Entries from February, 2009
Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 4
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
One of the best parts of being a blogger who plays and writes about poker (rarely successful on either account) is hitting some of the private blogger hosted tournaments. Just about any day of the week you can find one of these games going in any kind of format.
Full Tilt has been supporting different “challenges” the last few years and is coming through again with a monster set of prizes over the next three months.
Between March 1st and May 31st, we will be holding the fourth Battle of the Blogger Tournament challenge where anyone can win their way into the World Series of Poker. We’re giving away 2 WSoP Main Event packages and 5 WSoP Prelim packages as well as money to the overall leaderboard.
All you need to do is enter the tournaments and win your way into the Tournament of Champions to be held at the beginning of June. The two Main Event seats and two of the Prelim packages will be awarded to the top 4 finishers in the TOC. The other 3 Prelim packages will be awarded to the Players of the Month for March, April and May.
It’s a fun way to spend some time playing with a chance at the big time when it’s all done. This is open to bloggers and readers, anyone with an account and willingness to donk it up.
You can go to the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments page for more details and there will be a link to the leaderboard.
You can get the full schedule of tournaments after the jump.
Popularity: 94% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Battle of the Blogger Tournaments, BBT4, Bloggers on the Rail
durrrr Challenge Stats Tracker
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The durrrr Challenge continues to run on Full Tilt between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius. When they kick off their 4 tables of Pot Limit Omaha, word spreads quickly and the railbirds come out to watch. They are just shy of 4,000 hands in their Heads Up battle with Dwan holding close to a $150,000 lead. But there is a long way to go and the lead swings between the two.
Full Tilt has put together a page which can help you track the progress of the challenge. The durrrr vs Antonius stats tracker is the only resource that is pulling data directly from the game in real time. There is about a minute lag between the time a hand is complete and the page is updated. The data and graphing are as accurate as you can find on the internet and certainly quicker. No other website has this capability.
You can also use this page to check if they have resumed playing more of the required 50,000 hands. The box in the top right corner will tell you if they are sitting down at the “durrrr Challenge” tables set up specifically for these two players. If they are playing, simply click the link. It will fire up your FTP software and take you directly to the tables.
Feel free to join along the rail and watch two of the top players in the world battle against each other.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, durrrr Challenge, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan
2009 LA Poker Classic update
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
They are in Day 4 of the WPT LA Poker Classic Main Event at the Commerce Casino and Chris Ferguson is leading the way amongst the Full Tilt pros. The $10,000 buyin tournament drew 696 players with a first place prize over $1,600,000. The bubble burst at the end of Day 3 with Nick Schulman, Greg Mueller, Erica Schoenberg, and David Pham joining Ferguson in making the money.
Popularity: 94% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Chris Ferguson, Vivek Rajkumar
Guest Post – Julius Goat – The Goatttt Challenge
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
No doubt every online player knows that Tom “durrrr” Dwan is in the middle of his Challenge with Patrik Antonius on the Full Tilt PLO tables. They have played near 10% of the 50,000 hands and Dwan is currently leading. A long ways to go.
While you are watching those great games from the rail, we have another challenge that could be fun to watch. Blogger versus blogger, a little bit of money but a ton of smack talk. Resident Poker From the Rail guest blogger is throwing down the gauntlet to fellow FTP blogger Michael Craig. Not nearly the amount of money in play as the durrrr Challenge but these guys have their egos on the line.
Waiting on Michael’s response.
The Goatttt Challenge: Calling Out Michael Craig
by Julius_Goat
Like most of you, I am following two new developments in the wold of Full Tilt Poker with great interest. Unlike most of you, I am following it with nothing but two atrophied brain cells and a complete lack of fact checking as I write this, but I’m sure I am getting all the details correct, so just take my word for it, okay?
The first development is the now-famous “Durrrr Challenge” named after the young internet poker phenom Tom “Durrrr Dwan” Challenge, who first came to national prominence in a televised heads-up match with Phil Hellmuth, who accused him of using far too many of the letter “r” in a row.
Popularity: 89% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Julius_Goat, Michael Craig, Tom Dwan
Tom “durrrr” Dwan starts his HU Challenge
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
As most of the poker world knows by now, Tom “durrrr” Dwan issued a challenge to all comers (excluding his friend Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond). Long story short. 50,000 hands of heads up Pot Limit Omaha at $200/$400, four tables at a time. Dwan is paying 3 to 1 odds to his opponents by putting up $1,500,000 in cash to their $500,000. Whoever is ahead after 50k hands collects from their opponent.
We’ve been hearing for several days that the challenge was about to begin and earlier this week we saw the first hands. Patrik Antonius was the first player to step up for his shot. They played around 1,500 of the required hands and it appears that Dwan is in the lead by over $100,000.
The challenge match against Antonius will be going on for quite some time as the two players are balancing other commitments but FTP has made it easier for the railbirds to track the action. Four reserved tables have been setup in the Omaha Lobby specifically for Dwan. You can find 4 special “durrrr Challenge” tables, keep your eyes on the lobby for the action to resume.
We, the staff of Poker From the Rail, promise to keep a very close eye on the games and bring you some of the exciting action.
Popularity: 80% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Tom Dwan
Guest Post – Micro-limit SnG Notes
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
With the introduction of micro-limit tables on FTP, I brought you a guest post yesterday from Gracie with some tips for the small ball cash tables. It only took a quick look yesterday evening to see these new tables chock full of players grinding away, gambling, or maybe a little bit of both. In addition to the micro-limit cash tables, there are also smaller limit SnG’s and MTT’s.
Okie-Vegas blogger GCox25, not coincidentally named the Low Limit Grinder, has been spending most of his time pounding away at the lower limit SnG’s and has a unique insight approaching these one table tournaments.
Comments are encouraged.
Micro-Limit SnG’s
by GCox25, the Low Limit Grinder
Playing the lowest limit SNG’s offered can be a rewarding and, often times, mind numbing process. Some of the play that you encounter on a regular basis will leave you scratching your head in disbelief. But remember, those are the exact people that you want to be playing with on a regular basis.
Here is a short list of things to remember when playing the lowest limit SNG’s being offered:
Popularity: 76% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Micro-stakes
Guest Post – Micro-limit Cash Games
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
When you fired up your FTP icon recently, chances are you were prompted to download a new software update. I’ve been waiting for this update because I knew what was coming. Micro-limit tables. One comment I’ve heard from many casual grinders, those who play to unwind or just to have fun, is there were never any micro-limit games offered. Small ball games where they could sling chips without worry. These opportunities were elsewhere but are now here on Full Tilt.
You can find any game at any limit you would like. FTP is spreading 1c/2c No Limit and Pot Limit for Hold’em and Omaha games. The limit versions of these games, as well as the Stud games, start at 5c/10c. You can also find $1 Sit n Go’s (Matrix version also!) and 10c MTT’s. The initial deposit for new players has been lowered to $10 to allow everyone access to play games at levels in their comfort zone.
As you might imagine, there can be quite a difference grinding away at a micro-limit table then you would see in the higher levels. Certain moves and strategies just will not work. There are a few bloggers who spend most of the time grinding as these levels and I’ve asked them to share their thoughts with you.
Today I bring you Gracie of sheverb.com fame. She spends her time making her way through the landmines of micro-limit cash games and gives us her thoughts on the best ways to beat these games. Tomorrow I will share some SnG and MTT tips from Oklahoma’s favorite son GCox.
Penny Ante
by Gracie of sheverb.com
Penny Ante. While defined as “a poker game in which the highest bet is limited to a penny or another small sum,” most people use the phrase to mean any number of worthless activities involving budgetary corruption on a local or global scale. It’s a troublesome phrase. I’m going to suggest we be a little over-the-top-PC here and take the word back. Use it literally.
How about . . . “I play penny ante poker online.”
Okay, I’ll agree. That sounds lame.
But if you’ve not already clicked over to YouTube for that puppy doing that cute thing with that kid or that topless chick, you might have found yourself asking, “Really? Are you serious? What’s the point of playing poker online for pennies?”
Popularity: 59% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Gracie, Guest Posts, Micro-stakes
Big Money Sunday – February 15th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Roy “The Oracle” Winston final tabled the Sunday Mulligan
Photo credit: PokerPages.com
Big Money Sunday really kicks it in gear when there is an FTOPS series in the mix. This Sunday brought out enough players for the regular majors, their replacements and FTOPS XI Main Event to create a prizpool over $4,000,000 for the day. $6,500,000 if you add in the conclusion of FTOPS XI Event #22, the $5,000 Two Day tournament that had a cool clean 500 players run up a $2,500,000 prizepool.
Full Tilt pro Roy “The Oracle” Winston was the only red letter player to make a final table this week, making it deep in the Sunday Mulligan in what was shaping up to be a stellar final table.
FTOPS XI has run it’s course and laid on some big numbers, Big Money Sunday details after the jump.
Popularity: 51% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Roy Winston
Guest Post – Julius Goat – Stupid/System Chapter 12
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Julius_Goat pulls himself up out of his state of extreme sleep deprivation to bring along another chapter of his critically acclaimed Stupid/System. This chapter explorers whether or not you are ready to become a pro poker player after all his previous help.
I suspect that if you’ve followed Chapters 1 through 12 you might be only using play-money chips at this point.
Stupid/System Chapter 12: Going Pro
by Julius_Goat
If you’ve been following along with me, you now have a lot of the “tools” that you’ll need for long-term, online and live poker success. You know how to fire the third bullet with air, shove a double belly to represent the set, get the fish to double you when you’ve got the nuts, play ATC, abuse the bubble, and exploit the weak-tights with squeezes, overbets, underbets, brass knuckles, clarinet solos, the crane kick and other advanced moves.
So now you are asking yourself: Is it time for me to go pro?
Woah! Wait a second there, Sparky! Not so fast!
First of all, of COURSE you should go pro! You’re totally, lusciously, awesome! Read the first paragraph! You’re like the Bruce Lee of poker, and you’re getting your “Heeeeeeoooooooow!” on. The question you need to ask yourself is, what KIND of pro are you going to be? There’s more than just one kind, you know. I mean, if you don’t decide that, how are you going to know whether or not to buy a cowboy hat or a hoodie? Get with the program.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Julius_Goat
Big Money Sunday – February 8th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
David Pham lead FTOPS XI Event #8 most of the way
Photo credit: Pokerlistings.com
Calling last night Big Money Sunday doesn’t quite seem to do it justice. The addition of FTOPS events and the newly upgraded $200k Double Deuce brought out a huge crowd of grinders to the virtual tables. There were 3 FTOPS events on Sunday, The Sunday Mulligan and 120,000 players creating what has to be one of the largest $20 buyin tournaments ever run.
FTOPS Event #8 – 4,411 players – $882,200 prizepool
FTOPS Event #9 – 1,332 players – $666,000 prizepool
FTOPS Event #10 – 5,325 players – $1,597,500 prizepool
The Sunday Mulligan – 1,400 players – $280,000 prizepool
$200k Double Deuce – 12,000 players – $240,000 prizepool
Just shy of 25,000 players for a prizepool of $3.6 Million over just 5 tournaments.
Full Tilt pro Matt Vengrin, former FTOPS V Event #9 winner, took down The Sunday Mulligan in the final tournament of the evening. We had several big names in online poker run deep across the 5 events including Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers with two cashes, David “The Dragon” Pham* running deep in Event #8, then Ryan Daut and Josh Arieh coming close to taking down the FTOPS HU tourments.
* – Not a real Dragon.
Details of the “monster” Big Money Sunday after the jump.
Popularity: 31% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, David Pham
