Ever Played with a Pro?

Anyone ever played with a pro? if so..were you itimidated? was there presence felt at the table?..how did you play against them?

Not at poker, but I have at snooker. (For American members who may not know, snooker is somewhat like pool but played on a larger table with smaller pockets, and therefore needs a high degree of accuracy.)

I used to be a keen player and have won an amateur tournament. A pro came to our club one day, John Pullman (retired now, but a former world champion and among the top ranked players in the world at the time I met him). The other club members put me up to play him, because I was supposed to be the best player there.

He wiped the floor with me, cleared the table while chatting to the spectators and apparently not even paying attention to the game. It was obvious that the gulf between a good amateur player and the pro was just ridiculous.

The same would happen at many (if not most) sports, I suspect. Which amateur would fancy challenging Roger Federer to a game of tennis, or Tiger Woods to a few holes of golf.

I`d suggest that poker is unique among big money sports and games, in that a good amateur really does have at least a half chance to compete with the best.

I played against a pool pro too - Johnny Archer. We played 9-ball and I won. And yea - maybe he didn't give me his best game - but I am the only one on my team who beat him. I refused to play him again, told him I would keep my winning record forever lol.

Plus poker involves a higher degree of interaction than snooker or golf. Golf's really a one-player game isn't it? It doesn't matter who your opponent is because it'll still take you the same number of shots to get round the course.

I was at a low-limit table online with Gus Hanson once. Dont think I was in a hand with him.

I've shot HORSE against Mugsy Bogues and Glenn Rice from the Charlotte Hornents once. I dont remember doing so well.

Back in 1985 (I was 15 at this time) I spent a week at "golf camp" at this college close to my house, and the head pro at this particular club was great friends with Fred Couples - he had won his first Players Championship a couple of years back, but he wasn't in that "superstar" stratosphere yet.

Anyways, we got to play this semi-private club every day that week (barring bad weather), and one of the days we played, Freddie was in town, and played one hole with every group on the course. Even with those "primitive" clubs back then, he still hit the ball a mile longer than anyone I had seen in person at the time. He also stayed around and had dinner with us, while analyzing a few of our golf swings on film (He rated mine as "almost perfect" ) - let's put it this way, whatever you see on TV is what you get in person.

Does the self-described "professional" at the Mirage (i.e. old guy with bad toupee living in a trailer off of the Strip) playing 2-6 Stud count?

Playing at the same table as Ross Boatman, from the Hendon Mob at full tilt poker as we speak in a PLO game.

Not only him, you're also playing against Mark Strahan!!!!!! aka UKpoker - gl tb

Shit, no wonder im getting totally outplayed

It seems your question is aimed toward live games rather than online games. While I dont play much live (nearest casino to me is atleast a 2.5 hour drive) I have played a handful of them on Fulltilt, most recently Stuart Paterson

Paterson came from a $50/$100 NL table down to the $0.50/$1 NL table. He began pushing almost everyhand and twice I was huge favorite and got sucked out on. For instance first hand I decide to stand up to him, I have AK hearts. I call his all in he's got Jack 4 of spades. The flop comes Ad 5h 3h I got top pair and a heart flush draw! Deuce of diamonds on the river! So I rebuy and moments later...

I get pocket aces. Paterson raises and I move all in he calls with 8 6 offsuit. The flop gives him a gutshot straight draw. Then an 8 comes on the turn. Then a 6 on the river.

Stuart was funny though yelling "lets gamboool!" into the chat while he pushed/called with rags.
Maybe he was drunk?

Anyway I play against a pro just as if they were anyone else. The only difference I could see in my game is I would respect a known pro more than someone I've never played before.

Huge hand with Ivey
by Staple Gun on 12/9/2006 04:55 Full Tilt Poker Game #1378253071: Table Aero Jet (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - $7.50 Cap No Limit Hold'em - 5:53:56 ET - 2006/12/09
Seat 1: Warren4444 ($14.65)
Seat 2: nutstrut ($14.75)
Seat 3: Phil Ivey ($15.60)
Seat 4: xdrksthrx ($15)
Seat 5: XxPanchoXx ($180.85), is sitting out
Seat 6: nymits10 ($15)
nutstrut posts the small blind of $0.10
Phil Ivey posts the big blind of $0.25
nymits10 posts $0.25
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
XxPanchoXx has returned
nymits10 checks
Warren4444 folds
nutstrut calls $0.15
Phil Ivey raises to $7.50, and is capped
nutstrut: Phil i told u in April at the Bellagio we id see u on a table
nymits10 calls $7.25, and is capped
nutstrut calls $7.25, and is capped
Phil Ivey shows [Ah 9d]
nymits10 shows [Jh Jd]
nutstrut shows [Qd Ks]

Yes, when I was in the Stud H/L tourney at last year's WSOP, the second table I got moved too had David Singer from Full Tilt and Victor Ramdin from Poker Stars. Robert Williamson III of Full Tilt joined the table later but was short stacked and I didn't play any hands against him.

I did play a big hand against Ramdin. I had a flush draw against him on 4th and I was check calling him down. He was kind of short stacked and I had some chips to play with. I did not hit my flush, but I did managed a pair of Jacks on 7th. Again, I checked, he bet $100. The pot was too big and his hand didn't look that scary. So I made the call, only to find out he had a pair of 10s and I scooped the pot with my Jacks. He was left with only $125 in chips. So I nearly busted him. He doubled up the next 2 hands but then lost another hand and was eliminated.

I was not intimidated by the pros. I went into the WSOP event with the mindset that if I ran into a pro, I would treat him/her just like any other player. Because that's really what they are. Especially in a limit game.

The only noticable difference I saw between their play and others was that they were more aggressive (which you'd kind of expect anyway). Especially after the dinner break.

It was a great experience though. I hope to repeat it sometime. Everyone should save up the $1,000 or $1,500 to get into one of the smaller events and play sometimes. Especially if you are a big poker nut.

IVE PLAYED WITH CHRIS FERGUSON, MIKE MATUSOW, AND JOHN JUANDA IN A 50/100 CASH GAME... CHRIS SURPISED ME BY GOING ALL INN WITH 8K ON POCKET 33.. HE ENDED UP LOSING OF COURSE. I THINK HE WAS ON TILT BECAUSE OF ALL THE OBSERVERS TALKING SMACK ON HIM..

Tony G, Joe Beevers (knocked him out of tourney as well ) Mark Vos, Barney & Ross Boatman (the latter just knocking me out of the same tourney as Tenbob) and Mark Strahan was on my table virtually all night.

And then you woke up.