Entries from October, 2009
FTOPS XIV Warmup Live Blog
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament is just around the corner and should generate one of the largest fields of players in the history of poker. With a puny buyin of $5+.50 Full Tilt has guaranteed a prizepool of $250,000 which would be reached if the tournament reaches it’s 50,000 player limit. For this monster sized occasion I have come out of hibernation to run yet another “Live Blog”. I’ll be tracking my results as well as a few of the more famous and interesting players in the field.
12:00ET (Sunday): OK campers, rise and shine. The FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament is just a few hours away and there are still plenty of spots available in the field. 33,000+ players are registered at this point which seems surprising to me. I figured the field would be capped and a long waitlist forming. If the field does not hit 50,000 players there will be a significant overlay.
There was not much poker studying last night via the large field SnG’s as I spent my evening watching my beloved Phillies lose to the evil NYC empire. I ended drowning my sorrows in bad movies and even worse books. The next few hours will be spent grinding away at the cheap SnG’s trying to work out a better strategy so I can run deep in the Warmup.
If I didn’t have enough motivation, now I do. I shipped off an inquiring email to fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig yesterday while I was torturing myself in the Early Daily Doubles. I thought maybe a friendly wager between the sites might add a nice little twist to the horror that will come by playing in a 5-digit-sized field. Ever the creative fellow, he came up with some interesting ideas. (Michael’s writeup of the prop bet can be read here)
I suggested three possible consequences for the loser: (1) Standing on the Strip at midnight for a half-hour with the escort-service pimps handing out copies of WATCHTOWER; (2) Making a collage from escort brochures into a giant “congratulations” card for the winner; and (3) Submitting losing keno cards from three crappy casinos. I later clarified this last one by saying “the winner picks the places as long as they are (a) in the Vegas area, and (b) certifiable shit-holes.” (I never really gave any thought to what agency would provide the certification.)
When everything was ironed out, none of the above were chosen. The loser would have to play in a poker tournament, a scary poker tournament. A poker tournament located downtown at 2am and responsible for their own personal security. The loser is required to play in the 2am Binion’s tournament next time we are in Las Vegas. I was in Binion’s during the WSOP when both blogger friends Drizz and BWOP final tabled their Omaha/8 “mini-series” tournament. Binion’s may be the mythical home of the World Series of Poker, but it is sketchy as all hell in the early morning hours with nothing else around. The winner also has half of the action in the tournament.
Now I have a little more motivation to do well in the FTOPS XIV Warmup. If I do end up losing I will comfort myself that at least the drinks were incredibly cheap at Binion’s once we dodged the locals and found the bar. It’s time to practice.
14:30ET (Sunday): Some have been wondering about how I could possibly consider taking such a risk prop betting with Michael Craig. The man’s reputation as a player is light years beyond anything I’ll ever accomplish in my lifetime. I’m much better known for the exploits on the fringe of these events, while others are trying for poker glory I am behind the scenes making sure a good time is being had by all. Let’s do the boxing routine and go to the “Tale of the Tapes”:
Michael Craig – professional writer, author of The Professor, The Banker, and The Suicide King, three (3) World Series of Poker final tables, friend and confidante of the pros.
AlCantHang – professional degenerate, author of nothing more exciting than some random drunken blog post, two (2) wins in The Mookie, master of the micro-limit.
As you can see here, my complete lack of experience must easily point to me being the favorite in my battle over Mr. Craig. I’ve played these low buyin tournaments, I know the players, their skills and preferences. I think I will be railing Michael at Binion’s in a few days.
In actual FTOPS XIV Warmup news, there’s a very good chance this tournament does not hit it’s 50,000 cap. That means we’re likely to see a decent overlay coming from the Full Tilt pocket. I’m willing to commit to a guess at this point and predict we’ll see just over 40,000 players in the event. Another prediction I’m kicking around is that we will see at least 10,000 players eliminated in the first hour of play. Keeping in mind that the first break will occur a little over 30 minutes into the tournament.
Any other predictions from my fellow lemur-fighting friends or readers?
15:05ET (Sunday): Along with keeping an eye on my adversary today, I’ll also be checking out several bloggers in the field. One of my favorite players will be Drizztdj, who I convinced to register for the tournament even though he’s completely unable to play. I was interested in seeing just how close he comes to actually min-cashing in the event. It should be fun.
The tournament has “started” which means they’ve begun the 15 minute process of seating the entire field. We have gone over the 40,000 player mark so my first line has been crossed.
Some of the bloggers in the tournaments include OtisDart, DrChako, BuddyDank, Joanne1111, and USAF_Trevor in addition to the aforementioned sitting out blogger Drizztdj.
Good luck everyone!
16:00ET (Sunday): Caught KK but no action as the non-stop min-raiser to my left folded when I repopped it. My notes told me that “overbetting for value” was the play in these cheapy events. I probably put too much in on my re-raise but had no doubt I’d get called down in several places. Apparently I have the only tight table in the tournament. No less than three times have I been dealt the all-powerful 53o, I’m tempted to start playing it if I keep seeing it.
My prediction of 10,000 players lost in the first hour of play is look very realistic. At the first break, 35 minutes into the tournaments, and we’ve already lost 5,296 players. Shaking my head at my tight table not giving action. I should have doubled up with the kings. Unfortunately a network problem has popped up thanks to the insane response. Awaiting the return.
In the blogger prop bet battle:
AlCantHang – 2130
Michael Craig – 2110
16:30ET (Sunday): And my prop bet with Mr. Craig is settled just that quickly. Before an hour was complete he found himself short after running into pocket kings. He pushed his stack in with ducks and the trusty weak Ace called and hit. Now he’ll have to trek down and play the dreaded 2am Binion’s tournament next week. I’ve already made the decision I’ll be going down also to play the tournament. What’s the fun of shipping someone down there without actually seeing their face as they look around the place and SMELL the other players.
The rest of the action was crazy. As soon as we come back from the break my table starts pushing their chips in the middle like they have somewhere to go. I actually saw pocket Jacks hold up against Big Slick and I lost a few chips in a blind versus blind battle but nothing spectacular. I picked up with blinds with AKo by raising to 210 in middle position, the big blind folded with only 215 chips behind.
Can you guess that hand the made mrhamilton321 shove in nearly 100 big blinds in the middle UTG+1? The mighty 77 wins again.
At 4:20pm ET there were 33,269 entrants remaining. That means I also win the prop bet with myself, over 10,000 players gone in one hour of play. 24% of the field eliminated in nex to no time at all. “Y’all some crazy players”, my offical moto of this tournament. The official number of entrants is 43,874. That means Full Tilt will be throwing over $30,000 into the prizepool. Not a bad overlay for a $5 buying tournament. First place will pocket $22,500 sometime early this morning (or late?). Here is the official payout for the final table:
1st – $22,500
2nd – $15,725
3rd – $11,500
4th – $9,000
5th – $7,250
6th – $5,750
7th – $4,500
8th – $3,250
9th – $2,000
You can view the rest of the “Live Blog” after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, FTOPS Warmup
Big Weekend in the Works
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s lining up to be a very busy weekend on Full Tilt poker this weekend. There are a ton of promotions going off, big tournaments, this should really prop up the cash game tables, and The durrrr Challenge has finally picked up some steam. We’re also just a few short days away from the November Nine determining this year’s World Series of Poker champion and you still have a chance to get your Piece of Ivey. Your humble blogger will hoping a plane bound for Las Vegas early next week to bring you the blow-by-blow play-by-play action. Until then, here’s what you have to look forward to this weekend.
- FTOPS XIV Warmup. It’s sure to be one of the biggest online poker tournaments ever (per number of entrants) and I’m going to start taking over/under prop bets on the bustout per hour rate. The field will be capped at 50,000 players and there is a $250,000 guarantee for just a $5 buyin. Crazy if you ask me, that’s why I’m already registered. As of this post there are nearly 28,000 players signed up including fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig. You can satellite your way into the tournament for as little as .85c or 160 FTP points. First place gets you $22,500 for just a tiny price. I’ll be running a “Live Blog” throughout the tournament so check back on Sunday afternoon.
- FTOPS XIV Satellites continue to run all weekend as November 4th begins the next tournament series. The satellites start as low as $2+.25 or a handful of your FTP points. FTOPS XIV will see more the $16,000,000 given out to those who run well and play solid. This series also features a 7-game Mix for Event #2 with a $200+16 buyin and $150,000 guarantee, a fine way to test your variety of poker skills.
- It’s your last weekend to get a Piece of Ivey. Do you like getting free money in your bankroll? Would you like to watch the November Nine knowing you actually have a chance to win more and more money as Phil Ivey gets closer to the title? This promotion is for you. Sign up and start playing your regular games to earn a chance at the free dough. Just click on the link for full details.
- Recently The durrrr Challenge between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius has picked up more steam. Over the last week they have played thousands of hands and Dwan is sporting a hefty lead of nearly $800,000. That’s real dollars, not tournament chips but it can be erased pretty quickly. Some of the biggest hands they’ve placed have been for several hundred thousands. Just this week Dwan took down a $293,000 pot to build his lead. You can find all the information on The durrrr Challenge live stats page which has the “score” and a replay of the biggest hands.
- Big Money Sunday is always there waiting for you to make your big score. $1,500,000 in guaranteed prizepools (when you throw in the $200,000 Double Deuce) can make for a life changing bankroll boost.
- Don’t forget those juicy cash game tables either. The weekends have proven to be some of the best fishing grounds where everyone has a chance to hook that big fish and take him to the felt. Just about every poker variation is available in No Limit, Pot Limit, and Fixed Limit formats. Step and take your shot.
I’ll be back this weekend with updates (and the Warmup Live Blog) and getting ready for Las Vegas. Things are about to get very exciting around these parts and you don’t want to miss a second of it.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
ESPN 2009 WSOP Main Event Broadcast Day 8
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
This week I decided to wait until after ESPN aired their coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event before posting anything. the previous 90 episodes were full of nothing but big bustout hands, suckouts, or inane rants by players looking for their half second of TV exposure. There wasn’t a lot of action they could really cover outside of the two feature tables and the players were doing them no favors by busting out at an incredible rate. At the end of each day, which always ended earlier than anticipated, someone would say “tomorrow, that’s when the stacks and blinds will catch up”. During most tournaments this indicates that play will pick up pace as the blinds begin to force action on the shortstack, the WSOP Main Event was the opposite.
It was nothing to see a player shove 50 big blinds in the middle preflop with any Ace Face. You have a slim draw with an overcard? Ship it in and walk away. Holding a baby pair? It’s the nuts. We saw it over and over again. The last few episodes you can see some of that action but to witness in person was a sight to behold. Still waiting for the best hand of the tournament, it’s already queued up for next Tuesday’s broadcast.
We walked into the Amazon Room on Day 8 fully expecting a very long day/night/morning. Predictions were floating around amongst the media members that we’d be looking at a 2am…4am…sunrise finish with such huge chipstacks in relation to the blinds. A third of these players were going be all over the poker press from July til November, surely that would finally slow the action to a respectable pace of play. As an anonymous member of the media stated that day, “these players are making Jack Eiffel look like a genius”.
It took less than 10 hours of play to lose 18 players.
ESPN dedicated this week to the first 9 knockouts, next Tuesday will bring the field from 18 players to the November Nine. You can click below if you’d like to catch up on our series handicapping each of the final 9 players. While it is being broadcast I will be on a plane west to see which one takes home the bracelet.
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3
My favorite Main Event picture, the Amazon Room on Day 8
An oasis of light and poker
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
Big Money Sunday – October 25th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s a rare Sunday that I have a hard time finding a theme for the evening. Generally there are a few big Full Tilt pros running deep in a tournament or we’ve got a popular online pro ripping up the leaderboard or maybe an unknown player with a monster chip lead. It shouldn’t be that tough to find the lead with nearly $1.8million on the line. I spent some time railing friend-of-the-blog Shawn “sprstoner” Glines as he cashed in the $750k Guarantee but was run out in 275th. I did enjoy watching 3 other player shove into him holding AA, sometimes even this big majors play like a $22 Double Deuce.
Your Full Tilt player to cash for the most money on Sunday was none other than Somyung Sim. After a little research I found out our newest red letter pro is the most successful player of something called Starcraft. I’m sure that means something to gamer geeks but I gave up non-poker computer games the day they stopped producing for my IntelliVision. Sim pocketed $660 for his 141st place finish. Lee Watkinson and Steve Zolotow were the only other two members of Team Full Tilt to even cash and that was in the Double Deuce, technically not even part of Big Money Sunday.
Thank God for twitter as I saw Shaun Deeb was running deep. “looks like I have to miss my 730am flight due to still being in the 750k so I might stick in europe after all who knows now”. That at least added another table to my railbird duties and Deebs came oh-so-close to another big payout final table, crashing in 23rd after some horrific play at his table. Early in the evening I kept an eye on Justin “RoothlusJr” Levy who finished 56th in the Sunday Brawl. Justin is starting to come out of the shadow of his brother Adam “Roothlus” Levy with some big online cashes and a win at this year’s Borgata Poker Open. Tony “Bond18″ Dunst, old school Poker from the Rail contributor, made an appearance this week also finishing 42nd.
All in all a pretty uneventful Sunday. We’re getting prepared around these parts for the November Nine so a nice quiet day was welcome. You can find the Big Money Sunday results after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail
Phil Ivey in ESPN the Magazine
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Phil Ivey will grace the cover of ESPN the Magazine on November 2nd
Photo credits: ESPN
Our friends over at WickedChopsPoker.com broke this earlier today, we knew it was coming eventually and now it’s available to everyone. Even though it looks like the mainstream media is far behind in picking up stories, ESPN will be featuring Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Ivey on the November 2nd cover of ESPN the Magazine now that the November Nine is just a couple weeks away. Chad Millman was the lucky ESPN writer who found himself bouncing around the globe in Ivey’s private Gulfstream, to Foxwoods then Montreal then Amsterdam then Austria. Just another week in the life of the best poker player on the planet.
During this jaunt he was able to see a side of Ivey that most only hear about in rumors or stories or those internet fables posted over every forum on the internet. Gambling at nose-bleed levels most can only dream about, or have nightmares. He is the classic whale when entering casinos and is treated as such. Custom-made craps tables, private jets, going anywhere on a whim, it’s all come to him from this unique gift that has some players calling him the best ever.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but I like to gamble,” Ivey says. “It’s just in me. I try to manage what I do playing craps or blackjack. At the end of the year, I don’t want the amount I gamble there to be bigger than what I win playing poker.”
But that’s just the world-traveling, gambling side of Ivey, few ever have the opportunity to see it. The article does bring up some points about his poker game. He’s always aware of what’s going on around him, picking up pieces of information that casual person would never think about in life or at the poker table.
Ivey sees tics and tells the rest of us don’t. This is one of his gifts. When he sits at the table unsmiling, headphones over his ears, he’s like a cyborg computing the vulnerabilities of his opponents. While some poker pros calculate the odds of hands, Ivey doesn’t classify himself as a numbers guy. “At the level I play, it becomes more psychological than mathematical,” he says. “You really have to get in your opponents’ heads and figure out what they’re trying to do to you in pots and what they’re saying and why, what is the meaning behind it all.”
“Everyone dreams of winning the Main Event; anyone who plays poker and tells you differently is lying,” says Ivey. “It would by farbe my biggest accomplishment in poker.”
The article is a great look inside the private world of the most dangerous November Nine member, the player who has nothing to prove other than winning his first World Series of Poker Main Event. It’s definitely worth a read when the magazine comes out, if you have an ESPN Insider account you can find it online right now by clicking here.
Also out this week, the fine group over at PokerRoad.com have a video out now where Barry Greenstein goes in search of Phil Ivey in his self-imposed exile. It’s a fantastic video and yet another look behind the curtain of his life. He’s sitting around his house in Cabo chatting and playing a little online poker. By far my favorite line is
“…we lift weights for half hour then we do yoga, for an hour, then we go golfing. That’s how I prepare for the Main Event. I’m not getting no poker coaches or any of that s#$t.”
It’s definitely worth the time to check out their video. The video is embedded after the jump below.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, ESPN, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
2009 World Series of Poker Bracelets
Photo credit: Pokerati.com
There are just over two weeks remaining before the poker world once again focuses it’s attention upon the Rio Hotel and Casino where the 2009 November Nine will gather around a table and play for the world championship. The players are preparing themselves in different ways. Some with coaches, others trying to stay as lowkey and relaxed as possible, still others are practicing non-stop. Or if you are Phil Ivey you continue to pound away at the dead money sitting around the Bellagio poker room.
Today brings our third and final installment of the November Nine preview. I am joined by two bloggers to help handicap the 9 players at this year’s Main Event final table and we end it with the three smallest chip stacks. Phil Ivey is by far the biggest name but starts with just 9,765,000 in chips. “Those-in-the-know” have set his official odds more along the lines of the bigger stacks around the table, a credit to the experience and talent he’ll bring along.
This post also highlights the two non-US born players in Antoine Saout and James Akenhead. Saout is the unknown Frenchman while Akenhead is regular figure around the UK tournament scene with his poker playing friends. Both have plenty of work ahead of them if they wish to make a big run for the title.
Our two guest bloggers, “Spaceman” the consummate professional writer and “Riggstad” the half-breed poker player/gambler, give you their opinions below. Once again odds and lines are strictly for informational and educational purposes, any loses due to our information is on your head. If you use this information to win, we will accept any credit/reward.
Don’t forget to check out the ESPN broadcast over the next two weeks as the field goes from seven tables to just one. Day 7 will be shown on October 20th at 20:00ET and Day 8 on October 27th at the same time.
2009 November Nine chip counts:
Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman = 19,580,000
Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
James Akenhead – 6,800,000
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3 after the jump:
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Antoine Saout, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, James Akenhead, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, Phil Ivey, Riggstad, WSOP
Big Money Sunday – October 18th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It was one of the rare Big Money Sundays where the blog post almost writes itself. This week brought the monthly upgrade from the $750 Guarantee to the cool $1 Million Guarantee with a slightly smaller field and hugely larger prizepool. Big names were running deep all across the major tournaments and my little laptop screen was full of different tables as I attempted to capture some of the action.
My usual routine when keeping an eye on these tournaments is start at the beginning and move my way towards the big one, checking for red letter pros and big online runners, always looking for notables. When I took a quick look at the $1 Million Guarantee I saw two Full Tilt pros sitting together deep in the tournament. Both Vivek Rajkumar and Michael Craig (fresh off my having fun at his expense last week) were sitting together at one of the few remaining tables. Unfortunately Mister Craig busted out shortly after began railing him, getting out pipped when he 77 ran into 88 for 52nd place. Rajkumar, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
Once the field was down near 3 tables he picked up the lead and rarely released it. He started the final table with the chip lead and I sent an IM message to a friend saying “Vivek is running over the final table, he’ll have to be unlucky to lose.” I saw the exact same action in person when he took down the 2008 WPT Borgata Poker Open championship. He put his foot on their throat with constant pressure and never let up. In the end he chopped the prizepool heads up and took down the title for literally 1 penny short of $180,000. It was an impressive showing by the Full Tilt pro who also cashed in the Sunday Brawl. Also running deep in the $1 Million Guarantee were former FTOPS winner Jake “psutennis11” Toole, Brian Hastings, Phil “USCphildo” Collins, Brian “SN8WMAN” Hawkins, and Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis.
All finishing in the top 100.
I also spent quite awhile railing the final few tables of the Sunday Mulligan that saw Matt “All In At 420″ Stout make a final table push along with FTOPS runner up Austin “The Quietwinner” McCormick, Dan “USCswimmer” White, Bruce “Not Michael” Buffer, and Rick “MookieBlaylock1″ Whittington. I have to give props to MookieBlaylock1 since he’s based in my home neighborhood. Stout battled the entire final table, eventually moving his way up into a 3rd place chip stack but ran into a big blind versus blind hand. His JackAce was no good against the small blind’s KQ. That put a hurt on his chances and the JackAce was his final undoing when it ran smack into Kings.
Matt Stout is a ton of fun, if you get a chance you should read his blog post about getting berated at the Borgata in a preliminary event. I was one of the bloggers who witnessed the hand and this guy would not let it go. Just laying into Stout while he calming stacked the poor Jersey gentleman’s chips. He got “scumbagged”.
Those were the two really interesting developments during the evening, the Brawl moved along quickly and I continue to only throw a mildly amused eye towards the $200k Double Deuce. Yet another situation developed as they moved towards the final table that me shaking my head in disbelief. Simple question for every poker player on the planet, except for maybe this one. You need to call here with any two cards.
It was a 5-handed table just short of the final 9 players. With blinds at 50k/100k/10k ante it folded around to totsev on the button who pushed for 1,085,351. slikone is the chip leader sitting in the small blind and flat calls the all-in bet. JetYourChips in the big blind reshoves for 1,508,393. How can a player possibly fold getting near 10 to 1 with over a million already invested? Here’s the math, slikeone only needed to call 423,042 to win a 4,152,137 pot. 9.8 to 1 odds with any two cards with a chance to knock out two players and hit the final table with a much larger chip lead. Needless to say, slikone folded or I wouldn’t be writing this. Don’t believe my account, here’s the screenprint before he folded. Don’t ask me why I grabbed it then, I just had a feeling he was going to fold.
Click to enlarge
I felt pretty confident in my prediction that slikone was not going to win this tournament even with the chip lead. And I was correct.
You can find final table numbers and results after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Matt "All In At 420" Stout, Michael Craig, Vivek Rajkumar
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The 2009 World Series of Poker Championship bracelet awaits the November Nine winner
Photo credit: flipchip at LasVegasVegas.com
The field is into double digits on the ESPN Main Event broadcasts and you start to see some of your November Nine players pull to the front. Tuesday’s show finally gave everyone a little taste of Darvin Moon’s run through the Main Event, the man couldn’t miss. Billy Kopp also starts to build a massive chip castle setting up very nicely for the Day 8 broadcast when the two go to war. Other players also spent this last episode donating chips to Phil Ivey, even when he didn’t have the goods he would flop golden. “You know I can have a hand once in awhile, right?” he told another player. November Nine players James Akenhead, Joe Cada, and Steve Begleiter began to get some exposure as the field narrowed. Still not seeing too much mention of Eric Buchman, Kevin Schaffel or Antoine Saout but those three will show up very soon. Nicole Peppe was eliminated in this latest broadcast leaving Leo Margets as the “Last Woman Standing” in the Main Event.
There are just a few episodes remaining before the final players gather themselves back at the Rio to play down to the champion. Last week I brought you Part 1 of a series attempting to gather a few friends together and handicap the November Nine for entertainment purposes. I was joined by professional writer “Spaceman” and semi-pro donk “Riggstad”, both shared their thoughts on how the top 3 chip leaders would fair. This week we move onto the middle three stacks with Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, and Kevin Shaffel. Shulman is the polarizing player, Cada the young internet professional, Shaffel the amateur crashing on his friend’s couch in Florida. Another interesting cast of characters. You can find the link below for Part 1 and Part 2 is after the jump.
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, Kevin Schaffel, Riggstad, WSOP
FTOPS XIV Schedule Released
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The schedule for FTOPS XIV has been released including the return of the incredibly popular miniFTOPS. Full Tilt also announced a new FTOPS XIV Warmup tournament with a huge prizepool and micro-buyin. FTOPS XIV is set to run from November 4th until the Main Event on November 15th. That will make for some exciting times to start November. 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event winner will be crowned, “Piece of Ivey” tournament will be run, and FTOPS XIV drawing huge crowds.
There will also be the introduction of the FTOPS XIV Warmup Tournament on November 1st. This is a new wrinkle in the FTOPS set up and is already set to be one of the biggest online tournaments ever run. For just $5+.50 you can enter the tournament that has a $250,000 guaranteed prizepool and the field will be capped at 50,000 players. That simply means that Full Tilt will sell out the tournament or you’ll see an overlay. In my opinion, I think you’ll see it sell out at least a week in advance creating a huge waiting list. I suggest getting signed up now or get working on a satellite which are available at all times starting as low as .50c of 50 Full Tilt Points. I’m signed up already, now it’s your turn to catch me, first place will take home $22,500.
While Full Tilt is still ironing out the details of which pros are hosting various events, the schedule is available for you inspection and satellites are now running. FTOPS XIV kicks off with Event #1 at 21:00ET on November 1st, starting off big with a $1,000,000 guarantee No Limit Hold’em 6-max tournament. That’s the first million dollars out of the over $16,000,000 guaranteed throughout the series. Back by popular demand are the Knockout, Shootout, and $2,000,000 Two-Day event. 6 of the 25 tournaments have guarantees over the $1,000,000 mark including the $2,500,000 Main Event on November 15th.
As usual, there are also various promotions and challenges associated with FTOPS XIV. Satellite Challenge, Survivor, Hold’em, Double up Challenge. They are all there for more chances at free money and encouragement to get in the big games. All the FTOPS XIV Challenge details can be found here, waiting for you to signup.
If you are sporting a smaller bankroll and unable to satellite your way into the big events, you always have the option to set your sights on the upcoming miniFTOPS XIV in December. The same run of events but with just 1/10th of the buyin amount and over $4,000,000 in guaranteed money. You can jump here for all the details on miniFTOPS XIV including challenge of it’s own.
I’ll be spending the next few days looking over the schedules for both series to work out which games will see me spend my hard earned bankroll. I’ll miss the first part of FTOPS while in Las Vegas for the November Nine but that won’t stop me from throwing down some money to get in the big games. miniFTOPS presents similar issues for your humble writer as I’ll be back out in Las Vegas to join a big group of bloggers in town for fun and poker. Look over the details and pick your spots along with me.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, MiniFTOPS
Big Money Sunday – October 11th
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Another week gone by and another Big Money Sunday is in the books. Another success day for many at the virtual tables and we saw some big names running deep and late. A former FTOPS champ won The Sunday Mulligan, one top online grinder jinxed himself via Twitter, another found himself blinded off due to a connection issue.
While no members of Team Full Tilt were able to make a final table, we did see Chris Klecz duck and weave the $20 grinders in the $200k Double Deuce to finish in 28th. Adam Schoenfeld also cashed in the tournament but so did 1,349 other players. Jens Voertmann had the deepest red letter pro run in the $750k Guarantee in 33rd with Isaac Baron right behind him in 47th. Fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig came close to glory by finishing 3,398 out of 3,838. That’s tough to do. Our big runs in The Sunday Mulligan came from Kristy Gazes in 73rd and Poker from the Rail favorite David “The Dragon” Pham* in 42nd. Towards the end it seemed Pham had his opponents confused as they often put all their chips in the middle with TPSK (top pair s*&t kicker) against his overpair or monster flop. He was ultimately undone by running his Aces into a sooooted AK.
“Pocketownage420″ has another win to his credit after taking down The Sunday Mulligan, just a small percentage of the money he took down for winning the Main Event for FTOPS XII. Also joining him at the final table was FTOPS XIII Event #3 winner “UgA7211″. Kevin “GetPWNS3D” Saul was running huge in the $750,000 Guarantee, right up until he sent out a twitter message saying “19/193 FTP 750k…last tourney of the day” He finished 104th.
17,885 players signed up across the 4 big tournaments of the day creating prizepools totaling $1,703,740. The big winners of the evening were our two players to bank 6 digit wins in the Sunday Brawl and $750k Guarantee, TheRyanKing07 for $112,818.62 and tong26 for $101,281.57.
Final table numbers and results after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, David Pham
