I think you’re right when you state that Joe Hachem’s accent is quite irritating. But I also think Hachem is one of the best Main Event winners from the past ten years. If you’re still not convinced on this point, have a look at the following fragment (hand is played after 10 minutes):

No I think this is a very strong play from Hachem, if you consider the extreme tight image of ‘the Nitty Professor’, Howard Lederer. First of all I like his play preflop, just calling with Jacks, a move I also often make. The same action follows on the flop, with Hachem just calling Lederer’s bet on an all spade board. The play from Lederer is horrible on the flop: he checks first and follows that up with an obvious feelerraise. Hachem notices this and has the guts to make a nice reraise here, making Howard throw away his flush. I think Lederer won’t appear in any season of HSP anymore.

I enjoyed watching some episodes of Season 2 of Poker After Dark today . Main reason for watching those ones was the appearance of one of my heroes on the shorthanded tournament table: Gabe Kaplan. Of course every poker fanatic knows him for his commentary on High Stakes Poker, but Gabe likes to play for himself too.

Suddenly a table discussion rises about the brilliant movie The Big Lebowksi. Gabe decides to make a bet with Howard Lederer on the release date of the movie ^^ (starts about at 5′45″):

So Lederer is waaaaaaaaay off here! First he says Vanessa Rousso was only eight when the movie came out but I thought he just made a reasonably good joke there, considering the sense of humour of Mr. Lederer. But then he seriously thinks it was released in 1992 . And he even dares to laugh at Gabe’s heroic bet offer: a bowling ball!

H: What would I do with a new bowling ball?
G:Play hockey?

Gabe Kaplan is a hero!!