Bash" on poker after dark. May I ask who your friend is? I've been following the WSOP 09 and Ivey looks top notch this year, he seems to have found a patience he hasn't had in awhile. Check out Ivey's show on Youtube and you will see he is such an impulsive gambler that it is hard for him to play for so little money (at least in his eyes). It's good to see Ivey focused again bc him, antonious, and dwan are the best in the world right now in my own opinion.

 

[FloridaRob]

My wifes ex won the world series side event back in the early 90s. He is business partners with Dewey Tomkow who has been to several final tables of the main event. I have played cards with him a couple of times but the games I play in typically bore him. The games these guys play at you could lose over $30,000 in a night. My bank roll back then was probably more like $500.

The guy we know from the main event this year was James Calderero but everybody around here just calls him Caldo. He finished in 13th place and we saw him go out last night. I used to play 10-20 limit at his house a few years ago. He is pretty good guy. He killed me in a no limit game a few years ago drawing at an inside straight and hit it. It was one of the first times I played no limit so was floored when he called a big bet for an inside straight card. After seeing that happen in limit games, I just assumed that kind of play did not happen in larger games, but I was wrong.

The main poker players from Florida all know each other and play together. I know that one day soon my step-daughter will be on the TV playing in one of the high stakes games. Her dad is an excellent player and her mom (my wife) is the best woman poker player I have ever seen. She could outplay any of the ladies you see on TV now but does not have the desire to do it at that level. My step daughter tho has a lot of both of them in her and can take a duece-seven offsuit and make you think she has pocket aces.

Chris Moneymaker is the reason poker is what it is today, good and bad. I watch the game now and see the absolute stupid play of the players and wonder how they got as far as they did. It is so tough for the real poker pros to weed thru the minefields in the poker room now to get to the final table. The novices make stupid calls with one outers that a pro would never make and they hit it and think they are great players. I think only Ivey and maybe one other are the pros at the final table this year. I hope a pro wins it but they have to have a little luck too. As I said, the appeal to poker is directly related to what MOneymaker did. A super nice guy but not a real good poker player. He plays better now tho than when he won it a few years ago.

 

[Hostile]

I enjoy the game, but I don't like playing with idiots. Some months back I posted about a bad beat I took on Yahoo. I have not played on that site since.

I am going to watch the WSOP finals and I am rooting for Phil Ivey like no one else. He is one of my 3 favorite players to watch. The others are more flamboyant than him; Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu.

I am pleased that for the most part the players still alive have played good poker, but the chip leader is catching cards like a magnet catches metal.

I think they need a real pro to win the event.

 

[FloridaRob]

I like Negreanu but cant take much of Mike the Mouth. He seems to have mellowed a lot tho in the past year.

Yea the guy with all the chips is catching cards like crazy. The thing is tho, it has been several months since that took place and now they are starting new this sunday for the final table. I doubt he will catch cards like that again, and will actually have to make some moves to win it. Even with his huge chip lead, I don't see him being able to do that. He can play as long as he catches a hand, but I have yet to see him make a play with garbage.

Beglieter is another that has no business being at the final table. I got so frustrated watching how he played and getting lucky enough to hold off people with his horrible play. He would catch top pair and either check it or just call a bet with it. He never did anything to protect his hand unless he had a monster, but yet his hand seemed to always hold up. If I played like that I would get beat in three places. Incredible this guy is still in it.

Anybody see Ivey throw away the winning hand on a check on the river last week. He had a pair of 8s and four to a flush came out and he had the 8 of spades that gave him a flush. The river was checked and the otehr guy showed trip aces and Ivey threw away a flush. I was dumbfounded. Turn your cards over Phil.....

 

[Hostile]

I like Negreanu but cant take much of Mike the Mouth. He seems to have mellowed a lot tho in the past year.

Yea the guy with all the chips is catching cards like crazy. The thing is tho, it has been several months since that took place and now they are starting new this sunday for the final table. I doubt he will catch cards like that again, and will actually have to make some moves to win it. Even with his huge chip lead, I don't see him being able to do that. He can play as long as he catches a hand, but I have yet to see him make a play with garbage.

Beglieter is another that has no business being at the final table. I got so frustrated watching how he played and getting lucky enough to hold off people with his horrible play. He would catch top pair and either check it or just call a bet with it. He never did anything to protect his hand unless he had a monster, but yet his hand seemed to always hold up. If I played like that I would get beat in three places. Incredible this guy is still in it.

Anybody see Ivey throw away the winning hand on a check on the river last week. He had a pair of 8s and four to a flush came out and he had the 8 of spades that gave him a flush. The river was checked and the otehr guy showed trip aces and Ivey threw away a flush. I was dumbfounded. Turn your cards over Phil.....

I did see that. I bet he was sick when he did. I'd love to know his reaction.

The thing I like about Matusow is he gets under Helmuth's skin so well. I also happen to think he's a great poker player if he can avoid the Matusow blow up.

Negreanu reads people like no one I have ever seen. How he can name exact hands so easily is befuddling to me.

 

[FloridaRob]

I know Helmuths act is just that, an act but wonder how much of it is really him. Like I know he says he is the greatest poker player in the world and never has made a mistake and only lucky people beat him, and I think that is just for the cameras because he knows they like to see that. But when he berates a player for their play and really goes over the top, I wonder if that is genuinely him because I know players who really act like that and I want to hit them in the mouth. I always feel in a game that if I would have had no problem dragging their money if they make a stupid call, I can't berate them if they crap out and win a hand either. I just want to make sure they stay there so I can have a chance to win it back.

I had cards running all over me in a game one night. I was playing anything and everything because I know how to play a rush. I beat this guy bad on a hand and he just ripped me apart for the play. He kept asking how I could chase that card to the river and I just told him I had been on a rush and I was chasing with the money he previously lost to me. It shut him up. People get so offended in a poker game and I never understood it. Some believe if you win a hand and it isn't a quality starting hand like AA, Ak, KK, QQ, Jj, 10 then you are a stupid player. My favorite hand I play is 9-10 suited and while I won't call a large bet wtih it, will call just about anything and the looks I get when I beat their KK or Ak or whatever. I just say sorry, You didn't bet enough to get me out. As I said, my wife can play 2-8 offsuit and make you think she has aces. I have seen pros lay down hands against her because she makes you think she has it and later tells me she was stealing. I have not learned that part of the game well enough.

 

[Hostile]

I think it was last year's WSOP. Helmuth called one guy an idiot about 20 times. Before the guy showed his hand Helmuth said, "I couldn't have played queen - ten this good could I?" Then the guy turns over his cards and it is queen - ten.

Okay, now I am impressed with his poker skills. But if I am that guy and he says that I now know he does not have that hand which is the best possible hand to have with the cards showing. So Helmuth told the guy he had the winning hand.

Then he calls him an idiot for playing the hand? Not just once, but over and over. I would have pushed Helmuth to the brink had he said that to me. I would not have checked. I would have raised every raise. I would have gone all in if I had to. He told the guy he had the winning hand.

I think it doesn't matter if it is an act or not. I don't respect him because I think he disgraces the game.

 

[BigStar]

I really don't believe it is an act that Hellmuth is putting on, especially when he berates amateur players. When pros do something off step he might make a sarcastic comment but will let it go. With the amateurs, his sense of elitism just comes pouring out. He is good at reading people pre flop, not so much afterwards. I am really rooting for Ivey this year, not only is he my favorite player but like Florida Rob said, a pro needs to win one of these main events to stop having these crap players show up every year really thinking they have a shot. Their bad play waters down the game and makes poker look like a side show. The one good thing about Moneymaker winning is the heavy exposure it brought to the game. This took the stigma off of playing poker and made people understand that their not shooting craps in a dark alley hoping for luck. It takes real skill and while it does involve gambling or "chance", in the long run skill will outlast it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Screw those guys, root for me. I'm going to win it this time.

 

[FloridaRob]

21 yr old Joe Cada won the main even this year winning 8.5 million. Apparently Phil Ivey threw a hissy fit and would not do his exit interview. another young-en wins it all......

 

[BigStar]

Hostile, bad beats, or even really bad beats are part of the game. You know Doyle's saying, "yoiu don't get old playing poker, you get old when you stop playing poker" The man is a millinoare who has been playin since his teens. He was even drafted by the Lakers god knows when, but he made a career out of this game. I don't have his skill but I have his mentality

 

[BigStar]

Cada was lucky as hell, he sucked out more times than I can count. It sucks that bad plays get payed off sometimes. And Ivey is notabley emotional when he gambles, the guy was the best player there but again he got impatient which is his weakness, but the guy has 7 bracelets and made it to the final table, which no other pros did. He is a multimillionare, w/even more money than any other pros...

 

[FloridaRob]

Bronson has made millions and gone busted probably more than any gambler alive. He seems to be doing well right now with Doyles Poker Room.

I don't see how the guys that play High Stakes with $500,000 buy in do it. There are maybe a couple that can afford to play but I don't see how most of them can afford to lose 1/2 million dollar in a setting. None of them other than the guy that owns Cirque De Solai can afford to play that high.

I thik if I lost 1/2 million in a poker game, I would hope there would be a gun under my seat to steal it back or shoot myself. Sickening.

 

[Hostile]

Hostile, bad beats, or even really bad beats are part of the game. You know Doyle's saying, "yoiu don't get old playing poker, you get old when you stop playing poker" The man is a millinoare who has been playin since his teens. He was even drafted by the Lakers god knows when, but he made a career out of this game. I don't have his skill but I have his mentality

I can understand that about bad beats. I have had them and I have lost to them. I don't have to like them, and I don't. I could never make a career out of poker and won't pretend to. I gambled with my life as a teen and in my 20's several times. I am not good at gambling with money because of having a wife and kids. It can adversely affect them. I don't mind a $20 buy in game, but I don't enjoy it much past that. I still prefer that people play like it was a lot of money on the hook. I know that is crazy.

 

[BigStar]

I get your perspective Hostile, I'm young and don't have the same responsibilities. But if you were any good would you have to worry about the same issues? Alot of poker pros are middle aged and they "seem" to be doing okay. I just think the game has converted to a young man's sport. You can't have guilty money in play and unfortunately that applies to most older players.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

I get your perspective Hostile, I'm young and don't have the same responsibilities. But if you were any good would you have to worry about the same issues? Alot of poker pros are middle aged and they "seem" to be doing okay. I just think the game has converted to a young man's sport. You can't have guilty money in play and unfortunately that applies to most older players.

A lot of poker pro's finances are a roller coaster ride. Many are broke more than you would know. Of course, a lot of the big name guys are sponsored and make money from endorsements. But the grinders... the guys who's sole source of income is from playing... they're down quite a bit.

 

[Doomsday]

A lot of poker pro's finances are a roller coaster ride. Many are broke more than you would know. Of course, a lot of the big name guys are sponsored and make money from endorsements. But the grinders... the guys who's sole source of income is from playing... they're down quite a bit.

That is why the smart ones like Hellmouth, Lederer dont play many cash games theses days they are cashing in on poker schools, books and endorsements. I read the a few months back that Phil H. made something like 27 million from UB, his book, poker chips etc. in 2008.

Tom Dewan was on Poker After Dark a few weeks back and he told LeAnne that he had recently had a swing where he lost a little over $3 million in one session.

Look at the WSOP main, that had to be by far the 2 weakest poker players to ever go heads up for a title. They both sucked, but where sucking out and getting cards out their butts. I dont care how good you are when you run into a guy constantly hitting 2 outers you are going to lose.

 

[BigStar]

Yeah your guys are right I am kinda neglecting the bad side to it, they just have friends to stake them to allow them a chance to win their way it back.