Freddie Mays in Vegas Part I

Lplate

This stuff has been fantastic. Poster of the year. There must be a cult book in there somewhere.

maloney333

just read this again some man for one man

POKERKING

Really enjoyed it at the time thread of the year for me!

fatguy

Thanks for bumping this. It was a great read.

Rocky Balboa 2

I LOVE THIS THREAD THHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSS MUCH

BigCityBanker

its just a year now since Freddie Mays kept us all entertained with his cracking stories from Vegas. Its taken me a year of intense contract negotiations but I have finally signed Freddie as an exclusive blog writer for Paddy Power Poker.

So from now on you can look forward to a weekly installment from Freddie on www.paddypowerpoker.com/blog

You can read Freddies first offering here where he talks about the November 9.

Ollieboy

BigCityBanker wrote: »

its just a year now since Freddie Mays kept us all entertained with his cracking stories from Vegas. Its taken me a year of intense contract negotiations but I have finally signed Freddie as an exclusive blog writer for Paddy Power Poker.

So from now on you can look forward to a weekly installment from Freddie on www.paddypowerpoker.com/blog

You can read Freddies first offering here where he talks about the November 9.

Nice catch

Killme00

I cant read PP at work, can someone post pls.

maloney333

Killme00 wrote: »

I cant read PP at work, can someone post pls.

6494 players are now 9. So as the dust settles, just what have we got left?
Well there are 7 Americans, a Frenchman and one short stacked Brit. With an average age of 31 there is a 51 year old businessman, a former Wall Street executive, the editor of Card Player magazine and a barely-legally-old-enough 21 year old pro. Only one of the nine is a rank amateur, the self employed lumberjack and wonderfully named Darvin Moon and he’s the chip leader! There is controversy too, with one player saying he will renounce the bracelet if he wins. Oh and Phil Ivey’s there as well.
Here are the lucky nine, their chip stacks and their early prices to win (subject to change).
Level 33. Blinds 120/240k, ante 30k. Average stack 21.6m
Seat 1: Darvin Moon (age 45) - 58,930,000 chips (5-2)
Seat 2: James Akenhead (26) - 6,800,000 (14-1)
Seat 3: Phil Ivey (33) - 9,765,000 (5-1)
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel (51) - 12,390,000 (11-1)
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter (47) - 29,885,000 (11-2)
Seat 6: Eric Buchman (29) - 34,800,000 (16-5)
Seat 7: Joe Cada (21) - 13,215,000 (12-1)
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (25) - 9,500,000 (15-1)
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman (34) - 19,580,000 (6-1)
Amidst the joy of the final nine as the bubble was burst, spare a thought for poor old bubble boy Jordan Smith, busted into 10th and clutching AA in the hole. He check-raised all in on the flop and must have been gutted beyond belief to see Darvin Moon’s pocket 8s and a flopped 8. That’s a tough racket.
The British interest takes the form of 26 year old “hit Squad” member James Akenhead, who is so good he has even been likened in some circles to Stuey Ungar. Akenhead is no stranger to big fields having come second in the 3929 runner $1500 event last year, the biggest field ever assembled outside the main event. James was incredibly unlucky in that event when his heads up opponent Grant Hinkle smashed all in preflop with ten four suited after an Akenhead raise. Hinkle must have either been sick of being pushed around or psychic (psychotic perhaps?) because the flop came down 10410. When someone shouted “running aces will save you” another 10 came on the turn to squash that tiny ray of hope. James has built on that experience and now that he properly understands the value of shoving his soooted 6 gappers he has made the final table. I shall be cheering him. He’s got the least chips and everyone loves and underdog.
In seat 5 sits former Bear Stearns executive Steven Begleiter. Steven would literally need to win the main event every year until the year 4000 to recoup what Bear Stearns lost from its peak but you’ve got start somewhere I suppose. My mother always told me to stay away from those smoky collaterized debt obligation trading rooms and to get a proper education playing poker. She was right you know.
Then there’s Jeff Shulman who said he’s going to renounce the bracelet if he wins. Asked if this was true he said “If by ‘renounce it’ you mean throw it in the garbage, then yes”. I like a straight talker and Jeff seems to talk pretty straight. Jeff is none other than the editor of Card Player magazine and he is unhappy that Harrah’s entered into an exclusivity deal with competitor (Bluff Magazine) to cover the World Series of Poker. Jeff’s parents own Card player magazine and being the editor I suspect Jeff might be used to getting his own way a lot of the time. Might Jeff be acting a little, erm, spoilt that he can’t have things his own way perhaps?
Moving from spoilt to “brat” one notable absentee is “poker brat” Phil Hellmuth so it won’t be bracelet number 12 for Phil. He eventually busted out but not after making one of the slowest decisions in poker history. Holding QJ there was a pair of 3s, a nine, a ten and a K on board and when Phil Bet 15k his opponent moved all in for about 100k more, putting Phil’s tournament on the line. Phil didn’t like that pair on board but thirteen minutes later he said “call” and his hand was good. Phil later said his instincts wouldn’t let him fold. So his instincts were good, if a little slow then. Hmmmm maybe need some new instincts if that’s the case. I mean thirteen minutes! Michael Greco can grow a goatee in 13 minutes! Boris Becker could get 156 women pregnant in that length of time (subject to sufficient availability of broom cupboards). Hellmuth’s elimination could be a blessing though. If he had made the final table and gone on to win the thing he would be telling us what a great call that was for the next 13 years!
It’s a measure of how respected Ivey is that with an average stack of 21.6 million he is a mere 5/1 to win the event holding 9.7 million chips. Compare that to Darvin Moon who has got his hands on 58.9 million of them but is 5-2! What price would Ivey be if the stacks were reversed? Ivey is chasing his 8th bracelet of course and I shudder to think what side action he has got running. Rumour has it that when he won the Deuce to Seven WSOP bracelet this year he won so much in side action that he just left the $96k on the table as a tip to the dealers. By the way, here’s a question - how many of Ivey’s bracelets are in hold em? Answer – a big fat zero. That’s right, Phil Ivey has never won a bracelet in hold em. He must be rubbish!
Talking of Darvin Moon, I know I said I’d cheer James Akenhead but I think I’ll pick two to cheer this year. Now I know he’s got a massive lead but I’m not being a glory hunter here honestly! He is the only amateur so I’m actually cheering the underdog (sort of). I don’t know anything about the man but I read this quote and decided I liked him: “Everyone at this table is way better than I am….something is helping me … it’s easy to play when you get hands like I was getting. It’s just unbelievable.”
And among all the endless talk of sponsorship deals, advertising, coaching and schooling, Moon said this about his preparation “As soon as I go home, I go back into the woods. When it’s time to come out — I’ll come out”
You do that Mr Darvin Moon. And the very best of luck to you Sir.

Four of a kind

I'm delighted for Will. He is some talker and a real guninely funny guy. Met him last year in Vegas after his posting here on boards and he deserves this deal with PP.
As you can see he has a real way with words and the stories from his three months last year in Vegas are priceless.

Fair play Will!

POKERKING

great catch for pp loved this last year had me in stitches think ill read it again!