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#025 – FTOPS #5 Update A – Blame the Dance Moms
I was unable to provide an update during the first break in FTOPS #5 because I had to pick up my daughter Valerie at dance. I was also unable to hold on to the chips I picked up doubling through a guy with A-A when my 5-5 turned into quads on the flop. (Presto!) I’m not sure if I can blame the dance moms for that, but I’m trying. I had nearly 6,000 chips after a half hour. 75 minutes in, I have 700.
I asked Disco Stu, the tournament director, if it was possible to revise Full Tilt’s software so I could leave and return in 15 minutes. Since he was’t giving me a heads-up when I was bluffing an opponent with a set, he obviously wasn’t willing or able to create a force majure to cover my personal errand.
I told him I wasn’t worried so much about missing some hands as the effect being away would have on my driving behavior. “I’m more worried about causing an accident roaring through the dance studio parking lot. 80% of the moms drive Range Rovers, but none owns a Bluetooth headset, and every one of them talks on the phone while driving throught he lot. And the little girls, in their black leotards, dash between the cars in the darkness. It’s dangerous even if gambling ISN’T involved.”
Starting numbers: 2,070 players, for a prize pool of 414,000. 234 will be paid, with bottom money receiving $331.20. First place pays $82,303.20, an amount that seems hopeless far away at the moment I write this, having 745 chips. There were originally 15 pros in the field.
Here are a number of things I saw during the first two hours:
*John Juanda said it was 9 AM local time when the tournament started. He was hosting from Jakarta.
*Stuart Paterson and Allen Cunningham, who spent some time at the same table in PLO last night, started today at the same table.
*Stuart Paterson lost 90% of his stack to Allen Cunningham in the first fifteen minutes. Allen had J-J, Stu had 9-9, and the flop brought both a jack and a nine. From under 300 chips, however, Paterson rebuilt to over 4,000, eventually going out haltway to the second break.
*It looks like a number of the pros are out to prove why they are pros. Lynette Chan, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Gavin Smith, and Eric Froelich all accumulate over 10,000 in chips while the average was 5,000 or below. Andy Bloch is 11th at the break with 26,000. Gavin Smith has 16,000. Lynette Chan has 15,000. Huck Seed was lower in chips but continues to hang around. He has 7,400.
*In a 20 minute period, I built my stack from 595 to over 3,000 (the average was 6,000). I busted in 1,013th, however, when I raised and called a re-raise with A-Q. The other player had T-T and I did not improve.
At the second break, after two hours, there were 720 players remaining, with an average chip stack of 8,600. The big stack was DaDonk612 at 35,700.
I’m off to play in the consolation tournament (my 10-year-old daughter Val, who I’ve been complaining isn’t doing her vocabulary homework, said, “‘Consolation’? Doesn’t that mean ‘loser’?”), the $30,000 Guarantee. I will keep an eye on the FTOPS and report later tonight or tomorrow,depending on what happens in the meantime.
Tomorrow’s FTOPS #6 is Omaha EOB, hosted by Mike Matusow.
