Topic: Poker
I watched a couple of this year's WSOP finals at the weekend. One was the NL hold'em event that James Vogl won, the other was a 7-card stud event. Both were interesting for different reasons.
From the perspective of card play, I found the 7-card one much more interesting. Being a limit event, there were hands being bet on all the 'streets', which made a nice change from the all-ins that you get in most NLHE events. I have often wondered what Ted Forrest looked like and how he played, having read about how big he plays in the Bellagio. I was very impressed by him. In one hand he calls his opponent all the way to the river with only a pair of twos and wins! That is an amazing read. He was a worthy winner.
James' NLHE victory was interesting because of James himself. He was very self-effacing. He admitted the large role that luck plays and didn't seem too excited. I loved the bit at the end when he refused to be photographed holding the cash in the air, saying 'I'm not going to do that. It's vulgar. I'm British!'.
Separately, I can't help remarking on the commentator, Norman Chad. I didn't like him at the beginning but by the end I was warming to him. He reminds me of Nick Diamond, the commentator on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch. After a while I started looking forward to his inevitable references to failed marriages. Great stuff.