I'm not gonna argue with you about this because I know how you live for it but where the fuck are you getting your info because I read the article?
1) Where the fuck does it say he's a "3 better"? Seriously, where? It says he flatted.
2) Exactly. He gives no info about his opponent other than calling him a "kid". Geez, I wonder why? Probably so the reader can make our own assumptions to make his fold seem semi-plausible. See, I'm capable of making unfounded assumptions too.
You make it sound like he purposefully misrepresented the profile of his opponent to rationalize his fold. I can see a weekend/rec player doing this, but not a tourney pro with $2.8 million in live cash tourney winnings. So, to me, the "kid" most likely indicates a younger, more aggressive/Internet player, but not necessarily a donkey who would try to bluff giving the orig aggressor 4-1 to call his all-in river raise..
3) You're giving waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much credit for the ME providing great play when the opposite is actually true, especially early which this is, IMO. There's a reason Druff doesn't sell parts of his ME.
Not great play, but nittier play early on. Druff himself mentioned how the rec players seemed more careful with their chips than what was the usual play style at the ME in years past.
4) Okay, I might be a little off-base with the "nut flush" although I still thinks it's a good possibility, & he had 9's full & thought he was slow-playing the turn. Both hands are waaaaaaaaaaaay, waaaaaaaaay, waaaaaaaay more likely than specifically Q-10s IMO.
Before the hand played out, I agree with your "wa...ay" modifiers. But not afterward. Especially with the paired board, the pot odds Bowker was given, it being the ME, and that coming-over-the-top all-in by the previously passive-in-the-hand player.
5) Whatever. Don't see how this is even relevant & goes back to # 2).
You mentioned a donkey player. I came up with an example of who I would likely see as making a donkey all-in play holding the nut flush: a much older, possibly frustrated, male player who is envious of the success of much younger players like Bowker.
6) lol. Okay, I got a chuckle.
The point of my original post that you replied to was that you admonished Druff by asking if he even read the article:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news...-in-main-event
when there's absolutely nothing in it, including the betting patterns that you point out, that just SCREAMS Q-10s IMO. It just doesn't in my mind.