mike mattusow vs helmuth for the final??... wtf is this world coming to hahah

Think maybe he was rated low in the odds because he doesn't play tournaments. Obviously, like a lot of the dinosaurs because tournaments have gotten tougher. Also, think he can still beat tournaments, but other stuff is more profitable with less variance, travel, and so on. However, he is a high tier cash player, maybe mainly in limit games and PLO. Think he does win a lot, even if he blows a lot of it.

Think some Internet players underestimate how strong players some of the top old school players are. Everyone respects Ivey who crushed online, but probably a lot of them could do well online if they put the effort into it.

Kind of funny with Matusow and Helmuth in the finals. Most players don't act like them telling everyone how great they are. Same in sports, most players talk about how their teammates deserve the credit and the opponents were tough and so on. That is what you are supposed to say, even if you don't mean it.

Hellmuth is just a beast and he cannot be stopped. He crushes the tourneys year after year after year. The new school are shaking their heads like "wtf! how does he do it" They don't belive in white magic. They are heretics

I never said it was a smart thing to do health wise but he did take 2M off Mike. Either way it was a stupid bet from a compulsive gambler who ruined his life because of it.

Great thing about this is that, in January 2013, it reinforces that most people still don't understand how variance works. And they said poker was dead.

Wtf
U want people gambling not investing

Ummm, this is NVG dude. I see that you just joined the forums ... this is what happens in NVG.

Citation for MM not having 100% of the bet please.

In poker you are only as good as your word. Clearly, MM has not followed through on paying a prop bet in a timely manner. The community should be aware of this for a couple of reasons: (1) others can demand escrow or just steer clear of future props with MM, and (2) sites, marketers and the like can make better judgements on whether or not to use MM as an endorser or employee.

I'm all about transparency and full disclosure.

Welcome to the forums.

LOL discussion of a very funny situation being described as hate and anger.


So awesome on a "news, views and gossip" board.

MM is a boss. Haters gonna hate.

This final was a battle of old school white magic (Mouth) vs the new school of White magic (Hellmuth)

Pretty funny to see Forrest walking into the Caesar's room shortly after Mike's victory

Does Forrest look somewhat normal now or is he skeletal? Hope he got back to a healthy weight.

I actually searched for before-and-after pix of Forrest to see if this did any damage, but found only a few of him, and no really good photos.
In the ones I saw, he looked just a little older but otherwise not much difference between 2009 and 2012. .. none that I could see..
==

For those who aren't aware, Forrest bet Mike $100K that Mike couldn't drop from 241 to 181 a year or so prior to this (actually 2007) . Mike won and I guess he got paid. (June 3 2007, to June 3, 2008)

And I can just see Forrest trying to get even with the reverse bet... and Mike goes and says "I'll give you 20 to 1 !!."

Looking forward to the show.

Dear Mr. Haxton,

I have nothing but respect for you and your poker intelligence but a hand I saw you play against Phil Hellmuth on The Big Game has me very confused. http://thebiggame.pokerstars.net/episodes/s1/w7/(The hand starts @35:00). I would appreciate any insight into your thought process in the hand and how you feel looking back on it after. Thank you and please continue commentating.

Way to go Mikey,,,funny when it got down to 8 I thought the coolest thing every would be Mike beating Helmuth in the final.

I can't tell what you're talking about. I'm not involved in the hand around 35:00 from that link...

He's prob talking about the K high call vs hellmuth which I'm sure you've explained 800 times.

Ah, ok. Yeah, not that much to it. I beat Q9 and some of the flush draws. I think he usually raises 2 pair or better on the flop or turn. I think he probably needs AJ to valuebet, maybe KJ or QJ sometimes. He bet really small, I need to be good under 20% of the time.

This clusterf*** of a heads up tournament should turn into an Ike well

Anyway, what happened in round 1?!? Cmooon broooo, I'm down $5 in Taco Bell credit cuz of you (not really)

Matusow should not have win. i bet hellmuth was mad as hell

Him and the rest of 2+2

Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to answer and pointing me towards things I wasn't considering.

No, but if tiger Woods won't play golf against me for big money, there's a good chance I am better. This is what happens with Durrr, Cates, Blom, etc. Hellmuth, Brunson, etc want NO part of any of them at HU NL Hold'em. The old guys aren't dumb.

Poker is full of specialists.
HUNL is just one small part of the game. Online HUNL is a segment of that.

Being great at HU won't help get you to the final table.

The fact that some people excel at certain things means little as far as poker skill, except in regard to that specialty.