The above question is present in every single poker forum I've ever visited. We love making lists, rankings, inventories, of everything; movies, cars, rock bands, TV shows, radio shows, tennis shoes, airports, dog breeds, cities, beaches, and of course poker players.
Most people could make an educated list of their favorites TV shows, rock bands, movies... You can strongly dislike their taste, but they have enough elements to give an opinion. They have seen "The Soprano's", "Band of brothers", "The Simpson's", "South Park"; or heard "Metallica", "Motley Crue", "KISS", and they decide whether they like them or not.
But when you ask "who is your favorite poker player"?, an overwhelming amount of people will name players who are either mainstream figures (Negreanu, Brunson, Antonious...), or online players who have experienced success (Gboro, Lil Hold'em, AJKHoosier1, Doc Sands...) in different degrees; and in many cases those are very capable and skilled players...but how do you know that? Have you actually talk with any of them about the game? Do you know enough about their thought process during a hand? Or, most likely, you just assume that because they made money they are good?
In the examples I mentioned above, there is very little room for mistake, and we can assume that, in fact, Steve "Gboro" Gross possesses a brilliant poker mind. We've seen him play; we've suffered his presence at the tables; and we've sweat every single chip ever extracted from his stack (I think the chip count of the pots I've played against Steve rounds the -1,000,000 chips mark). There is no doubt he is an incredible poker player.
But what's about other successful players? People that happened to win everything on sight for a couple of months, put their names out there...and vanished. Or high volume players who make enough final tables and PLB points to put them in the rankings, or even allow them to win titles like the "Bluff Magazine POY". All of a sudden their names are everywhere, and every donkey with a Pocketfives account mentions them in their "favorite online player" list without having the slightest idea of the way those new found idols play the game.
It is not strange to read a post from someone claiming "I hate those push/folding donks, they don't play poker, they play lotto", and when you visit his profile, his favorite players are "The Maven, DJK123, and Daisyxoxo". Educated opinion, as you can see...
All this thoughts came to my mind during yesterday's session, after I played a hand against one of these raising stars (his name has not been mentioned in this article at any point, save yourself the speculation). He is someone against whom I've played many, many times. In fact I seem to find him at my tables almost every day. He also has a legion of followers on the rail, and although I do not think he chats at all, they are tireless, and every time he steals the blinds they celebrate it as if he had just won the Sunday Million.
During the hand in question, blinds are at 125-250-25. I am the SB with 10,700 chips, and "raising star" is the BB with 12,300. An early position player open shoves for 1,400, and it's folded to the button, who ISO shoves for 3,500. I have AKcc, and I make it close to 7,000, not really giving much thought to the exact amount, because it's clear on my mind that once I enter the hand with a re-re-raise, it is obvious I'm commited to it. When it's "raising star's" turn, he insta-shoves, in what seemed to be like the fastest shove I've ever witnessed. It felt like he could not have push the "all in" button any faster; for a moment I even felt sorry for him, thinking he might had broken one of his fingers against the mouse...
I was sure I had run into AA-KK, and with disgusted assumption of my fate, and cursing myself for running like shit, I proceed to make the call...just to find out that "rising star" had a more powerfull hand than what I could have ever imagined; he had an unbeatable monster, the stone cold nuts, a hand so indestructible that even the abysmal creatures of the sea would fear. He had the one and only... 2c-2d...
The rail went nuts with his fearless move, flags with his face on were cutting the air, an army of hungry masses yelled, the Air Force 1 tipped it's wings to salute the champ, the Universe itself collapsed again into a sole point of infinite density...which exploded with unparallel power when the board ran 2-4-5-5-A and our new found Messiah won the hand, collected the pot, and became the new chip leader.
And what do you think about his game Andres? Well, in my experience, and with the analysis tools I have, I think this new super star is a God awful player; one of the biggest flaws in the poker world, and every time I see him at my table I thank the Lord for his infinite wisdom; because by making an idol out of him, he is increasing my long term expectation, since monkeys tend to mimic what they see, and plenty of them are seeing what he does.
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