PartyPoker Big Game IV: David "Viffer" Peat is the Big Winner
Many of us have learned and refined our game by watching televised poker and if there was one lesson you can take from the PartyPoker Big Game IV, it is just how powerful table image is. That is what the audience will take from David "Viffer" Peat who used the full 48 hours he played at the table to create and then exploit one of the loosest table images ever likely to be seen on screen.
Only two players lasted the full 48 hours in the game, Viffer and Neil Channing, who often tangled in some hugely deep stacked pots. Viffer came to the table playing like a maniac, overbetting, reraising, talking trash and generally captaining the table in a serious marketing effort to use against his opponents. He found himself down £40,000 pretty quickly but there was a real sense around the room and in the commentary booth that he could still be one of the big winners from the event.
The only way to guarantee you immunity from eviction in this show is to be statistically the most aggressive player from real-time figures compiled by Matchroom Poker. Viffer escaped eviction this way all but one time in the full 48 hours, not that he was ever going to be evicted, because he had the chips and he gave the action. Viffer soon built his stack up to massive proportions and never gave up the relentless pressure he was applying from hand number one. Amazingly, he was on the losing end of most of the biggest pots of the two days but still ended the show £147,275 in profit, which is the biggest win posted in the history of the show by a mile.
Not only will he be remembered as the big winner and the craziest player, he will also be remembered as one of the most entertaining table talkers in the game. Quite an accolade when you consider Tony G, Channing, Phil Laak and Roland De Wolfe shared a table with him. He looked comfortable with or at least oblivious of the cameras and there is no way that he can go unnoticed when the show airs later this year. The point of the new reality TV style additions to the format was to create characters who the audience would either love or hate, in the case of David Viffer it was mission accomplished.
Did the 48 hours take their toll at all in the final day? In the case of Viffer and Channing, not particularly. Both men were as sharp as they were two days earlier, albeit looking a few years older. Jesse May commented for nearly the full 48 hours, and another impressive performance that needs to be recognized was Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt who thought he would be co-commentating for a couple of hours and ended up doing it for 24 hours straight despite never having done it in his life, which you would never have known listening to his quality analysis.
There was a little bit of tension in the air toward the end of the day. Some of the players wanted to play higher and others wanted to straddle more than they were allowed. Normally, the last orbit at the table is the juiciest one of all, but the last round was subdued and there was a sense everyone was running on empty and ready to leave. All except Viffer who looked like he was already on the lookout for another game and if one thing was 100 percent certain, he will be invited back to the next one.
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