top online players?

[lovemachine]

today I was playing in the 100k on paradise for the first time, I had won a seat in a satelite tourney yesterday. when the tourney started today im looking around the table to see if i recognize any of the names. I see brsavage , who is the top ranked player on www.pocketfives.com so im thinking I have a good player at my table. He busted out the second hand of the tourney with pocket 8s from the small blind and called a 15x big blind raise preflop with only pocket 8s when the big blind had KK. flop was 9 high and brsavage check raised the guy all-in. i dont know about you guys but this isn't the type of play i expect a good player to make so early in the tournament with only 8s. quick $300 must not bother him as much as the rest of us. later on I was at a table with exclusive , who is ranked #2 on the website but was only at his table for a few hands before I busted out so i wasn't at the table long enough to notice anything about his play. this was the first time I have ever played the 100k and overall I was not impressed with the skill level of these players, just wish I had the bankroll to do it every week, I guess i'll just keep doing the satelites and win it next week.

[a500lbgorilla]

He plays super aggressively so he'll either build a stack or not waste his time.

If he gets some chips behind him, he's a huge favorite to clean up.

-'rilla

[lovemachine]

yea i understand trying to build a huge stack early, but it just seemed like a terrible time try and double up because the other guy was definately playing like he had a big pair, which he did. when he missed the set and the guy bet a huge portion of his stack, seems like an easy laydown as 88 was clearly behind in the hand. just not sure why he pushes all-in when the other guy is pot committed and will difinately call with KK. just seems a little odd that such a good player would waste the rest of his chips so early on a 8 outer

[Laeelin]

Have you ever saw Gus play?

I watched him CALL an all in last night with T8... not go all in bluffing against a player, but call someones all in with T8.

How can he be even thought of as an ok player???

But he won. Both that hand and the WPT Bad Boys.

And he is thought of as one of the very best (from what I understand anyway..)

I dont know how to explain it, but I do know that I'm not going to call a player stupid untill I watch his bankroll for a couple of years. (I think a heard that gus is up ~15 million)

[Radashack]

calling with T8 is a fine play if the conditions are right. the thing you have to realize is T8 is 10% shy of a 50 50 toss up with AK (right about 40% to 60% preflop. now if you have the right amoung of chips you can make this play. also if you know a guy is pushing smaller edges like Ax low rag or small PP's you odds are even greater.

as for brsavage's move. It was foolish. however even the best players make some bonehead moves. The "best" and poker don't go together. Simply because the game will always have a factor of luck and not raw skill, which is the reason there is so much dead money to prey on.

[Laeelin]

calling with T8 is a fine play if the conditions are right. the thing you have to realize is T8 is 10% shy of a 50 50 toss up with AK (right about 40% to 60% preflop. now if you have the right amoung of chips you can make this play. also if you know a guy is pushing smaller edges like Ax low rag or small PP's you odds are even greater.

He was chip leader, and losing that hand would have placed him in last place in chips.... (if I remember correctly.)

That’s a move I could easily see doing when your in the back of the pack, but not when your chip leader.

I do understand that it was basically a coin flip situation, and I can even understand why he would do it in some situations, but you wouldn’t even expect that move from a bad player, and seeing a good player make it feels so wrong.

[UncleBuddy]

51. Soupie Paradise | Partypoker | UltimateBet | Pokerstars
Soupster on UB.

Is this our soupie?

[Legendash]

I believe so, he is an MTT master after all

[gabe]

yea thats ours alright

[Radashack]

no you wont make that move if you lack chips you make that move if you have chips .

[mojoNOgo]

how do they arrive at their rankings ?
would it be total tournament earnings over a set timespan ?

[lovemachine]

i dont think they look at total earnings because that would be too hard to keep track of. also some of the players on there might play 3 times as many tournaments as some of the other players on there which means they might win more money but might not necessarily be a better player. I think they mainly look at wins, final table appearances, buy-in of the tourneys, things like that. also i assume winning the big tournaments that some of the sites have every weekend carry a lot more weight in the rankings than a tournament win during the middle of the week. the website might say somewhere how they do the rankings so you could check always check there for more info

[Laeelin]

no you wont make that move if you lack chips you make that move if you have chips .

Yes, you do it to take a player out...

But do you make that move against the player that has almost as many chips as you (and would cripple you if you lose) , or do you make it against the opponent that isnt going to cripple you if you lose.

He didnt make the call against #3, #4, or #5 in chips, he called #2.

[gabe]

51. Soupie Paradise | Partypoker | UltimateBet | Pokerstars
Soupster on UB.

Is this our soupie?

hes 44 now...steadily moving up

[Adam-55]

Hi all, I just noticed this thread today, and I'd like to answer a few of your questions about the rankings. I am one of the administrators of PocketFives, and I'm involved in the process that ranks these players.

There is a rankings FAQ on the site, which is linked from the top of the player rankings page. I'm hestitant to post direct links to our site here, as I know we are unhappy when someone does as such on our forums.

The FAQ should answer most of your questions, but just to say a quick thing about Chris (brsavage), the guy's results speak for themselves. He reaches final tables every week and often wins, and he typically only plays large rebuys or tournaments with at least a $100 buy in, although recently he entered a $30 tournament on Party "for fun" and won it out of something like 800 people.

Chris has an advanced understanding of poker that most of us can only hope to attain. That doesn't mean he doesn't make mistakes, and the hand you pointed out clearly is a mistake. But he isn't afraid to make big moves in a tournament, and when you play like that, sometimes you will be wrong. Othertimes you'll amass a large number of chips and end up winning the tournament.

The ranked players will not win every tournament you see---they won't win most of them actually, because there are thousands upon thousands of other people playing tournaments, and although being an excellent player gives you a huge advantage in the longrun, it only gives someone a small advantage in the short run.

That said, not every move the top ranked players make will look brilliant to the average viewer, but over time, you will see their wins pile up. If not, they will be moving down the rankings for sure.

Best Wishes,

Adam Small

There is a rankings FAQ on the site, which is linked from the top of the player rankings page. I'm hestitant to post direct links to our site here, as I know we are unhappy when someone does as such on our forums.

Welcome to FTR Adam!

You can post as many direct links as you please here.

Also, in response to the brsavage misplay, Adam-55 is correct. It's the long run you want to be looking at. Everyone plays a hand wrong once in a while, but brsavage is getting (a lot) more right than he is wrong.

[Radashack]

Thanks for comeing and posting Adam. Are you still looking into getting a direct feed of tourney results from the sites to put more of an results oriented ranking system together?

[Adam-55]

As of now, the sites will not cooperate with something like this. I can't say for sure if we ever will have this or if we're even going to further pursue it, but to answer your question, no we aren't pushing that right now.

Our rankings are results-based, however. We regularly consult the TLB on PokerStars and keep active records of which players are winning/cashing big in the bigger tournaments.

Thanks for your interest, and best wishes,

Adam