Ridicule is nothing to be scared of

I saw the "Poker Kings" documentary at the weekend. It's best not to read too much into these programmes, as careful editing can create any impression that the director wants to. It did have the honour of being the first one ever to make Phil Hellmuth look sane, if only for a few minutes while talking about his family.

One throwaway comment from Simon Trumper perked my interest. He said "I'm ranked third in Europe, and if I don't get a result here, I'll be down [meaning losing money] for the year ! That's ridiculous".

I thought it would have made much more sense the other way round : "If I don't get a result here, I'll be down for the year. And I'm ranked third in Europe ! That's ridiculous".

That's not a pop at Simon but an indication of how much faith you should place in these ranking lists. There are some top players there for sure, but all they really tell you is who is playing the most tournaments.