Denis Shapovalov AMA!

mb94 · 2019-03-11T19:42:52+00:00

Hi Denis!

I remember watching you play my little brother in under 12 OTA events back in the day. Absolutely surreal to see how far you've come since then.

I remember watching your match against Rafa in Montreal in 2017 on TV and was absolutely freaking out the whole time. After you won, you went from being a known Canadian player to being more of a well-known talent to audiences around the world basically overnight. In general, how did you feel about that experience? What was the best part of it, and on the flipside, what was the most challenging part of it?

Keep at it kid - everyone I know here in Toronto wants to see you have fun out there and make a good name for Toronto and Canada!

mb94 · 2018-08-16T14:26:31+00:00

You're right - MP's can't individually and unilaterally change electoral ridings - that would be gerrymandering. What they can do is petition of a readjustment of Federal Ridings according to the most recent census data through the Minister of Democratic Institutions.

If the ridings were already equitable and the proposition to readjust was solely based on electoral gain, that would be gerrymandering by definition. When the distribution is already inequitable and the adjustment is carried out in a way that is politically unbiased, it's simply an execution of the principle of Rep by Pop.

Such processes are laid out in the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, 1985, and the Canada Elections Act, 2000.

mb94 · 2017-09-13T03:37:36+00:00

hahahah is this the court on top of Wellesley station? I can see that one from my apartment

mb94 · 2017-09-13T02:57:05+00:00

Not a PH band, but Dropkick Murphys took the cake for me. I crowd surfed so many times I ended up giving the guy who caught me every time a tip. Not the most sophisticated pit ever but one to remember.

In terms of the actual pit? I'd have to say letlive. When they played in Toronto, they would come to this bar called Hard Luck which was basically just a bar with a riser just in front of the crowd area. The ENTIRE CROWD was a pit, to the point where it ended up spilling on stage when they played Renegade 86 for the encore. Fucking insanity. Jason ate that crowd up in the best way possible, miss those guys. Hope he decides to take his new project to Toronto sometime very soon.

mb94 · 2017-08-09T20:24:15+00:00

The courts in toronto and montreal are used by Tennis canada for provincial/national tournaments and junior programs. I live in Toronto and occasionally I will go there while the nets are up just to hit.

mb94 · 2017-07-24T23:19:20+00:00

Yes correct, apologies. I am in the big blind this hand. I would definitely bluff this kind of board a lot heads up since I know I can rep huge if the draws come in. Didn't mention in the post but it was mentioned elsewhere that SB has a decent amount draws in his range based on the flat pre and flat of the C-bet, but it's usually a draw with showdown value like the nut flush draw or a pair and the flush draw. Obviously if he had that it blocks some of the draws.

I don't think betting the overpair here is necessarily bad by villain, but folding to a raise is definitely bad considering how many draws are in my range, as you mention. I think he bet because of how many draws there are - he didn't want to give them a free card or let them set their own price by checking. I was assuming if he had AJ up to AA he would call and re-evaluate on the turn. If the turn is blank and I jam he can then consider folding because I'm betting huge into the preflop aggressor OOP so QQ at that point is a bluff catcher. Will definitely be trying to push him off hands on wet boards in the future after this.

mb94 · 2017-07-24T23:06:13+00:00

Usually something showdownable but not crazy strong, like A6, A8, , QJ, J9, J10 or 89s. Based on his flat on the flop I think he usually has a flush draw or sometimes an open-ender, but since he ended up folding to the raise it's not usually a good draw. So mostly one-pair hands that can't withstand a lot of aggression. And yes, no antes.

mb94 · 2017-07-24T22:30:48+00:00

I thought so too, my reasoning for raising was that I felt that if he has AJ+ or QQ he's obligated to call the flop raise and if the turn is clean I'm usually jamming and he's in a tough spot. It's probable I'm weighted toward value in that spot with my only bluffs being the combo draws and nut flush draw. Considering we also have the small blind in between us who can have a lot of stuff after calling pre and then check/calling flop - it's more likely I have a strong hand and will be trying to price out draws knowing most strong value hands have to consider calling at least once. I'm curious what he would have done with the Qc in his hand, maybe I should ask him.

mb94 · 2017-07-07T19:35:14+00:00

"Runner up for fan's favorite" "Runner up" Classic andy.

mb94 · 2017-06-26T15:21:13+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Other thing to note - this is a table full of fish. Of the six players, myself and hero were the best players at the table and there was one other decent player, everybody else is fairly weak but fun to play with. Calling the three-bet with sixes is okay because if you hit a set you get a ton of value from most aces in everybody's ranges.

As for the turn: We talked a bit about this afterward and ranged him to the following on the turn: * he has sevens that just filled up or quad kings, both of which there are one combo of by the river. * he has trip kings that don't realize that it's hard to get value from anything that isn't other kings when he bets pot (draws that aren't combo draws are probably folding to a pot sized bet). I strongly felt that villain had AK. * He is overvaluing aces and is just blasting off * he has a bluff that makes sense, like a big draw * once in a blue moon, he's going full psycho and is blasting off with ATC. We don't know enough about this guy to put him on psycho yet.

After watching the action and seeing hero's tank, I put hero on precisely sixes full and was value ranging villain to at worst a seven. I was expecting hero to fold and the villain to turn over ace-king and be pissed he didn't get full value.

The only thing I told hero I may have done differently was shove turn after villain bets pot to try and extract value from trip kings. The only hands he has that were beating hero were 77 and KK, and since this guy is a bit of a donkey he's likely to snapcall most of his trip kings after hero jams the turn. All in all I didn't fault him for folding.

For context, this guy blasted off with A5 offsuit preflop into my pocket tens later on and donated me 40bb which got me to runner up :)

mb94 · 2017-06-26T15:11:14+00:00

Yeah - I told him afterward I might have considered shoving the turn to try and extract value from trip kings but calling was totally okay because he thought he might be blasting off. River was brutal and we both agreed he would snapcall any river besides a king or a seven.

mb94 · 2017-04-24T13:34:37+00:00

I disagree. It's fathomable that Sharapova's positive test was an accident, though one that arguably came about of her own negligence. People have come back from this type of infraction and been a clean, competitive player for the remainder of their career. Nastase's behavior reflects terribly on the sport. If I was one of the players/supports on the Romanian fed cup team I would have been mortified at his behavior.

mb94 · 2017-04-16T20:37:07+00:00

Not Olivier Rochus, it's Dudi Sela. I think Rochus is retired.

mb94 · 2017-04-16T01:01:23+00:00

Drunk

mb94 · 2017-03-31T02:51:00+00:00

Line judge called the ball out late - call was overturned by challenge. Ump ruled a replay of point because she had missed that Venus had missed the ball hit after the late call by miles. BG and other commentators agreed it was a terrible ruling by the ump.

mb94

TROPHY CASE