Entries from August, 2009
Big Money Sunday – August 30th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Amanda “Mandy B” Baker finished 11th in the Sunday Mulligan
There’s no point hiding my favortism here in this space, on a weekly basis I’m pulling for a big score from a member of Team Full Tilt or one of the big online grinders. If I’m going to be staying up until the wee hours of the morning watching online poker I would love to turn it into a great story. Amanda “Mandy B” Baker gave me the best chance for some fun last night but fell just short, finishing 11th in the The Sunday Mulligan. There were two former FTOPS winners at that final table in uuhhhicall and Pot Odds 3 making things a little interesting but neither was able to bring home the big score.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching thousands of players and even more railbirds tear up the tables throughout the busy Sunday. It’s a blast watching some of the plays still occurring in the Double Deuce and the reactions. Obviously I am desitined to spend my remaining days from the rail because I’ve clearly lost touch with how to play. I witnessed a stunning play were Player A flopped the mortal unbreakable nuts with three aces on the board matching his weak ace. In a situation where you would expect him/her to extract some value from the hand, Player A overshoved 100BB’s into the pot. It’s the new “overbet for value” play because Player B paid off the move.
Your hero humble blogger did make a long run in several tournaments but have nothing spectacular to report. At one point when I was on the short side I started hitting like a monster. Shortstacked KJo flopped broadway then ATs flopped yonder flush. I was well on my way to a fine result when my QQ nailed a flopped Q against kings only to run into the dreaded four flush. Quite uneventful but enjoyable none the less.
Sunday did see over $1,700,000 in prize money and 18,000 players across just the Big Money Sunday major tournaments (yes, I personally include the 10,000+ player Double Deuce in there). Play across the online world seems to be picking up over the last few weeks and only looks to increase. miniFTOPS is right around the corner and the fields are sure to be huge. I certainly plan to take a few shots at the events looking for a big score for low buyin.
Big Money Sunday final table chipcounts and payouts after the jump:
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail
Poker From the Rail Freeroll #4
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The weekend is upon us which means time for the weekend warriors to flood the virtual tables and try to build their bankroll. It’s the glorious time when the fish are running and spawning and spewing their chips to those willing and patient enough to stack them. The weekend guarantee tournaments fill up with satellite winners and the Sit N Go lobby is overflowing. We’re also nearing the end date to reap the benefits of the $100 bonus offered up at the beginning of August.
All this means it should be a busy and hopefully profitable weekend for the grinders. In addition to the regular Sunday major guarantee tournaments (aka Big Money Sunday), there are tons of smaller guarantee events going on every hour of every day. The guarantee tourament schedule can be found on that link and I plan to hit as many as my local weather will allow. You can also hit up the cash game tables during happy hour to double up on your FTP points.
I’ll also be running another Poker From the Rail freeroll this evening as a thank you to the readers and a mild apology for missing last week due to external technical issues. So feel free to hop online tonight for a small piece of my personal bankroll and stop by my table to say hello. You can find the password after the jump as well as the Big Money Sunday (and Double Deuce!) tournament information.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail
The “durrrr” Challenge Continues
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
They haven’t played a hand since June. Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius finally resumed action in their Heads Up durrrr Challenge battle with two sessions this week. Dwan at one point was ahead by over $1,000,000 and started these sessions with around a $700,000 cushion. After just a few thousand hands, Antonius grabbed the initiative and the lead in this epic battle.
For those who are unaware of the challenge or have forgotten during the long gaps in play, here’s the rundown.
With Dwan laying three-to-one odds for the “durrrr” Challenge, it’s no surprise that some of the world’s best poker players have already taken him up on his offer. Team Full Tilt’s Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius, along with high-stakes player David Benyamine, will be the first players to take on the young Internet pro.
The players who have accepted the “durrrr” Challenge must abide by the following conditions:
- The game type must be No-Limit Hold ‘em or Pot-Limit Omaha
- The stakes must be a minimum of $200/$400
- Once the stakes have been decided upon, they must stay the same for the entire challenge
- Players must reload if their stack falls below 75 big blinds at any time
The challenge started off like gang busters at the beginning but slowed down as the summer months arrived in the U.S. and stalled completely during the World Series of Poker. Even with the sudden burst of action, they are still less than 50% through the required 50,000 hands. The lead has changed several time of the 22,000 plus hands with Dwan having the biggest single lead. The last session of ver 1,200 involved 5 hands with pots over $150,000 with Antonius winning 4 of those. Those hands can be replayed, along with the 10 biggest hands throughout the challenge, can be replayed on the durrrr Challenge Stat Tracking page.
In other Tom Dwan news, he’s taking his challenges to a live venue this September in London. Dwan is challenging players to 500 hands Heads Up, $500,000 buyin each, with blinds at $500/$1000. Neither player can leave the table until 500 hands are complete or either have been busted to the felt. So far the only taker is Brit player Sammy George. I’ll keep my eye out to see how one of the top online players deals with this live challenge.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan
Put A Bad Beat On Hunger
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
As poker players, we far too often find ourselves in situations which are purely selfish. Poker is not a team “sport”, there is only one winner at the end of a tournament, cash game players are looking to take every chip from every player. It’s just the nature of the game. Fortunately there are many players who have a social conscience, those who understand how lucky they are to make a living at play while there are many more unfortunate souls in the world.
While I was wrapping up my two month assignment during the 2009 World Series of Poker, I was invited to join a select few players in supporting another fantastic charitable organization in my home area. Cabot Creamery of Vermont teamed up with the Borgata Hotel and Casino to throw a poker tournament and fund raiser to benefit the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. The event was titled “Put a Bad Beat on Hunger” and open to the public, featuring pro players Roy “The Oracle” Winston and 2005 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenman.
The fundraiser was a brain child of the fine folks at Cabot Creamery. A cooperative located in Vermont since the beginning of the 20th century, they decided to make a special effort to support organizations which provide help to those in need. They have decades of experience in the community and around the country. In that spirit they decided to create this unique event to raise funds and awareness of the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. Before the first card was in the air, the folks at Cabot Creamery presented a check to the organization for $20,000.
The Southern Branch of the Foodbank covers those in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and parts of Burlington Counties. With the help of thousands volunteers and a dedicated staff of 15 full time employees, they distribute an average of 75,000 pounds of groceries every week. Their organization is able to provide $10 worth of groceries for each dollar donated.
Players were invited to the poker room at the Borgata where Cabot also gave a special incentive to play. They donated an entry into the 2009 Borgata Poker Open Main Event for the winner. A chance for the players to support this great ogranization and win their way into a major televised tournament. 71 players bought in for the mid-day, mid-afternoon game generating a prizepool over $18,000. Participants battled for many hours down to the final table money winners and the eventual winner.
Your humble blogger struggled throughout the entire day but outlasted the majority of entrants finishing in a very respectable 18th place. As expected, we had one of the big names sitting alone after all others were eliminated. Team Full Tilt member Roy Winston was the last man standing in the end, donating half his winnings back to the foodbank. Winston was not alone in donating money from their tournament earnings as 6 other players followed his example.
It was a fantastic event hosted by a tremendously generous group supporting of the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. Thousands of people will benefit thanks to the Cabot Creamery and poker players.
Cabot Creamery Cooperative
Community Foodbank of New Jersey – Southern Branch
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Roy Winston
Poker From the Rail Update
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
As you may have noticed over the last week, things went a little quiet in this tiny corner of the web universe. We had some technical difficulties which made posting a rough enterprise for myself and fellow blogger Michael Craig. We are now back in business and I have quite a backlog of stories, posts and recaps to bring you from the last week. Just some of the stories to come in the next few hours/days include:
- Recapping the final weekend of FTOPS XIII (updated today)
- Big Money Sunday – August 23rd edition
- Charity tournament at the Borgata for the Community Foodbank of New Jersey
- Upcoming online and live tournaments
- Finishing up another Full Tilt Academy Challenge
To make up for the unscheduled downtime, I’m going to give away a little more of my bankroll in the form of a private freeroll. It’s all set up for Friday afternoon and I’ll release the password that morning. We’ll try to keep the field as small as possible.
Tournament #104826799
Tournament: Poker From the Rail Freeroll
When: Friday, August 28th at 20:00
Game: NLHE
Prizepool: $25
Buyin: Freeroll
Stay tuned the rest of the day and throughout the week as I attempt to catch up on everything
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail
FTOPS XIII Wrap Up
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
My last post before the final weekend of FTOPS XIII made it seem nearly impossible for most of the red letter pros to catch up David “The Dragon” Pham* is the race for the top of the “completely unofficial” Team Full Tilt Leaderboard. Naturally my short-sightedness did not take into account someone coming out of the blue and putting a huge stamp on the thing.
Cardrunner Brian Hastings did just that in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Two Day tournament. In the end he found himself heads up for the FTOPS title of the biggest buyin event and the second largest prizepool of FTOPS XIII. The tournament was stacked so deeply that play could have lasted for another day. When the dust was settled Hastings banked nearly $300,000 of the $2,000,000 pool. Scott Clements put his mark on the series on the final weekend and finished with the most cashes (6) amongst those showing red. These are just a few players who made it a successful run of tournaments for Team Full Tilt.
Stats, results and the “leaderboard” after the jump.
* – not a real dragon
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII Second Friday
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
FTOPS XIII didn’t slow down at all in the middle of the week. I watched 4 tournaments which drew over 4,000 players aiming for a piece of over $1.7 million. Impressive considering that only one of those events was a No Limit Hold’em tournament, that being a rebuy. We had a Pot Limit Omaha/8, Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha Heads Up (aka Four Card Bingo).
FTOPS XIII continued it’s streak of blowing past it’s guarantee including the tricky rebuy touraments. Overall we’ve had 35,744 players generating $11,586,400 in prize money across the first 19 tournaments. On Wednesday we had the 4th event of the series go past a cool Million Dollar pool and 3 more players walked away with a 6-digit evening. This incarnation of FTOPS has so far seen 23 players walk away with at least $100,000 from a single tournament.
David Pham gets the coveted top picture spot for the biggest cash by Team Full Tilt when he final tabled Event #17. He finished fourth in the $400 NLHE 6-max rebuy tournament for $87,334.80.
The most interesting table occurred during the Pot Limit Omaha Heads Up tourmament. Most of the matches were done fairly quickly. There was just one exception that had the entire event on hold. ”Cheesemonster” and “AshTheDonkey” just couldn’t find a way to knock each other out. Their HU match went an incredible 1 hour and 45 minutes. As you would imagine, the already idiotic railbird action got a little more loopy as the minutes pasted. 4 people had their chat banned just from this match. A few examples you ask? Here are some of the printable ones.
poker4adummy (Observer): this is the most painful thing i have ever seen. i cant believe i havent put my fist through my keyboard
ZVC (Observer): if this goes to break im gonna commit suicide
OneUponAStar (Observer): u guys know u have 4 cards right?
mossified84 (Observer): WILL FTOPSAMENTS GET HIS CHAT BACK B4 THIS ENDS? (the answer was YES)
J Gold1 (Observer): it aint easy being cheesey!!!
Specialkmaster (Observer): IT AINT EASY BEING CHEEEEEEEESEEEEEEEEEEY
ItsTime2Win (Observer): cheese you are horrid at PLO HU
Rodrico48 (Observer): FIRST SIGN OF THE APOCOLYPSE
Rodrico48 (Observer): SOMEONE CALL GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
Just a few of your Full Tilt railbird ladies and gentlemen. Those are the PG-rated, family safe comments. I can’t show you the ones that caused chat bans. For the record, Cheesemonster won the Main Event of FTOPS VIII banking over $400,000.
Aaron Bartley brought us a fine example of the joys of 6-max games. Here’s what happens when you think the button is making a move on your blinds. Insta-shove ~250k and double up the table professional. This was in Wednesday night’s $300 6-max rebuy tournament well after the add-on was complete. I think a whoops is the phrase he was looking for.
Click to enlarge
This is the final weekend of FTOPS XIII highlighted by the Main Event on Sunday ($2,500,000 Guarantee), Michael Craig hosting the Razz tournament this evening, $3,000,000 Two Day event, and actor Don Cheadle hosting an Ante Up for Africa charity game on Saturday. The remaining schedule looks like this:
FTOPS XIII Event #20: No Limit Hold’em 6-max
when: Friday, August 14th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $200 + 16
Guarantee: $400,000
FTOPS XIII Event #21: Razz
when: Friday, August 14th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $300 + 22
Guarantee: $150,000
FTOPS XIII Event #22: No Limit Hold’em 6-max 2 Day Event
when: Saturday, August 15th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $2,500 + 120
Guarantee: $2,000,000
FTOPS XIII Ante Up for Africa
when: Saturday, August 15th at 15:00ET
Buyin: $100 + 20
Guarantee: $100,000
FTOPS XIII Event #23: Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys
when: Saturday, August 15th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $100 + 9
Guarantee: $350,000
FTOPS XIII Event #24: No Limit Hold’em with Knockout Bounties
when: Sunday, August 16th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $120 + 9
Guarantee: $750,000
FTOPS XIII Main Event
when: Sunday, August 16th at 18:00ET
Buyin: $500 + 35
Guarantee: $2,500,000
Team Full Tilt leaderboard and tournament results after the jump.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII update
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul took down FTOPS XIII Event #11
Photo credit: Hendon Mob
It’s been a great couple days for both Full Tilt red letter players and regular online pros. Finishing yesterday with just a Richard Ashby bubble away from a member of Team Full Tilt at all 3 FTOPS final tables on Tuesday. Fellow FTP blogger Michael Craig finished 9th in the shootut Event #13 and Aaron Bartley finished 3rd in the 6-max Turbo tournament.
Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul gets the (kind of) desired spot as post picture boy at the top for taking down the top spot and over $57,000 in the Pot Limit HA event on Monday afternoon. Saul spent some hard earned FTP points to get his personal avatar, now the question is what happens with the FTOPS winner gold jersey. Does it go over top? While railing the tournament I witnessed the hand which propelled him from shorter stack onto his journey to the top. Unfortunately it came at the expense of Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman. How’s this for a nice flop?
Click to enlarge
(I shall not comment on the “alleged” slowroll. *cough*)
Of course, you can’t win one of these big tournaments without a bit of luck and the suckouts WILL happen. Witness at least one of them.
Click to enalrge
Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig returned to FTOPS action on Sunday and made his first final table yesterday afternoon. The $300 Shootout tournament sold out and Mr. Craig one his first two tables to find himself in the final 9. It was a stacked full table with former FTOPS winners Va Shon “Julian Verse” Watkins and “MikeyG16″ to his immediate left. After a couple tough hands he would exit in 9th for a cool 3 grand (give or take).
Aaron Bartley was the big winner amongst Team Full Tilt finishing 3rd in the 6-max Turbo tournament, making a deal that added a straight $70,000 into his bankroll. This event was one of the craziest games I have ever witnessed. It was pure 2 card bingo with open-over-shove being the play of the day. Apparently any sooooted hand or naked ace was worth everything and Ace-Face was the preflop nuts. This cash pushes Bartley ahead of all others for the red letter players.
Just 10 tournaments remaining and today we will go over the $10,000,000 prizepool line. Current numbers through 15 events have us showing 31,581 players creating $9,794,700 in prize money. There have been 3 tournaments with over $1,000,000 in payouts including 2 over $1.5 million.
You can find the current red letter pro unofficial “leaderboard” as well tournament results after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
FTOPS XIII Sunday (replacing Big Money Sunday)
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
$3,138,800
That’s how much prize money was available over 3 tournaments on Sunday alone with the latest FTOPS putting another temporary hold on the normal Big Money Sunday events. With the promise of $2,750,000 already out there in the form of guaranteed money, I knew it would be one of the biggest days of the year.
Thinking Sunday would be I decided to run away early in the weekend to spend a little family time. Little did I know I should make myself available in the early morning hours of Saturday when a big gun would make a run at an FTOPS title. 544 players put down there money for some Friday night Seven Card Stud action reaffirming my belief that I could prepare myself for the long weekend. Then I started getting twitter updates from Andy Bloch.
“Chip leader at final table of FTOPS #4, 7 card stud, on Full Tilt Poker.” – Andy_Bloch (we will just go ahead and ignore the fact it was actually Event #5. It was pretty late at the timeaf all.)
Naturally I soon found myself firing up the idle laptop to rail the charter member of Team Full Tilt. Watching Stud tournaments live is only slightly less dry than watching online only because I have other distractions around me. Bloch battled through the final table but came one spot short of taking down a FTOPS title for the team. I wonder if his custom avatar would have been fitted with the customary FTOPS jersey.
He continued his hot run, as well as my streak of sleep deprivation, when he went on a heater during Event #10. He hit a few big hands, made some good moves, then found some amazingly interesting players who were willing to throw chips into his stack drawing nearly dead. I took a quick 60 minutes nap around 2:30am waking in time to watch him crash out in 42nd. He outlasted the majorirty of the 5,660 players in the biggest tournament of the night.
Speaking of avatars, it was great to see newly added team member James Akenhead playing this weekend. The 2009 November Nine participant had his first cash during FTOPS XIII but I am hoping he gets his custom avatar soon. He’s rocking the puppy pic at the moment which doesn’t quite convey his status as one of the best young players in the world.
Other making noise on Sunday were Scott Clements who made into the 7th round of the Heads Up event and Isaac Baron with a final table finish in the 6-max KO event which replaced the Sunday Brawl. Both players also cashed in the $1.5Million Guarantee Event #$10.
All told it was a very successful night and weekend for the members of Team Full Tilt with 14 cashes and two final tables. They continue to rack up the money but waiting for the first victory. The Red Letter pro leaderboard as well as results from Events 4 through 10 after the jump. Comments and questions always welcome.
On a humorous side note, while Andy Bloch was playing this weekend I jokingly asked for someone to grab a picture of him while playing in the FTOPS events. He replied on his own, his expression of confusement (made up word for confused amusement) at some of the more “interesting” plays. Watch a few events and you’ll see of what we speak.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
First Friday of FTOPS XIII
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Three events of FTOPS XIII are in the bag and I’ll bring a little local tradition from around home and call today “First Friday of FTOPS” for no real reason other than pure alliteration. Things have started splendidly with all 3 events being completely different. We started off with a big $1,000,000 No Limit Hold’em Tournament followed by a 6-Max Shootout and (my personal favorite) good ol’ Limit Omaha/8.
The first three tournaments have seen more than $1.7million in prize money with just under 8,000 players registered for their big shot. The new “make a deal” option was used twice at the final table of those three tournaments and is being met with hugely popular responses.
Full Tilt red letter pros made a little noise in the early going. David “The Dragon” Pham* came just a few players away from making the 6-max shootout final table. Eli Elezra lead the Limit Omaha/8 tournament for large portions. Both Scott Fischman and Chris Kruel cashed in 2 of the 3 events.
Pham received a brutal second round table in the 6-max shootout when he found two former FTOPS Champions to his immediate right in Jonas “Klausen” and “mrvogt”. He battled through that table but ran into some brutal play. The craziest table action I caught during the shootout involved Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen.
I was paging through the tournament lobby near the beginning of the tournament and noticed that just 20 minutes in there was a table already heads up. “THAY3R” was sitting on a stack that consisted of the 4 missing players sitting across from the last one between himself and the next round. Then a series of hands took him from the near two hour wait for the next level to watching the action from the rail. Things just went right down hill after his opponent laid this beat on him. The luckbox went on to finish outside the money also.
All the money went in on the turn
Click to enlarge
Big events continue straight through the weekend including an afternoon game today (FTOPS First Friday!) which is a $200 (1 rebuy and 1 add-on) tournament. There are 7 tournaments over the next 3 days with over $4,000,000 in guaranteed prize money. You can find the complete FTOPS XIII schedule here but I’ll list your events from now til Sunday:
Event #4: No Limit Hold’em with 1 rebuy – 1 add-on
when: Friday, August 7th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $200+16
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #5: Seven Card Stud
When: Friday, August 7th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $200+16
Guarantee: $100,000
Event #6: Pot Limit Omaha 6-max
When: Saturday, August 8th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $500+35
Guarantee: $350,000
Event #7: No Limit Hold’em with rebuys
When: Saturday, August 8th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $100+9
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #8: No Limit Hold’em 6-max with Knockout bounties
When: Sunday, August 9th at 14:00ET
Buyin: $240+16
Guarantee: $750,000
Event #9: No Limit Hold’em Heads Up
When: Sunday, August 9th at 16:00ET
Buyin: $500+35
Guarantee: $500,000
Event #10: No Limit Hold’em
When: Sunday, August 9th at 18:00ET
Buyin: $300+22
Guarantee: $1,500,000
Tournaments results and Full Tilt red letter pro updates after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
