POTD #69 Richard Gryko's $430k PLO Punt

Our first PLO POTD

PokerGO has collaborated with PokerStars to broadcast many of the WSOP streams for free on YouTube. This has been a net positive for poker; the WSOP is the most popular poker event of the year, and it’s much easier for casual poker fans to find free streams on YouTube than to find PokerGO and pay to watch the WSOP. Easy access leads to more viewers; a reason why the Moneymaker episodes in 2003 were so popular was because, for many people, ESPN was their default TV channel. PokerGO is a wonderful product, but it caters to poker diehards who watch lots of streamed poker. Broadcasting the WSOP on YouTube lets casual poker fans discover streams they otherwise would not even be aware of.

I did some NLHE tournament commentary on the PokerStars streams, but I also filled in and did some commentary on the two PLO High Rollers that ran last week. When I judge other people’s play in NLHE tourneys, I am critical; readers of this blog know that I am hard on myself, so I don’t feel too bad about putting others under the same microscope. In NLHE tourneys, I am often sure about what the best play is, and I am disappointed when I see others fail to make it. I like watching top players execute at the highest stakes. When I commentate on PLO tourneys, I need to check my ego at the door. I like watching elite players at their best, but I am not a world class PLO player and am often critiquing PLO players who are more experienced and better studied than I am. However, I do have one advantage over them: I can comment from a safe distance. If they’re wrong, they’ll lose a bunch of money. If I’m wrong, what’s the worst that will happen? Someone in the YouTube comments will call me dumb? That’s something that people playing on stream also have to deal with. Who cares?

I do believe what I wrote in the pargraph above, I want to see the best at their best, but I am human, and few things are more entertaining than watching the best at their worst. That’s one of the premises of this Substack. I remember Sam Grafton giving me the advice that when you are in the booth you should never try to predict what players will do; if you say “surely they will call here” and they fold, you will either make yourself or the player look like an idiot. I am especially aware of this in NLHE tourneys when I am commenting on the play of recreational players. I want the broadcast to be fun; I don’t want to humiliate someone at the biggest FT of their life. However, when an excellent player does something out of character, and I get a front row seat to watch it, now I know what it’s been like for those that have done commentary when I’ve punted off stacks. Richard Gryko is a much better PLO player than me; it’s his primary game and he’s played hundreds of thousands more hands than me. Three-handed in the 50k FT, he found an interesting flop check-raise bluff that I would have never found because I am not as good a PLO player as him. Then he followed it up with a turn play that was as costly a play as I could imagine.

WSOP 50k PLO Final Table, 3-handed, blinds 300k/600k/600k (BBA)

Preflop: Dylan Linde (30.7m) limps on the button with 6♥️6♦️4♠️4♦️, Stephen Chidwick (5.1m) completes SB with K♦️T♠️8♠️7♣️, Richard Gryko (22.4m) checks BB with J♥️J♦️6♣️5♠️.

Flop (2.4m) 6♠️8♥️2♦️: Stevie checks, Richard checks, Dylan bets 700k, Stevie calls, Richard check-raises to 3.5m, Dylan calls, Stevie folds.

Turn (10.1m) 3♦️: Richard checks, Dylan bets 6m, Richard check-raises all-in for 17.7m, Dylan calls.

River (45.5m) 3♠️: Dylan wins with sixes full, Richard is eliminated.