As most of you know, the sites which have committed to shutting down US players have already started doing so, due to the recent ‘ban’ on internet poker. I, unfortunately, have had to cash out of more than one site for fear that my money would become the subject of suspended animation. In hindsight however, was it necessarily a good thing to be playing on so many sites? Perhaps not, perhaps so.
With the non-stop promotion of No Limit Hold ‘em, whether it’s the WSOP, WPT, PPT, Celebrity Poker Showdown, insert random tourney here, it is easy to find yourself exposed to and inevitably only playing one game. Wouldn’t life be boring though, if all you ate was steak for dinner? The same goes for poker. Full Tilt has the biggest variety of games online and you should take advantage of them. It will improve your overall play and you never know, you may enjoy it!
I am you – the guy toiling away with perverse joy in that mosh pit known as the Full Tilt 20k. These have been dark days for us recreational poker addicts, but then The Reload arrived and gave us all something to rally around. Here’s to the online players’ line in the sand.
The following post was prompted by a late night heads-up session. It takes a macro look at aggression in heads-up tournaments/SNGs, and comes to the conclusion that the best time to be aggressive may be when you are most even in chips. As you take a lead or start to fall behind in chips, aggressions should be tempered. Ultimately, as you or your opponent enter the point of desperation, aggression should return.
While the theory seems relatively simple, it can also appear counterintuitive. Hence, the post, which examines the theories behind this Inverse Aggression principle and how it can be used.
I was playing heads up, and my opponent and I were both on the ropes for periods of time before returning to a nuetral 1000/1000 stance. At those moments, when blinds were still 15/30, I found myself raising preflop with J7o, 25d, K4o. As is customary with heads-up play, the main ingredient is aggression. Half of the time, your opponent will have a worse hand than you. Logic dictates that most of the time, they will also fold to a raise, since their hand is likely not worth calling with.
Once upon a time poker players speculated on X/X-1 (e.g. 98s, 65s) suited connectors. They prayed for big flops and huge pay days. Sometimes they got them, most of the time they didn’t. But now there is a new kid in town.
Do you like to curse the poker gods when your Aces get cracked? Maybe you should be thanking them.
On ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’ there is a devout Christian character who is a comedienne on the sketch show which is the eponymous subject of the series. On this week’s show, she was describing her Mother’s faith to a feature reporter played by Christine Lahti. Her mother had endured a series of crippling events that had left her very ill and seemingly on death’s door. When asked why she didn’t complain to God about her problems and ask why such bad things were happening to a presumably devoted servant, the Mother replied, “I didn’t ask ‘Why Me?’ when things were going well, so I won’t ask ‘Why Me?’ when things are going badly.” (paraphrased)
I scraped into the Bronze Iron Man freeroll last month. Not only did I end up winning that, I won the heads-up double shootout that followed and the following week I was scheduled to play three members of Team Full Tilt for a possible $50K. This is my take on what happened next.
A phone rings. ‘What up?’ ‘Hey, what’re you doin?’ ‘I’m just playin’ some poker on Full Tilt.’ ‘Again? Sheesh, you always play. Do you make money doin’ it or what?’ ‘I don’t know, I’m probably about even, but it’s fun.’ Insert the sound of brakes screeching to a halt after driving 110 miles per hour up Interstate 15 from California to Las Vegas, here.
Hello there! Anni here, a semi-pro player from California who enjoys long walks on the beach, Sunday brunch in bed…oh wait, wrong intro. I log in an ungodly number of hours playing poker, watching poker, and eating and breathing poker.
Case in point: I recently was in a Red Rock Satellite tournament. I played my game, switching up my play from aggressive to conservative, paying attention to other people’s betting patterns, and making sure my mistakes weren’t as costly as their mistakes.
Recently, there have been many rumors that, because of the new Internet gaming legislation, players will no longer be able to compete for seats at live, U.S.-based poker tournaments on Full Tilt Poker. We assure you, this is not the case.
For the foreseeable future, we will continue to offer all of our players the opportunity to win seats at World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events through our bi-weekly Winner’s Choice tournaments and other promotions at Full Tilt Poker. That said, effective immediately, we are implementing a change in how we award players with their tournament entries when they win an entry to a U.S.-based live tournament through an online qualifier.
Upon winning a Winner’s Choice or other prize package to a live, U.S. tournament, Full Tilt Poker will immediately deposit any monies you may have won, excluding the cost of the tournament entry, into your player account. Additionally, at this time, you will be asked to provide Full Tilt Poker with proof of identification, your mailing address, and your shirt size so that we can send you a Full Tilt Poker shirt and hat to wear at the tournament.
Full Tilt Poker will then deposit your tournament entry fee into your player account. Once you receive these funds, you may use them to purchase your seat at the live tournament.
For example, say you win a $12,000 Winner’s Choice prize package on July 1st for a live U.S. tournament on August 21st with a $10,000 buy-in. Upon your victory, we will immediately credit your account with as much as $2,000, which may be used to help offset your travel expenses and hotel reservations at the tournament site. Then, on or about August 1st, Full Tilt Poker will deposit $10,000 into your player account, which can be used to cover your tournament entry. At this time, we will also send your Full Tilt Poker gear. If you make it to the final table at the live tournament, Full Tilt Poker will pay you a logo bonus for wearing this gear on television. The size of your bonus will be dependant on your finishing position and the anticipated viewing audience of the televised tournament. You will be advised of the bonus structure prior to the event.
As this new legislation is implemented, Full Tilt Poker will continue to monitor the impact it may have on our ability to satellite players into live, U.S.-based tournaments, and will revise our policies as appropriate.
If you have any questions in regard to any of our policies, please contact us at support@fulltiltpoker.com.
Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker
