I used to maintain an informal list of the worst tournaments on Full Tilt. My criteria mostly concern personal courtesy. My evidence is anecdotal but a few tournaments in particular seem overloaded with jerks. Unfortunately, my beloved Turbo Hundo has joined that list. In that tournament, I learned on Saturday night that even Chris Ferguson isn’t immune from some dope’s complaints.

Not that Chris can’t handle it. It just boggles my mind that someone would pick HIM as the source of their ills.

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On January 14, in entry #318, I announced the rules of a contest in which I offered to back one player in Event #1 of FTOPS VII, scheduled for February 6, 2008.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/poker-blog/2008/01/318_ftops_vii_contest_announcement_free_money_michael_craig_is_giving_it_away.php

There are very few rules for the contest but they are contained in that post. In #320, on January 21, I clarified by stating that multiple entries were allowed. I also decided to award TWO buy-ins for Event #1, so two players will win.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/poker-blog/2008/01/320_sunday_horse_or_erik_seidel_is_only_992560_ahead_of_me_plus_contest_news.php

So e-mail your entries to mrchaotic@aol.com. For the subject line, put “Michael Craig is Giving it Away.” I noticed one entry in my spam folder, maybe because the word “contest” appears in the subject line. But I’ll check my folder before the contest closes.

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Dear Uncle Tilty:

I apologize for missing most of my regular Tuesday night tournaments. Although it has never been acknowledged, I’m sure Full Tilt appreciates the effort I make playing a lot of tournaments on what would otherwise been slow evenings. You’re welcome.

I was gone for much of the evening taking my eleven year-old daughter Valerie to see the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (First note: What is Jobing.com and why is it spelled that way? What ever amount they paid for naming rights was a rip-off because no one knows who they are.) I know you have discouraged me from taking such field trips for Full Tilt, but I had my reasons.

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I just finished reading a remarkable book, GENTLEMEN’S BLOOD: A HISTORY OF DUELING FROM SWORDS AT DAWN TO PISTOLS AT DUSK by Barbara Holland. Barbara Holland does a phenomenal job explaining the origins of dueling, the essential features that caused it to thrive in almost every significant culture in Europe and in Russia (and spread to America) for 300 years. Because of the prevalence of dueling to solve disputes, leading politicians dueled. Leading newspaper publishers and writers dueled. President Andrew Jackson survived more than 20 duels. Alexander Hamilton and Alexander Pushkin died in duels. Consequently, GENTLEMEN’S BLOOD is also a great book about the sweep of history. And the anecdotes are phenomenal – more deaths than in every movie made by Arnold Schwartzenegger.

The whole experience is a testament to the importance of serendipity in reading. Let me explain, and tell you more about this terrific book.

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Erik Seidel is one of my favorite people in poker. I man that, even though he is practically impossible to get to know and my sole interview with him constituted one of my most frustrating days as a writer. Following his runner-up finish in the Aussie Millions, it’s certainly appropriate that I profile him, especially because I’ve spent some time with Erik over the last few years.

But it’s difficult.

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Congratulations to Erik Seidel on finishing runner-up in the Aussie Millions Main Event. He is a phenomenal talent and a great guy, even if he is impossible to get to know well. Still, he SEEMS like a great guy. Erik gets a million dollars for finishing second – I don’t know if that’s AUS or US but does it really matter? While we’re on the subject of tournament successes – mind you, I just brought that up – I just won the Sunday HORSE for the first time. So Seidel has the hassle of getting all that cash back into the U.S., while my smaller prize fits comfortably in my Full Tilt account and I can say, “Second, huh? I was worried about that when my tournament started heads up, but I took care of business.”

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Alexander Kostritsyn bested Erik Seidel in head’s up play. Alex wins $1.65 Million. Erik wins $1 Million for second place. I’ve described some key hands in the previous post.

I’ll post a recap of the events in Australia in a post after I finish my travels back to the US–probably in two or three days.

I’d like to thank Michael for allowing me to share his blog space. It’s been fun.

Jay Greenspan

Here I’m calling Erik “The Wombat” because he has a small stuffed wombat sitting on his chips He’s been telling people how much he enjoyed going to a wild animal park where he got to hold a baby wombat. He found it “cuddly.” I’m calling Alexander Kostritsyn, the chip leader in heads-up play, AK-47, because, well, he’s Russian and he keeps firing. Kind of lame and obvious, I know.

Bad nicknames, maybe, but the action is great.

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Three-handed play was insane. It was one of the more action-packed final tables I’ve seen. Here are some key moments:

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Peter Ling is not the most experience player in the world. That’s not to say he’s playing like a donkey, but he’s doing certain things that are a little transparent to the more experienced players around him. Take this hand for example.

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