Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Jeff Madsen win the 2010 Borgata Winter Open Main Event
Photo credit: Borgata Poker
Blame it on good old fashioned American Football. Yesterday was the big game here in the States and it looks like it might be the most watched NFL game televised and you could tell a few degenerates took time off from the virtual tables to take in the game. The numbers were down across the big online poker tournaments with many overlays including the $200,000 Double Deuce and over $40,000 of house money in the $750,000 Guarantee.
“pokerNIRVana5″ and Matt “berkey11″ Berkey were the big winners on Full Tilt yesterday when the two of them chopped up over $200,000 between them in the $750,000. “yurabond” collected over $77,000 when he took down the always entertaining $200,000 Guarantee, while other events featured smaller fields this tournament blasted right through it’s number with nearly 1,500 rebuys. It also attracts some of the top online players who consistently run deep such as Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp, Tim “BegsClutch” Begley and Matt “All In At 420″ Stout. Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder looked to have the best day among the professional grinders adding 14th place in the $200,000 with a Sunday Mulligan final table appearance.
In live poker news, Full Tilt pro Jeff Madsen picked up a big tournament score when he won the Borgata Winter Open Main Event. He battled through the entire 766 player field with his fair share of luckboxing to collect $625,000 and a shiny new trophy. This is Madsen’s biggest win outside his two WSOP bracelets and his first tournament victory in nearly a year. The 10-man final table also features Matt Matros, David Fox, Russ Mallor, and Al Grimes. With the conclusion of the Borgata events, many of the Full Tilt pros are heading to Mississippi and then onto Los Angeles for the Matt Savage run L.A. Poker Classic.
You can find the Big Money Sunday final table results and payouts after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Jeff Madsen
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s one of the toughest decisions when you are sitting at a cash game whether online or live. You’re running good or running bad or running indifferent, at some point you will need to leave the table. There could be fiscal, mental, or court ordered reasons to stand up from a game but it will happen even with Super Man stamina and a blimp sized bladder. Sometimes these decisions are easy and sometimes it’s a struggle to talk a degenerate brain into giving up the seat.
Tuscaloosa John returns to his usual guest spot position and and takes a look at the money side of the decision. When do you decide to leave a cash table based on where your stack started and how it’s looking.
Deciding To Leave The Table
by Johnny Kampis
One of the hardest decisions you’ll make in any given session of poker isn’t just related to calling a big all-in or how much to bet with the nuts. For me, the hardest decision is often when to leave the table. As your average poker degenerate, I have the unfortunate knack of sitting too long at a table trying to get even while having a losing session. Sometimes I also like to leave too early when running well to book a nice profit when I should probably stay and play with the fishies.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Tuscaloosa Johnny
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
With the start of the new year I posted about several goals or “resolutions” for my poker game with the calendar roll over. I generally don’t go with the entire “New Year Resolution” idea because I am a weak willed individual but I do have a little self control in the poker realm unless I fire up Full Tilt after a long night on the town. Then I’m liable to dump my entire bankroll in one super turbo shovefest. The month of January saw me hit some of my goals with others already a distant memory.
Bankroll management, Ironman Challenge, and live poker were just a few things I want to improve upon throughout the year. Running the Chris Ferguson Challenge was my path to the first two and the Borgata Winter Open provided the third. I found myself on February 1st feeling pretty good about my results for the month even if I’m a little less sane for the effort. Perhaps the life of a daily grinder is not in my future. The low levels prevented me from earning an Ironman badge but I did grind away enough to earn a spot the Ironman Freeroll. I made a few trips down the AC Expressway for some live poker including the Borgata Winter Open Event #1, some insane low-limit action, and one fun table of 3/6 HOSE with friends.
You can find my January wrap up after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Chris Ferguson Challenge
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The name “Big Money Sunday” did not seem to completely describe everything that went down in the world of online poker. It seemed every available was open to the online MTT grinder across the board including the last day of Full Tilt’s $25 Million Double Guarantees Week. Sunday on FTP is always packed with some of the best guarantee events online and yesterday they were all doubled drawing enormous fields. The premier event was the $1.5 Million Guarantee which was playing for the regular $200+ buyin. Over 7,500 players bought/won/begged their way into the field and it did not disappoint.
After nearly 12 hours, the big game finally found a champion in BankofSweden after a final table which lacked the usual flare of big name online pros. After many attempts at researching BankofSweden it seems that his biggest and only previous cash for $108 in a 45-man SnG earlier in January but now has over $200,000 sitting in his FTP account. In fact, the only player I could find who hasn’t completely blown their ROI percentage out of the water was our 7th place finisher nowa1 who actually score more for his 3rd place finish in the $300,000 last evening. There are quite a few small ball players who slept well after blowing out their bankroll to new levels.
The other massive tournaments did see quite a few big names make deep runs through field including Full Tilt Pro Eric “EFro” Froehlich how lost a heads up battle in the $400,000 Rebuy after a long battle and a 22nd place finish in the $1.5 Million. Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert final tabled the Sunday Mulligan and 33rd in the Sunday Brawl and fan favorite Christina “lindleyloo” Lindley has a few pro railbirds as she went on to capture the $300,000 Guarantee. The $400,000 and Sunday Mulligan final tables once again generated the most pro heavy action. Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo and Matt “NoBadBeatsPlz” Kay joined EFro at the $400,000 final table and the Sunday Mulligan featured Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder, Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert, and Dean “MSUsFinest” Hamrick. All of which busted in 7th through 9th.
I will return tomorrow with my January update, until then you can check out all the Big Money Sunday final table results after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Eric Froehlich
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Everybody has a different story about how they got started in poker. My love affair started with a silly game with friends around a kitchen table playing nickel ante games like midnight baseball, low in the hole, follow the Queen, or just about any variation that removed skill but upped the fun times. My entire bankroll was whatever coins I could fit into my little Crown Royale pull string bag. I can’t be the only one who used one of those. But before long I found myself hosting real games and cutting my teeth in the low-limit games at the Taj in Atlantic City. Some day I may write about those old times and some of the players in the game. That was so long ago, now I can’t believe now my only income is derived from many different parts of the game.
No matter how much I’ll grind on about this sick game, it’s in my blood and I love it.
We all have a story to share about how we came to play poker whether for fun or profit or as a way of life. Guest blogger Swail returns with his second guest post and wants to tell you why he loves this game.
Why I Love Poker
by Swail
In my last post I discussed some of the things that led to me feeling like I’m constantly on the rail, even though I’ve been a pro poker player for 6 years. Why would I go through all these hardships just to play a game of cards? I’ve had several conversations with old-timer pros who’ve told me that if they’d put the same amount of time and energy into other endeavours, they’d be better off. Even Mike Matusow says he hates his life. So why do I keep playing the game? For one, it’s in my blood and it always has been, I’ll discuss that a little later. But there are other things that influence the decision. Actually, there are a bunch of reason I love this game.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Swail
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers Corner
Yesterday kicked off another special week on the tables here on Full Tilt, this time aimed at the players who take their shot in the various tournaments. Starting midnight ET on Monday running straight through the entire slate of Big Money Sunday games all cash tournament guarantees have been doubled in the Double Guarantees Week promotion. The prizepool of your favorite tournaments will now balloon with stacks of dead money for the taking creating huge fields and huge payouts.
Last night’s $1k Monday tournament was a perfect example for players of all bankroll levels. The regular $1k Monday tournament jumped from $300,000 to $600,000 guaranteed and the field was stack with the top players including deep runs by Jeff Madsen and Erica Schoenberg. On the flip side, The Daily Dollar guarantee is now $20,000 and sported a tasty overlay near $8,500. Players looking for good value will be jumping all over these games throughout the week as a great way to boost the roll.
This all ends with the biggest Big Money Sunday in the history of Full Tilt where you can get a piece of $2,700,000 in guaranteed money across just 3 tournaments. The Sunday Brawl (now $800,000) and Sunday Mulligan ($400,000) will set the pace but the big event will be when the regularly scheduled $750,000 becomes a $1,500,000 guaranteed prizepool for just a $200+16 buyin. Throw in another $400,000 for the Double Deuce and players have a great opportunity to pad their accounts. Satellites are available at any time of the day and waiting for you to take your shot.
Good luck this week!
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Double Guarantees Week
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Dan Shak defeated Phil Ivey in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge
Photo credit: PokerNews.com
It’s been a very busy week around the poker world and your not-so-humble blogger was in the middle of it a little. Live poker was raging across the planet with the WPT Southern Poker Championship, the Borgata Winter Open, Los Angeles Poker Classic, EPT Deauville, and the Aussie Millions. Online poker was dominated on Full Tilt by the raging success of Rush Poker, Big Money Sunday, and the start of Double Guarantee Week. A lot of money flying around.
The big news for Team Full Tilt occurred down in Australia in the $100,000 Challenge event which naturally drew the biggest names in the poker world. More than a third of the small elite field was composed of major members of Team Full Tilt including Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Andrew Feldman. When the final table was assembled it included Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer looking for the $1,200,000 AUD first place money. In the end it was Dan Shak preventing Phil Ivey from adding more hardware to his collection, Ivey took home $600,000 AUD before flying home.
The online world continues to buzz about the introduction of Rush Poker. I am in the process of collecting the thoughts of players, bloggers, and writers on this new innovation but the approvals are shocking even for the jaded world of poker. John from the Collective not withstanding. The first big taste was finding an article from Gary Wise at ESPN.
One player, Michael “BraveJayhawk” Jenson, a non-FTP affiliated professional player, coach and sometimes-backer, declared this “the best software update since Party Poker went up to 100bbs and opened 2/4 NL and higher” on the twoplustwo forums. That was more than half a decade ago.
If you haven’t jumped into these tables, go ahead and give them a try. They are not for every player but you might enjoy it, the regular cash game tables will still be there.
The Big Money Sunday events went off without a hitch including the last “Big Little Tournament” with a turbo $250,000 Guarantee. The bustout rate once again amazed as the field was reduced from +30,000 to a winner in less than 4.5 hours, a fine example of the turbo format. Kevin “Wu_Wizard” MacPhee was probably the most well known online pro to take down a title this week in the Sunday Brawl. Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul made the final table of the $200,000 Guarantee and Mark “MarkFSU1″ DeMasis has several deep runs. Friend of the blog Brian “ship_the_perc” Lemke went deep in the $750,000 and Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers nearly final tables the Sunday Mulligan.
That tournament provided the most railbird action as Evan “NEONPILS99″ Parkes seemed to have a beef with Sowers. After several mild barbs back and forth Parkes laid a classic internet beauty on the table.
NEONPILS99: god you should jus tbe shot in the face
The internet creates some very tough talkers from 1,000 of miles away. Sowers would get the upper hand on the virtual felt by finishing 13th after Parkes dusted off chips with a weak ace. Never a dull moment in poker.
You can find all the Big Money Sunday final table results after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Rush Poker
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Crazy things can happen while you sleep off a long night/morning of poker, today was a big one. I am in Atlantic City getting ready for the Borgata Winter Open and worked my way around Harrah’s poker room until well after sunrise. When I finally decided to open my eyes I fired up the trusty iPhone to find the twitter/blogger/poker world in a frenzy about something called “Rush Poker” here on Full Tilt. My FTP overlords (or Uncle Tilty to Mr. Craig) keep me in the loop about upcoming changes but this one they dropped on the world all at once. It was time to fire up the old laptop and see what was going on.
Before I even loaded up the Full Tilt client, I hit the “Rush Poker” information page to see what the fuss was about and started reading the twitter messages. This variation puts all the players in a pool depending on the limit and format you choose. Once you join the pool you will be seated a table and the fun begins. When you fold (or better yet win the hand) you are immediately shipped to a new table and get dealt another hand. Wash, rinse, repeat, etcetera. No more waiting for slow players to get to the next hand if you find the fold button, there is even the option of a “quick fold” which just moves you along to the next hand and folds that hand when action get to you. It seemed a fantastic idea.
Then the twitter comments:
@howardhlederer: Had fun giving Rush poker a try on FTP. 300 hands per hour at one table. Cool.
@Andy_Bloch: Playing new Rush Poker on Full Tilt Poker. Online poker may never be the same!
@BJNemeth: I hadn’t heard of “Rush Poker”. Another cool idea from Full Tilt Poker!
@parablepanik: Rush Poker on Full Tilt is dope! I played about 130 hands in less than an hr at one table. Really helps my focus to be constantly in a hand.
@LloydLindley: “Rush Poker” on FTP….I’m going insane!!!!!!
@dkchunky: RUSH POKER on FTP is orgasmic
It seemed the vast majority of the reactions were very positive and I was now ready to load up the new software and see about all the fuss. I took my time poking around the lobby to get a feel and then I jumped right in. Sweet mother of all action junkie insanity. You can read my review and opinions after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Rush Poker
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Hello fellow Tilters,
I’ve been let out of my cage long enough to spread the word about Full Tilt Poker’s ground-breaking new poker format: Rush Poker.
Time is short, so I’ll just tell you what you need to know to about the world’s fastest ring game:
- - When you play Rush Poker, you’ll join a large player pool comprised of many different tables
- - Rush Poker plays like a standard ring game, only much, much faster
- - As soon as you fold your hand, you’ll be moved to a new table for your next hand, even if the hand at your previous table is still going (and if that didn’t make your Awesome Meter go through the roof, you might be dead inside)
- - To play even faster, you can use the Quick Fold button to fold your hand immediately and move to the next table before the action has even reached you; players at your previous table won’t see that you’ve folded until it’s your turn to act
- - You can buy-in to the same Rush Poker game multiple times (but don’t worry, you’ll never end up at the same table as yourself)
That covers the basics, but all I really need to tell you is this: In a Rush Poker game, you’ll play up to four times more hands per hour compared to a standard ring game!
If you’re ready for non-stop poker action, head over to Full Tilt Poker and join a Rush Poker game right now. They can be found in both Standard View and Basic View of the Full Tilt Poker game lobby.
For more info on how to find and play Rush Poker, visit www.fulltiltpoker.com/rush-poker.
Good luck at the tables…
–One Angry Monkey
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Tags: Rush Poker
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It was a busy day yesterday online with the full slate of Big Money Sunday games including the switch from the $750,000 Guarantee to the $1,000,000 big game but everyone kept their bankrolls aimed at “Aid for Haiti” fund raisers. Poker players took to the tables across the internet to do they’re part to help those suffering from the devastating earth quake in Haiti last week. I am still waiting on the official numbers from the tournaments and direct player-to-player donations but Full Tilt players did raise over $65,000 in the “No Play” tournaments alone. Well done.
Team Full Tilt member Andy Bloch was seen leading the way generating participation in the hourly “Aid for Haiti” tournaments. Bloch played throughout the night and into the morning from Las Vegas, entering most of the events and offering up a bounty on his head. Anyone who knocked him out would be shipped an autographed copy of his DVD “Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch”. That put me in the mood to offer up some of my FTP Points for any book or DVD in the Full Tilt Store to anyone knocking me out, unfortunately no one seemed to understand or want the bounties. Andy suggested I offer to autograph them myself but I did not want to devalue the items. I hope to return later today with the final numbers across the board.
For the record, that was one of my more spectacular exits in awhile. All in the money in on the flop, I hate Jacks.
Big Money Sunday was dominated by the over $1,200,000 prizepool and severalpros going deep. Allen Cunningham was the biggest name to go deep in the biggest game, cashing out $17,199 for his final table appearance (9th) in the $1M Guarantee and Jeff Madsen sounding disappointed with his 33rd place finish. He was stacked well but dusted off after a few horrid beats. JAMA1CA2008 was our big winner of the night pocketing $225,368 for his win in the $1M Guarantee after outlasting “4ortik76″ in an long heads up battle. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy had two big runs and friend of the blog Lee “acumen53″ Childs just missed a final table appearance in the Sunday Brawl. The $200,000 Rebuy continues to attract a pro heavy field and the most rail-worthy final tables, this week with Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, Steve “gboro780″ Gross, and Adam “AKat11″ Katz with “LeoEleven” coming away with the victory.
The monster field of the day was found in the third installment of the “Big Little Tournament” which drew over 33,000 and lasted just around 9 hours. The overlay this week was over $85,000 adding huge value to a tournament already offering a huge guarantee for microscopic price. The play was typical of smaller buyin events and has been run over by a truck in this space. I will offer up a little railbirding advice if you are one of us sick souls still awake at the conclusion of these tournaments or the $200,000 Double Deuce. Just wait for them to “make a deal” and enjoy the unintentional comedy, it’s worth the price of sleep deprivation most weeks.
Next week will bring the final “Big Little Tournament” (as far as this blogger knows) and it will be a fantastic turbo format. Full Tilt has also announce the creation of a new promotion which will double the guarantees of all regular events creating a $25,000,000 prizepool for the week starting January 26th. I will definitely be back to talk about “$25 Million Double Guarantees Week”
Big Money Sunday final table results after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Jeff Madsen
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