Posts Tagged ‘FTOPS’
FTOPS XIV Wrap Up
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Sunday brought to close another successful FTOPS with 25 more events and over $18,000,000 dished out among the players. We had some big score by the top online and professional poker players such as David “The Dragon” Pham, Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder, Brian “badbeatninja” Devonshire and Thayer “THAY3R” Rassmussen. Brad “bd3109″ Albrinck came out of nowhere to claim the top of the FTOPS XIV leaderboard with one title and a runner-up result in back-to-back days (Event #16 and 18) collecting nearly $100,000. Gary Jones was your big money winner amongst the Full Tilt pros when he banked $193,462 with his 4th place finish in the $2,500 Two Day Event.
The series started off with a little controversy in Event #1 when the players decided to not pay attention when making a deal at the table. If you want to know what happened, feel free to check out the Full Tilt forums. Yesterday concluded the series by paying out $6,487,7000 across four huge tournaments and awarding 13 players with paydays in the six digit range. There were actually four events this series which fell just short of the guarantee which meant that Full Tilt kicked in an extra $200,000 to the players in the form of overlays bringing the final prizepool payout to $18,153,100 across the 25 events.
I spent most of the series sitting in Las Vegas covering the November Nine but that didn’t mean I wasn’t keeping an eye on the biggest set of online tournaments running at the same time. After spending my days with the live players I would return to see what I missed, or what was still going on after one particularly long day. I asked fellow blogger Brad Utz to help me out and here are some of things we witnessed. You can find the final table results of all events after the jump.
- Full Tilt pros have a tough time breaking through to win these major events. Before this series only Erick Lindgren, Berry Johnston, and Gavin Smith were able to accomplish that feat with Smith and Johnston doing it last series. FTOPS XIV saw two more red letter pros score victories with David “The Dragon” Pham and Greg “FBT” Mueller. Pham had several prior FTOPS final tables to his credit but no joy until Event #14. Mueller’s victory was previous documented as he joined Erick Lindgren as the only Full Tilt pros to actually capture a victory in the event they were “hosting”.
- Coming into FTOPS XIV there were only 10 players who have won multiple events across the near 240 tournaments prior to this series. csimmus and Yuvee “yuvee04″ Bronshtein lead the way with 3 FTOPS titles. This series added three more to that list with Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder, Deception Pt, and elheroe all earning their second “golden jersey”. Event #5 was the FTOPS stacked table of the series with three previous winner with Burkholder almost adding another, “yuvee04″ going for his FOURTH, and it was here that Deception Pt picked up his second. There were actually quite a few former winners who came close to adding another this series including Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, David “Doc Sands”, and lilkimmer77 who all made final tables.
Live poker update: While finishing up this post I found out that “yuvee04″ just took down the H.O.R.S.E. event at the L.A. Poker Open. Congrats to a friend of the blog!
- Miscellaneous numbers from FTOPS XIV:
Number of events: 25
Guarantee Prizepool: $16,000,000
Actual Prizepool: $18,153,100
Largest Prizepool: $2,735,500 (Main Event)
Smallest Prizepool: $111,000 (Stud Hi/Lo)
Overlay (4 events): $221,300
Number of players: 54,823
Players with over $100,000 payout: 30 (thirty!)
Largest Payout: $539,350.00 (obiedman)
Largest FTP pro Payout: $193,462.50 (Gary Jones)
Total FTP pro cash (#): 79
Total FTP pro cash ($): $481,343.36
- I’m not sure anyone who hasn’t witnessed millions of online hands can appreciate some of the complete insanity the follows along with the big names on the site or when the tournaments get down to just a few tables. The regular Big Money Sunday events are crazy enough but FTOPS brings out the top shelf. The beggars are still there but practically drowned out by every nutball that’s ever posted on a forum or played a $1 SnG offering up their opinions on every move. It’s almost priceless when they start fighting amongst themselves. When the railbirds start challenge to play any for any stakes, it’s pure comedy. That’s why Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron has one of my favorite screennames. In a moment of weakness I decided to start a Railbird Hall of Shame Fame. I witnessed the following names on the rail who will join our inaugural class with nh83012001 getting special honors for challenging everyone “ill play you in any game any stakes”. It seems his apostrophe key was stuck that day also.
Your FTOPS XIV Railbird inductees, be sure to congratulate them:
chuckie247: you think im a fish, yet im the one in profit…
(ragging the rail, while on the rail)
Joey1029: go cry to your mom kid.
(overused the word “kid” when abusing)
nh83012001:ill play you in any game any stakes
(we have a winner!)
xMONSTERxDONGx: u guys dont know what ur talking about
(no-it-alls annoy me on the last day)
i8aNET15: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(with a incredibly impolite message to “FBT” Mueller)
I’m always looking for something amusing on the rail, feel free to pass anything along if you see something worthy of notice.
After the jump you can find the results for all FTOPS final tables and other notables. You can also find the complete unofficial Full Tilt Poker Red Letter Pro Challenge.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Pham, FTOPS, Greg Mueller
FTOPS XIV Event #19 – “FBT” Wins
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
As you might imagine, things have been a little crazy around here for the past few days. I made a trip out west for the November Nine, watched Michael Craig pay off a prop bet, and witnessed a 21-year old kid become the newest World Series of Poker champion. You will excuse me just a little bit for missing out on my near daily updates during FTOPS XIV which kicked off more than a week ago. Now that I am back in the safety of the great Northeast I am finally catching up on some things I missed.
That’s not to say I wasn’t keeping an eye on things which were going down with the online world, it just couldn’t be my highest priority. I was really looking forward to throwing yet another image of David “The Dragon” Pham* for his victory in FTOPS XIV Event #14 and because I like adding the “*-not a real dragon tag” to as many posts as possible. But it turns out Greg “FBT” Mueller** had other plans.
Coming into the day, only one Full Tilt pro has ever won an FTOPS event that they were hosting. Erick Lindgren accomplished that feat by taking down FTOPS VII Event #9 for just under $300,000. In fact, before today only Lindgren, Gavin Smith, and David Pham have been able to bring home an FTOPS victory for the red letter pros. Greg Mueller found himself in his comfort zone today.
Merriam and Webster Dictionary
Main Entry: comfort zone
Function: noun
2. the level at which one functions with ease and familiarity
The game was Limit Hold’em, something Mueller is very familiar with over his entire career. I am assuming he was hosting this event since he won two bracelet in the variation this summer at the WSOP. His career Limit Hold’em WSOP resume includes 8 cashes (out of 19 total), 4 final table, 1 second place finish (NLHE/LHE Mix game included), and the 2 WSOP bracelets. Throw in a Seven Card Stud final table and you’d have to believe that he feels pretty comfortable slinging the chips in a limit game.
He was holding, or near, the chip lead for most of the latter parts of the tournament and came to the 6-handed final table with a chance to make history. There were a few opponent’s that would battle him for a very long time. OmadJoped was hoping to become just the third player to win two FTOPS in the same series and James “P0KERPR0″ Campbell was the only other major player. It turned out to be Campbell and Mueller who would finish heads up for the title with Campbell putting up a decent fight but finally succumbing to the former hockey player.
Mueller collected $36,081.50 for his efforts and had a little encouragement from fellow Tilter Mike Matusow just before the final table:
Mike Matusow (Observer): greg fbt mueller is my hero
GregFBTMueller: thx mikey
Mike Matusow (Observer): dear god how u get cards like that
With that I will call it yet another day (night/morning). I will return tomorrow with a full update from the previous tournaments in the series.
*-Not a real dragon
**-Full Blown Tilt
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, Greg Mueller
Big Money Sunday – November 1st
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
After the Full Tilt pros were practically skunked last week during the Big Money Sunday events, Michael Tureniec and Lee Watkinson almost made up for it on their own in the first big game of the day. Watkinson was the final table bubble boy and Tuerniec finished second in the Sunday Brawl for a nice showing. That final table also features a friend of the bloggers and regular player in the Battle of the Blogger Tournament Series as katiemother shipped 5th place for a cool $28,000.
Naturally the biggest draw of the day was the 43,000+ player FTOPS XIV Warmup game that played so crazy that it actually made the Double Deuce look sane. I’m not going to say it was a complete crapshoot, it was more like 95% luck, 4% timing (sort of luck I suppose), 1% skill (getting the hell out of the way). The biggest name I saw running deep, and quite proud of it per his twitter page, was Dutch “Dutchalicious” Boyd who somehow got through most of the field to finish in 80th.
I’d like to highlight just one player and three hands to give a feel for the game. I just happened to have the table up at the time and watched “her” go from decent stack to chip leader in just a few hands with less than 500 players left, I believe the first player over 1,000,000 in chips. Then all in one swoop was out of the tournament in 413th. I am by no means picking on “MsKitty0487″, just dump luck that I happened to have the table open.
It all starts off with either the most brilliantly played Aces or the biggest head scratcher. She limped in late position after one other limper. Checked it down on the ace-high, two heart flop. Flat called a min-bet on both the turn and river for a very small pot. “david koch” pretty much lost the minimum he could on that hand. No matter, just one hand later she turned on the burners and took all his chips with AJ versus A9 on a jack-high flop. How could he get a read after the previous play?
Here is the hand that got her up near the stratosphere. No aggression, just check/called the entire way has her next victim hung himself betting into the mortal nuts. This hand pretty much played itself at this level. Nice flop.
It didn’t take very long after that for it all to start circling the drain. After a few sketchy hands at her new table, she tangled with the only player at the table who could knock her out, with a borderline hand out of position. Called a pretty sizable preflop raise, a huge re-raise on the flop, and the shove on the turn with a 7% chance to pick up the pot. From hero to out in no time. “Froggetaboutit” went on to finish 33rd, a $450 difference from there to 413th.
I’m no expert, just presenting it as I saw it. What hand can she beat there on the turn? QQ or an airball is just about the only thing she beats with the pre-flop action.
While I was running around grabbing screenshots, I was also taking down all the information I could gather. You see, I have this freaky love of numbers. Random numbers, formulas, statistics, etc. I’m always running a few spreadsheets on the side tracking random things just for fun. I thought for sure I’d see something interesting if I kept a note how the field busted out between breaks in the FTOPS XIV Warmup and wasn’t disappointed. Generally you see some sort of slowdown as the field corrects itself with blinds and chipstacks. Once this monstrosity got past the second break the pace of people hitting the rail stayed about as consistent as possible. From then until the very end of the tournament the rate between 65% and 69%. Of course it went even quicker when down to two tables.
Break 3 – 23,971 down to 7,581 (68.3%)
Break 4 – 7,581 down to 2,405 (68.3%)
Break 5 – 2,405 down to 733 (69.5%)
Break 6 – 733 down to 259 (64.7%)
Break 7 – 259 down to 85 (67.1%)
Break 8 – 82 down to 20 (76.4%)
Break 9 – 20 down to 5 (75.0%)
As far as I can tell, a statistical loony bin.
Hopefully the run a version of this tournament for the miniFTOPS and the rest of the FTOPS as they progress. It’s just too compelling of a spectacle to resist.
Here are your FTOPS XIV final table results, the rest of the Big Money Sunday can be found after the jump.
FTOPS XIV Warmup
Entrants: 43,874
Prizepool: $250,000
First place: $22,500
IGetMugger – 23,703,448
propopl77 – 17,943,316
redr1212 – 13,349,496
TILTOHOLIC – 9,407,018
Aunt Bessie – 6,381,052
Junokeo – 6,268,573
marciwallace – 4,750,096
Bura-AA – 3,736,488
Tigermitfell – 2,208,513
1st – propopl77 – $22,500
2nd – TILTOHOLIC – $15,725
3rd – Aunt Bessie – $11,500
4th – redr1212- $9,000
5th – IGetMugger – $7,250
6th – Junokeo – $5,750
7th – marciwallace – $4,500
8th – Tigermitfell – $3,250
9th – Bura-AA – $2,000
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, FTOPS Warmup
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.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS
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
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 »
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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
