WSOP - $2500 6 max...

[Talking Poker]

Now hold on a secon here. No one asked if Moneymaker had any skill. The question was "Did he get VERY lucky," to which the answer was YES. Now ask me if Raymer or Hachem got very lucky and again I'll say YES. You HAVE to get lucky to take down one of these huge field tourneys. That's all there is too it.

People always look at luck as sucking out, but it also comes in the form of not being sucked out on. If you get your money is as a 4:1 favorite 10 times in a tourney, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LOSE 2 OF THOSE!!! So, if you manage to not go broke in that spot after 10 times, you got VERY lucky.

With all that said, yes, Chris Moneymaker is a decent player - he's much better now than he was at the 2003 WSOP (IMO, anyway). But quite frankly, if I had to rank myself against the champions in question, I'd rank us like this:

Raymer
Hachem
Me
Varkonyi
Moneymaker

I'm trying to be objective when I do this too. And I haven't seen Varkonyi play enough to know exactly where to rank him - he could certainly be ahead of me, but I decided to give myself the edge.

[Aequitas58]

I'm not going to comment on your ranking, because how can we really debate something like that? I guess it's good you have the confidence of putting yourself ahead of two prior WSOP ME winners, but to each his own.

People hate on Varkonyi, and I think it's largely because he was (and remains) unknown at the time of his WSOP victory. I've said it before on this forum (and I'll say it again): I've watched him play very high limits against Phil Ivey in Atlantic City before and after his huge win.

Does that mean he is/was a great player? Of course not, but he at least had some kind of bankroll if he's playing 50/100 and 75/150 against seasoned professionals.

Just my $.02.

EDIT: typo.

[Aequitas58]

"Raymer is a beast" is the correct answer.

[Talking Poker]

And I've seen him playing in the $2/$5 NL game in Vegas (2004). Does that mean he is/was a gerat/average/mediocre player? Of course not..... but then again, where did that bankroll go???

As for my ranking, I think anyone who doesn't have the confidence to put themselves ahead of a number of bracelet winners shouldn't be playing big poker (sure, you can play, but save your money for small games and not the WSOP). If you really think everyone who ever won the main event(especially in 2002 and 2003) is better than you, then I don't see why you'd ever choose to play against those guys - not to mention the hjundreds and hundreds of pros who are generally considered far more talented.

[Talking Poker]

Man.... can you even imagine what this must feel like?

I got pretty close last year, and I have to tell you, I REALLY want one of these (the bracelet). It's gonna be awfully hard for me to get one if I don't play in more than one or two events each year though - that's for sure. Maybe next year I'll actually make it out there for some of the earlier events.

[Reel Deal]

Wow, I wonder how much Party had to pay to get their name on the center of the table. Anyone know if they get that on every table of every WSOP event? That should definintely drive some additional traffic their way once these start to be shown on ESPN.