Most of us have the dream of becoming THE BEST. Crushing the Table.

But, what happens if we ever actually get there? ( I know, I know... we should all be so lucky as to have to deal with such a "problem". )

If you read through Daniel Negreanu's blog, I think you'll find that what happens is you get BORED.

DN regularly plays at the highest level. He has both won and lost over a million dollars in single sessions against the best poker players in the world.

The Big Game at the Bellagio is 4k/8k Mixed. A combination of Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud. High Games and Hi/Lo. You name it, they play it. Each hand has a 100k Cap.

All of the guys who play that game are so bored that they make up weird Proposition bets on the side just to provide enough interest that they're willing to be there. The Prop bets are where all their real interest and action is. Even so, most nights the table is short-handed.

Negreanu's latest blog entry is all about a 2k/4k session against 3 other world class players that was a grind... because he was so bored he couldn't concentrate well enough to play his best game. So, he "only" won 25k. The only fun and interesting thing about that session to him was getting up and messing with one of the security guards for the table.

If you read between the lines you'll see that it now takes bigger and bigger risks to his own well being to even get his attention.

The most fun and excitement he seems to have anymore is playing video games at home.

I think the moral here... once again... is be careful what you wish for.

Dunce

Thanks, Supe,

I don't think that's any kind of solution tho.

Typical buyin for that game is $500,000.00. If sitting down with a half million dollars of your own money in front of you can't hold your interest, stacking the chips even higher won't either. Besides, they need to keep the risk low enough that they catch an occasional fish.

One of the more interesting things about last night's Poker Superstars Invitational was a remark Todd Brunson made. He'd been in a cash game somewhere... at one point was down over 2 million... but had come back to win "5 or 6 million". That game was so routine that he couldn't even remember how much he'd won.

When you become that good, the game itself is no longer a challenge... at any level... for any stakes.

Dunce

When I first started shooting up, just a little bit would do me. Now it seems like I'm shooting up more and more just to get the same feeling.

I only play large MTT's against quality players. I don't play $20 buy-ins or $50 buy-ins normally. I probably haven't played 100 hands of ring poker in the past year. Poker is only about competition for me because I am not playing for my food money.

Wachovia had a great blog about why do you play? Well, for me it's only about the competition and the feeling of beating 600 players. I can see where Negraneau and other big poker players would be bored because you are only dealing with 52 cards and the money is not that important. I think they all probably still enjoy the tourneys, though.

Well, the money can still get their attention though.

Negreanu ended up skipping the Bay 101 because the night before he'd dumped over a million in the cash game. That day he remained in San Diego and played for 31 hours straight in order to get even. Well, close at least. IIRC, he dumped 1.3 Mil and then won back 1.1 Mil of it.

Dunce

First of all, Im assuming by "Ivery" you are referring to Phil IVEY, one of the best NHLE players around. Second, while youre correct about this thread not having to do a lot with online poker, I stand by my initial assertion that this is an excellant post. It is interesting (at least to me) to think about playing high stakes poker, where hundreds of thousands of dollars can be won or lost in a few hands. It is interesting (at least to me) to think about playing these stakes SO OFTEN that losing or winning that much in a single night can become "boring". I hope that someday I can get to that level and thusly any discussion ABOUT poker at that level, gives me insight. Just my thoughts..

And the beauty of it is, between what he won for 3rd in 2003 and 4th in 2004 he collected over twice what he got for 1st in 1995.

Nah, the biggest regular game in rotation is 4K/8K limit mixed at the bellagio. You might be referring to a session in the SUPER game with Andy Beal, that's the only game around that I know of where those kind of stakes are played. BTW, the newest challenge is an 80M freezout where both sides will put up 40M. Andy Vs. the Coalition. Still in the works over specifics though. I know this in case anyone might ask bc there were open letters from Andy and Doyle about it. It's posted everywhere.

According to the last I've seen, negotiations have broken off on this one.

They can't agree on who gets the broadcast distribution rights.