All the Darvin Moon hate is kind of ridiculous **definite spoilers**

Give the guy a break. He never claims to be a great player. He openly admits that he has been riding a hot streak. And he has no intentions of ever being the worlds best poker player. For some reason the peanut galleries are making him out to be a villainous person. He is a much more likable money contender than say Jamie Gould. At least Moon knows he isn't that great.

People have been attacking him for making a few bad plays at the final table so far and for getting lucky. For some reason no one takes into account all of the hands that the other 8 players have won to make it to the FT. You choose to ignore the hands they have come from behind and won and only point out Moons. For some reason you feel that Moon is the only one that has gotten lucky. To make it through 9 days of poker while building a stack against rising blinds, you need to get lucky. Don't ignore that.

Look at the two remaining players. Neither has played a great final table. For some reason most of you let the inexperienced internet kid off the hook and attack the more likable Moon. Both of them have made bad plays, both have gotten lucky, both are still in it. Give the guy a break.

He knocked out Ivey. That's enough for me to hate him

His snap all-in with K9o against Cada (AA) was, as Charles Barkley would say, TURRIBLE.

i completely agree with this. Who cares if he knocked out Ivey...bad beat ..yes...bad call...not really

anybody forget Cada crippling shulman with 33 > JJ??!!???

or how bout Cada again with 22 > QQ??!!??

i hope Moon takes it down

It is always ez to attack someone having success if that is your nature.

I completely agree that he has had some luck,but likely has played very well also to survive so long.

I laugh on the K9 hand because he made a play that didnt work,and he cut his loses when it backfired.I appreciate the guys laid back approach and congradulate him on a great finish weather he Wins or gets 2nd.



Snow

I like the dude, seems like an honest upstanding man.

The same guys criticizing him are prolly the same losers on FT who cry and bitch when someone sucks out on them.

It's poker

Every time I have seen him talk about the tourney never once has he bragged about how he is playing. Guy is just running super good and good for him.

People are already writing him off. He's made it this far, the worse he will do is 2nd. I wish I could finish 2nd at the ME. This is only the 2nd time he's played HU. Can't wait to see how this finishes.

Wait I thought the final table wasn't til' Nov 10th???? WTF did I miss?

This is my thinking too. I think he is handling himself with class. Many of the pros could learn a few things from him.

I don't dislike Darvin, but I don't want him to win. He has handled himself with class, but I'd rather see the best player win. Cada, even though he has gotten lucky at the final table, has seemed to be a good player.

1. I think everyone is taking shots at Moon, not because of his play, but the simple fact that him winning will be bad for poker. It will reinforce the idea that anyone with a buck can get lucky and win $8.5m, at least in the minds of non-poker supporters and Congress, and that the pros have no real credibility. I don't care what anyone says about it starting a whole new cycle of the Moneymaker effect, it won't. It didn't happen with Gold or Yang, and it won't happen with Moon. Plus the guy doesn't want to actively be a face in the poker world, he justs wants to basically hit-and-run and go back to Maryland to cut down more trees, and as a poker player I find that incredibly disrespectful. Lady Luck does you a favor that financially changes your life and you turn your back on her? **** Moon.

2. I think most of the hate thrown his way is because everyone is jealous of the fact that he has been hit in the face with not one deck, but a whole box full of them. The guy is catching hand after hand, and most poker players only dream of riding a 9-day heater. Its sick, and its easy to hate when he hasn't proven he can play a diverse game.


3. To say neither has played a decent final table is false in my opinion. Sure, Cada got down to 2.2m and was basically out, but he stuck with it and now he is heads up. I think this speaks volumes for Cada and his ability as a poker player, and I think he will absolutely man-handle Moon tonight.

Just my 2 centavos. Peace.

i dont get how you can say moon is lucky. its takes way more than lady luck to make it this far, there is some skill involved in it.

Moon has demonstrated the skill by the hands he plays. He does what works for him which is ABC poker. Only playing basically premium starting hands. You cant fault the guy for that. Sure he hit some good hands like the QJs vs the 53s and they both hit the flush on the flop, but everyone hits good hands. He's not bragging, its just a hobby for him, something he enjoys to do when he isn cutting down trees..if he doesn want to be a face in the poker world so be it, but i bet he will be back next year.

if you want to talk about lady luck, gotta give that to Cada ..2 2 and 3 3 taking out JJ and QQ..i mean cmon...ill be rooting for Moon to take it down.

Anyone who plays as poorly and wins like Moon and Cada on a stage this large is a HUGE slap in the face to Poker and the contention that skill is a factor. Can you imagine all the Republican congressmen sitting at home watching this and saying "See!! There's no skill in poker." Not to mention the fact that the guy who supposedly had the most skill went out 7th (Ivey).

While I don't "hate" Moon or Cada by any means, I am very dissappointed in this year's outcome so far.

I don't hate either. It's just completely disappointing to me the two people who consistently made the worst plays will be playing heads up to win the event. Cada and Moon played it like an online freeroll. Cada went all-in with A-J for his tourney life and ended up with just over 3xbb at one point. Buchman shoved into him with 5-6 suited and doubled him up tho. Then Moon calls Begleiters all-in with AQ? Not to mention Cada repeatedly pushing small pairs and cracking overpairs. It was really just bizarre the way it played out.

is this guy any worse than doyle winning with 10/2 or 10/3? If that is the case then everyone needs to be tar and feathered for getting lucky.

I don't know the exact circumstances of the Doyle hands, but that was heads up, entirely different situations.

Here's my take on the situation...

I think Darvin Moon is probably a really great guy. He says all the right things, and it really makes you appreciate what he's about. He doesn't want the spotlight, he doesn't want the excess fame, he just wants to play poker and go home. I'm fine with that. I don't think him winning is a slap in the face to poker or people that play the game for a living, in fact, I think that arguement is quite ridiculous. I don't care how hot of a run of cards you get, if you don't have an idea how to play them you will get nowhere. You have to give Moon a bit of credit for making it as far as he has, especially given the circumstances.

As far as Cada goes...I like the guy. I've liked him from the beginning. I don't really think he's played that bad. Sure, he won with some small pairs hitting sets, but as tight as the table was playing he had to think his hands were good. I may have been one of the few people stupid enough to listen to the entire broadcast, and in doing so I realized that I had never seen/heard such tight poker being played. It was almost frustrating as a listener, haha.

Your rooting for a guy who basically only played four hands the whole tourney AA,KK,AK,QQ ive never seen him play with anything less than AJ. and when he has he lost, hell most people could win a main event only playing those hands. The guy is no good for Poker PERIOD. Next Jerry Yang heck at least Jamie Gold plays more than the Main Event.

Ivey went out 7th because of an extremely short stack and a couple of beats, one of which was bad. His A8 against 44 was a coin flip (45/54), and he knew he was behind when he made the call.

Of all the players, I think Ivey should have mixed it up a bit more, but he played absolutely top notch. Every blind level, he ended up with a few chips more. Go back in the HH and see how many blinds he stole. It should be fun to see his hole cards.

actually he did play QJ,

if i want him to win so be it

My "most skill" comment was based on his reputation, not his play in this tournament. I followed his tough going through the live internet updates too.

I really agree with this one. Poker is in a fight right now to be treated as a game of skill, and players like Moon who make ridiculous plays like we're seeing at the final table are just bringing it down. Who wants the world champion of their sport to be someone who just claims to have been completely lucky?

I'm glad I did a search because I was just about to start this same thread. I'm tired of all the hate on Moon! During the break/lead up to the Nov. 9 in every interview he did, he made it clear that he felt every player in the tournament, not just the final table, was better than him.

This was often taken as him building this image for meta game purposes. Everyone dismissed his comments and decided he was better than he was letting on.

Guess what...he's not. He is exactly as he advertised. Now he is being ripped apart by the poker media as a terrible player.

Shame the devil if this admittedly not very good poker player make plays that aren't very good!

i have 2 agree.look how lucky cada got thats enough 2 make u sick lol

That was exactly what I was saying after watching the ESPN telecast. They always make it out to be a all in shove fest at the final table and lets see you wins a coin flip. It looks like a game of luck on TV. The whole time I was watching yesterday I was thinking this looks horrible for poker. ESPN needs to show more final table hands. The sense i got from listening to the bluff live radio was this actually was a good skilled event. Yes Cada got extremely lucky but there was also some moments at the final table where he played well, stole some blinds looked good. Of course ESPN can't show this!

This is the most ridiculous comment in this thread. To sum up your points:

1) He plays solid hands
2) He wins with those hands
3) He loses when he plays worse hands
4) "Most People" could win the main event playing only those hands
5) He's bad for poker/He only plays the main event

Ok some rebuttal to these points:

1) He's doing it right!
2) Wow, he should write a book. Or maybe he abides by a good guide for beginners to play the top 10 hands!
3) Shame the Devil! He has lost with worse hands?! Me too oddly...
4) Wow, I didn't realize it was so easy.
5) He owes nothing to poker. He got into the main event and didn't accept any sponsorship dollars. Poker is a capitalistic game. He came, he saw, he conquered (for the most part), he returns to the woods. Good for him!

well if u believe that comment i guess u will take it down next year lol

Yes much worst than doyle because doyle was a well seasoned pro and possibly the greatest in the world when he won those titles.

But I have nothing against moon, good luck to him.

Congrats to Darvin Moon on finishing second at the World Series. He made mistakes at the final table, so what, he had a lot of chips and gambled a little more. Everybody gets lucky, even the top pros do also. He is a rich man now and accomplished more than any of us will.

Darvin Moon is the man. So humble he wouldn't even get sponsored at the final table. Class act.

THANK YOU. Doyle is praised for winning 2 WSOP's with 10 2 off suit, but these guys are knocked down for their play? Poker is about situations, and taking advantage of them. Sometimes the cards fall in your favor. For them, this is one of those times. Don't hate the player, hate the game (but not enough to not play).

Luck is the overriding factor here - sticking to premium starting hands and playing ABC poker is only a "skill" you get to exercise if you're lucky enough to get dealt a lot of premium starting hands.

Moon also demonstrated at the final table that he had several major skill deficiencies. They've been thoroughly documented so I'm not going to repeat them here.

All this is fairly meh though because chances are we're never going to see or hear from this guy ever again and we'll all stop caring in a week or so

I think he really didn't care if he won I mean it would explain why he was playing badly. Hell he was already guaranteed to take home a lot of money by that point so he didn't care if he busted out because he had already done better than he ever anticipated.


Wow, with that mindset you will never become a good poker player.

Nice. Reminds me of a story about consultants.

A company is having a problem with an expensive piece of equipment. No matter what they do, it simply won't work properly. So they call in this outside consultant who comes in, looks the machine over for about half an hour, then drills one small hole. The machine works flawlessly thereafter and everybody's happy.

Until they get his bill for $10,000.

They are, of course, furious and resolve not to pay it if they can get out of it. $10,000 for one damned hole?!? They demand an itemized bill, which the consultant dutifully provides.

Drilling one hole: $5.
Knowing where to drill the hole: $9995.

Sure, it's easy to look at someone and say they just did the obvious thing. Sometimes it's obvious because we saw them do it. Sometimes (especially in poker) we *KNOW* the right play, but don't have enough discipline to wait for the right spot.