2025 World Series of Poker May 27th - July 16th
This is an amazing final table lineup. Best in years
A-list poker legend the Grinder
First woman in modern era (doesn’t hurt she is attractive and a well-liked figure in poker)
Repeat final tableist, Hallaert
New age crusher, Hendrix
Everyman on a dream run, Wasnock
Successful grinders, Minghini and Dunaway
Euro pro representation, Bojovic
East Asia representation and first South Korean since 2003, Lee.
Also the chip distribution is very interesting too with the least experienced player having the largest stack at the start.
Padron was drawing dead to win once he folded the JJ pre-flop vs. AK (and potentially AQ). Somewhat understandable spot, but I think most pros find the call there against that stack size (think the shove was for <20BB?). After that he was noticeably tanking and eyeing the pay jumps. You don't win the Main by going for pay jumps. Whatever you want to say about the technical skil
padron had prior to this 13k in total earnings. I never blame anyone who tries to ladder that money probably really matters. When you get a high stakes guy stalling then it's a bad look on that guy cause it literally doesn't matter to him.
(AQ is snap folding if JJ calls btw)
padron had prior to this 13k in total earnings. I never blame anyone who tries to ladder that money probably really matters. When you get a high stakes guy stalling then it's a bad look on that guy cause it literally doesn't matter to him.
(AQ is snap folding if JJ calls btw)
Oh, I get it. As much as I like to think I wouldn't do the same thing, I can't really say because I've never been in a spot remotely close to this $$$.
I'm just saying that it became clear he wasn't playing to win. If you're not playing to win in this tournament, you're probably not going to. The amount of luck you would need to just nit it up and cooler people all the way to the bracelet is off the charts. Players like Grinder and Dunaway aren't going to let you have a smooth, comfortable ride.
I respect the ballsy aspect of players like Yang and Gold even if I don't think they were particularly great at poker (maybe throw Qui Nguyen in there too if we are talking more recent WSOPs). They recognized that their only path to victory was being aggressive and taking thin spots. That's why we still talk about them, and not someone who nitted his way from 23rd to 12th.
Lol Mizrachi was in makeup? He won the PPC 4 times mainly because he is a really strong mixed games player. Most of the high stakes cash games now are mixed games are mixed games or PLO.
Chip Reese won the first PPC and it was one of the first tournaments he played. Hard to play $10K buyins when your regular game is 1K/2K.
Lol Mizrachi was in makeup? He won the PPC 4 times mainly because he is a really strong mixed games player. Most of the high stakes cash games now are mixed games are mixed games or PLO.
grinder has been busto and super busto. It's quite the comeback story.
Grinder plays cash games? His past financial issues are public knowledge and he has talked about them many times. Plenty of players hitting huge scores during the boom went wild on toys (didnt he buy like a $400k RV?) and real estate and kind of forgot about taxes. You live, you learn. Good on him for standing the test of time.
Oh, I get it. As much as I like to think I wouldn't do the same thing, I can't really say because I've never been in a spot remotely close to this $$$.I'm just saying that it became clear he wasn't playing to win. If you're not playing to win in this tournament, you're probably not going to. The amount of luck you would need to just nit it up and cooler people all the way to th
Commentary on Padron’s fold seems unduly harsh.
Went to footage to see hand and hopefully what Nick had to say about it. 2:09 on Day 2 if anyone wants to see it but he said “wow this is very very close” and “this is extremely close, at exact border probably”.
It's definitely close knowing that the current chip leader is not going to be out of line there, he's got something. He did bluff sometimes but not like that.
Padron was drawing dead to win once he folded the JJ pre-flop vs. AK (and potentially AQ). Somewhat understandable spot, but I think most pros find the call there against that stack size (think the shove was for <20BB?). After that he was noticeably tanking and eyeing the pay jumps. You don't win the Main by going for pay jumps. Whatever you want to say about the technical skil
Those were butter soft fields.
Didn't the cheater Tomoyo fold QQ to a min raise at the start of the final table last year?
Yeah this main has been a blast to watch, can't wait to watch the FT. I'm rooting for Margets, then Grinder. Margets will have a tough seat in the FT with Hallaert, Dunaway, Wasnock (chip lead), and Mizrachi to her left, all with lots of chips.Grinder has made some great and crazy plays. Did anyone see this 4bet rip QJo vs Gregg, CO vs BTN (20BB eff)? If he didn't have a perfec
i've always thought deep in events they should redraw seats every break so some people aren't just totally screwed all day by seat draw.
I can't believe they used to wait 4 months to play the final table.. what drooler came up with the November 9 and why wasn't it immediately shut down in conception?
Actually like the looks of this final table. Couple hobbyist people even dunaway even if he won the monster stack few top pros and some "grinders". Maybe margets is kind of hobbyist as well?
Dunaway “works in the oil industry in Midland, TX” so he probably makes Texas Mike look like a kid buying in with his student loan check, but he did in fact call poker a “hobby”.
The espn episodes were heavily edited and ran months after the actual events. Pretty sure this was done to build up the anticipation and have the final table coverage run pretty close to the actual date, and they promoted the hell out of it. I’ve heard Jesse Sylvia, who was second to Merson in 2012, say how much he liked the format because they could organize a huge number of friends and family to rail. Overall I think it was pretty successful, if having the obvious downside that the competitive dynamics shifted by everyone getting coaching in the intervening months.
ETA: re November 9
Overall I think it was pretty successful, if having the obvious downside that the competitive dynamics shifted by everyone getting coaching in the intervening months.
They have one day for coaching. I don't know why the Grinder hasn't gotten back to me about my offer to sell a short stack MTT coaching package!
The Blez interview was hilarious - I help the grinder with the little things like stack sizes, pay jumps…
I can't believe they used to wait 4 months to play the final table.. what drooler came up with the November 9 and why wasn't it immediately shut down in conception?
I am surprised that he was deemed important enough to have a Wikipedia page. I suspect he created it himself, which is whatever. Promoters gonna promote.
In 2008, Pollack revised the tournament's schedule and introduced a four-month break after the finalists had been determined in July. The hiatus was intended to help build suspense and allow the finalists to promote themselves as "poker ambassadors" before play resumed in November. The final two days of play were edited down to a two-hour show and broadcast on ESPN. The resulting finalists were given the nickname "The November Nine"
The idea was that the players would be able to go on the talk show circuit, promote the WSOP, build up their individual brands, and acquire extra sponsors.
A moderate failure in hindsight? My recollection is that a few players did successfully obtain some bonus sponsorships in the window between making and playing the FT. I think Steven Begleiter had one in 2009, which is probably the patch over his right side chest here.
That same year in 2009, ESPN had a weekly streaming video series on their website with Bernard Lee and a young hostess (forgot her name) where they would discuss the FT and hype up the participants. Ultimately, I just don't think the whole November Nine thing drove engagement like they hoped, even if it resulted in some cool visuals in the Penn & Teller theater, like the Dennis Phillips truck horn crowd. I don't think The Today Show is itching to interview some random luckbox donk who will vanish into obscurity a year or two later.
That ESPN scrapped the idea after 2016 suggests it wasn't doing gangbusters ratings. I don't think it ever penetrated the public consciousness. Consider that winners like Moneymaker, Raymer, and Hachem are still much more widely known than Heinz, Merson, and Riess. A lot of that is Black Friday, but I also think we can say that ESPN fumbled the WSOP brand in certain ways. The November Nine concept didn't elevate the participants in the way that they likely imagined.
I mentioned this elsewhere, but I recently watched some clips from the Moon FT and the atmosphere with the huge crowd was incredible, we’ll never see 1/1000000th of that again, especially with ESPN pimping it nonstop for four months. Nothing on ESPN or anywhere else Ive seen at the moment.
I hear ya kinda on redrawing after the breaks, and maybe online, but irl it’s a hard yeah naw wahwah from me. Plus moving all the stacks around lol.
RIP Darvin :(
Opinions vary but I think the best atmosphere was around back in 2005
Small intimate crowd that was mostly blacked out but the table was highlighted. In general it was quieter so we could feel the tension.
Now the rail is too much part of the show. Most of the time it’s just annoying background chatter
The Blez interview was hilarious - I help the grinder with the little things like stack sizes, pay jumps…
Yeah what the hell was that all about? The Grinder is arguably the best tournament player of all time and very successful
Yeah what the hell was that all about? The Grinder is arguably the best tournament player of all time and very successful
But obviously not an expert on short stack play.
I am surprised that he was deemed important enough to have a Wikipedia page. I suspect he created it himself, which is whatever. Promoters gonna promote.
The idea was that the players would be able to go on the talk show circuit, promote the WSOP, build up their individual brands, and acquire extra sponsors.A moderate failure in hindYeah in hindsight it was kind of a crazy idea. July is the perfect time to have the final table, during an otherwise dead zone in the sports calendar (when it was on ESPN). Having a 4 month break really didn't make any sense.
IIRC, Ryan Riess did get some play on ESPN after he won thanks mainly to his Detroit Lions gear. He was on college gameday shortly after his win at the Big Te championship game in 2013. But he was the only one who made any inroads into the mainstream.
Seriously. It’s like his NL game hasnt progressed at all since the last time he FTed the main - jamming 20bb UTG with AJo?
Watching this year brings back a lot of memories. I used to play at the Hallandale private game in S Fla back in 2004/2005 (I think), before it got shut down. There were a couple occasions where our peaceful little 20/40 limit holdem game would get overrun by the Mizrachi crew late into the night. It would be Mike, Chino and another guy who already had some tourney chops/success (forget his name-- he looked a little bit like Ben Tollerene but obviously couldn't be/wasn't him), and right around the time when Mike and Chino started blowing up the tournament scene. I thought I had some tenuous handle on tight/aggressive and how to play limit holdem but I didn't stand a chance, especially against Chino and the other guy (anyone can place him? He was a regular in their crew), just unrelenting aggression. I had never seen anything like it at the time. Anyway, quite nostalgic seeing The Grinder's incredible run this year at the WSOP.
