OT: Anyone watching the WSOP Final Table, Final 3 players?

[RU848789]

Boom! Fireworks on the first hand of the night, with Josephy doubling up on Nguyen. Really bad play by Nguyen, after Josephy raised to about $10MM chips, Nguyen raised to about $20MM and Josephy went all in for $50MM. Josephy with A-Q of diamonds and Nguyen with an A and a weak kicker (4) and Nguyen for some reason calls the all in. Bad, bad poker. Josephy crushed him with queens full of aces.

I'm about 30 minutes behind on the play, as I paused it, so I need to fast forward a bit. Always thought Josephy was going to win this, figuring Nguyen would eventually make some dumb plays. But you never know, as Nguyen has been very unpredictable so far. And Vayo has simply been playing tight and doing fine - he can win this too - should be a fun night.

 

[RU848789]

Wow, tonight has seen more fireworks in 10 hands than we saw in the first two nights of the final table. After the opening hand, above, the next hand was for the ages. Nguyen with A-J, Josephy with pocket 2's and Vayo with pocket 3's. Gets 3 bet before the flop for about $9MM each (Nguyen with $140MM and Josphey with $100MM and Vayo with $90MM, roughly, to start the hand).

Then the fireworks hit, as the flop is K-2-3, rainbow. Boom again! Nguyen bet about $12MM and the other two, predictably, called, both thinking they were slowplaying the nuts with sets. The river was a blank (4 and a second diamond) and Nguyen checked with nothing, Josephy bet about $20MM and Vayo went all in and Josephy called for all but $10MM of his chips, when he really should've folded, with $50MM in chips left. But kind of hard not to call there. Vayo won and became the big chip leader.

But then it got more interesting as in 2 of the next several hands Josephy doubled up twice getting back to about $45MM in chips, so he can now relax at least a bit and not feel the need to go all in every few hands. Amazing night so far. Still about 20 minutes behind the action - been too crazy to fast forward through any of it, lol.

 

[Phi_1055]

Vayo looks like he wants to puke

 

[RU848789]

Vayo looks like he wants to puke

Getting beaten like a drum - playing way too tight for heads up...

That last hand with 3 spades on the board and both with A-9 and no flush draw and it gets checked to him on the turn, he has to go all in representing the flush and if he does, Nguyen folds and he is back up to $115MM chips. But no, he checks the turn, the river is the 4th spade and Nguyen goes all in bluffing he has the spade and Vayo folds!

 

[Phi_1055]

Getting beaten like a drum - playing way too tight for heads up...

Unbelievably tight considering he has access to the hole cards (on a delay) and should know what is going on

 

[Phi_1055]

When is Vayo going to bet or raise on the flop or turn to take down a pot?

 

[RU848789]

This is probably my favorite night of poker I've seen at the WSOP final table (and I've watched since the late 90s). Nguyen has incredible instincts and heart and Vayo, while playing too tight has made some seriously good laydowns, including laying down the monster A-9 with an A-10-9 flop to QN's Q-6 suited, when the turn and river, K, K, gave QN the flush on the river.

Yes it was a great laydown at the end, for all of his chips, but until the river, Vayo was in the lead and I think he had to go all in on the turn, when he had the lead. Easy for me to say, but damn, not betting two pair heavy there just seem so passive.

 

[RU848789]

Fireworks on this hand? J-10 suited vs a pair of 5s...

QN bets $24MM into a $30MM pot on a 9-4-K flop with his 5's. Yes, he was in the lead, but he had two overcards on the board to fear, but he's frickin' fearless. Vayo had to fold his 10-9 there after that bet.

 

[RU848789]

3:30 am and still going. Nguyen with $267MM chips vs. $70MM chips for Vayo. Vayo just yakked on a winning hand where Nguyen bluffed him with crap - could have pulled close to even, but now down again.

 

[RU848789]

4:15 am and still going, with Nguyen bleeding Vayo's chips - it's not $282MM to $54MM chips with blinds at 1.2/2.4MM and a 0.4MM ante. Vayo running out of time for a comeback, but all it takes is two double ups to take the chip lead...

As good as Nguyen has been playing, he's also been running hot - I'm sure he's hit more than twice as many pairs on flops or turns as Vayo - playing well and running well is a great combo.

 

[RU848789]

Holy crap. Vayo with Q-5 spades calls a $7MM preflop bet from Nguyen, who had A-Q of diamonds and the flop hit 7-Q-8 rainbow (with one spade and one diamond), and Nguyen bets about $10MM and, of course, Vayo goes all in for $55MM and Nguyen calls as a huge favorite. Turn and river are runner-runner spades to give the hand to Vayo. Brutal. Right in the brown, as we say in our poker game. It's now $217MM to $119MM chips. Might have to go to bed as I have an 8 am meeting...

 

[Phi_1055]

Fell asleep on the couch and woke up just in time to see the double-up. This could take awhile

 

[cicero grimes]

I turned it off after midnight. Who won? Also Vayo is playing tight but he is playing a Helmuth strategy. I think he ran sims and believes eventually Nguyen will bluff his chips off.

 

[rufanpops]

Nguyen finished him off just before 7am eastern...he had K-10 and Vayo had J-10 suited and went all in, Nguyen called, flop was K-7-9, so Vayo had outs with an 8 or Q giving him a straight but got no help on the turn or river

 

[Phi_1055]

I turned it off after midnight. Who won? Also Vayo is playing tight but he is playing a Helmuth strategy. I think he ran sims and believes eventually Nguyen will bluff his chips off.

Vayo played tight in the extreme. Heads-up he preflop limped or folded on the button nearly 100% of the time for over one hundred hands. And he repeatedly called Nguyen's preflop raises and flop bets, only to make weak-tight folds on the turn and river. His play was trashed in real time by the TV analysts and on social media by the pros.

 

[RU848789]

Vayo played tight in the extreme. Heads-up he preflop limped or folded on the button nearly 100% of the time for over one hundred hands. And he repeatedly called Nguyen's preflop raises and flop bets, only to make weak-tight folds on the turn and river. His play was trashed in real time by the TV analysts and on social media by the pros.

Agreed, was way too tight. I get being tight and trapping a loose cannon player like Nguyen, but you have to be willing to mix it up at least a bit more with less than dominant hands - the other guy can't always have you beat when he bets and he was especially bad at piecing together the story, as Esfandiari described so well.

I thought the worst example of this was the A-9 hand I mentioned above when the flop came A-10-9 and only 2 clubs and was up against Q-6 of clubs. On the turn, when the king hit (still no flush), he checked in freakin' position, after Nguyen checked for the 2nd time in a row! How he doesn't either bet big, like $25MM (into a $30MM pot, iirc) or even all-in, as he only had $55M chips left, is beyond me - he gave Nguyen a free card and Nguyen knew what to do with the flush that hit for him, going all in and forcing Vayo to fold. That was horrible.

 

[RU848789]

Nguyen finished him off just before 7am eastern...he had K-10 and Vayo had J-10 suited and went all in, Nguyen called, flop was K-7-9, so Vayo had outs with an 8 or Q giving him a straight but got no help on the turn or river

Went to sleep at 5 am, but will go back and watch the DVR to see how it ended. How many chips did Vayo have at the last hand?

 

[knightfan7]

Just curious. I know the bracelet and title are the thing but how big a check does each walk away with?

There's always a number of celebrities playing. Any make it very far?

 

[Phi_1055]

Just curious. I know the bracelet and title are the thing but how big a check does each walk away with?

There's always a number of celebrities playing. Any make it very far?

The payouts vary a bit year to year based on how many players enter, which directly ties to the size of the prize pool. This year 1st paid $8 million, 2nd paid $4.7 million. Nine players makeup the final table and 9th place paid $1 million this year.

I don't recall any celebrities going far this year.

 

[Phi_1055]

Went to sleep at 5 am, but will go back and watch the DVR to see how it ended. How many chips did Vayo have at the last hand?

He was down to 53 million with the blinds at 1.5 and 3.

 

[dvb91]

Similar to #'s, I made it to 5am. Thought Vayo might pull off the comeback but was rooting for Nguyen. Vayo, after surviving the 4:40am all-in, actually was making a decent run as he won another large pot afterward, but just couldn't seem to keep the momentum. As noted above, he played a bit too tight and he'll be kicking himself when he watches the replay.

Props to Qui, who made the right calls most of the time.