some thoughts on this year’s WSOP

Based on odds alone, an unknown player will win this year’s WSOP.  However, if I had to bet on a pro to win it, right now, it’d be Minh Ly (unless he’s out already).  Minh’s one of the most underrated players and excels at both tournament and cash games (he plays in the big game).  For whatever reason, he’s not as feared as say, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen, etc, so I think that gives him an edge.  He doesn’t give anything away at the table and he can switch between playing very aggressively (borderline reckless at times) and conservatively.  He made it pretty deep (19th) at last year’s Main Event.   

Hopefully, I’ll have time to play next year.    

I watched this documentary on Stu “The Kid” Ungar last night.  Apparently, he was that good in poker.  He had that clairvoyance where he could sense with incredible precision whether he was ahead or behind in a hand.  And from Wikipedia, he was an even better gin rummy player–so good that the game lost popularity after he killed the game (no one dared to play against him).