Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Some Prop Bets

How much do you want to bet that Pauly, Iggy, Otis and the Poker Prof will be featured in an article appearing in the august Annenberg Online Journalism Review?

You Lose.

An excellent piece about the poker blogging community and these four heavy hitters in particular, with even a mention of Bill Rini to boot. And some actually insightful and interesting comments from these guys, must've been interviewed when they were sober, lucky for us.

I may write more about that piece later, but on to another prop bet. In his last column Jay Lovinger offers even-money that none of the top 10 players in the world will appear at the final table of the Main Event before the London Olympics conclude in 2012. When I first read that I thought, "Hmm, I like them odds". Then I read it again and realized he said the "top ten players in the world", not "a list of any ten players of your choosing".

Because I think it's rather unlikely that some of the top players in the world--including Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Daniel Negreanu, among many others--will win the Main Event for the simple reason that they're too busy during the World Series to make a serious run. They're either playing in every single event or in the big side games or they're busy with business and interviews and bothered by fans...too many distractions. Too many demands on their time, both profitable and non, to really focus on winning the Main Event. If I could make up a list I might still include Phil Ivey, who can roll out of bed and win a bracelet, but I might also throw in players like Joe Cassidy and John D'Agostino, young guys with the stamina to survive seven grueling days as well as the game to make it to the final 9.

Well, that's about all the gambling I'm up for right now. Unless I go for the egg salad sandwich in the vending machine.

posted by Gene @ 12:03 PM   |