FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#004 – Coming Soon: FTOPS, the Inside Stuff

Posted by Editor | Filed under FTOPS, Mike Matusow

OK, I have to admit that I’m selling the sizzle a lot more than the steak with this. The gang at Full Tilt asked me to “cover” the FTOPS like I’d cover a live tournament. There are, however, three problems with this: (1) I haven’t actually covered that many live tournaments. My M.O. is to hang around the players I know and occasionally, sometimes months later, write about the experience from that vantage point. I’m very proud of some of those pieces and I hope to create more, but that’s not exactly “real-time tournament coverage.” In fact, it’s not even approximately real-time tournament coverage. (2) I have no idea what Full Tilt is looking for. (3) They have no idea either.

But let’s give it a try. I am not against taking a writing assignment where no one involved knows what’s going to happen or what I’m going to write. And if that lowers the bar, all the better.

I’m playing in tonight’s event and I’ll probably play in most of them. My goal is not to bog you down with my own experiences. If something especially interesting or instructive happens, I’ll mention it but I don’t think you’re reading this blog because my tournament record is some kind of referendum on all that’s good and right about online poker, even though it seems that way to ME.

I’ll try to post something during the evening, immediately after, the next day, or in some combination. And if we can’t find an interesting way to report these tournaments, then I won’t post.

I chatted this afternoon with Stu, one of Full Tilt’s tournament directors. He had two reasons for contacting me: (1) To remind me that FTOPS starts tonight; and (2) To tell me to stop watching Clonie Gowen.

I wanted to tell him (1) duh, and (2) I’m going to keep watching Clonie Gowen until (a) watching Clonie becomes uninteresting or (b) there is a restraining order preventing me. At least one of those things seems very unlikely.

But I want to “go with the flow.” “Be a team player.” Utter all those one-for-all platitudes that I have ignored since the last time I had a boss, which was 1987.

I asked Stu his prediction for the number of entries in the first FTOPS event. He said 1,250. (This was about 2 ½ hours before the event, when there were about 820 entered.) His betting number, however, was 1,495. With further questioning, I was able to extract that he tracks numerous aspects of site traffic and tournament entries, including by time, so he in fact had an exact projection of the number of entries.

I hit the roof, at least as much as one can “hit” a “roof” in an IM chat. “So you’re telling me 1,250 to get me interested in the prop but then you bait-and-switch to 1,495 when I reveal which side I want? That’s been your goal all along, hasn’t it? To low-ball me to get me enthusiastic and then hit me with the real number so you can clean up. Clonie Gowen was just a diversion.”

The chat lagged a little after that but I did find out – though PocketFives.com already got this information from Full Tilt – that after the FTOPS, Full Tilt is going to be introducing Guarantee rebuy tournaments, both $10 and $30.

Postscript – It’s 15 minutes to tournament time and the number is over 1,600. I IMed Stu, who claimed the reason he lowballed me so we’d both be pleasantly surprised by the numbers.

Mike: Over 1600!
Stu: see, pleasantly surprised!
Mike: No, extremely annoyed. You double faked me out of betting you. I was ready to bet the over but you lowballed me then jacked it up, convincing me that it was a bad bet.
Stu: I’m pretty clever that way
Mike: The thing I can’t figure out is how you’re making money off convincing me not to bet. But I’ll figure that one out, and when I do, I’m blowing the whistle on your scam.
Stu: Whatever scam it is.

Next – The Orgy that is “the turbo sat” and, finally, FTOPS #1, hosted by Erik Seidel. And, soon enough, Total Rebuy.

Next Next – If Mike Matusow isn’t mad at me, I’d like to cover the Omaha Hi-Lo event from his house. Good idea gang? Good idea Mike? Mike? If you want to put in your two cents, try suicideking@fulltiltpoker.com.

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