Is Jacobson the best player to win WSOP Main Event in the last decade?

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I thought Jacobson was extremely solid throughout the final table. I liked his table demeanor and decision making process. He seemed to be in complete control on the biggest stage in poker. Having been under 10 million at one point he also played the short stack without getting impatient and even at the point he was under 20 big blinds he picked his spots wisely. Considering he had over 4 million in tournament winnings prior to his score his resume would seem to lead to the assumption he is the most skilled wsop main event champ in recent history?

Other champs since 2004 : Greg Raymer Joe Hachem Jamie Gold
Jerry Yang Peter Eastgate Joe Cada Piuz Heinz Greg Merson Ryan Riess Jonathan Duhamel
 
rancidcarp

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he has a new fan in me. i watched every move from him being short stacked on. never lost his cool like the dutchman did. never had and any tells like stephenson did. awesome poker display. best performance i've ever seen.
 
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For some reason throughout day 1 of the final table I was rooting for van hoof to melt down. I don't know why because he seems perfectly likable - I guess it was just the goofy smile every time he won a pot.
 
A2345Razz

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Relative to each other's games in a vacuum, sure, probably.

Relative to the fields they faces, almost certainly not....probably Raymer or someone else.


The game/field quality is so damn night and day different from when I first started watching poker....its almost impossible anyone from 10 yrs ago could compete with Jacobson who is a worldclass player.
 
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I would say Hachem and Merson are both in his class - time will only tell who is the best Hachem won WPT title with a stacked final table after his main event. Raymer had the top 20 finish the following year but I don't consider him world class - he plays in the HSPT or MSPT events now so I don't think he has been crushing high stakes. Merson - I think I mostly cash games -- Riess and Cada both from Michigan and I have played consistently at one of the rooms where he used to deal - have heard both are genuinely nice guys but haven't really done anything on the highest profile tourneys since - I think Cada plays one of the mid stakes tours in the Midwest too.
 
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I'm planning on watching this year's ME final table soon. But without seeing Jacobson in action, I'd rate Greg Merson as the most skilled poker player to win the Main Event of the players you listed. The final three was a marathon and a testament to all 3's discipline and patience - he pulled the trigger with the QJ all in river hero bluff when he knew Balsiger couldn't call, took a massive bad beat with KK against Silva's AK and still stayed in complete control. Played almost every hand heads up optimally, never paid off Silva with second best hands. Almost always knew exactly where he was at.

To reach that far he lost with top pair + flush draw against top set, and came back from like 5 bbs. More than a few hero calls throughout the tourney, like middle pair on a 4-to-a-straight board against Silva. Classic chip and a chair comeback story. Whereas tons of players got lucky, Merson overcame bad luck to get in there (losing with KK the final 3, I can't even imagine the heartbreak of something like that), and nearly always got his money in well from the final 2 tables onward (AK vs Kuroknoi's KQ for example). He value-bet thin and got calls from second best hands so many times.

I think this overall makes him the best Main Event winner. Just seems like he had to rely on his skill more than luck, and had to overcome the worst adversity/variance to take the title. He actually played poker. He dealt with nits, ultra-LAGs, TAGs, all of them pretty casually.

Raymer and Hachem were both class.

Cada was atrocious and objectively the luckiest player to ever play that event. It's a black stain on the Main Event that someone can get their money in drawing to 2 outs preflop twice at the final table and end up winning. Even Darvin Moon at least took a flop before cracking overpairs and sets and bluffed off ace highs when he missed the flop.

I actually think Yang was underrated - played unsophisticated Kill Phil style but did so effectively, bluffed overpairs off hands, correctly made a big call against Khan with JJ on King high flop.

Gold was special, but again insanely lucky. He never ran into adversity, but using the deepstack is its own skill.

Eastgate is another deserved winner - he was lucky in the sense that Dennis Philips and another final tablist randomly shoved their stacks with air into his full house/set, but he generally got his money good every time.

Puis Heinz pretty much played like a maniac and happened to have the best hand when it mattered. Turned the best hand into a bluff (two pair on a flush/4-to-a-straight board), it just seemed like he didn't know what he was doing, and his lack of any follow-up results whatsoever, whether tourney or cash games, validates this. He didn't know where he was in the hands in the same way Raymer or Merson did.

Riess played well. I think Jay Farber was the better player and outplayed him, but Riess ran hot enough that he overcame it. Kind of nondescript, just another guy who won the Main Event.

Duhamel played well too. Did crack Affleck's aces, but did so with 10 outs, and did benefit from Cheong bluffing off with A7. Mixed it up well, played creatively, I thought he was a great winner.
 
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Kenzie 96

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He impressed all the commentators, but, one tourney meh.
 
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Jacobson is a solid player, i really did not see any weakness in his game.
 
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im surprised raymer gets no love. the guy finished 25th the next year. and has added atleast 4 other titles since. and hachem? lol im not saying he is a bad player but def isnt world class
 
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he has a new fan in me. i watched every move from him being short stacked on. never lost his cool like the dutchman did. never had and any tells like stephenson did. awesome poker display. best performance i've ever seen.

What was Stephenson's tell ?
 
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Jacobson deserved to win the WSOP main event because the way he fine plays. But we can´t considerer neither Jacobson or other WSOP winner as the best player in the last decade because it's not fair for the other great poker players.
 
rancidcarp

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i also noticed that they said he eats organic food and takes care of himself. something i recently started doing. you could tell it made a difference. he wasnt tired like the other 3 had the same posture throughout. you cant play half dead.
 
A2345Razz

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im surprised raymer gets no love. the guy finished 25th the next year. and has added atleast 4 other titles since. and hachem? lol im not saying he is a bad player but def isnt world class

Look at my post #4.

He was dominant at the time....

He also played all the games, and beat-or at least held his own- in big mixed games on the east coast in the 150/300 range.
 
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I would put Hachem above Raymer no contest but I don't think either of them would top this list. It is definitely either Merson or Jacobson imo. I do give some props to Duhamel showing great improvement recently and having some decent results in high rollers and other tourneys. I truly thought Raymer was a luckbox when he won - but truly impressive the following year. Cada complete luckbox hit two two outers that I recall for massive pots. Gold Moneymaker and Yang were all more luck than skill and Gold and Yang are pretty much obsolete now - Moneymaker has improved and hung around but no major titles.
 
Jacki Burkhart

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I think jacobsen is easily the best tourney player among the last several ME champs.

It's not just about this one tourney in a vacuum either (which he played flawlessly). Look up his results. He was an accomplished player BEFORE the main event.
 
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Obviously one of the best, I think Greg Merson is very good though too.
 
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Oh wait I forgot about Darvin Moon - lol I can't even imagine where he might be - seemed legitimately a nice guy but Im glad he didn't win, I think it would have been way too much for his lifestyle, but maybe he is happier than like 75 percent of high stakes poker players living a quiet unassuming life.
 
Carl Trooper

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I would put Hachem above Raymer no contest but I don't think either of them would top this list. It is definitely either Merson or Jacobson imo. I do give some props to Duhamel showing great improvement recently and having some decent results in high rollers and other tourneys. I truly thought Raymer was a luckbox when he won - but truly impressive the following year. Cada complete luckbox hit two two outers that I recall for massive pots. Gold Moneymaker and Yang were all more luck than skill and Gold and Yang are pretty much obsolete now - Moneymaker has improved and hung around but no major titles.



No way was Hachem better than Raymer. If you recall, raymer also got it in as a HUGEEEE favorite the year he took 25th. He seriously could have made back 2 back FTs with a huge stack had he not lost the 75/25 flip or whatever it was.
 
whowantwhat

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Wow I'm watching the WSOP right now... I can't believe that Jacobson will end up winning. He has less than 10bb and Van Hoof has like 100+ million chips. How in the world will he pull that off

Edit: Does anyone notice how the announcer is confusing everyone's names and hands? It seems like he's developing some sort of neurological issue...
 
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18 times went allin uncontested so a lot of lucky too

the first part everything was about van hoof (when he was the lucky one) but then everything turn to the swede and finish the last hand winning over A9s in the heads up, but how many times this guy shoved with hands worse than that in table with 5 or 6 players??

i saw good players than didnt reach the final table like smith (busted at 20) and Luis xx (busted in the bubble), and kernan busted 21,

and i agree, jacobson and stephenson were the best in the final table, which was a great final table, and espn was great too,
 
BiliousBetil

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Just so hard to say. Consider that a well-known player and author pronounced Joe Cadda as the best ever after his win. This seemed dubious until this year when Cadda became the first main even champion to win a second bracelet in the post-Moneymaker era.

All in all, this kind of conversation is great as it raises poker to the level of great bar debates such as: 'were the 1927 Yankees the best ever' or 'Bonds vs Ruth' (go ahead, start that one in a bar, I dare you)!

Cheers!
 
Jacki Burkhart

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I disagree that Jacobsen and Stephenson were the best at the final table. Stephenson played pretty "blah" IMO, and he got like 9 pocket pairs heads up while Jacobsen got only 1 pocket pair and Jacobsen still schooled him.

The best players at the Final table were, IMO

#1 Jacobsen
#2 Van Hoof
#3 Newhouse

I know Newhouse blew up his stack early and busted 9th but he was actually TRYING to win the damn thing unlike everybody else who was just trying not to bust out 9th...and while his exit bluff looks dumb to us at home with the benefit of seeing the hole cards, but that bluff should work like 60-70% of the time putting him in a nice position to take it down. He put his opponent on a hand and put him to the test and went for the kill...How many of you could make that call with QQ right there? I mean, really? Newhouse didn't have to play that hand that way, he could have played it safe and coasted into 5th or 6th place...but the man came to play.
 
Ducbim

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I think Jacobson didn't make any mistake at the final table and he deserves to be the champ.
Mc Newhouse finishing at 9th place back to back and Jacobson fought his way from short stack to become the new champ, anything is possible in Poker :D
 
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Well Jacobson played very well, but Van Hoof was amazing as well, was rooting for both, in cash games Van Hoof would defeat Jacobson IMO.
 
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