Friday, November 27, 2009

Isildur1 responds to being cheated

Update: After being a victim of hand history sharing at the hands of the Cardrunners pros (namely Brian Hastings and Brian Townsend) Isildur1 has issued a response (not really but it's pretty funny).

(original article when Isildur1 was soul crushing)

I am not sure why but it feels like in poker you need to join a support group if you are a caller.  I mean every book out there tells you to play aggressive and there is a stigma to winning from behind.  No one is playing those small edges more than Isildur1(rumored to be Viktor Blom) at the moment.  While he was crushing the biggest games for a short while lately he has fallen back a bit.  So it would be easy to say that he was just running good.  If you look at our biggest monthly hands the ones that he wins he often comes from behind, much more so than other nosebleed pros from what I have seen.  

It's not just Pot Limit Omaha

I can just hear a lot of people out there thinking that it makes more sense because he is mostly playing PLO.  Of course that is part of the answer but you really do not see the other pros coming from behind near as much.  Which leads me to believe that what they are doing is incorrect from an equity standpoint.  It is my belief that at the high levels what really separates the great from the very good is they are willing to call.  When someone calls you and you need to sweat two cards a lot of the time you might just find that you want to look for an easier spot.

Durrrr did it too

Like Durrrr I see Isildur1 going through extreme boom and bust cycles.  One thing both have shown is that they will continue to play when their decision making is questionable.  So it would be easy to point to those cycles and say "see, calling is bad".  My retort to that would be that calling is bad when you are playing marginally.  

Missed Equity

Poker used to be about big edges because those edges were out there.  There was no need to gamble even with the correct equity because other better opportunities existed.  With poker players getting better over time I think what you will see is that the people willing to take these small edges will overpower their opponents much the way Isildur1 has done when he is playing his best.

 

Tags: poker   calling   stations  

1 responses to Isildur1 responds to being cheated