*** June 2024 High Stakes Thread ***

helmets should prob be higher and no johnmcclean in the list??

List needs a bit more nuance, but it's always fun with lists. Looks like you just ranked all the 20knl except nachos at the top and then everyone else is just ranked after their tracked winnings in usd (?). Beppe as mentioned has done very well playing terrible hours with terrible table selection. Darrell kinda the same thing but even more extreme because i imagine he won a looo. Some guys mentioned also have done really well outside of tracked sites which they haven't focused as much on.

Nachos higher and the bank man should be lower objectively and then a lot of them are up for debate

hahahah spot on

then again, those power rankings (especially from railers) are just a bit of fun, i'd like to read them!

from what i see i would put alex trevallion in the top15 as well but this could be total bullocks

Would have think really hard to come up with anyone that have been around even close to how long trev been around and he is def a top reg in terms of skill. He is for sure a hall of famer when it comes to 6max as well. But he rarely reg wars these days which seems like it's a big metric for these lists in nvg. I don't think anyone who is qualified to judge skill would actually want to do it.

how do you measure skill anyway, because if it’s about how close to GTO they are playing they could just upload their sample to GTO wiz, if it’s about exploiting then it would be winrate related which could just then be variance

I think we can come to terms with the fact that there are many very good players right now and no realistic way to rank them

It's funny to me how a huge ante just turns everyone into a fish.

Open limp TT92?

The goal of poker is to steal the blinds. A huge ante just makes that even more important. Limping in because 'you have good pot odds' is nonsense.

Luckily 4 of the 7 were whales and 1 was scared money so it doesn't really matter.

Solver starts limping a lot in big ante game with less than super-deep stacks.

It ain't about how close to GTO they are playing that's for sure.

Mostly it can only be for fun, but I think the community is extremely unaware in general of how much variance there can be in a 200k hand sample, and that if you sort by biggest winner you select for the outliers in variance, a 5% run is not unlikely amongst 20 guys and a 5% run for a winning player in 200k hands is truly outlier results.

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THAT SAID, to complement the boring Maths talk, I will give my list of guys I am truly terrified to play poker vs, for FUN.
I'd also say mental game is an extremely important facet of the skill at HS, to deal with the aforementioned swings. It's impossible to really judge until someone has been around enough to face a few major swings, so I overweighted people who've played a long time, as well as obviously people that battle more.
Note that I have avoided said villains for a long time, so I'm not really qualified at all in ranking, but occasionally I run into them with some other mates around too for a few hands:

JUST QUIT SESSION

LL: Plays such highstakes that I will likely never play a hand vs him again. Not scared.

DaveyJ: Making an effort to build a big enough sample crushing in HS battles that even a mathematician who has read Taleb would have to conclude he's probably pretty good.

Darrell Goh: Not scared either, doesn't give a **** about playing in the evening or vs recs, mental game god. Spoke some hands with him over the years and mostly seems to know what he is talking about.Also bitbcash coach


HANDS SHAKING[/B][/U]

Jasamgale: Always winning it seems, and always doing dumb annoying **** like tiny 3bs tiny bets, but mostly with extreme accuracy. also staying power and reinvented his game succesfully a few times.

SeaLlama: Don't really know much about his game but definitely not scared, extreme results, strategy seems extremely solid despite the calibre of oppo he faces.

BeppeBergomi: Italian donkey who is good at exactly two things, smoking cigs and playing poker. Discussed hands enough with him that it's clear I should never play him again.

Matt Marinelli: Accurate, smart, smart support team not scared, and probably studying more than you. Only thing counting against him is that he is american, but not a good combo to back yourself vs anyway.

QUITE TERRIFYING

Dudd1: good at padel, german, and doesn't seem to have any strategic leaks plus big sample of crushing. Would be higher but smart enough to avoid variance.

MILD FEAR

SIR HELMETs, MARKOS LADDEV don't really play them enough to rank, but not scared, sir helmets seems to have strong mental game to persevere thru huge swings

Barak/ Munez they both deffo won a lot of cash that's for sure

Kevin Paque has a lot of betsizes to be fair to him so deserves to be here

Jhon online every hour of every day, doesn't give a **** how many tables he has or who he is playing. bit concerned for his health but have to respect the grind.

RAISED HEARTRATE

Banker nickname is sick enough that it raises the heartrate

ohheycindy doesn't really matter what u think of his game, his game forces you to think. Also very good at 20knl, which is a scary skill to face.

Makeboifin might not be able to beat 1nl right now, focusing on tennis and f1. but give him a few weeks and some high grade snus and he'll be a formidable force once again.

This style of power ranking is what NVG is made for aha!

Ok fair, have never looked tbh.

I guess it would have been better to say that trying to properly incorporate a limping strategy in these games turns everyone into a fish. Which is cool to see actually, it's something sites could implement to even the playing field a little.

I would still be shocked if TT92ds was a limp UTG+1, no matter how soft the table.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $10/$20 - 3 players
Replay this hand on Pokeit

betpotcory (BU): $3,768.25 (188 bb)
AAFORALIVING (SB): $2,811.73 (141 bb)
Sunni_92 (BB): $2,248.25 (112 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($30)
1 fold, AAFORALIVING (SB) raises to $60, Sunni_92 (BB) 3-bets to $180, AAFORALIVING (SB) 4-bets to $400, Sunni_92 (BB) calls $220

Flop: ($800) K♣ 4♦ 7♠ (2 players)
AAFORALIVING (SB) bets $223.51, Sunni_92 (BB) calls $223.51

Turn: ($1,247.02) 7♣ (2 players)
AAFORALIVING (SB) bets $348.68, Sunni_92 (BB) raises to $1,624.74 (all-in), AAFORALIVING (SB) calls $1,276.06

First River: ($4,496.50) 9♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Second River: ($4,496.50) 2♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4,496.50 (Rake: $1.75)

First Showdown: Board: K♣ 4♦ 7♠ 7♣ 9♥

Sunni_92 (BB) shows Q♥ A♥
AAFORALIVING (SB) shows A♣ 2♣
Sunni_92 (BB) wins $2,247.38

Second Showdown: Board: K♣ 4♦ 7♠ 7♣ 2♥

Sunni_92 (BB) shows Q♥ A♥
AAFORALIVING (SB) shows A♣ 2♣
AAFORALIVING (SB) wins $2,247.37

May I ask which category the late Maestro might fall into?

Maestro was like Jh0n on roids, it was impossible to play poker for as many hours as he did but he somehow did it.

He had unbelievable belief in his ranges and no fear, and an extremely high % of nuts in small sizes, somewhere between quite terrifying and hands shaking.

Speaking of Jh0n, he's doing what he does best, although with extremely rare engagement of the timebank:

Flawless line

that ranking was a fun read, thanks elephant!

Nice, George. I look forward to reading that list again on GipsyTeam in ~5 days.

It's hard to have any precision in these lists because the variance is such a big factor. Even me, after battling for the last year and half on acr against a lot of these guys, I find it hard to distinguish between when it feels like I'm getting crushed or when they are just running really good. That said, to be honest everyone is really good now, even at the 2k reg battles. I'll give special credit to a few people who seem impossible to beat.

I haven't played enough with linus, jasam, etc and some of the guys who only play super high, so this is more for the guys battling at 5k on acr.

there are a few guys who at least in my sample (variance disclaimers etc) when playing them it feels like they are always running you over:

Marinelli/ ILuvAvrilLavigne91
DavyJones/CWestmoreland
SeaLlama (havent played him as much since he become the goat)
Pr0digy

sleeper picks : sighfold, colombian barcode

everyone is good now, but different styles can still work. for example Burundos, king of the nits, who one time hadn't showed a river bluff in my sample in 60 days (while playing consistently), has the highest winrate on the site. also ultimatebot aka ultimate nit can still win. compared to the guys above who are more positive or closer to positive redline style.

trev, who as much i respect his discipline to only play in games he is clearly winning (i wish i had this level of discipline, i would have a lot more money), cannot in good conscious be on a list when he has played like 5 hands without a recreational in the last few years and all were accidents or finishing the table.

-cindy

lmfao love that from munezy