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Channing the Chopper
Neil Channing played the 2 day, £300 entry 6 Max at the GUKPT Grand Final festival at The Vic this week.
After a very long battle, he chopped it heads up with Mark Banin, Mark taking slightly more to reflect chip stacks. Think Neil got around £9,000.
Marv.
YBA.
etc.
Comments
excellent. wp neil.
Was quite interested to se they did business.
Amongst many of the young guns, there's almost a stigma to "chops".
"I don't do business, I go for the win" is the mantra.
However, saying it is one thing, doing it is another, & many have never been in that spot for decent money, & when it comes to it, they are happy to cut a deal.
What would you do, if, say, you were even in chips, & your opponent was pretty handy, assuming a sensible deal was tabled, & you lock up, say, an extra £3,000 over 2nd place?
The figures don't really matter though - are you for or against doing a bit of business in these spots?
Ambo is busy this week, but I'd be very interested in his view when time permits.
The replies all make sense, or they do to me.
I just find it jars a little when folks say "I NEVER DO BUSINESS, I GO FOR THE WIN".
Because, in real life, it is rarely that simple - sometimes it makes sense to do business, sometimes not.
And to my mind, anyone who says they will never chop, deal, or do business, is not really paying attention, it's just bravado.
If the circumstances are right, fine, do it. If they are not, don't.
Saying "never" just makes no sense.
In Live Poker, in Vegas, I run it twice when it suits me, though I'd prefer that option not to exist.
You must have been playing poker 10 years or more to remember them?
Thanks for the kind words guys.
When we were 4-handed the prizes were £11,600...£7500...£3600 and £2500 (later two are vague recollections). The other two guys were Chaz Chattha and a fella called Will Davies. Chaz was a bit on tilt after losing a couple of pots to Mark and he was kind of grumbling under his breath about how bad Mark was and how it was typical that bad players get lucky (pros do that stuff too you know although it's clearly very bad -ev). Will won a GUKPT in main recently and was clearly playing with confidence and not making mistakes. My feeling was neither of them would want to chop and the stacks were such that it wasn't hugely likely (Chaz was short). Anyway, I was enjoying myself and thought I had a good shot even though Mark had half the chips.
Will and Chaz found AK and AQ in the blinds and Chaz was left with one ante. I got it totally wrong thinking Will was using this spot to make a move on a blind man and I 3-bet shoved 6h7h which was snap called by Will and his QQ. I made a straight and will was now very short.
Will managed to double up and played a short stack well and I used the opportunity to take advantage of Mark who shouldn't be losing big pots to me when he can focus on beating Will and guaranteeing at least 2nd. I took the chip lead. Mark then found a hand to bust will and I was 60/40 down heads-up.
It was now 11pm. We had played from 7.45pm to 3am on day 1 and now we had played 9 hours on day 2. It was my plan to play the main the next day and I was going to have to get up early as I had some stuff to do on the NFL before I got to leave home plus I'd arranged to meet someone at 10am.
I think Mark thought I had his number. I'd been winning all the pots between us. He offered a deal.
The maths said he would get £10,000 and I would get £9,000.
These figures assume we are both equal in skill. I actually think I was playing a bit better than him and he might say if we asked him that I had an edge but I was getting tired and I didn't fancy a three hour heads up battle. We did the deal and did a one hand PLO flip for the trophy which I'd already told him he ought to take (as the chip leader). He won the flip.
I was home by midnight and got my sleep.
I was thinking about this when talking to James Akenhead. He was just 3rd in the GUKPT main event for £72,000, the 2nd was around £125,000 and the winner got £170,000. When it comes to those sort of amounts then just winning that JJ vs AK or not getting dealt AQ when the other guy has AK or getting dealt AQ but hitting the queen is massive.
To an extent we just play tournaments to try and put us into the position where we can have a chance to win the big money and if we are lucky on the day and win the BIG 60/40 or 50/50 then that can be the difference. Obviously if you play 100+ live events a year you'll probably get into this spot a dozen or so times and hopefully, if you are a decent player, you'll win a few and lose a few and it'll even out. The problem is that we don't really live long enough for these big ones to even out.
James has played a few GUKPTs this year and this was much bigger than the ones at Reading or Thanet and therefore it was a good one to win your showdowns in. He has obviously run quite well in his lifetime in terms of getting his luck on the right days with the Poker Million and the WSOP November 9 but he did say to me he was only playing for the win when I told him 4-handed that chopping meant they all got £100k+.
I remember the Irish Open (just about remember it) and thinking that the difference between 800k and 400k was a stupid amount of money to play for. At the time though I held a 2/1 chip edge and I felt that 400k was not a bad days work and for now I'd just try to win and if I lost I'd have to console myself with about 10 years wages coming my way. I did consider that if we'd got even I might chop though.
I definitely have been one to play for the win often and I usually only chop if the money is not life changing, (a side event where I think the other player is good and I want to go and do something else), where I'm tired and don't feel like I'm playing my best, (easily happens at the end of a long event), where the other person is at least as good as me, (if I think we are equal then it is best to chop as it eases variance), and if I think they are offering too much.
I did turn down a deal to chop heads-up from Marty Smyth in one of those TV things...it was $250k to win and $100k for 2nd and I thought the fact he was offering might mean I could pressure him heads-up. It was only later I appreciated what a great player and a great guy he is. During the break when we were playing I asked him if he was playing the $10k PLO in Vegas at the WSOP. He said he was spending the money on his weeding. I bought 22% on the spot for $2500 and he went and won it for $900,000. If we had chopped we may never have had that conversation.
I do like the fact that tournaments are top-heavy but you can chop if you like. Flattening out the pay-outs is like forcing everyone to chop before we even start playing. The chop gives us a chance to use our poker skills.
Yeah I have although have took time away a couple of times due real life issues and ill health, I still talk via Skype on occasion to a few of them, Names you will probs remember ken SNAPPIT golden jaguar buffybegood crespo alas most have moved onto other things and have a real life rather than a virtual one,
regards
DM
Thanks for that hehe
regards
DM