True! and LOL

The last table was hilarious.
Loved the **** talking.

And the pokergo video player still sucks.
I have a subscription but dl the episodes because it's so terrible.

New series coming Feb 19th

Does Tilly ever win? They showed the trailer, and Laak was it in, could be fun nostalgia, I guess?

Love watching Robl, but as usual lately, a rather boring lineup. Some big hands, but you need more "Names"

Wow, you're not kidding. I know I've fallen out of touch with poker, but yeah, here's the Episode 1 roster: Andrew Robl, Jean-Robert Bellande, Jennifer Tilly, Santhosh Suvarna, Justin Gavri, Vivian Yang, Andrew Pacheco and Andrew Sasson.

Those who watch the Triton series regularly certainly know a few of the names that I didn't. Do the amateur people splash around a lot? That was one of the fun parts of the order seasons – with the exception of Jerry Buss, the hedge fund managers and CEO types definitely got in there and mixed it up.

Also, the Tweet heralds the "return of Phil Laak," but even he wasn't all that entertaining on HSP/PAD except when he was in a hand with Antonio Esfandiari, who I don't see in either of the first two episodes. In fact, when I think of Laak on these shows, I remember him staying pretty snug for the most part. Then he'd make the nuts, and always bet $XX,400, yet no one seemed to notice that unusual sizing pattern.

Laak was always an absolute nit on these shows, and was just non-stop self deprecating about being outclassed. But he'd do the whole Lodden Thinks and talk and engage.

I mean, it's been like this for a few seasons now. Short handed random whales vs JRB and a Pro or 2. Or the latest streamers

The thrill of playing poker like this has waned greatly over the years for a lot of both Pros and Whales IMO. Being 'on display' for everyone to analyze and blast is a pretty big downside to partaking in these games. Putting together these lineups is probably a pretty big task .. what is their enticement to play when there's almost no sponsorship income available like there used to be to offset potential losses.

You can see that a lot of these lessor known Players are already a part of the 'home game' scene with the Pros .. this creates good table talk but severely lacks the rivalry aspect that we've seen in the past.

While everything is relative to one's own life, this is still A LOT of money to be won or lost in a very public way. I just saw a NGNF episode where a Player bought in for the min of $20K and lost it basically the first orbit or so and then didn't reload while everyone else bought in for around $100k or more.

Phil Laak will eventually be in the lineup this 'season'. I certainly wouldn't lead out with his episodes. But he hasn't been the same since both his marathon session and taking an unscheduled leap off a sand dune have taken a toll on both his mental and physical makeup. Don't forget that he took an extreme approach to CV, even kicking Antonio off his property when he made an 'unscheduled' visit.

I'm not sure if Tilly ever wins .. perhaps in the private games off camera. But if she has the royalties rolling in to reload so be it. She does take up a lot of camera time with her antics, which fills the episodes for lack of content. Remember though, she does have a WSOP Bracelet which shouldn't just happen 'eventually' if you just keep entering events. Perhaps her and Phil quietly made bank with crypto or other investments .. which seems to be the way of the poker player these days.

With all the additional content avenues available it's going to be very difficult to put together shows the way they used to be. IMO most of the PG content is 'show' related and the other outlets are just 'games' that happen to be on camera. Both have plus/minus talking points while also diluting the opportunity for 'greatness'. GL

CV?
And you think his marathon session ~15 years ago took a long lasting toll on him?

During Covid he was super reclusive .. even to the point of letting deliveries sit outside for 2-3 days before bringing them inside.

Yes, there's been more than one comment made during streams by Players/narrators on this. Medically proven? Doubtful. It's fine, people change. We all know he's an 'out there' thinker and perhaps he lost in a maze of poker thoughts. He's pretty much always been an ABC poker player and with a much different Player Pool than yester-year it certainly makes sense to me that he thinks that 'his moves' are less and less successful against more informed opponents.

I think it's great that he was at the WSOP last summer and I think he was at a WPT event as well. Maybe he's killing it online in NV. GL


PS .. And no, I can't give you exact clips of these comments. I just remember hearing these comments in passing.

As long as the Simpsons remains on Tilly will be fine. HER acting pay and residuals are just pocket change

Laak was always tight borderline nit but with a good spiel and act. Its s and was a business to him. Very much aligned with his Walstreet background. Low variance grind out the win style has likely done him fine.

She was also a voice on the original family guy. Her royalty checks must be insane. Wonder what laak has been up to.

Oh CV = covid lol.

Listening to Tilly talk out hands while tanking is my personal hell
She never knows the action, doesn't know the hand, just 2-3 minutes of nonsense crap

You raised me... Oh wait, you limped in and I called. Wait Robl opened and I 3bet, or did I?
And then you checked the flop... "I'll tell you Jen, I lead the flop"
Oh you did! Then I raised?
I can beat a bluff

How come Robl has the nuts every hand he plays?

Tilly has her own acting royalties but even more than that she has half of Sam Simon's Simpsons royalties. She's probably making 50 million a year and will do so for the rest of her life.

lol@braclets.


I played with Laak a few years ago during the wsop. It was either 5/5/10 plo or 10/25 plo. he played for 3-4 hours, was quiet and basically played no hands. I can't remember if it was the 2019 wsop or 2021 but if he was deathly afraid of covid then it was probably 2019.

No disappointment in Laak's return. Surprised at the 200k BI. Very surprised he's considering a dog .. hopefully skips the puppy phase and gets a rescue or pound dog. They're great and I wouldn't discourage anyone from having one, just surprised as both Tilly and he seem to be clean/neat freakish. GL

Gavri running like a glacier

Yes .. some very tough spots for any Player looking to win a pot, finally!

I think the viewers are still trying to figure him out, including me. I thought he'd be a one and done Player, but it appears that the 'bag' has plenty of chips in it. He probably would be a decent addition to the table, but when you're getting steamrolled it's tough to add to the conversation.

I'd have to take a 2nd look at the JJ hand action but I'm not so sure that he's getting raised (x/r ??) by a draw there (against that Player) as often as he'd like to be. But again, our tolerance for coolers gets really low when they just keep coming and I'd probably be willing to GII right there as well .. especially when they've been RIT almost every spot and if you are behind you have 4 chances to catch.

For each time he reloads I guess we find out that he's got bullets and isn't just a flash in the pan. I don't think we really know who 'found' him and in one of his clips I think he indicated he was invited to play .. "When 'they' called .. ". Perhaps he just showed up at Aria and wandered into 'Table 1' with a bunch of chips. Most of the table appears to know him, but I'm not sure who the main contact is (which is usually JRB). Even Robl appeared to show some compassion for him in the 2nd JJ spot. GL

I believe he was said to be a friend or acquaintance of Berkey's

Phil Laak is a joy to watch at the table and this is a great lineup overall. The best part of last night's show for me was where they asked Laak what he's been doing in the many years since he last appeared and he spends 5 minutes saying essentially nothing. Poker is cool like that. Sometimes someone shows up you haven't seen in a while and maybe even forgot about or assumed had succumbed to the trials of this world. And then, once in a great while, that someone buys into a game for 200k. Haha.

Has Robl ever lost?
Laak played pretty bad, but I guess he was always a nitball. Folding QQ, an overpair to Santosh on like J74 or whatever

Yes, very surprising .. he also made some un-Laak type of plays on the Commerce stream where he gifted his first BI to Wolfgang Poker.

Some gutsy play by the 'silent one' as well, getting a couple of steals through.

It's never very good when one Player is just running the table over .. especially when it's the 'best' Player in the game. Playing, as well as running, good is not in any Hollywood script. When KQs goes down in flames after 14 cards are exposed .. not the most exciting. I wonder how many hands this group actually played in order to get enough hands to paste together.

They didn't really explain how Santosh got a 200k stack either .. probably a rebuy though. GL

Robl has the best run good of any player ever. Even better than Garret Adelstein. He even outruns Durrr.

Poor Laak, he showed up, just wanted the free pots and pans giveaway, earn his comps and leave with a free carrot cake.

Instead this young gun called his flop bet with nothing but a gutter and run down his set of Kings. God damn chasers... He should've shoved the flop, stop them from chasing

KK vs QJdd
AKX on diamond, TEN turn

Laak also flats an open in the SB with 99, JRB 3B to like 11K with AK, Chino calls.
Laak flats 11K

885r flop, just check folds

He also old man limp bombed AK in EP, Santosh called, and he 100K bet into like 80K on some garbage board. Santosh somehow folded like 88

The Brandon Adams call on Robl's 100K river bluff with impressive from a nit like Brandon Adams

Robl in the triple straddle (3.2K) with J4
Adams 14K with T8
Robl calls

A48
Adams 12K, Robl call

5
Adams check calls 35K

9
Adams check calls 100K

Yes, those were some interesting hands from the episode for sure.

1) When you're playing against a tight image and have the opportunity to hit a 5-card hand (and get paid or steal) then there's some floating opportunities, including BD flush. IMO there's also a very good chance that the River comes out for free when Laak isn't 'that' strong.

2) The 99 fold was in the middle of a tough stretch of hands .. and IMO he didn't want to face the imminent Turn bet from JRB

3) Adams has been playing more as of late .. including some NGNF where he made some 'embarrassing' folds to Berkey. No doubt he over-studies his play and picks up on what the opponents are doing as well. For whatever reason Robl just didn't seem as strong/confident during this hand, which Brandon must've picked up on. Robl's story kind of flip-flopped from Turn to River when the flush hits unless he has 67s exactly.

Or is could just be that Brandon picked this hand to draw a line in the sand with regard to his over-folding nature .. and felt Robl was capable of taking this line whereas against Laak he'd insta-muck.

I'd be very interested in some analysis on this one since Brandon doesn't block any spades either. Trying to range a Player like Robl is pretty difficult, especially when he has position, so who knows what a Solver would spit out. GL