What I Learned From Watching the WSOP This Year

Absolutely Nothing.

Ok, that's not entirely true. What I can tell you is that twelve hours of TV coverage of the Main Event can't begin to compare to the fifteen hour days times seven, that those that made it to the final table had to spend. And the fact that you were seeing an infinitesimal number of hands compared to those actually played probably didn't help either.

After all, it's TV, so they broadcast only the highlights, as it's not a live event. As most of you know, The WSOP ended in August this year. They do this to allow time to edit, and lay down the commentary tracks. That's right, the "expert" commentary provided by Lon McCaren and Norman Chad is all done after the fact, which is probably one of the reasons it sounds like they know what cards are coming.

They also have filler, which consists of player interviews, and, "The Nuts." Anyone that believes they can learn how to play poker from watching only this, is deluding themselves, and I've written about this before.

However, there are some things to be learned, especially when watching the antics of the eventual winner, Jamie Gold. Say what you want about his tactics, but they definitely worked. His constant chatter put some players on tilt, or at least got them steamed, and instead of concentrating on their cards, they were focusing on him. He was able to coerce calls when he wanted them, and at the same time, get players to fold when he needed it as well. Combine that with one of the greatest runs of cards I've ever seen in my lifetime, and you have this year's WSOP. Oh, and did I forget to mention in one of the above referenced player interviews it came out that he learned everything he knows from Johnny Chan? He was wearing a T-shirt promoting what I guess is his new site, ChanPoker.net. Jamie is on the front page there.

But I digress.... One memorable hand came when the flop came down three queens. Gold held a 54 off-suit, and his opponent had him crushed with a JTo. They both checked, and a nine came on the turn, and they both checked again. An eight fell on the river, making the straight for Gold's opponent. Gold bet about half the pot, and his opponent, folded!!! A lot of Gold's usual table talk preceded his opponent's fold. Had his opponent been paying attention to the cards and not the player, this hand would've and should've played out differently.

When the flop comes down three of a kind, usually the first bet takes the pot. However, in the above case, Gold's opponent was afraid of him, which brought the checks at the flop and the turn. By the time his opponent had caught his straight, it was too late.

Or, put another way, when betting, you're telling a story, or having a conversation, which goes something like this:

"I'm betting 3xBB because I like my starting hand. After the flop, I'm betting again, as I believe I have the best hand." His opponent might reply, "Well, I have a good hand too, so, I'm going to call." After the turn, you'll continue with your story. "That card didn't help you, so, I'm going to bet again, and you should fold." "Oh yeah? Well, that card gave me a hidden straight, so, I'm going to raise!!!" At this point, you might want to change your tactics. "Well, ok, if you think you have a better hand, I'm going to call, as I still think I have you beat." The river comes, and they both check, as they're thinking to themselves, "I probably have the best hand, but I might not, so, I don't want to lose any more money."

Gold's stories that he was telling with his betting patterns were belying the cards he actually had, however, he was distracting his opponents with his constant table talk for them to notice. Prahlad Friedman actually picked up a tell on Gold, and used it to his advantage, however, he caught a bad beat on the river to get knocked out.

And I'm sure most of you have read about the resulting controversies from this year's tourney as well. Apparently, at some point, an extra two million in chips were added in during one of the color ups. As of this writing, no decisions have been made about that. The bigger issue is, a friend of Gold's claimed he was due half his winnings, because he staked him. I'm not one to judge, and I'm going to leave this one for the courts to decide, however, I do remember last year that the broadcast featured Steve Dannaman's friend Jerry Ditzell who staked him, and they even played this year, and got a feature themselves. No such feature existed this year during Gold's rise to fame. What we did get were multiple shots of him palling around with Johnny Chan.

So, to review what did I learn? Absolutely nothing.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach. Next time, I'll write about poker. Be there. Aloha.

Mike "Matches" Malone

Editor's note: Matches Malone has been writing for us for a couple years now, and you can read his blog notes at PokerAllStar.com

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