Posts Tagged ‘FTOPS Warmup’
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
