WSOP: Best Captaining Performance This Week

With still one match left I may be getting ahead of myself but I want to walk you through what I believe was the most well-managed match of the week.

Pool Dragonz and Break and Run entered the week at 0-2. While the teams shared equal match records it's very clear BNR had much more talent - the teams BNR lost to were a combined 4-0 entering play this week.

In the opening game, Croz gave BNR a 1-0 lead by beating WSOP newcomer poisonivy. With a 1-0 lead, Dina calls sumner knowing she can afford to go weak - even with the break - given the big guns waiting in the wings. So DJ calls bud_man, one of his "better" 0-2 players. Bud survived a masterful cuebank from Sumner to tie the match at one win apiece.

The third game became the most critical game of the match. If PDZ wanted to spring the so-called upset, it would take a win in this specific game. A 2-1 advantage for Pool Dragonz would mean they would only have to win one of the next three games to force at least a tiebreaker. And more importantly, PDZ had the break in odd games which would include a seventh game if necessary. BNR still has two games with the break from this point, so burning Jordy would be a no-no. She calls on Palp instead. This game means much more to PDZ than it does BNR. She still has Jordy, Daru, Ross and Jim available for the final 3 games. No problem. DJ decides to call himself. He wants to lead his team to a 2-1 lead, rightfully put it on his own shoulders, and set himself up with the break in game 7 if it gets there.

Despite falling for a brilliant trap set by Palp at the end, DJ does in fact win and give his team a 2-1 lead. By now Dina knows DJ is basically looking for a tiebreaking 7th game - everybody at the table knows PDZ doesn't have the firepower to win this outright. So she all but nullifies the fourth game by calling Jordan with the break. Even though his break came up empty, his opponent - appropriately named "Lazyass" - decided not to go for the run and extended the game. I'll get into why this was a bad idea in a moment. Jordan does win to level the match at 2-2.

For game five with the break DJ has Charles and Missy available. Dina has Daru, Ross and Jim available off the break. We all know what Daru does, so he gets the call for BNR. DJ calls the more experienced shooter between the two, Missy. But she makes one essentially fatal mistake. For her break, she goes for a tap break. Even worse, she missed the rack entirely - essentially forfeiting the break.

Here's why the approach by PDZ in the fourth and fifth games is bad: Lazy and Missy can play Jordy and Daru respectively in 50 straight safety games. They will combine to win exactly zero of them. When you're an inferior player going up against one of the best in the game, you want the game to be as short as possible. Certainly if you go for a run and don't finish it you're just about screwed. But by extending the game and playing safeties early on you're giving a far superior opponent more shots and more opportunities to back you into a corner. Jordy did that to his opponent, and Daru made quick work of Missy after being able to essentially take control of the game immediately. Pool Dragonz, in back-to-back games had a chance to really put BNR on the ropes and swing momentum entirely in their own favor... But elected to slow things down, let BNR recover, and eventually re-gain the lead at 3-2.

Jim got the call for BNR in game six, he extended his record to 3-0 when Charles' last colored ball hung in the top left pocket - a fitting, heartbreaking end to PDZ's upset bid Monday night. But it's not for any fault of the Captain that they lost. DJ made all the right moves - and capitalized on a lucky break - to put his team in a position to win. Problem is he ran into a Captain who was every bit as sharp as he was, who also made all the right moves to get her team the victory.

In the end, the matchup between two of the worst teams in WSOP to this point proved to be one of the most well-managed of them all. It won't get any easier for the Dragonz - they take on Miscues next week. BNR has Deadstrokes. It will be interesting to see if anyone has learned any lessons they can take into next week.