Poker From The Rail
a Poker Blog brought to you by Full Tilt Poker
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
Fans of google’s occasional search pranks (or Rush Poker Mobile) might have noticed that if you google “Tilt” from a smart phone on April 6, the results are literally tilted.
Rush Mobile continues to function regardless of the angle you hold your Android phone at.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
During the 2010 World Series of Poker, the Full Tilt Poker Academy sent a video production team to the FTP suite at the Rio to record video interviews of Full Tilt Pros and Friends of Full Tilt. You can find these videos at the Full Tilt Poker WSOP video archive. They’re divided into a few categories:
Ask a Pro: We got questions from Facebook, the blog, the FTP forums, and random fans at the Rio. If you see Lizzy Harrison or Matt Donnelly ask a pro your question, check this post for prize-claiming directions.
Bad Beat Story: Pros relate stories of non-poker bad beats, such as being bitten in the head by a monkey (see below for details).
Hand of the Day: Pros go over a hand they played and explain their strategy.
Tournament Update: General interviews about the 2010 WSOP, including any FTP pro who won a WSOP bracelet.
These were some of my favorites:
The Funnies
Who is the only Full Tilt Poker pro to have been bitten on the head by a monkey? (Well, I’m assuming he’s the only one…)
Actor Joe Reitman tells a funny Hollywood story and then gets a little weird himself…
Shortly before winning his WSOP bracelet, Scott Montgomery joked about a particularly violent alternate career path.
Steve Zolotow has two WSOP bracelets and an interesting past to say the least. In this video, Zolotow talks about a prop bet from his brief time in the army. Ever tried to drown a fly in beer?
Jeff Madsen and Matt Donnelly explore the ability to catch bullets in one’s teeth.
Get to Know the Pros
How did Howard Lederer get the nickname The Professor?
Chris Ferguson is one of the classiest pros in the game, and here he talks about his charity work in Africa.
This wasn’t filmed at the WSOP, but in this interview with Men’s magazine Asylum, Beth Shak addresses one of the questions a lot of fans had for female Full Tilt Poker pros: what’s it like being a woman in a predominantly male game?
The charming Lacey Jones on becoming a Friend of Full Tilt Poker and how she learned the game.
Strategy Discussion
If the US Congress ever ends up debating whether poker is a game of skill or luck, this would be a good video to show. Eric Liu discusses the strategy behind his play in a $25/$50 NLH game.
How has all the TV coverage of Gus Hansen playing hyper-aggressive affected his play?
Brandon Adams finished second in the $10k Stud Championship to an inebriated Men the Master. This is a really intelligent discussion of the final table, and highlights some important concepts for both stud and tournament players.
Ivey, Durrrr, and the WSOP
Phil Ivey grants a rare interview and talks about his prop bets after he won his 2010 bracelet.
Durrrr’s prop bets were one of, if not the biggest, stories of the WSOP. In this interview, Durrrr talked about his WSOP grind.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
Ever wondered what the poker scene is like in other parts of the world? Poker from the Rail reader Villa has written a review of poker in his native Colombia. (I found the part about the brick and mortar affiliates particularly interesting…)
Villa has also agreed to answer some questions if you want to leave any in the comments section.
Poker in Colombia: A Guest Post by Villa
I started playing poker 5 years ago. Back then, finding a game in my hometown (Barranquilla, for those google lovers) was tough. No home games, no poker rooms in casinos, no nothing, NADA! So internet was the only way to learn about the game, the players and everything related to the game we all love. Besides, poker wasn’t and still isn’t viewed as a good practice. When people ask me what I do in my free time I say “I play poker” and of 10 answers I get 9 weird faces or “Do you have gambling problems? If not, you will” and 1 “I have a friend who loves poker!!”
Poker on TV
We all know poker had a boom after Chris Moneymaker’s victory in the Main Event back in 2003, but poker really arrived here around 2006. Suddenly, in 2007, we were able to see poker shows on TV thanks to networks like Fox Sports and ESPN. We started watching shows such as Poker After Dark, WSOP events and EPT events. There were episodes I already knew who the winner was but TV gives you a whole other feeling.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
The WSOP might be on break for a while, but we can still have a little WSOP fun. Below are three pictures from the last couple weeks of the WSOP. Best 3 captions for each photo (as chosen by Poker from the Rail) will receive 500 FTP points each. Leave your captions as comments in this post, and please make sure to include your FTP ID in the comment.
Congratulations to our winners. If you haven’t received your FTP points by Friday, July 30, please email me at davefromtherail@gmail.com.
Photo A
Before delivering the bad news to Mr. Wilson about is wife, Dr. Green decides it might be best to do it over a poker game rather than at the hospital.
- MattDChacer
The oven…yup, I definitely left the oven on.
- David C
An annoyed John Juanda thinks, “If he takes his eye out at the table one more time, I’m gonna chuck it across the room!”
- woffice
Photo B
“repent you degens the end is near”
- justice_4911
Colorful Roadies are employed to help carry Phil Hellmuth’s ego.
- Nit-Bot 3000
“Ok look, could you all just stop and go through the rules with me just one more time!”
– Mo22a
Photo C
I get my clothing from other than Full Tilt Poker.
- Alan Chiras
No, I don’t think I’d go all in with that again.
- aplusmhs
Really Ali, another American pie question, what are you like 15 years old?
- born2bafish
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
Shortly after the November Nine was determined, Harrah’s Entertainment, owners of the WSOP, sent the poker media a press release with all sorts of information. Here’s some of the most pertinent info, including chip counts and bios of the November Nine, interesting notes, and ESPN’s television schedule.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
Few players have had as much attention heading into their first WSOP as Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad. I had a chance to speak with her after it was all over.
So how was your first WSOP?
Pretty much went as expected. I try not to ever enter any tournaments with high expectations since it’s so high variance. You don’t want to go in expecting to win and then be disappointed when you don’t.
It wasn’t a great series. I had 4 cashes, one 11th place. I was really hoping to make a final table, since everyone notices that. If you cash, nobody really does.
The 11th place came in the shootout, right?
Yeah. Day 1 and 2 had great structures where you started with 120 blinds. I had a lot of bad players at my tables and caught some hands. The last day was down to 14 players so it was a two table tournament. We only started with 75 blinds, which I thought was really stupid. Why would you want to increase the variance for the final day? The whole thing tilted me, though I’m not sure if it affected my play.
Tags: Annette Obrestad
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
I met Mike (FTP ID: MMCQTX) in the Full Tilt lounge. He was talking to fellow online qualifier Horatio so I came over to say hello. He had won a $75 5-seat guarantee satellite. Mike’s a teacher and volleyball coach in Irving, Texas.
He finished Day 1c with 74k chips. By dinner break on Day 2a, he had 180k.
So is this your first WSOP?
No, I played the main event back in 2005. I’ve played satellites every year trying to get back. Last year I got to heads up at a shootout for the seat, but finished 2nd. I’ve been doing well the last few months so I felt good about trying to satellite in.
The experience of playing in 2005 has helped this year. I remember being a little nervous last time and had been happy to be card dead in the first hour so I could just fold and observe the table.
I’m much more confident in my game now than in 2005. I was talking poker with a guy at the pool yesterday and he was telling me some of the things he struggles with. I remember that I used to struggle with the same things, so it’s kind of validating to look back and see how far you’ve come.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
If you’ve never made it out to Vegas (which is lovely in the summertime) for the WSOP, here are a few notes from ground zero…
Live Reporting
Ever wonder exactly how PokerNews* gets its live chip count updates? Maybe not, as it isn’t all that complicated. But in case you were wondering if robots are involved:
The PokerNews live reporting staff is divided into two groups: bloggers and field reporters. The field reporters are all exactly 21 years old. They walk the floor with notepads, scribbling chip counts and hand summaries. They pass these reports to the bloggers to write up for the live reporting site. The bloggers are older (22 years) and occasionally leave their computers in the press box to walk the floor for updates themselves.
Each section of the Rio (Amazon Orange, Red, Blue; Pavilion White) has a team of PokerNews kids: usually two bloggers and a few field reporters. They work hard but are still friendly.
*PokerNews has an exclusive deal with the WSOP to be the sole provider of live chip count updates. If any other site posts more than once in an hour, the offending blogger is sent home like a disruptive student. Were it not for that rule, I’d have constant updates of Zane, Horatio, and The Batman.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
A number of readers have asked for some stories about qualifiers who won Main Event seats via $1 satellites…Cinderella stories. Zane did one better: he won his seat in a freeroll.
So is this your first WSOP?
Yeah. A friend of mine played one, and ended up on TV when he was seated between Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang. But this is my first.
How’d you win your seat?
Well, it sounds better if I say I won a $2k Step 7 satellite, which I did. But I won the Step 7 ticket in a superturbo freeroll for players who had played however many superturbo sit-n-gos to qualify. There were over 10,000 players in the freeroll and the top 20 won Step 7 tickets. 21st – 40th won Step 6 tickets, and so on.
The freeroll was pretty crazy. I was all-in in the big blind three or four times with horrible cards. Like 9-4 every time. I managed to win them all and was like, “Ok, cool, now I’ve got a shot at a $26 token.” And then I was playing for a $76 token. And it kept going like that.
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Uncategorized
While scouting the tables for Full Tilt Pros, qualifiers, and other notables, I noticed that The Batman was sitting at White Table #5, Seat 2.
Outside the Rio, The Batman is either a wealthy idle socialite or a 25 year old medical student from Toronto.
Around Level 3, the tables in the Pavilion were broken up and Dan Harrington was seated immediately on The Batman’s right. A PokerNews live report read “Batman vs. Harrington.” I told The Batman about this, and Dan Harrington said, “Well, I guess I’m against truth, justice, and the American way…”
What possessed you to wear a The Batman costume?
Well I’ve never played the WSOP before and I wanted to enjoy myself. Main Event is serious and all but it’s still a game, it should still be fun. People might not realize it, but I am very happy inside.
Were you The Batman for Halloween or something?
No. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in three years…
I actually wanted to be Captain America, even though I’m Canadian. It kinda just rolls off the tongue. Captain America. But maybe it’s for the best: some people might not have recognized Captain America. Everybody knows [The] Batman.
Did you get any reactions from the other players at your table?
No. Pretty surprising. Got nothing. They’re only thinking about poker.
Have you seen anyone else in costume? There was a guy in a hippo costume with an FTOPS jersey yesterday…
No, I haven’t seen anyone else in costume today. There was a guy in a hat [Perry Friedman], but that was about it. I’m hoping to raise costume awareness here at the WSOP.
Did you satellite in or buy in? Any affiliations with any online poker sites?
Nope, I am not affiliated with any sites. I bought in. I was going to take a medical review course but passed on it so I just put that money towards the Main Event.
You’re already getting some media attention. That will likely increase the deeper you go in the Main Event. What’s your costume plan?
I will be wearing the costume every day. If possible, I will be very involved with the media.
How are you doing so far?
Pretty well. I’m up to about 45k. I won a big post with a set of deuces against pocket aces…
How would you like to be named on our blog? You want your real name? FTP ID?
I’d like to be referred to as the Caped Crusader.
Most Popular Posts
- (none)
Authors
Blogroll
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
sweet!...Disclaimer
The opinions expressed by this blog and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the author of this blog nor any content contained herein.
