he's human?

That video is my introduction to Mariano, and your response was the same as mine.

Sure, he has that proverbial "guy you wanted to punch in high school" look to him, but most people in poker are not high schoolers voting for the yearbook awards. If Mariano is hated, I would hope it's for something other than just looking like an annoyed douchebro or for whatever minor scowls he makes when losing a hand. No, if he truly is despised, let it be for legit reasons, like kicking puppies or peddling NFTs or playing men's lacrosse.

I've never watched his Vlogs, but on streams he comes off as fake and pandering. In the same way people accuse Garrett of being, but Mariano does it in a more transparent way IMO.

It's so blatantly obvious that he's being pals with the fish, the Dentist Daves the Mike X's that it comes off douchey and obvious. And a lot of his table talk comes across as awkward and forced, like he know he has to be "good for the game" and "Entertaining" so he tries to spark up conversations and jokes.

He'll be be part of some scandal in 1 or 2 years.

Not that I dislike the guy. He's just obviously the type.

Or maybe I'm just jealous of something (his run good apparently)

When he luckboxed the AA vs KK vs KK he kept shaking his head like it was such a stupid thing to win like that, which it was, but chill.

Im jealous of his run good if I could go from 2/5 live to playing 788K pots in a couple of years I'd be hated too

Wonder what stupid **** you would do while winning a 750k hand

Good point haha. Then again, I'm not being jealous. He runs like god on HCL, plain and simple.

the only thing that annoys me about him is his cloning of Garrette's mannerism. other than that he's cool to me

You can really tell that he like actively watched and emulated Garrett's mannerisms and table presence

Reddit is full of idiots.

It's this. He has a face you wanna punch but you probably have no reason to. I have in my head that he's a smug lil burger king, but it's based on nothing cuz I generally tune out when he's playing. Not 100% why he's a regular in the game cuz he's basically a pro grinder. Plays fairly slow, not terribly exciting, and doesn't talk much. There are hundreds of him playing at 2/5 and 5/10.

Most of the hate he's getting is hate, but he's a very neutral personality so it's likely more that they wish he was someone different.

Excellent post!!

It has to be tough for the young "pro's" in these games. For multiple reasons. List in no particular order

- they want to be invited back! - After all that has been going on the last 6 months it's very clear they want action players, the more personable the better. Most of the rec players in these games obviously are very successful at life and have plenty of money. They are relaxed, not worried about calculating odds, often naturally more social, play lots of hands, gamble, etc.
The younger pro's often are not nearly as social and unlike other games they have played, they have pressure to try to play more hands and force themselves to be social much more then in their normal games.

- the young pro's who win big, Mariano, Nik, etc . Maybe the success goes to their head and become a little too full of themselves, not saying this is the case, but super easy for it too happen. It doesn't make them a bad person. It may change who they are temporarily for the worse, but eventually they will get a reality check when things even out. These guys are no doubt good poker players, winning poker players. But playing these stakes, on a stream and getting some notoriety they can think they are superstars. Some may turn out to be, but it also could just be running good in the right spot at the right time. Guys like Antonious, Ivey, aren't going to to big of an ego not matter how much they might win, They have been there, done that. These guys haven't, it's new to them

Feel like some of those things apply to Mariano. Probably a good dude, but might seem a bit fake or seem to be trying to hard at times. Can't blame them, even the commentators on the streams make them out to be superstars after a few good sessions.

As poker players, all of us have probably thought of ourselves at superstars after running good for a bit. That's without being on TV and having strangers telling us how great we are. I know I'm guilty of this at times.

His vlogs are awesome, I enjoy them. And he definitely plays exactly like he plays on stream in his vlogs. He also hosts a game at the hustler. How can someone host a game if everyone hates them?

I do agree he is polarizing though because he is very self-confident and can be very catty to regs and good players.

Op are you asking a question or stating why you hate Mariano?

all of these reddit posts and now this on 2p2 pop up at the same time. Its really easy to make multiple reddit accounts... i dont think people hate the guy, i think its one or two guys who have an axe to grind with mariano , slandering his name.

Walk in to any room and there will automatically be 10% of the people you do not like. humans have a nose of a hound dog but they don't realize it.

I don't think they have an axe to grind so much as they are the type of people who will hate on anything that is popular.

Ngl it's 100% jealously. Mariano isn't that good, probably doesn't even beat 25z online but yet is making hundreds of thousands per year in soft lineups, easy to see why people hate him out of spite.

Never seen any of his stuff so watched 1/2 of one of his videos. He seems likeable enough. Pretty standard play for those stakes in stream games. Not sure why he would be hated.

I wanna see this Ian dude and Mariano in the same room at the same time. Did a quick search of images for both, date range between 2019 and 2022.

Obviously, there is a striking resemblance. Images from 2019 for both characters (Mariano's first vlog, Ian's tournament photo), upper front teeth and ears are eerily similar. Hair line. Hair style.

Here's the thing. If they're the same person, we're looking at one of the greatest con jobs of all time. To be able to put on weight, travel and play tournaments under one name, and then morph back into a different persona with the muscular body type would be amazing. To also be vlogging? Holy ****!

Part of me wants it to be so. Movie of the decade candidate. Most of me thinks I'm full of ****.

Is WPT Global allowed to be played on from the US? Rampage is an ambassador for them now and was playing high stakes cash from Florida. I thought they were banned in the states for real money.

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

Does anyone know if his exponential rise was just a good player's success, YouTube dollars and or a partner or stakeholder?

Good player who put in lots of work