Posts Tagged ‘FTOPS’
Big Money Sunday – November 1st
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
After the Full Tilt pros were practically skunked last week during the Big Money Sunday events, Michael Tureniec and Lee Watkinson almost made up for it on their own in the first big game of the day. Watkinson was the final table bubble boy and Tuerniec finished second in the Sunday Brawl for a nice showing. That final table also features a friend of the bloggers and regular player in the Battle of the Blogger Tournament Series as katiemother shipped 5th place for a cool $28,000.
Naturally the biggest draw of the day was the 43,000+ player FTOPS XIV Warmup game that played so crazy that it actually made the Double Deuce look sane. I’m not going to say it was a complete crapshoot, it was more like 95% luck, 4% timing (sort of luck I suppose), 1% skill (getting the hell out of the way). The biggest name I saw running deep, and quite proud of it per his twitter page, was Dutch “Dutchalicious” Boyd who somehow got through most of the field to finish in 80th.
I’d like to highlight just one player and three hands to give a feel for the game. I just happened to have the table up at the time and watched “her” go from decent stack to chip leader in just a few hands with less than 500 players left, I believe the first player over 1,000,000 in chips. Then all in one swoop was out of the tournament in 413th. I am by no means picking on “MsKitty0487″, just dump luck that I happened to have the table open.
It all starts off with either the most brilliantly played Aces or the biggest head scratcher. She limped in late position after one other limper. Checked it down on the ace-high, two heart flop. Flat called a min-bet on both the turn and river for a very small pot. “david koch” pretty much lost the minimum he could on that hand. No matter, just one hand later she turned on the burners and took all his chips with AJ versus A9 on a jack-high flop. How could he get a read after the previous play?
Here is the hand that got her up near the stratosphere. No aggression, just check/called the entire way has her next victim hung himself betting into the mortal nuts. This hand pretty much played itself at this level. Nice flop.
It didn’t take very long after that for it all to start circling the drain. After a few sketchy hands at her new table, she tangled with the only player at the table who could knock her out, with a borderline hand out of position. Called a pretty sizable preflop raise, a huge re-raise on the flop, and the shove on the turn with a 7% chance to pick up the pot. From hero to out in no time. “Froggetaboutit” went on to finish 33rd, a $450 difference from there to 413th.
I’m no expert, just presenting it as I saw it. What hand can she beat there on the turn? QQ or an airball is just about the only thing she beats with the pre-flop action.
While I was running around grabbing screenshots, I was also taking down all the information I could gather. You see, I have this freaky love of numbers. Random numbers, formulas, statistics, etc. I’m always running a few spreadsheets on the side tracking random things just for fun. I thought for sure I’d see something interesting if I kept a note how the field busted out between breaks in the FTOPS XIV Warmup and wasn’t disappointed. Generally you see some sort of slowdown as the field corrects itself with blinds and chipstacks. Once this monstrosity got past the second break the pace of people hitting the rail stayed about as consistent as possible. From then until the very end of the tournament the rate between 65% and 69%. Of course it went even quicker when down to two tables.
Break 3 – 23,971 down to 7,581 (68.3%)
Break 4 – 7,581 down to 2,405 (68.3%)
Break 5 – 2,405 down to 733 (69.5%)
Break 6 – 733 down to 259 (64.7%)
Break 7 – 259 down to 85 (67.1%)
Break 8 – 82 down to 20 (76.4%)
Break 9 – 20 down to 5 (75.0%)
As far as I can tell, a statistical loony bin.
Hopefully the run a version of this tournament for the miniFTOPS and the rest of the FTOPS as they progress. It’s just too compelling of a spectacle to resist.
Here are your FTOPS XIV final table results, the rest of the Big Money Sunday can be found after the jump.
FTOPS XIV Warmup
Entrants: 43,874
Prizepool: $250,000
First place: $22,500
IGetMugger – 23,703,448
propopl77 – 17,943,316
redr1212 – 13,349,496
TILTOHOLIC – 9,407,018
Aunt Bessie – 6,381,052
Junokeo – 6,268,573
marciwallace – 4,750,096
Bura-AA – 3,736,488
Tigermitfell – 2,208,513
1st – propopl77 – $22,500
2nd – TILTOHOLIC – $15,725
3rd – Aunt Bessie – $11,500
4th – redr1212- $9,000
5th – IGetMugger – $7,250
6th – Junokeo – $5,750
7th – marciwallace – $4,500
8th – Tigermitfell – $3,250
9th – Bura-AA – $2,000
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, FTOPS Warmup
FTOPS XIV Warmup Live Blog
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament is just around the corner and should generate one of the largest fields of players in the history of poker. With a puny buyin of $5+.50 Full Tilt has guaranteed a prizepool of $250,000 which would be reached if the tournament reaches it’s 50,000 player limit. For this monster sized occasion I have come out of hibernation to run yet another “Live Blog”. I’ll be tracking my results as well as a few of the more famous and interesting players in the field.
12:00ET (Sunday): OK campers, rise and shine. The FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament is just a few hours away and there are still plenty of spots available in the field. 33,000+ players are registered at this point which seems surprising to me. I figured the field would be capped and a long waitlist forming. If the field does not hit 50,000 players there will be a significant overlay.
There was not much poker studying last night via the large field SnG’s as I spent my evening watching my beloved Phillies lose to the evil NYC empire. I ended drowning my sorrows in bad movies and even worse books. The next few hours will be spent grinding away at the cheap SnG’s trying to work out a better strategy so I can run deep in the Warmup.
If I didn’t have enough motivation, now I do. I shipped off an inquiring email to fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig yesterday while I was torturing myself in the Early Daily Doubles. I thought maybe a friendly wager between the sites might add a nice little twist to the horror that will come by playing in a 5-digit-sized field. Ever the creative fellow, he came up with some interesting ideas. (Michael’s writeup of the prop bet can be read here)
I suggested three possible consequences for the loser: (1) Standing on the Strip at midnight for a half-hour with the escort-service pimps handing out copies of WATCHTOWER; (2) Making a collage from escort brochures into a giant “congratulations” card for the winner; and (3) Submitting losing keno cards from three crappy casinos. I later clarified this last one by saying “the winner picks the places as long as they are (a) in the Vegas area, and (b) certifiable shit-holes.” (I never really gave any thought to what agency would provide the certification.)
When everything was ironed out, none of the above were chosen. The loser would have to play in a poker tournament, a scary poker tournament. A poker tournament located downtown at 2am and responsible for their own personal security. The loser is required to play in the 2am Binion’s tournament next time we are in Las Vegas. I was in Binion’s during the WSOP when both blogger friends Drizz and BWOP final tabled their Omaha/8 “mini-series” tournament. Binion’s may be the mythical home of the World Series of Poker, but it is sketchy as all hell in the early morning hours with nothing else around. The winner also has half of the action in the tournament.
Now I have a little more motivation to do well in the FTOPS XIV Warmup. If I do end up losing I will comfort myself that at least the drinks were incredibly cheap at Binion’s once we dodged the locals and found the bar. It’s time to practice.
14:30ET (Sunday): Some have been wondering about how I could possibly consider taking such a risk prop betting with Michael Craig. The man’s reputation as a player is light years beyond anything I’ll ever accomplish in my lifetime. I’m much better known for the exploits on the fringe of these events, while others are trying for poker glory I am behind the scenes making sure a good time is being had by all. Let’s do the boxing routine and go to the “Tale of the Tapes”:
Michael Craig – professional writer, author of The Professor, The Banker, and The Suicide King, three (3) World Series of Poker final tables, friend and confidante of the pros.
AlCantHang – professional degenerate, author of nothing more exciting than some random drunken blog post, two (2) wins in The Mookie, master of the micro-limit.
As you can see here, my complete lack of experience must easily point to me being the favorite in my battle over Mr. Craig. I’ve played these low buyin tournaments, I know the players, their skills and preferences. I think I will be railing Michael at Binion’s in a few days.
In actual FTOPS XIV Warmup news, there’s a very good chance this tournament does not hit it’s 50,000 cap. That means we’re likely to see a decent overlay coming from the Full Tilt pocket. I’m willing to commit to a guess at this point and predict we’ll see just over 40,000 players in the event. Another prediction I’m kicking around is that we will see at least 10,000 players eliminated in the first hour of play. Keeping in mind that the first break will occur a little over 30 minutes into the tournament.
Any other predictions from my fellow lemur-fighting friends or readers?
15:05ET (Sunday): Along with keeping an eye on my adversary today, I’ll also be checking out several bloggers in the field. One of my favorite players will be Drizztdj, who I convinced to register for the tournament even though he’s completely unable to play. I was interested in seeing just how close he comes to actually min-cashing in the event. It should be fun.
The tournament has “started” which means they’ve begun the 15 minute process of seating the entire field. We have gone over the 40,000 player mark so my first line has been crossed.
Some of the bloggers in the tournaments include OtisDart, DrChako, BuddyDank, Joanne1111, and USAF_Trevor in addition to the aforementioned sitting out blogger Drizztdj.
Good luck everyone!
16:00ET (Sunday): Caught KK but no action as the non-stop min-raiser to my left folded when I repopped it. My notes told me that “overbetting for value” was the play in these cheapy events. I probably put too much in on my re-raise but had no doubt I’d get called down in several places. Apparently I have the only tight table in the tournament. No less than three times have I been dealt the all-powerful 53o, I’m tempted to start playing it if I keep seeing it.
My prediction of 10,000 players lost in the first hour of play is look very realistic. At the first break, 35 minutes into the tournaments, and we’ve already lost 5,296 players. Shaking my head at my tight table not giving action. I should have doubled up with the kings. Unfortunately a network problem has popped up thanks to the insane response. Awaiting the return.
In the blogger prop bet battle:
AlCantHang – 2130
Michael Craig – 2110
16:30ET (Sunday): And my prop bet with Mr. Craig is settled just that quickly. Before an hour was complete he found himself short after running into pocket kings. He pushed his stack in with ducks and the trusty weak Ace called and hit. Now he’ll have to trek down and play the dreaded 2am Binion’s tournament next week. I’ve already made the decision I’ll be going down also to play the tournament. What’s the fun of shipping someone down there without actually seeing their face as they look around the place and SMELL the other players.
The rest of the action was crazy. As soon as we come back from the break my table starts pushing their chips in the middle like they have somewhere to go. I actually saw pocket Jacks hold up against Big Slick and I lost a few chips in a blind versus blind battle but nothing spectacular. I picked up with blinds with AKo by raising to 210 in middle position, the big blind folded with only 215 chips behind.
Can you guess that hand the made mrhamilton321 shove in nearly 100 big blinds in the middle UTG+1? The mighty 77 wins again.
At 4:20pm ET there were 33,269 entrants remaining. That means I also win the prop bet with myself, over 10,000 players gone in one hour of play. 24% of the field eliminated in nex to no time at all. “Y’all some crazy players”, my offical moto of this tournament. The official number of entrants is 43,874. That means Full Tilt will be throwing over $30,000 into the prizepool. Not a bad overlay for a $5 buying tournament. First place will pocket $22,500 sometime early this morning (or late?). Here is the official payout for the final table:
1st – $22,500
2nd – $15,725
3rd – $11,500
4th – $9,000
5th – $7,250
6th – $5,750
7th – $4,500
8th – $3,250
9th – $2,000
You can view the rest of the “Live Blog” after the jump:
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, FTOPS Warmup
Big Weekend in the Works
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s lining up to be a very busy weekend on Full Tilt poker this weekend. There are a ton of promotions going off, big tournaments, this should really prop up the cash game tables, and The durrrr Challenge has finally picked up some steam. We’re also just a few short days away from the November Nine determining this year’s World Series of Poker champion and you still have a chance to get your Piece of Ivey. Your humble blogger will hoping a plane bound for Las Vegas early next week to bring you the blow-by-blow play-by-play action. Until then, here’s what you have to look forward to this weekend.
- FTOPS XIV Warmup. It’s sure to be one of the biggest online poker tournaments ever (per number of entrants) and I’m going to start taking over/under prop bets on the bustout per hour rate. The field will be capped at 50,000 players and there is a $250,000 guarantee for just a $5 buyin. Crazy if you ask me, that’s why I’m already registered. As of this post there are nearly 28,000 players signed up including fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig. You can satellite your way into the tournament for as little as .85c or 160 FTP points. First place gets you $22,500 for just a tiny price. I’ll be running a “Live Blog” throughout the tournament so check back on Sunday afternoon.
- FTOPS XIV Satellites continue to run all weekend as November 4th begins the next tournament series. The satellites start as low as $2+.25 or a handful of your FTP points. FTOPS XIV will see more the $16,000,000 given out to those who run well and play solid. This series also features a 7-game Mix for Event #2 with a $200+16 buyin and $150,000 guarantee, a fine way to test your variety of poker skills.
- It’s your last weekend to get a Piece of Ivey. Do you like getting free money in your bankroll? Would you like to watch the November Nine knowing you actually have a chance to win more and more money as Phil Ivey gets closer to the title? This promotion is for you. Sign up and start playing your regular games to earn a chance at the free dough. Just click on the link for full details.
- Recently The durrrr Challenge between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius has picked up more steam. Over the last week they have played thousands of hands and Dwan is sporting a hefty lead of nearly $800,000. That’s real dollars, not tournament chips but it can be erased pretty quickly. Some of the biggest hands they’ve placed have been for several hundred thousands. Just this week Dwan took down a $293,000 pot to build his lead. You can find all the information on The durrrr Challenge live stats page which has the “score” and a replay of the biggest hands.
- Big Money Sunday is always there waiting for you to make your big score. $1,500,000 in guaranteed prizepools (when you throw in the $200,000 Double Deuce) can make for a life changing bankroll boost.
- Don’t forget those juicy cash game tables either. The weekends have proven to be some of the best fishing grounds where everyone has a chance to hook that big fish and take him to the felt. Just about every poker variation is available in No Limit, Pot Limit, and Fixed Limit formats. Step and take your shot.
I’ll be back this weekend with updates (and the Warmup Live Blog) and getting ready for Las Vegas. Things are about to get very exciting around these parts and you don’t want to miss a second of it.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIV Schedule Released
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The schedule for FTOPS XIV has been released including the return of the incredibly popular miniFTOPS. Full Tilt also announced a new FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament with a huge prizepool and micro-buyin. FTOPS XIV is set to run from November 4th until the Main Event on November 15th. That will make for some exciting times to start November. 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event winner will be crowned, “Piece of Ivey” tournament will be run, and FTOPS XIV drawing huge crowds.
There will also be the introduction of the FTOPS XIV Warmup Tournament on November 1st. This is a new wrinkle in the FTOPS set up and is already set to be one of the biggest online tournaments ever run. For just $5+.50 you can enter the tournament that has a $250,000 guaranteed prizepool and the field will be capped at 50,000 players. That simply means that Full Tilt will sell out the tournament or you’ll see an overlay. In my opinion, I think you’ll see it sell out at least a week in advance creating a huge waiting list. I suggest getting signed up now or get working on a satellite which are available at all times starting as low as .50c of 50 Full Tilt Points. I’m signed up already, now it’s your turn to catch me, first place will take home $22,500.
While Full Tilt is still ironing out the details of which pros are hosting various events, the schedule is available for you inspection and satellites are now running. FTOPS XIV kicks off with Event #1 at 21:00ET on November 1st, starting off big with a $1,000,000 guarantee No Limit Hold’em 6-max tournament. That’s the first million dollars out of the over $16,000,000 guaranteed throughout the series. Back by popular demand are the Knockout, Shootout, and $2,000,000 Two-Day event. 6 of the 25 tournaments have guarantees over the $1,000,000 mark including the $2,500,000 Main Event on November 15th.
As usual, there are also various promotions and challenges associated with FTOPS XIV. Satellite Challenge, Survivor, Hold’em, Double up Challenge. They are all there for more chances at free money and encouragement to get in the big games. All the FTOPS XIV Challenge details can be found here, waiting for you to signup.
If you are sporting a smaller bankroll and unable to satellite your way into the big events, you always have the option to set your sights on the upcoming miniFTOPS XIV in December. The same run of events but with just 1/10th of the buyin amount and over $4,000,000 in guaranteed money. You can jump here for all the details on miniFTOPS XIV including challenge of it’s own.
I’ll be spending the next few days looking over the schedules for both series to work out which games will see me spend my hard earned bankroll. I’ll miss the first part of FTOPS while in Las Vegas for the November Nine but that won’t stop me from throwing down some money to get in the big games. miniFTOPS presents similar issues for your humble writer as I’ll be back out in Las Vegas to join a big group of bloggers in town for fun and poker. Look over the details and pick your spots along with me.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, MiniFTOPS
FTOPS XIII Wrap Up
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
My last post before the final weekend of FTOPS XIII made it seem nearly impossible for most of the red letter pros to catch up David “The Dragon” Pham* is the race for the top of the “completely unofficial” Team Full Tilt Leaderboard. Naturally my short-sightedness did not take into account someone coming out of the blue and putting a huge stamp on the thing.
Cardrunner Brian Hastings did just that in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Two Day tournament. In the end he found himself heads up for the FTOPS title of the biggest buyin event and the second largest prizepool of FTOPS XIII. The tournament was stacked so deeply that play could have lasted for another day. When the dust was settled Hastings banked nearly $300,000 of the $2,000,000 pool. Scott Clements put his mark on the series on the final weekend and finished with the most cashes (6) amongst those showing red. These are just a few players who made it a successful run of tournaments for Team Full Tilt.
Stats, results and the “leaderboard” after the jump.
* – not a real dragon
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII Second Friday
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
FTOPS XIII didn’t slow down at all in the middle of the week. I watched 4 tournaments which drew over 4,000 players aiming for a piece of over $1.7 million. Impressive considering that only one of those events was a No Limit Hold’em tournament, that being a rebuy. We had a Pot Limit Omaha/8, Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha Heads Up (aka Four Card Bingo).
FTOPS XIII continued it’s streak of blowing past it’s guarantee including the tricky rebuy touraments. Overall we’ve had 35,744 players generating $11,586,400 in prize money across the first 19 tournaments. On Wednesday we had the 4th event of the series go past a cool Million Dollar pool and 3 more players walked away with a 6-digit evening. This incarnation of FTOPS has so far seen 23 players walk away with at least $100,000 from a single tournament.
David Pham gets the coveted top picture spot for the biggest cash by Team Full Tilt when he final tabled Event #17. He finished fourth in the $400 NLHE 6-max rebuy tournament for $87,334.80.
The most interesting table occurred during the Pot Limit Omaha Heads Up tourmament. Most of the matches were done fairly quickly. There was just one exception that had the entire event on hold. ”Cheesemonster” and “AshTheDonkey” just couldn’t find a way to knock each other out. Their HU match went an incredible 1 hour and 45 minutes. As you would imagine, the already idiotic railbird action got a little more loopy as the minutes pasted. 4 people had their chat banned just from this match. A few examples you ask? Here are some of the printable ones.
poker4adummy (Observer): this is the most painful thing i have ever seen. i cant believe i havent put my fist through my keyboard
ZVC (Observer): if this goes to break im gonna commit suicide
OneUponAStar (Observer): u guys know u have 4 cards right?
mossified84 (Observer): WILL FTOPSAMENTS GET HIS CHAT BACK B4 THIS ENDS? (the answer was YES)
J Gold1 (Observer): it aint easy being cheesey!!!
Specialkmaster (Observer): IT AINT EASY BEING CHEEEEEEEESEEEEEEEEEEY
ItsTime2Win (Observer): cheese you are horrid at PLO HU
Rodrico48 (Observer): FIRST SIGN OF THE APOCOLYPSE
Rodrico48 (Observer): SOMEONE CALL GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
Just a few of your Full Tilt railbird ladies and gentlemen. Those are the PG-rated, family safe comments. I can’t show you the ones that caused chat bans. For the record, Cheesemonster won the Main Event of FTOPS VIII banking over $400,000.
Aaron Bartley brought us a fine example of the joys of 6-max games. Here’s what happens when you think the button is making a move on your blinds. Insta-shove ~250k and double up the table professional. This was in Wednesday night’s $300 6-max rebuy tournament well after the add-on was complete. I think a whoops is the phrase he was looking for.
Click to enlarge
This is the final weekend of FTOPS XIII highlighted by the Main Event on Sunday ($2,500,000 Guarantee), Michael Craig hosting the Razz tournament this evening, $3,000,000 Two Day event, and actor Don Cheadle hosting an Ante Up for Africa charity game on Saturday. The remaining schedule looks like this:
FTOPS XIII Event #20: No Limit Hold’em 6-max
when: Friday, August 14th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $200 + 16
Guarantee: $400,000
FTOPS XIII Event #21: Razz
when: Friday, August 14th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $300 + 22
Guarantee: $150,000
FTOPS XIII Event #22: No Limit Hold’em 6-max 2 Day Event
when: Saturday, August 15th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $2,500 + 120
Guarantee: $2,000,000
FTOPS XIII Ante Up for Africa
when: Saturday, August 15th at 15:00ET
Buyin: $100 + 20
Guarantee: $100,000
FTOPS XIII Event #23: Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys
when: Saturday, August 15th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $100 + 9
Guarantee: $350,000
FTOPS XIII Event #24: No Limit Hold’em with Knockout Bounties
when: Sunday, August 16th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $120 + 9
Guarantee: $750,000
FTOPS XIII Main Event
when: Sunday, August 16th at 18:00ET
Buyin: $500 + 35
Guarantee: $2,500,000
Team Full Tilt leaderboard and tournament results after the jump.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII update
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul took down FTOPS XIII Event #11
Photo credit: Hendon Mob
It’s been a great couple days for both Full Tilt red letter players and regular online pros. Finishing yesterday with just a Richard Ashby bubble away from a member of Team Full Tilt at all 3 FTOPS final tables on Tuesday. Fellow FTP blogger Michael Craig finished 9th in the shootut Event #13 and Aaron Bartley finished 3rd in the 6-max Turbo tournament.
Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul gets the (kind of) desired spot as post picture boy at the top for taking down the top spot and over $57,000 in the Pot Limit HA event on Monday afternoon. Saul spent some hard earned FTP points to get his personal avatar, now the question is what happens with the FTOPS winner gold jersey. Does it go over top? While railing the tournament I witnessed the hand which propelled him from shorter stack onto his journey to the top. Unfortunately it came at the expense of Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman. How’s this for a nice flop?
Click to enlarge
(I shall not comment on the “alleged” slowroll. *cough*)
Of course, you can’t win one of these big tournaments without a bit of luck and the suckouts WILL happen. Witness at least one of them.
Click to enalrge
Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig returned to FTOPS action on Sunday and made his first final table yesterday afternoon. The $300 Shootout tournament sold out and Mr. Craig one his first two tables to find himself in the final 9. It was a stacked full table with former FTOPS winners Va Shon “Julian Verse” Watkins and “MikeyG16″ to his immediate left. After a couple tough hands he would exit in 9th for a cool 3 grand (give or take).
Aaron Bartley was the big winner amongst Team Full Tilt finishing 3rd in the 6-max Turbo tournament, making a deal that added a straight $70,000 into his bankroll. This event was one of the craziest games I have ever witnessed. It was pure 2 card bingo with open-over-shove being the play of the day. Apparently any sooooted hand or naked ace was worth everything and Ace-Face was the preflop nuts. This cash pushes Bartley ahead of all others for the red letter players.
Just 10 tournaments remaining and today we will go over the $10,000,000 prizepool line. Current numbers through 15 events have us showing 31,581 players creating $9,794,700 in prize money. There have been 3 tournaments with over $1,000,000 in payouts including 2 over $1.5 million.
You can find the current red letter pro unofficial “leaderboard” as well tournament results after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII Sunday (replacing Big Money Sunday)
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
$3,138,800
That’s how much prize money was available over 3 tournaments on Sunday alone with the latest FTOPS putting another temporary hold on the normal Big Money Sunday events. With the promise of $2,750,000 already out there in the form of guaranteed money, I knew it would be one of the biggest days of the year.
Thinking Sunday would be I decided to run away early in the weekend to spend a little family time. Little did I know I should make myself available in the early morning hours of Saturday when a big gun would make a run at an FTOPS title. 544 players put down there money for some Friday night Seven Card Stud action reaffirming my belief that I could prepare myself for the long weekend. Then I started getting twitter updates from Andy Bloch.
“Chip leader at final table of FTOPS #4, 7 card stud, on Full Tilt Poker.” – Andy_Bloch (we will just go ahead and ignore the fact it was actually Event #5. It was pretty late at the timeaf all.)
Naturally I soon found myself firing up the idle laptop to rail the charter member of Team Full Tilt. Watching Stud tournaments live is only slightly less dry than watching online only because I have other distractions around me. Bloch battled through the final table but came one spot short of taking down a FTOPS title for the team. I wonder if his custom avatar would have been fitted with the customary FTOPS jersey.
He continued his hot run, as well as my streak of sleep deprivation, when he went on a heater during Event #10. He hit a few big hands, made some good moves, then found some amazingly interesting players who were willing to throw chips into his stack drawing nearly dead. I took a quick 60 minutes nap around 2:30am waking in time to watch him crash out in 42nd. He outlasted the majorirty of the 5,660 players in the biggest tournament of the night.
Speaking of avatars, it was great to see newly added team member James Akenhead playing this weekend. The 2009 November Nine participant had his first cash during FTOPS XIII but I am hoping he gets his custom avatar soon. He’s rocking the puppy pic at the moment which doesn’t quite convey his status as one of the best young players in the world.
Other making noise on Sunday were Scott Clements who made into the 7th round of the Heads Up event and Isaac Baron with a final table finish in the 6-max KO event which replaced the Sunday Brawl. Both players also cashed in the $1.5Million Guarantee Event #$10.
All told it was a very successful night and weekend for the members of Team Full Tilt with 14 cashes and two final tables. They continue to rack up the money but waiting for the first victory. The Red Letter pro leaderboard as well as results from Events 4 through 10 after the jump. Comments and questions always welcome.
On a humorous side note, while Andy Bloch was playing this weekend I jokingly asked for someone to grab a picture of him while playing in the FTOPS events. He replied on his own, his expression of confusement (made up word for confused amusement) at some of the more “interesting” plays. Watch a few events and you’ll see of what we speak.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
First Friday of FTOPS XIII
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Three events of FTOPS XIII are in the bag and I’ll bring a little local tradition from around home and call today “First Friday of FTOPS” for no real reason other than pure alliteration. Things have started splendidly with all 3 events being completely different. We started off with a big $1,000,000 No Limit Hold’em Tournament followed by a 6-Max Shootout and (my personal favorite) good ol’ Limit Omaha/8.
The first three tournaments have seen more than $1.7million in prize money with just under 8,000 players registered for their big shot. The new “make a deal” option was used twice at the final table of those three tournaments and is being met with hugely popular responses.
Full Tilt red letter pros made a little noise in the early going. David “The Dragon” Pham* came just a few players away from making the 6-max shootout final table. Eli Elezra lead the Limit Omaha/8 tournament for large portions. Both Scott Fischman and Chris Kruel cashed in 2 of the 3 events.
Pham received a brutal second round table in the 6-max shootout when he found two former FTOPS Champions to his immediate right in Jonas “Klausen” and “mrvogt”. He battled through that table but ran into some brutal play. The craziest table action I caught during the shootout involved Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen.
I was paging through the tournament lobby near the beginning of the tournament and noticed that just 20 minutes in there was a table already heads up. “THAY3R” was sitting on a stack that consisted of the 4 missing players sitting across from the last one between himself and the next round. Then a series of hands took him from the near two hour wait for the next level to watching the action from the rail. Things just went right down hill after his opponent laid this beat on him. The luckbox went on to finish outside the money also.
All the money went in on the turn
Click to enlarge
Big events continue straight through the weekend including an afternoon game today (FTOPS First Friday!) which is a $200 (1 rebuy and 1 add-on) tournament. There are 7 tournaments over the next 3 days with over $4,000,000 in guaranteed prize money. You can find the complete FTOPS XIII schedule here but I’ll list your events from now til Sunday:
Event #4: No Limit Hold’em with 1 rebuy – 1 add-on
when: Friday, August 7th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $200+16
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #5: Seven Card Stud
When: Friday, August 7th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $200+16
Guarantee: $100,000
Event #6: Pot Limit Omaha 6-max
When: Saturday, August 8th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $500+35
Guarantee: $350,000
Event #7: No Limit Hold’em with rebuys
When: Saturday, August 8th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $100+9
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #8: No Limit Hold’em 6-max with Knockout bounties
When: Sunday, August 9th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $240+16
Guarantee: $750,000
Event #9: No Limit Hold’em Heads Up
When: Sunday, August 9th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $500+35
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #10: No Limit Hold’em
When: Sunday, August 9th at 18:00ET
Buyin: $300+22
Guarantee: $1,500,000
Tournaments results and Full Tilt red letter pro updates after the jump:
Popularity: 9% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII Kicks Off
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
This evening kicks off FTOPS XIII with boat loads of guaranteed cash sitting there for the taking. There will be at least $16,000,000 in prizepool money across the 25 events. Each tournament will be hosted by a different member of Team Full Tilt as well as plenty of other red letter pros with their bounties waiting for a lucky player to collect.
The first event is a $200+16 No Limit Hold’em event with a $1,000,000 guarantee prizepool and hosted by 2009 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Vitaly Lunkin. Cards will be in the virtual air at 21:00ET. The Main Event will be played on August 16th with a huge $2.5 Million prizepool. You can find the entire FTOPS XIII schedule here.
Come back later as we follow along the entire series to bring you the highlights and details. I will live blog some of the more interesting events as well as throw some of my hard earned bankroll on some tournaments.
Good luck at the tables.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
