PokerKid Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Very interesting. Wish I could hear all the stories. Did you ever play in some big cash games with those guys or just tournaments? What happened with Phil Ivey, you gotta share that story at least. I always avoided the cash games with those guys. I had no intention of playing pro (thought about it and decided not to - of course that was before the poker explosion). I never wanted to play with money I couldn't afford to lose and tournaments limit your losses to a fixed amount. As for Phil Ivey, I played against him in a 1500 buy-in event. There were about 1,100 people in this one. But when I sit down at the table, Johnny Chan is across from me (he schooled me royally a few years earlier at the final table of one of my first tournaments when I didn't realize who he was), a pro who I recognized from the late night poker Big Game show, another one of those pros whose name I now forget who got rich selling an internet company and on my immediate right is John D'Augustino, another young pro who I have watched a lot. Pretty unusual to recognize so many faces at a table at the start of the tournament. The tournament starts off and I can't buy a hand. Johnny Chan and I appear to be in a race to see who will get to the bar first. At the two-hour break I am down to about 10% of my starting stack. We get back and the cards start to come. Chan gets eliminated with junk cards in hand and I quadruple up. Luckily for me, the only player who I seem to be killing is D'Augustino. He was playing textbook poker and was very predictable. He also tends to make good lay downs, so when he would try for a steal, I would reraise and he would fold. It slowly built me back up to where I was in good shape. I finally eliminated him and was thinking, "Cool, I have a decent stack and Chan and D'Augustino are gone." So they need to fill the seat and Phil Ivey walks on over. Gee, thanks. Phil is very short stacked. He is talking about how he keeps sucking out. I see him get all in with KQ vs. QQ and rivering a K. I see his 68 beat AA. Finally, I get in a hand with him. I was in the blind with J8 and knew he would raise his button if everyone folded. He raised, I called to see if I could hit the flop and bust him. The flop comes perfect - 7-9-10 with two clubs giving me the nut straight. I check-raise and Phil thinks for a minute or two before saying - "F-it" and raises back all-in. He has an A-J with one club. An 8 allows him to chop, anything else I am golden. The turn is a club, the river is a club and I lose the hand to his flush. I am now shortstacked again. This time I don't come back. To make it worse, despite getting a playable stack and being close to the money, Phil busts out a short time later and doesn't cash. My friend, who was hilariously calling in play-by-play of this tournament to a friend who was writing e-mails to my poker group started calling him "F-ing Phil Ivey" every time since this. Hence the nickname. Phil was actually very nice to the people at the table, which could be hard to do with all the stupid and what must be repetitive questions he must hear everywhere he goes. As an aside - the single best conversation I have ever listened to was at this talble. Phil Ivey is talking to Robert Williamson III who is at the next table. They are trying to set up a bet for who will do better overall during this WSOP. They are talking about betting $50,000 on it. However, they keep going back and forth on the terms and haggling over every little thing. They take turns talking smack - Phil Ivey's "I'm one of the five best Ms. Pac-Man players on the planet. I'll play anyone for $100,000." was the one that got me cracking up. Funny thing is, bits and pieces of this got on ESPN's coverage with Ivey making comments like "I wanna gamble" quote - in reference to Ms. Pac-Man - sounding like he was pushing around the poker table. Their back and forth banter ranging from poker to video games to golf went on for more than an hour. I don't think anything got finalized. For a guy who didn't win, I got a lot of face time with a stupid smirk on my face listening to all their talking. Wow, I hope this overly long post doesn't get this thread moved to the water cooler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnboxingTreasures Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 A friend of mine was lucky enough to bust out Ivey in the Main Event a couple years ago. Unfortunately for my friend, he didn't last much longer as he was felted on Day 1 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrlatko Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Avengers 93 CGC'd at 9.6 with White Pages HOLY SHNIKES!!!! Super nice book bro (thumbs u . Where'd you score that beauty??? +1 (thumbs u That is an awesome copy. I have never seen one with such a perfect straight spine cut, and those corners look flawless. Looks every bit a 9.8 or better. If you decide to sell, you should do VERY well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colugo Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) Test Edited September 6, 2009 by colugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colugo Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Avengers 93 CGC'd at 9.6 with White Pages HOLY SHNIKES!!!! Super nice book bro (thumbs u . Where'd you score that beauty??? +1 (thumbs u That is an awesome copy. I have never seen one with such a perfect straight spine cut, and those corners look flawless. Looks every bit a 9.8 or better. If you decide to sell, you should do VERY well. I was stumped a bit, actually quite a bit. I was curious on the grading notes and called, they said the only thing mentionable was that it had rough edges??? I could shave with this book, not that I would. The back is snow white with sharp edges & corners all the way around as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colugo Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Avengers 93 CGC'd at 9.6 with White Pages HOLY SHNIKES!!!! Super nice book bro (thumbs u . Where'd you score that beauty??? My collection I've had for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeypost Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Avengers 93 CGC'd at 9.6 with White Pages HOLY SHNIKES!!!! Super nice book bro (thumbs u . Where'd you score that beauty??? My collection I've had for a very long time. This is simply the best example of any squarebound book I have ever seen. I would be scratching my head as to the reasons it was not sitting in a 9.8 holder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Nicest copy of this book I've ever seen, a real treasure. It's such a great comic, too, with perhaps Adams' finest interior work at Marvel on the "journey to the center of an android" chapter. With that said, I suspect the extremely minor wear on the right edge of the front cover near the bottom exclamation point accounts for the book missing a 9.8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeypost Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Nicest copy of this book I've ever seen, a real treasure. It's such a great comic, too, with perhaps Adams' finest interior work at Marvel on the "journey to the center of an android" chapter. With that said, I suspect the extremely minor wear on the right edge of the front cover near the bottom exclamation point accounts for the book missing a 9.8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolkiller Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I also agree... how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. It's a stunning, stunning copy and would, I imagine, fetch an insane number at auction. It's the nicest 9.6 squarebound I've ever seen and the best example of this issue I've seen as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
october Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I also agree... how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. It's a stunning, stunning copy and would, I imagine, fetch an insane number at auction. It's the nicest 9.6 squarebound I've ever seen and the best example of this issue I've seen as well. Some funny reading if you look up the grading thread where he posted this raw. A couple 8.5s and 9.0s in there...one guy had it at 7.5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolkiller Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. You know, even seeing that, I'd still put it at 9.8 given the rest of the book and taking into account the gross inconsistencies I've seen at 9.8s on squarebounds -- some with ugly glue rippling etc. I suppose if it was consistent all the way across, I'd go with 9.6 as a technical grade. That corner is, I suppose, the real problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeypost Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. You know, even seeing that, I'd still put it at 9.8 given the rest of the book and taking into account the gross inconsistencies I've seen at 9.8s on squarebounds -- some with ugly glue rippling etc. I suppose if it was consistent all the way across, I'd go with 9.6 as a technical grade. That corner is, I suppose, the real problem. At first I thought that was just some color rub, but it does appear to be a ding. I have seen worse 9.8's. Still, one of the nicest copies EVER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutantKeys Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. You know, even seeing that, I'd still put it at 9.8 given the rest of the book and taking into account the gross inconsistencies I've seen at 9.8s on squarebounds -- some with ugly glue rippling etc. I suppose if it was consistent all the way across, I'd go with 9.6 as a technical grade. That corner is, I suppose, the real problem. I'd be really disappointed if I bought that as a 9.8. In regards to glue rippling, a book might appear ugly, but you can't downgrade something with a "bad appearance" as it's due to the way it was manufactured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 In regards to glue rippling, a book might appear ugly, but you can't downgrade something with a "bad appearance" as it's due to the way it was manufactured. Oh contraire: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LloydJBailey Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I agree with that, a 9.9, should be perfect, so a 9.8 should be practically immaculate - and that tiny, mark brings it down. how this book isn't a 9.8 is beyond me. You know, even seeing that, I'd still put it at 9.8 given the rest of the book and taking into account the gross inconsistencies I've seen at 9.8s on squarebounds -- some with ugly glue rippling etc. I suppose if it was consistent all the way across, I'd go with 9.6 as a technical grade. That corner is, I suppose, the real problem. I'd be really disappointed if I bought that as a 9.8. In regards to glue rippling, a book might appear ugly, but you can't downgrade something with a "bad appearance" as it's due to the way it was manufactured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcruze Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 would this on a book reduce to a 9.6? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcruze Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) well i paid a nice price for the book and it was described as a 9.8 i get it in the mail and had that tick... pretty bummed out.. This should clearly be a 9.6 Edited September 6, 2009 by bcruze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue808 Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Did you submit to CGC or did you buy it already graded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
