Phil Laak - This man can play

[voiceofjoe]

I've been watching High Stakes Poker Series 2 on 'You Tube' over past few evenings and it has made me seriously change my pre-conceptions of how good some 'Poker Stars' are.

I used to think Phil Laak was an absolute asreole - always acting the crazy man whenever I've seen him in the WPT tourneys, but if you get the chance please watch him play the high stakes cash game in the first 6 or so episodes. His ability to know when he was beat, and to know what his opponent is holding is a thing of wonderment.

This man is my hero (just below GaF of course).


Also disappointed to see how poor Mike Matosow was.

Anyone else seen the series ??

[staffy]

Never seen it TBH. Might ave to check it out. Have you got the links?

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by voiceofjoe

Also disappointed to see how poor Mike Matosow was.

To be fair to Mike Matusow, and without claiming to be an expert, my
impression is that he's borderline manic depressive (maybe not even
borderline) and when he's good he's very very good but when he's bad he's
awful. So you may just have seen him during a bad period.

[FatBoyFat]

Got series 1 and 2. I hear series 3 is imminent.

Best poker show on TV IMHO (apart from the shite commentators)

[voiceofjoe]

Originally Posted by staffy

Never seen it TBH. Might ave to check it out. Have you got the links?

http://www.youtube.com/

Then just put 'high stakes poker season 2' in search box

[swampster]

Originally Posted by slapdash(BBP)

To be fair to Mike Matusow, and without claiming to be an expert, my
impression is that he's borderline manic depressive (maybe not even
borderline) and when he's good he's very very good but when he's bad he's
awful. So you may just have seen him during a bad period.

shows just how much psychology is involved. You have to have something quite special/abnormal/manic/ whatever you want to call it to win big.

[H-Bomb]

Originally Posted by slapdash(BBP)

To be fair to Mike Matusow, and without claiming to be an expert, my
impression is that he's borderline manic depressive (maybe not even
borderline) and when he's good he's very very good but when he's bad he's
awful. So you may just have seen him during a bad period.

From what I can gather, Matusow is a total donk in cash games, so it's not just High Stakes Poker.

Matusow, at times, seems to be a great tournament player, but when he blows a fuse, he'll play like the local fish. That's why players like Hellmuth continue to needle him, because they know once he flips, his chips are his for the taking.

[robilaruk]

HSP is excellent and worth a view of every episode

re Mike - Dan N make a great comment about him after he does his dough on a bluff
'typical mike, you know he will blow up'

and the others just shrugged and moved on (apart from Jen Harman who hugged him) - I am guessing they are missing him a lot as he probably pays their mortgage for that month!

The episodes when Dan N faces bad beat after bad beat after bad beat are awesome - he loses his rag (briefly) and yet continues to play well

re Phil Laak agree, different kettle of fish in cash to tourneys

Damo

[stereoman]

HSP3 starts on Monday 15th January so torrents should be available from either etaipo or one of the guys from LionsDen the day after.

Don't think Phil Laak would have looked that good if had stayed on for a couple of more hours imo as we'd have seen him getting outdrawn and get stacked against the likes of Gus Hansen (lucky for him he called it a night and Daniel Negreanu took his place instead! ).

Mike Matusow does indeed have a reputation of being crap at cash games mostly online and at Full Tilt. He's a manic depressive alright or what Americans will call 'bipolar'.