I am a long time lurker at both this place and neverwin's site. I always enjoyed Druff's posts there and his willingness to help out the beginners, but beyond that I don't really know or care about the guy. I am also not some NWP flag waver who has to defend their boy at all costs. I think these forum rivalries are beyond stupid.But let me get to the point.Like most of you, I saw the Druff ESPN program last night. However I emerged with a completely different perspective than many of the critics I have seen here and elsewhere. Had this just been a Druff insult fest I would have stayed out of it and not bothered registering, but those super tasteless comments about his girlfriend actually made me get off my ass and register an account here just to share my feelings. I am not planning on posting here much and I don't know any of you, so I don't care if anyone flames me.Limit poker is boring. We all know that. This stupid event wasn't even on the schedule and was an emergency replacement due to a final table scheduling problem. Add to this the fact that this was not only a final table of no names, but these guys collectively had the personality of a bowl of white rice. Without Druff there, this event could have been used to cure even the most severe of insomnia cases. But I digress.ESPN needed an angle. They tried with the young player angle, but like the rest of you, I wasn't on pins and needles as to whether or not a new young player record would be set. Druff was the only guy willing to ham it up for the television and make the thing watchable. I'm not saying he was doing what he did for ESPN's sake, but he knew it was on TV, everyone else was sitting there like duds, and he decided to take it in his own hands to liven up the place.Now it doesn't take a genius to realize that Druff does not have television experience, and maybe his antics came off as awkward and even annoying to some. That is fine, and you are entitled to your opinions. I didn't find him that way at all. In fact, I found his stuff amusing, especially the seat cover tossing. How many of you would have the balls to do stuff like that on national TV? I know I wouldn't. I would probably just stare straight ahead the whole time like E-Fro did.Now regarding the way Druff and his girlfriend looked, not only do I think such talk is inappropriate, especially given that very few of you have pictures posted of yourselves, but I don't even agree with what you said. I am not making the argument that Druff is a GQ model, and I certainly saw the computer software in his past, but other than that he looked pretty normal. In fact if I were to think of my list of unattractive televised poker players, Druff wouldn't even be one of them. As far as his girlfriend goes, she may not be 110 pounds, but she looked fine to me. In fact I commented to my buddy watching about a certain feature of hers that we all noticed, and my comments were far from negative! Why are you guys even bringing this crap up anyway? You know Druff is an online player and forum poster, and he is likely to see this. His girlfriend will probably see it too. Would everyone here like to post pictures of themselves and their girlfriend and let the rest of us unleash our meanest comments? Doubt it.Though most of these posts were about Druff's actions, looks, and his girlfriend, a few of you said some negative things about his play. That is probably where I am most confused. Druff was shown in the highest number of hands in the broadcast (I think) and IMO he played all but one perfectly. The only exception was that AQ suited hand where he called with overcards and a backdoor flush draw, but even that play could be argued for given the size of the pot and the fact that the original raiser preflop was all in. The dumb commentators said that his QJ gutshot call against Peter Costa's AA was loose. They obviously don't understand limit poker and implied odds, especially in an early final table tournament setting. If you guys want to criticize play, there were plenty of really bad plays made during the broadcast, but not by Druff. I won't name names because I still respect each and every one of those players for getting that far, and I can imagine the pressure of performing there with all the cameras and the audience, not to mention the money and bracelet. But really, I thought Druff did a great job in the hands I saw him in overall. So anyway Druff, if you read this, which I'm sure you will soon, please don't let this drivel get you down. I respected your play, I respected the guts it took to try and entertain us, and I think that most of the people here criticizing you are likely sad sacks who all of us would laugh at if we knew their life story.I forget who but some guy had like 8000 posts or something here and he was going on about Druff being a nerd, etc. Think about that and suddenly this whole thing becomes sick and funny at the same time.Who am I? I am nobody. Never been at a final table. Played a few events at the WSOP and picked up a minor cash. I play mainly limit when I do the cash game thing, and usually play 20-40 or 30-60. I am up lifetime in poker but I'm not exactly ready to retire. I am more of a reader and not a talker even though you wouldn't guess it from this post, lol. Usually I enjoy these forums both here and neverwin's site, but this time it got out of hand and I had to say something.Now go ahead and flame me.
a bit of a different perspective on druff...
in General Poker Forum
Posted
I am a long time lurker at both this place and neverwin's site. I always enjoyed Druff's posts there and his willingness to help out the beginners, but beyond that I don't really know or care about the guy. I am also not some NWP flag waver who has to defend their boy at all costs. I think these forum rivalries are beyond stupid.But let me get to the point.Like most of you, I saw the Druff ESPN program last night. However I emerged with a completely different perspective than many of the critics I have seen here and elsewhere. Had this just been a Druff insult fest I would have stayed out of it and not bothered registering, but those super tasteless comments about his girlfriend actually made me get off my ass and register an account here just to share my feelings. I am not planning on posting here much and I don't know any of you, so I don't care if anyone flames me.Limit poker is boring. We all know that. This stupid event wasn't even on the schedule and was an emergency replacement due to a final table scheduling problem. Add to this the fact that this was not only a final table of no names, but these guys collectively had the personality of a bowl of white rice. Without Druff there, this event could have been used to cure even the most severe of insomnia cases. But I digress.ESPN needed an angle. They tried with the young player angle, but like the rest of you, I wasn't on pins and needles as to whether or not a new young player record would be set. Druff was the only guy willing to ham it up for the television and make the thing watchable. I'm not saying he was doing what he did for ESPN's sake, but he knew it was on TV, everyone else was sitting there like duds, and he decided to take it in his own hands to liven up the place.Now it doesn't take a genius to realize that Druff does not have television experience, and maybe his antics came off as awkward and even annoying to some. That is fine, and you are entitled to your opinions. I didn't find him that way at all. In fact, I found his stuff amusing, especially the seat cover tossing. How many of you would have the balls to do stuff like that on national TV? I know I wouldn't. I would probably just stare straight ahead the whole time like E-Fro did.Now regarding the way Druff and his girlfriend looked, not only do I think such talk is inappropriate, especially given that very few of you have pictures posted of yourselves, but I don't even agree with what you said. I am not making the argument that Druff is a GQ model, and I certainly saw the computer software in his past, but other than that he looked pretty normal. In fact if I were to think of my list of unattractive televised poker players, Druff wouldn't even be one of them. As far as his girlfriend goes, she may not be 110 pounds, but she looked fine to me. In fact I commented to my buddy watching about a certain feature of hers that we all noticed, and my comments were far from negative! Why are you guys even bringing this crap up anyway? You know Druff is an online player and forum poster, and he is likely to see this. His girlfriend will probably see it too. Would everyone here like to post pictures of themselves and their girlfriend and let the rest of us unleash our meanest comments? Doubt it.Though most of these posts were about Druff's actions, looks, and his girlfriend, a few of you said some negative things about his play. That is probably where I am most confused. Druff was shown in the highest number of hands in the broadcast (I think) and IMO he played all but one perfectly. The only exception was that AQ suited hand where he called with overcards and a backdoor flush draw, but even that play could be argued for given the size of the pot and the fact that the original raiser preflop was all in. The dumb commentators said that his QJ gutshot call against Peter Costa's AA was loose. They obviously don't understand limit poker and implied odds, especially in an early final table tournament setting. If you guys want to criticize play, there were plenty of really bad plays made during the broadcast, but not by Druff. I won't name names because I still respect each and every one of those players for getting that far, and I can imagine the pressure of performing there with all the cameras and the audience, not to mention the money and bracelet. But really, I thought Druff did a great job in the hands I saw him in overall. So anyway Druff, if you read this, which I'm sure you will soon, please don't let this drivel get you down. I respected your play, I respected the guts it took to try and entertain us, and I think that most of the people here criticizing you are likely sad sacks who all of us would laugh at if we knew their life story.I forget who but some guy had like 8000 posts or something here and he was going on about Druff being a nerd, etc. Think about that and suddenly this whole thing becomes sick and funny at the same time.Who am I? I am nobody. Never been at a final table. Played a few events at the WSOP and picked up a minor cash. I play mainly limit when I do the cash game thing, and usually play 20-40 or 30-60. I am up lifetime in poker but I'm not exactly ready to retire. I am more of a reader and not a talker even though you wouldn't guess it from this post, lol. Usually I enjoy these forums both here and neverwin's site, but this time it got out of hand and I had to say something.Now go ahead and flame me.