Posted by Editor | Filed under Heads-Up
Congratulations to 2011 National Heads-Up Champion Erik Seidel. His 1st place prize of $750,000 — following wins in Australia, LA, and 4 other final table appearances – moved him into first place on the all-time Tournament Money List. Read more in the official Erik Seidel press release.
Erik Seidel being presented with his trophy and cash prize of $750,000
Congratulations to John Matthews, Yves Farges and ahcrata who all picked Erik to win in our bracket challenge. 3,500 FTP points (for an FTP t-shirt or anything else) will be deposited into your accounts Monday.
Here’s the finished bracket, courtesy of NBC:
2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship Bracket
Follow Erik Seidel on Facebook for updates, photos and much more.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tags: 2011, championship, Erik Seidel, Heads-Up, national, nbc, poker, winner
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Erik Seidel’s Heater continues at the National Heads up Championship
Team Full Tilt Pro Erik Seidel continued his impressive start to the 2011 tournament circuit with wins in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. At the L.A.P.C., Seidel won the $25,000 buy-in high roller event for $144,570 and finished fifth in the $5,000 heads-up event, good for $14,500.
Just a year after finishing second last year, Seidel won six straight heads up matches for the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Championship. While there have been rumblings about the quality of the field, Seidel had no easy road to win $750,000 and the championship ring. Seidel beat Allen Cunningham, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Vanessa Selbst, and Andrew Robl en route to the championship best-of-three series against 2003 Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker. Seidel won the first two matches with little drama to clinch the title.
Seidel has now won over $4 million in 2011 alone, enjoying success in events with buy-ins of $25,000 or more. He is on pace to have a year better than Daniel Negreanu had in 2004, considered one of the best years a player has had since the “poker boom.” Negreanu had made 11 final tables in big buy-in events and had $4.5 million in earnings over the course of the year. By comparison, Seidel already has made 7 final tables and has just over $4.3 million this year. Granted, Negreanu didn’t have high roller and super high roller events back in 2004, but it’s clear that Seidel is on pace for one of the best years in poker history.
Los Angeles Poker Classic Main Event
As the World Poker Tour made its annual stop in Los Angeles, Carlos Mortensen finished third in the $10,000 main event, pocketing just over $640,000. Mortensen was looking to become the first player in WPT history to win four titles, but came up short when his top pair couldn’t fend off Andrew Brooks’ open-ended straight flush draw. Team Full Tilt Pro Allen Cunningham also made a deep run in the main event. His eighth place finish was good for $130,750, but not television coverage, which is limited to the final six.
Nosebleed Action
According to HighStakesDB.com, online player “XWINK” has been putting in a ton of volume at the nosebleed pot-limit Omaha tables lately after running $4,000 in his account up to $4 million in four days.
XWINK took on Team Full Tilt Pros Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, as well as Red Pro Cole South. At one point in a match against Ivey, XWINK had over $1 million on the table in a cap pot-limit Omaha game.
XWINK posted at 2p2 that he had lost $1.2 million in a day, will cash out a “half a mill or something” and will “continue to play to entertain you guys.”
Popularity: 2% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Macau
@CM_Porter recently sat down with Patrik Antonius to discuss the high stakes cash games in Macau.
Below you’ll find the video interview and a written transcript:
Patrik Antonius discusses the high stakes cash games in Macau
So tell us, how was Macau?
Patrik Antonius: Hi everybody, Macau was good, it’s just Vegas but smaller there’s not too much else than gambling for me and ah it was nice.
How long were you there?
Patrik Antonius: I was there for 2 weeks after Australia and I had a chance to play the game only one day because I missed the first couple of days and then just accidentally went to the poker room and we started to play and we ended up playing like a 28 hour session.
Holy cow, so you played one session but it was 28 hours?
Patrik Antonius: Ya, so that kind of equals maybe 3 or 4 sessions.
Wow, What kind of stakes were they, how much gambling?
Patrik Antonius: The stakes were 5k,10k HKD blinds so I guess that’s close to 6k,12k$ I think, maybe a bit more.
Lots of action though? Big pots?
Patrik Antonius: In fact we started to play props, John Juanda, Tom and me and one guy who is playing there a lot and the props were maybe twice as big as the game in general, there was a lot of props that somebody won over 300k in one flop combination.
Is it all no limit or were you guys playing a mix?
Patrik Antonius: Ya all no limit, I think there’s a weird thing that, I think they can only deal NLHE or PLO and based on the law they have certain tables that you can only use for tournaments and I think there was only one table in the whole poker room that you could possibly deal PLO. So if you want to change the game you would have to change the table. It’s kind of funny some things are kind of funny there. But the service was good the food was very good in all the casinos in Macau, a lot of good restaurants there. I think In general the food is just a little bit better quality than in Vegas. I think some people have been complaining about the quality of the air I think it was very nice, I didn’t find any issues with the air quality, it was, for me it’s by the ocean so how can there be a lot of pollution in that way.
So on the action, did you win or lose, you don’t have to tell us the amount, but you did good?
Patrik Antonius: Ya, I got lucky in the props, that’s basically why I won easily big for the game size but It was going very bad, in fact when I went to the poker room it was 2am, and I was going to go to sleep around 4am, but I didn’t know there was going to be a game, I didn’t know we were going to play, nobody called me as usual.
As usual? No one calls Patrick Antonius?
Patrik Antonius: Ha, so I was awake long since we played for 28 hours and ya the props I got very lucky in the prop games.
So there are people losing and winning big money? Half a million dollar swings no problem?
Patrik Antonius: Yes, yes, I think it’s the biggest game at the moment that is, kind of that the world knows about it, people are posting a little bit of information about there. It looks like the people who play there sometimes play more privately and people don’t know who’s playing and how big they are playing and what are they playing. It seems like they want to keep it private even in that place and in that anybody can’t walk in and see who’s playing. I hope that somehow the press people stop writing about it in all these forums so that they don’t destroy that because I think those people really like their privacy and they don’t want to read who is losing and who is winning big there. I think that’s the way they want it and I think they can control it pretty well. There is nobody from Europe or USA there to see what is happening there and writing about it.
Good stuff, thanks buddy. Thanks for giving some insight and glad you had a good trip.
Patrik Antonius: Thanks and good luck everybody, and see you on Full Tilt.
*
Further reading: Dr. Pauly wrote a guest post about the high stakes games in Macau over at Poker from the Rail.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tags: High Stakes Cash Games, John Juanda, Macau, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Hey Tilters. Dave here.
With March Madness just around the corner, we would have liked to do an NBC National Heads up Championship bracket challenge. Unfortunately, the bracket isn’t set yet, and play begins soon after it is. So instead of filling out a bracket, you can win an FTP t-shirt by picking the winner. Here’s how it works:
Leave a comment on this blog post with your (FTP ID in parenthesis). Predict:
– Who will win the National Heads up Championship
– Who will place 2nd
– Who will lose in the semifinals (2 players)
Winning entrant will be whoever correctly picks the winner of the tournament. If more than one entrant guesses the winner correctly, tiebreaker is whoever guesses 2nd place correctly, then the semifinalists.
Deadline to submit a guess is 3pm ET Friday.
As always, prizes will be awarded the Monday following the determination of a winner.
Here are the participants:
George Costanza
Patrik Antonius
Eric Baldwin
David Benyamine
Andy Bloch
Liv Boeree
James Bord
Doyle Brunson
Joe Cada
Daniel Cates
Johnny Chan
Don Cheadle
Nicolas Chouity
Allen Cunningham
Jonathan Duhamel
Annie Duke
Tom Dwan
Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra
Antonio Esfandiari
Chris Ferguson
Ted Forrest
Phil Galfond
Phil Gordon
Barry Greenstein
Bertrand Grospellier
Joe Hachem
Gus Hansen
Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
Faraz Jaka
John Juanda
Gabe Kaplan
Frank Kassela
Eugene Katchalov
Phil Laak
Howard Lederer
Erick Lindgren
Ayaz Mahmood
Thomas Marchese
Mike Matusow
Jason Mercier
Michael Mizrachi
Sorel Mizzi
Chris Moneymaker
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Annette Obrestad
Dennis Phillips
Dwyte Pilgrim
John Racener
Greg Raymer
Vanessa Rousso
Kara Scott
Huck Seed
Erik Seidel
Vanessa Selbst
Emmitt Smith
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly
Melburn Whitmire
David Williams
Justin Young
Popularity: 5% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
A quick look at Full Tilt Poker pros in the news, from the week of Monday February 21 – Sunday February 27
NBC National Heads-Up Championship
On Wednesday, the 64 player field the NBC National Heads-Up Championship was announced and 21 Full Tilt sponsored pros made the field.
The first-round pairings will be announced this Thursday, March 3 at a draw party held at Pure, a club at Caesars Palace. The matches will begin the next day and the bracket style tournament will end on Sunday, March 6. This year, however, the buy-in for the invitational tournament has been increased from $20,000 to $25,000. This resulted in a $1.8 million prize pool with first place taking home $750,000 along with the title.
Representing Full Tilt are: Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Michael Mizrachi, Annette Obrestad, John Racener, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel and Gavin Smith.
Stay tuned for an NBC Heads Up Bracket Challenge…
WPT Los Angeles Poker Classic
The WPT LA Poker Classic Main Event got underway this past weekend and there are still a few Full Tilt Pros in contention for the title.
Nikolay Evdakov and Carlos Mortensen are 9th and 10th in chips heading into day 4 on Monday with 583,000 and 557,000 in chips, respectively. Allen Cunningham has 375,000 and Michael Mizrachi is near the bottom of the chip counts with just 54,000 in his stack. All 63 players who made it to day 4 are guaranteed $22,230, with a shot at the first place prize of $1,654,120. A champion will be determined March 3.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Tags: Red Pro News
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Full Tilt Poker looking for best of the best to battle Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Dublin, Ireland (February 24, 2011) Full Tilt Poker is offering players the chance to Challenge durrrr for up to $1.5 million in prize money. Starting February 26th, the top online poker room is looking for a worthy challenger to play heads-up against Team Full Tilt member and internet poker sensation, Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
Challenge durrrr offers players at all stakes the opportunity to earn the right to face durrrr in a high-stakes showdown at Full Tilt Poker.
In order to determine the best of the best, players must undertake a series of online challenges to prove their abilities in Ring Game, Tournament, Matrix and Heads Up Challenges, as well as displaying their capability to play multiple tables at the same time.
To start, players across all stakes must display ring game proficiency by earning a Leaderboard spot with their best 500 consecutive qualifying hands through Sunday, March 13th. Leaderboard chips are acquired by winning pots while playing at least two No Limit Hold ‘em or Pot Limit Omaha ring game tables simultaneously or one Rush Poker* table.
Players who make it on to a Leaderboard will receive a Full Tilt Points multiplier for all Full Tilt Points they earn in qualifying hands.
Top Leaderboard finishers must then display their tournament abilities in order to move on to a $25K Matrix Tournament, composed of four concurrent Sit & Gos. The player who earns the top Matrix score will take on durrrr in four simultaneous heads-up Sit & Gos on Sunday, March 27th, with a grand prize of $1.5 million on the line.
To take part in Challenge durrrr, players must elect to participate in the promotion through the Full Tilt Poker software. Round one runs between February 26th and March 13th.
For more information about Challenge durrrr and how to participate, please visit: Challenge durrrr or Challenge durrrr rules
Popularity: 4% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Below you’ll find a cloud of the 151 most commonly used words in online poker. The words are scaled to their frequencies in the Full Tilt Poker game chat. ”lol” is the most commonly used word, followed by “i” and “nh”.
We thought this was pretty interesting, so we’ve got a little contest to go along with it for our friends in the poker blogosphere.
Popularity: 7% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Dear Pokerblog Readers,
Dave McCarthy from Poker from the Rail here.
As you tell from the preceding post and new header, Michael Craig, who authored this blog since February 2007, has left the building.
Michael is a class act and a first rate writer, so we’re sorry to see him leave. But we’ll keep an eye on him and we wish him luck at his new blog, MichaelCraig.com, where he’s started off by reviewing some of his favorite stories and posts from his career at the Full Tilt Poker blog.
For now, this blog will see news, tips, and stories from Full Tilt and its team of Red Pros.
Remember that we’ve also got great commentary from poker’s best bloggers at: Poker from the Rail.
And, of course, for more things Full Tilt, including private tournaments and other giveaways, check out:
- Dave McCarthy
Popularity: 3% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Do you realize I’ve been writing this Blog for nearly four years? And that’s just in conventional, 365-day years. Much like dog-years, internet-years (and especially internet-poker-years) are accelerated. Here is some perspective:
Popularity: 8% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Caesars Interactive Entertainment – remember, it’s not called Harrah’s anymore – announced the dates for the 2011 World Series of Poker. The first event will begin on Tuesday, May 31, the day after Memorial Day. The Main Event will begin on Thursday, July 7 and will continue to feature four Day Ones (the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th). Main Event play will continue to July 19, when only nine players remain.
Popularity: 7% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated)
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