The Joe Speaker Phenomenon

Joe regals us with another bad beat preamble to an interesting hand. I rather thought my comment in his blog was perspicacious. It isn’t that I’m particularly:

Main Entry: per·spi·ca·cious
Pronunciation: “p&r-sp&-’kA-sh&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin perspicac-, perspicax, from perspicere
: of acute mental vision or discernment : KEEN

I just like to use big words to look brighter than I am. I use the same technique when I discuss bad beats interesting hands of significance.

I contrasted Joe and Negreanu in my comment in his blog:

Negreanu in his blog was complaining about the fast blind structure for one of the TV tournament setups. He said it took a lot of luck to win. He then said he was a very lucky player which balanced the problem.

The other balance is that: if he’s lucky, there has to be this sap out there who is unlucky. Congratulations Joe! You are Daniel’s evil clone voodoo doll. Don’t think of it as a loss as much as another pin stuck in the old ___.

I could have instead mentioned this guy for Joe’s alter ego:

pes4fans Wins WCOOP #17

He took down $167,553.36. Of course it also comes with a bracelet and that’s why we’re all playing, right? Must be something to that as his heads-up opponent was opposed to a chop. But I want to dwell on a bit of the interview logged on Poker Stars‘ blog:

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

pes4fans: For a year.

Q. How did you learn to play?

pes4fans: I watched a celebrity poker show and learned the basics and then I started playing at PokerStars for play money.

Now I’ll give you the final hand from PokerStars’ match recap:

Both players seemed to know exactly what they were doing heads up. It was a battle that didn’t last forever, but very well could’ve had it not been for a chilly board. On a flop of 33Q, PeachyMer bet and pes4fans called. The turn was an ace. Again, PeachyMer bet and pes4fans called. The river was a six. This time PeachyMer put the rest of her chips in and pes4fans again called. PeachyMer held AQ to pes4fans’ 53.

I’ve read almost every one of the final hand descriptions we’ve got on the site. Things like this are in the majority. That is what makes poker frustrating such fun.

ADDENDUM:

No time today for an addendum. I have to run to the store to see if they got their new shipment of rabbit’s feet in. Meanwhile keep chanting the mantra: It’s all skill, baby! [Insert favorite Helmuth rant here]

Disclaimer: No rabbits were killed in the production of this blog.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 4:01 am and is filed under Journal, Poker Philosophy. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.