socalpokerjoe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} socalpokerjoe) wrote,@ 2008-02-07 16:41:00 |
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NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship
It's that time of year again. The end of this month will mark the 4th annual running of this event at Caesar's Palace. Last year, I shared my thoughts on the invitees and even got on my soapbox about how Paul Wassicka was snubbed by not getting an initial invite. When Phil Hellmuth had to bow out due to another commitment, Wassicka was given the nod and then goes on to win the thing. How about that for prognostication? I want to give my thoughts on the this year's field and lets see if I can't just pick myself another dark horse this year.
By the way, I didn't watch a single episode of this last year, or any year for that matter. I follow it online as it happens, but when they air it a month later it makes for very bad television.
Here we go:
Category 1 - Past Champions (No brainers)
Paul Wassicka
Phil Hellmuth
Ted Forrest
Category 2 - WSOP Main Event Champions (winning this thing is like becoming the Pope, automatic invite to any event for life, imo.)
Joe Hachem (2005)
Scotty Nguyen (1998)
Greg Raymer (2004)
Huck Seed (1996)
Jerry Yang (2007)
Doyle Brunson (1976-1977)
Johnny Chan (1987-1988)
Chris Ferguson (2000)
Jamie Gold (2006)
Conspicuously absent from this category:
Chris Moneymaker (2003)
Carlos Mortenson (2001)
Dan Harrington (1995)
Category 3 - The hottest names in poker today. (Varying ability levels) All of the following players are rising stars in poker and all deserve to be invited to this tournament. These are the guys 90% of all poker enthusiasts tune in to see.
Patrick Antonious
Bobby Bellande
David Benyamine
Allen Cunningham
Bill Edler
Antonio Esfandiari
Gus Hansen
Phil Ivey
Phil Laak
Erick Lindgren
David Singer
Gavin Smith
Brian Townsend
Mike Mizrachi
Daniel Negraneau
Mike Matusow
J.C. Tran
Kenny Tran
But what about?:
Brad Booth - more of a cash player, but not bad heads-up from what i've seen won two matches last year.
Gavin Griffin - just won a WPT Event at the Borgata
Joe Sebok - had a solid '07
Dutch Boyd - out of the gate strong with 3 cashes already in 2008
Nick Schulman - best young player to come out of NYC in years.
Jeff Madsen - oh how the mighty have fallen out of favor with the poker muckety mucks
John D'Agostino - 3 words...WTF?
John Hennigan - captured a WPT Title in 2007
Andy Bloch - who developed computer software specifically to help his heads-up abilities
David Oppenheim - what's a guy gotta do to get an invite buddy?
Nam Le - very solid all-around player, lost to Wassicka last year in the Semis
Category 4 - Old School Pros. These guys have been doing it longer than anyone else in the business at the highest level. Definitely worthy of invites.
T.J. Cloutier
Freddy Deeb
Eli Elezra
Sam Farha
Barry Greenstein
Sam Grizzle
Erik Seidel
Howard Lederer
Chad Brown
David "The Dragon" Pham
Invites lost in the mail?:
Men the Master
Chau Giang
Hoyt Corkins
Category 5 - The Ladies
Annie Duke - couldn't shake an invite for Joe Reitman?
Clonie Gowen - steet cred is easy to come by when you're tall, blonde and thin.
Jen Harman - best player in the world with ovaries.
Vanessa Rousso - Poker Stars loves it.
But no room for:
Katja Thater - Poker Stars other lady pro
Erica Schoenberg - a.k.a. Mrs. David Benyamine
Isabelle Mercier - bitchy French Canadiens need love too
Kathy Liebert - poker isn't pretty
Brandi Hawbaker - just kidding
Kristy Gazes - who won 3 matches last year
Category 6 - Who the f*ck is __________? Here's where we start losing a little traction. These guys have the resume, they have the game, but they don't have the name.
Scott Clements - competing at the highest level for 3 years...but really broke through when he got a WPT Title last year in Canada.
Tom Dwan - Think he's Asian? Think again. Relatively new to the scene. Conclusion: he must ne the Tournament Director's nephew or something.
Jonathan Little - another young tournament star who captured a WPT Title last year at the Mirage.
Tom Schneider - journeyman (read: older) tournament player, good stud hi/low player, let's see how he does head's up.
Daniel Schreiber - Korea's best kept secret? Last years Heads-Up Bracelet winner at the WSOP? Maybe BOTH!
Category 7 - Falling Stocks. I wouldn't say these pros are on the top of their game, but they were good enough to get the nod from NBC.
Todd Brunson - too grumpy for HSP
Scott Fischman - didn't he loose to Kristy Gazes last year?
John Juanda - I envy his ability, but not his personality
Gabe Kaplan - I still love this guy.
David Williams - snore
Category 8 - Just because you have $20K doesn't mean you should be playing televised poker.
Jason Alexander - great improvisational comic, mediocre poker player.
Don Cheadle - good philanthropist, great actor, below average poker player.
Shannon Elizabeth - gets to prove to the world that last year was a fluke. Good luck.
Brad Garrett - more novelty comedic figures hanging around making a mockery of the poker world. (see also, Jason Alexander.)
Orel Hershiser - great pitcher, poker ability unknown. If anybody has seen this guy hanging around Commerce sweating Johnny Chan, get your money in now.
Jennifer Tilly - one LADIES ONLY bracelet does not a poker champion make.
How about celebs who can actually play good poker? Like:
Sully Erna
Ben Affleck
James Woods
Tobey McGuire
And finally:
The following players were all denied Visas (a la Amy Winehouse) on the grounds that they are annoying poker players:
Tony G
Dario Minieri - It's July, in Las Vegas, and I brought a scarf on my trip to America
Devilfish Ulliot
Andrew Black - ther's no crying in poker pal
Humberto Brenes - you loose to Shannon Elizabeth and you're off the list forever!
The entire Hendon Mob
I haven't picked a winner yet but i'm tempted to handicap this event at a later time and make a few friendly wagers on the event.
If anyone disagrees with my assessments, please, let me hear it.
-scpj
It's that time of year again. The end of this month will mark the 4th annual running of this event at Caesar's Palace. Last year, I shared my thoughts on the invitees and even got on my soapbox about how Paul Wassicka was snubbed by not getting an initial invite. When Phil Hellmuth had to bow out due to another commitment, Wassicka was given the nod and then goes on to win the thing. How about that for prognostication? I want to give my thoughts on the this year's field and lets see if I can't just pick myself another dark horse this year.
By the way, I didn't watch a single episode of this last year, or any year for that matter. I follow it online as it happens, but when they air it a month later it makes for very bad television.
Here we go:
Category 1 - Past Champions (No brainers)
Paul Wassicka
Phil Hellmuth
Ted Forrest
Category 2 - WSOP Main Event Champions (winning this thing is like becoming the Pope, automatic invite to any event for life, imo.)
Joe Hachem (2005)
Scotty Nguyen (1998)
Greg Raymer (2004)
Huck Seed (1996)
Jerry Yang (2007)
Doyle Brunson (1976-1977)
Johnny Chan (1987-1988)
Chris Ferguson (2000)
Jamie Gold (2006)
Conspicuously absent from this category:
Chris Moneymaker (2003)
Carlos Mortenson (2001)
Dan Harrington (1995)
Category 3 - The hottest names in poker today. (Varying ability levels) All of the following players are rising stars in poker and all deserve to be invited to this tournament. These are the guys 90% of all poker enthusiasts tune in to see.
Patrick Antonious
Bobby Bellande
David Benyamine
Allen Cunningham
Bill Edler
Antonio Esfandiari
Gus Hansen
Phil Ivey
Phil Laak
Erick Lindgren
David Singer
Gavin Smith
Brian Townsend
Mike Mizrachi
Daniel Negraneau
Mike Matusow
J.C. Tran
Kenny Tran
But what about?:
Brad Booth - more of a cash player, but not bad heads-up from what i've seen won two matches last year.
Gavin Griffin - just won a WPT Event at the Borgata
Joe Sebok - had a solid '07
Dutch Boyd - out of the gate strong with 3 cashes already in 2008
Nick Schulman - best young player to come out of NYC in years.
Jeff Madsen - oh how the mighty have fallen out of favor with the poker muckety mucks
John D'Agostino - 3 words...WTF?
John Hennigan - captured a WPT Title in 2007
Andy Bloch - who developed computer software specifically to help his heads-up abilities
David Oppenheim - what's a guy gotta do to get an invite buddy?
Nam Le - very solid all-around player, lost to Wassicka last year in the Semis
Category 4 - Old School Pros. These guys have been doing it longer than anyone else in the business at the highest level. Definitely worthy of invites.
T.J. Cloutier
Freddy Deeb
Eli Elezra
Sam Farha
Barry Greenstein
Sam Grizzle
Erik Seidel
Howard Lederer
Chad Brown
David "The Dragon" Pham
Invites lost in the mail?:
Men the Master
Chau Giang
Hoyt Corkins
Category 5 - The Ladies
Annie Duke - couldn't shake an invite for Joe Reitman?
Clonie Gowen - steet cred is easy to come by when you're tall, blonde and thin.
Jen Harman - best player in the world with ovaries.
Vanessa Rousso - Poker Stars loves it.
But no room for:
Katja Thater - Poker Stars other lady pro
Erica Schoenberg - a.k.a. Mrs. David Benyamine
Isabelle Mercier - bitchy French Canadiens need love too
Kathy Liebert - poker isn't pretty
Brandi Hawbaker - just kidding
Kristy Gazes - who won 3 matches last year
Category 6 - Who the f*ck is __________? Here's where we start losing a little traction. These guys have the resume, they have the game, but they don't have the name.
Scott Clements - competing at the highest level for 3 years...but really broke through when he got a WPT Title last year in Canada.
Tom Dwan - Think he's Asian? Think again. Relatively new to the scene. Conclusion: he must ne the Tournament Director's nephew or something.
Jonathan Little - another young tournament star who captured a WPT Title last year at the Mirage.
Tom Schneider - journeyman (read: older) tournament player, good stud hi/low player, let's see how he does head's up.
Daniel Schreiber - Korea's best kept secret? Last years Heads-Up Bracelet winner at the WSOP? Maybe BOTH!
Category 7 - Falling Stocks. I wouldn't say these pros are on the top of their game, but they were good enough to get the nod from NBC.
Todd Brunson - too grumpy for HSP
Scott Fischman - didn't he loose to Kristy Gazes last year?
John Juanda - I envy his ability, but not his personality
Gabe Kaplan - I still love this guy.
David Williams - snore
Category 8 - Just because you have $20K doesn't mean you should be playing televised poker.
Jason Alexander - great improvisational comic, mediocre poker player.
Don Cheadle - good philanthropist, great actor, below average poker player.
Shannon Elizabeth - gets to prove to the world that last year was a fluke. Good luck.
Brad Garrett - more novelty comedic figures hanging around making a mockery of the poker world. (see also, Jason Alexander.)
Orel Hershiser - great pitcher, poker ability unknown. If anybody has seen this guy hanging around Commerce sweating Johnny Chan, get your money in now.
Jennifer Tilly - one LADIES ONLY bracelet does not a poker champion make.
How about celebs who can actually play good poker? Like:
Sully Erna
Ben Affleck
James Woods
Tobey McGuire
And finally:
The following players were all denied Visas (a la Amy Winehouse) on the grounds that they are annoying poker players:
Tony G
Dario Minieri - It's July, in Las Vegas, and I brought a scarf on my trip to America
Devilfish Ulliot
Andrew Black - ther's no crying in poker pal
Humberto Brenes - you loose to Shannon Elizabeth and you're off the list forever!
The entire Hendon Mob
I haven't picked a winner yet but i'm tempted to handicap this event at a later time and make a few friendly wagers on the event.
If anyone disagrees with my assessments, please, let me hear it.
-scpj
