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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1st through 4th made a deal:

1st – s00tedj0kers89 – $120,000
2nd – Kevin “kev19 Tanner – $115,000
3rd – taaffey – $80,000
4th – nolez7 – $98,600
5th – Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire- $37,000
6th – Andicover – $23,000

Notables: Danny “The__D__RY” Ryan (54th), David “The Dragon” Pham (124th), Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder (134th)

1st – RymesWOrange – $35,782.60
2nd – Stephen “St3phenHendry” Hendry – $23,464.00
3rd – Randers – $16,760.00
4th – 7PRS – $12,737.60
5th – jnksauser – $9,050.40
6th – real-nic – $5,782.20

Notables: RNallin (14th), Scott Fischman (36th)

1st – chrispeace – $76,545.00
2nd – JonEeeWhite – $51,030.00
3rd – Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen – $36,450.00
4th – bastet2004 – $27,337.50
5th – buck99 – $20,047.50
6th – MuckCMuckC – $14,580.00
7th – GnightMoon – $10,206.00
8th – jt3013 – $6,925.00
9th – Laurrra – $4,920.75

Notables: VaShon “Julian Verse” Watkins (21st), Tuan “SuperTuan1″ Nguyen (39th)

1st – Kiv56 – $141,771.00
2nd – archwatcher – $89,678.40
3rd – Ballzdeepx – $66,599.40
4th – ProbBluffingYou – $52,752.00
5th – David “Doc Sands” – $39,564.00
6th – nomaddman – $28,354.20
7th – YrrsiN – $18,463.20
8th – Cowboy3362 – $13,188.00
9th – GoCubsGo969 – $9,231.60

Notables: Chris “boNeZee” Bonita (28th), Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb (39th), Ram Vaswani (44th), Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (61st)Aaron Bartley (70th), Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (83rd), Danny “The__D__RY” Ryan (105th), Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder (137th)

1st through 3rd made a deal -

1st – Deception Pt – $20,625.55
2nd – WB123456789 – $17,344.26
3rd – kobeallst – $17,974.19
4th – Steven “UFMan2″ Burkholder – $7,548.00
5th – dannymien – $4,662.00
6th – Shawn “Shawnzjones” Grant – $3,219.00
7th – Yuvee “yuvee04″ Bronshtein – $2,442.00
8th – pinishe45- $1,665.00

Notables: Ryan “HITTHEPANDA” Franklin (21st), Artie Cobb (44th)

1st – Auspicious – $79,872.50
2nd – MLH90 – $52,381.50
3rd – fuhrmanp1 – $37,632.95
4th – ihorKIM – $28,605.50
5th – JROBB – $20,432.50
6th – BADBOYNEL – $13,002.50

Notables: Thomas Bihl (67th)

1st through 4th made a deal:

1st – Toms2up – $98,674.77
2nd – Bbuddy4brkfst – $79,000.00
3rd – chessazhole1 – $97,737.42
4th – VeryEuropean – $64,000.00
5th – Chezebby – $34,746.40
6th – YanaSchv – $22,718.80
7th – thechad78 – $15,368.60
8th – AKTRE – $10,691.20
9th – crouts – $8,018.40

Notables: Stuart Paterson (34th), Marco Liesy (36th), David “GhettoFabolous” Randall (50th), Chris “Moormanl” Moorman (105th), Joe “JBlaze20″ Chaplin (141st)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – elheroe – $143,827.82
2nd – nrivanakc – $141,953.14
3rd – Egitai – $75,337.36
4th – lolli82 – $55,668.00
5th – yeza – $40,823.20
6th – LilPokerGirlie – $27,834.00

Notables: Michael Tureniec (38th), Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb (47th)

1st – willb77 – $89,088.00
2nd – cczzarr – $53,248.00
3rd – biftaraf – $27,136.00
4th – DuckU – $27,136.00
5th – glogow – $14,336.00
6th – whatariver1 – $14,336.00
7th – Joe “JBlaze20″ Chaplin – $14,336.00
8th – KevboyStar – $14,336.00

Notables: Brian Hastings (38th), Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers (65th), Jeff Madsen (81st)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – Jakivi – $222,137.99
2nd – rakeinfools – $228,000.01
3rd – KAFFEPUNCH – $131,937.00
4th – rjmgrace – $99,340.80
5th – LucaG – $74,427.99
6th – Jeff1515 – $51,222.60
7th – lilkimmer77 – $33,372.30
8th – harliee – $23,283.00
9th – bryn2 – $16,298.10

Notables: Aaron Bartley (21st), Kevin “GETPWN3D” Saul (36th), Simon “tedlogan19″ Charette (43rd), Somyung Sim (48th), Nick “FU_15″ Maimone (79th), Lee Watkinson (107th)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – legblch – $42,767.12
2nd – Julian Gardner – $41,760.88
3rd – Zuludogg – $23,773.50
4th – Pointer2 – $19,077.50
5th – Beef_Curtains – $14,393.24
6th – dfunks222 – $10,566.00
7th – JoeSewok – $6,809.20
8th – rover454 – $4,930.80
9th – ILoveClOCKS – $3,522.00

Notables: Roy Winston (14th), Karina Jett (58th), Chris “Moormanl” Moorman (74th)

1st – OmaJoped – $300,000
2nd – neverbluff67 – $198,000
3rd – amak316 – $138,300
4th – Shannon “BLUFFforRENT” Shorr – $105,000
5th – Dan “Wretchy” Martin – $72,750
6th – hikkespett – $49,500

Notables: Kevin “GETPWN3D” Saul (8th), Peter “Nordberg” Feldman (9th), Brian “badbeatninja” Devonshire (13th), Matt “NoBadBeatsPlz” Kay (34th), Chris “boNeZee” Bonita (95th)

1st – AbdullahOchalan – $54,486.00
2nd – Steve Zolotow – $34,810.50
3rd – endzeit – $22,702.50
4th – MSUsWorst – $15,740,40
5th – CTAPblU KA3EJI – $10,594.50
6th – aiMfoRtheEheAd – $7,264.80

Notables: Austin “The Quietwinner” McCormick (28th), Ram Vaswani (38th), Peter “Nordberg” Feldman (101st)

1st – David “The Dragon” Pham – $69,570
2nd – rumprammer – $45,750
3rd – Smokinokun – $31,800
4th – Zack “Zacpacker” Fellows – $20,400
5th – POCKET FIVE – $12,600
6th – Grippolio – $8,700
7th – FatsoFat6969 – $6,600
8th – nuttynutt – $4,500

Notables: Justin “Boosted J” Smith (11th), Brandon Adams (17th), Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (19th), Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn (28th), Marco Traniello (29th), David “Doc Sands” (38th), Yuvee “yuvee04″ Bronshtein (40th)

1st – charder30fanobv – $114,654.40
2nd – skinijimi – $73,988.80
3rd – bobboufl11 – $54,785.60
4th – fan4mizzou – $41,230.40
5th – brin1285 – $28,804.80
6th – DE KID – $19,203.20
7th – FresnoDull – $12,990.40
8th – Big Bear Hills – $9,036.80
9th – overbe777 – $6,777.60

Notables: Mario “Pwnasaurus” Silvestri (11th), Dan “USCswimmer” White (90th), Simon “tedlogan19″ Charette (104th)

1st – Brad “bd3109″ Albrinck – $35,036.41
2nd – Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron – $39,538.75
3rd – Hudzzzzz – $32,962.70
4th – Andrew “bigpimping777″ Malott – $38,828.64
5th – icecreamboy – $16,538.74
6th – charly3005 – $12,141.00
7th – roo_400 – $7,824.20
8th – JollyJoker1971 – $5,665.80
9th – acehole60 – $4,047.00

Sigi Stockinger (22nd), Ross Boatman (39th)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – gametime1111 – $191,301.00
2nd – ambiguosity – $189,211.50
3rd – driverseati – $10,8405.00
4th – MichahJ – $81,030.00
5th – chicagocards1 – $58,035.00
6th – rumprammer – $37,230.00

Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (16th), Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron (33rd), Brent “Bhanks11″ Hanks (36th), Mario “Pwnasaurus” Silvestri (40th), Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger (44th), Halfrek (60th), Isaac Baron (64th), Martin Klaeser (71st), Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul (76th), Danny “The__D__RY” Ryan (86th), Dan “Wretchy” Martin (91st), Beth Shak (102nd), Lee “acumen53″ Childs (112th)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – m_hawk_1 – $32,793.63
2nd – Brad “bd3109″ Albrinck – $30,271.17
3rd – MagicGog – $18,624.40
4th – MarleyGroup – $14,567.60
5th – HustlerGrune – $10,879.60
6th – Insky_Bros – $7,560.40
7th – Hyperbaric – $4,610.00
8th – fnnwizard – $3,134.80
9th – Nesby – $2,212.80

Danny “The__D__RY” Ryan (46th), Matt “All In At 420″ Stout (68th)

1st – Greg “FBT” Mueller – $36,081.50
2nd – James “P0KERPR0″ Campbell – $23,660.00
3rd – Vito Roma – $16,900.00
4th – Sect6G – $12,844.00
5th – OmadJoped – $9,126.00
6th – SENORSCOOP – $5,830.50

Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp (43rd)

1st and 2nd made a deal:

1st – Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder – $102,240.40
2nd – SaulGood – $85,000.00
3rd – SmokeChoke – $54,378.20
4th – TIGR778 – $40,923.80
5th – David “muckducks” Cairns – $28,590.60
6th – LuckyLukeKK – $19,060.40
7th – 007-2053 – $12,893.80
8th – S_Dot111 – $8,969.60
9th – Tarsis – $6,727.20

Johan Brolenius (45th), Michael “michaelsc” Schwartz (39th), Simon “tedlogan19″ Charette (97th)

1st through 5th made a deal:

1st – BaDnEwS216 – $18,060.17
2nd – fulltiltok – $19,217.17
3rd – NES_Pro – $17,277.09
4th – Moleon – $19,240.48
5th – Sensor – $16,655.09
6th – Gator93 – $5,400.00

“Miami” John Cernuto (11th), Luis Velador 7 (17th), Yuvee “yuvee04″ Bronshtein (19th), Thomas Bihl (45th), Chris Ferguson (47th), Dutch “Dutchalicious” Boyd (50th)

1st – obiedman – $539,350.00
2nd – Supa4real – $340,025.00
3rd – Timvd20 – $252,087.50
4th – Gary Jones – $193,462.50
5th – the_real_magic – $146,562.50
6th – TheAlligatorNo1 – $105,525.00
7th – Ahvall – $70,350.00
8th – DanOBrien – $54,873.00
9th – Rabbit_hunterSA – $39,865.00

Jake “psutennis11″ Toole (15th), Shannon “BLUFFforRENT” Shorr (40th), Dan “Wretchy” Martin (56th), Shawn “jordankickz” Busse (67th), Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp (77th), Taylor Caby (78th), David “Doc Sands” (87th)

1st – Genius28 – $93,302.00
2nd – Snake8484 – $59,374.00
3rd – aviator0925 – $42,940.13
4th – krazylouie – $34,458.13
5th – bearbuck – $25,997.33
6th – portblair – $19,084.50
7th – borromias – $12,298.90
8th – TheBjerre – $8,906.10
9th – BigDawg427 – $6,361.50

Vitaly Lunkin (10th), Justin Smith (40th), Julian Gardner (48th), Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul, Mario “Pwnasaurus” Silvestri (72nd), Trond Eidsvig (76th), Brian “badbeatninja” Devonshire (83rd), Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron (92nd), Jon “Pearljammer” Turner (93rd), Erica Schoenberg (94th), Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb (96th)

1st throught 3rd made a deal:

1st – little chief17 – $125,959.96
2nd – cristinalindley – $106,460.01
3rd – SNG Ninja – $95,968.83
4th – Dinhjo – $52,306.24
5th – Alcatraz27278 – $38,344.80
6th – bethwolf22 – $27,529.60
7th – BikStik8585 – $19,664.00
8th – boltsva – $14,059.76
9th – Al-Extrem1 – $9,940.15

Scott “kickyourace” Neuman (56th)

1st through 3rd made a deal:

1st – zhivago2 – $418,839.16
2nd – Itstime2Win – $316,554.40
3rd – Adam Junglen – $290418.94
4th – dfunks222 – $175,072.00
5th – kinheim – $131,167.23
6th – bankrollme – $90,271.50
7th – nuts7878 – $58,813.25
8th – Valuechecking – $41,032.50
9th – Dr Fill Good – $28,722.75

Here’s how your favorite Full Tilt pros made out:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

FTOPS XIV Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. FTOPS XIII Wrap Up

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

Post from: Poker From The Rail

FTOPS XIV Event #19 – “FBT” Wins

Related posts:

1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Greg “FBT” Mueller wins second bracelet
2. FTOPS X Event #1 Recap
3. Barry Shulman wins 2009 WSOP-E Main Event

Sometimes things just go way over the top when you’re dealing with the biggest poker tournament in the world.  You’ll see some crazy things along the rails, loud player disagreements, whack jobs dressed in all types of getups looking for camera attention.  Then you have the times when a table pulls the attention of every player and media outlet in the room.

Actor/comedian Brad Garrett drew a table that was far away from the rail and virtually in the center of the blue section.  5 time bracelet and 1984 Main Event winner Berry Johnston was also at the table.  Garrett was laughing it up with the players at the table and anyone who would listen.  To the point where his table was completely surrounded by every media outlet with a badge to get there.  Witness the picture above and below.

Before long players at the other tables were begging the floor staff to deal with the situation.  It will certainly make good TV for ESPN when it airs, but neither Garrett or Johnston would move on to Day 3.

Images from the rest of Day 2a after the jump:

96 year old Jack Ury continues to extend his record as the oldest player in the Main Event.
He would unfortunately exit early in Day 2a.

Greg “FBT” Mueller continues his WSOP hot streak.
He finished Day 2a with 287,300 in chips, good for 12th of 607.

One of the more entertaining tables of the day with Billy “The Croc” Argryos and Gavin Smith, neither player would survive to see Day 3.

Full Tilt stalwarts Chris Ferguson and Mike Matusow has different runs during Day 2a of the Main Event.  Matusow is signing copies of his new book after busting out while Ferguson will enter Day 3 with 76,000 in chips.

Beth Shak entered Day 2a with a respectable 25,000 in chips but was another victim of the day.

Both Fabrice Soulier and Roland de Wolfe were able to dodge the minefields of Day 2a.
Soulier will start Day 3 with 145,800 and de Wolfe with just 21,000.

Poker From the Rail favorite Amanda “Mandy B” Baker entered the day with over 56,000 in chips but was unable to make Day 3.  No more photo ops til the next time.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Day 2a Pictures

Related posts:

1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1b Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1a Pictures

Perry Friedman rocks the Full Tilt Poker “grill” to go with his corn rows

I’ve generally stuck to doing a “Week in Pictures” during the preliminary events of the WSOP but I now realize that I’ll be getting more photos than I know what to do with now that we’ve come to the Main Event.  So now we’re going to switch up to daily posts as long as we continue to get quality images.

Day 1a started with 1,116 and finished with 821 players.  A good number of Team Full Tilt survived to see Day 2.

More photos after the jump:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1a Pictures

Related posts:

1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1b Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures

Timing is crucial on these days, restart tournaments have already been pushed back by an hour and the poker kitchen is running out of lukewarm cardboard pizzas.  Ashtrays and trashcans are overflowing.  You cannot get caught on the wrong end of the hallway when the tournament goes on break, the “salmon swimming upstream” metaphor is far too easy.

Of course this is not the big news of the day.  Day 4 of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship will bring us the final two tables and into the money.  19 players are looking for the big prize at the end and Full Tilt Poker will have 6 representatives in the remaining field with Gus Hansen, Huck Seed, Chau Giang, Erik Seidel, and David Chiu looking up at tournament leader Vitaly Lunkin.  If Lunkin is able to pull off the win he will have taken down the two biggest buyin events of the 2009 World Series of Poker.  His bracelet earlier this year was in the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em 40th Anniversary event.

Unfortunately for the media and fans, the restart has been moved to the much smaller green section were it’s nearly impossible to get a good view unless they got on the rail early and never leave.

The top story this morning has been yet another multiple bracelet winner at the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Full Tilt pro Greg “FBT” Mueller won his second bracelet of the year, both wins coming in Limit Hold’em events.  He is the fourth player to win at least two events and the second Team Full Tilt member after Phil Ivey.  He will receive his bracelet at the ceremony today and stand for the Canadian National Anthem.

For the record, 2003 was the year with the most multiple event winners.  The historic Chris Moneymaker Main Event win overshadowed a year in which 6 players won two bracelets.  Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Layne Flack, Phil Hellmuth, Men “The Master “Nguyen, and Johnny “(censored)” Chan all added jewelry to each wrist that year.  We won’t get there this year without some miracles, but a fantastic year none the less.

Several restarts are occurring today and their chip counts are after the jump:

Event #49 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship
Buyin: $50,000
Number of Entries: 95
Net Prize Pool: $4,560,000
First Place Prize: $1,276,806
Total Spots Paid Out: 16
Players Remaining: 19

Event #51 No Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 2,781
Net Prize Pool: $3,796,065
First Place Prize: $664,426
Total Spots Paid Out: 297
Players Remaining: 30

Event #52 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $3,000
Number of Entries: 854
Net Prize Pool: $2,357,040
First Place Prize: $506,800
Total Spots Paid Out: 81
Players Remaining: 149

Top 50 chip stacks:

Event #53 Seven Card Stud/8
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 467
Net Prize Pool: $637,455
First Place Prize: $159,390
Total Spots Paid Out: 48
Players Remaining: 136

Top 50 chip stacks:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Day 34 – The Final Stampede

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Greg “FBT” Mueller heads up for $1,500 Limit Shootout bracelet

The third time is a charm.  For the third time this week a member of Team Full Tilt Poker found themselves heads up for a World Series of Poker bracelet.  The first two time Michael Craig and Lee Watkinson had to accept runner up money.  Tonight Greg “FBT” Mueller completed the deal, winning his second WSOP bracelet of the year and 7th over all for Team Full Tilt Poker.  He took down the $1,500 Limit Shootout after winning the $10,000 Limit Hold’em World Championship earlier in the series.

Mueller also becomes the fourth player this year to win multiple bracelets, following up Jeff Lisandro (3), Phil Ivey (2), and Brock Parker (2).

2009 World Series of Poker bracelet winners for Team Full Tilt:

Phil Ivey (2)
Greg “FBT” Mueller (2)
Vitaly Lunkin (1)
Nick Schulman (1)
Roland De Wolfe (1)

More on the victory tomorrow morning.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Greg “FBT” Mueller wins second bracelet

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2. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller
3. The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller – Part Two

Deepstack, slow structure limit tournaments truly test the grinders.  Chip counts float all over the map and leads constantly changed. It was the second day of 12+ hours at the table playing a game that drives some crazy.  It takes a special talent to bring home the title in a big limit event.  After 1 in the morning, Mueller finally dispatched his heads up opponent Pat Pezzin of Toronto, ON. Canadians finish 1st and 2nd, eh?

Mueller is a former professional hockey player (see previous post for coincidental comparisons) who was sitting at his final table when it was interrupted when the Stanley Cup was moved to the bracelet ceremony podium.  He was mere inches from the top prize in both his former and current professions.  After seven final table appearance and two runner up showings, Mueller finally has a piece of history for himself.

Greg “FBT” Mueller wins the $10,000 Limit Hold’em World Championship

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Mueller brings home a bracelet

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1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Greg “FBT” Mueller wins second bracelet
2. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Roland De Wolfe delivers another bracelet

Speaking of learning as you play, do you think it’s important to discuss your play or specific hands after tournaments?

Well, it all depends on who you’re discussing it with and why you’re discussing it. If you’re doing this to get sympathy, to tell a bad beat story, it’s just not worth it. If you’re talking with good poker players, you can get a lot of good information and a lot of insight. I don’t discuss hands as much as I used to, but when I was getting started, I’d talk with the people that I hung out with about key hands all the time, because you can get so much information and learn from the experience. Whatever the case is, sometimes you think you know a lot and after a conversation, you wake up.

That said, I don’t like doing this during the breaks – you should be taking these to relax and clear your mind, to get some fresh air or do whatever it is that you need to do. But after the tournament is over, it can be extremely valuable to remember and discuss key hands.

What do you think about the folks that come here with just enough for one tournament buy-in, and are here to take “that one shot?”

Again, it depends on that person’s financial situation, what he does for a living. If someone has a lot of money and he’s playing for entertainment, that’s fine. What’s the difference between that and going to a Lakers game with his wife, having a good time and dropping a grand? Or maybe he goes to the Blackjack table, or goes to a Vegas show? To some people, it’s just a different level of entertainment and that’s totally fine. The key is to just be in your comfort zone financially. I mean, I’d never put up $1.5K for a tournament if that’s all that I had to my name.

Along those lines, do you think that there’s a specific point you should be at as far as your bankroll is concerned when you decide to play in the series?

Of course; It’s really important to only play in tournaments where, if you lose your buy-in, you’re not totally bummed out. It’s difficult to put a point on exactly how much money that is, because everyone’s so different. Someone might have a million dollars and lose $1.5K and be really bummed out; while someone who has only $3K and loses that same $1.5K isn’t really that bothered. As long as the buy-in for the tournament isn’t an overriding factor that takes away from your ability to play poker, you should be fine. You don’t want to be continually stressed out and just holding on for the money. You don’t want to be tense and constantly pressuring yourself – you need to be able to focus just on playing poker.

How would you advise handling a bad run – should you jump back in or take a break?

It depends; if you’re playing good, and you’re well rested, and you can afford to play, don’t take any of the tournaments that you’ve planned off – play in them. If you’re playing bad and you’re tired or burned out, take a couple of days off. For myself, I map out the tournaments that I want to play in and after a week straight, if I’m barely missing the money or barely making the money, I’m just going to give it a break; take a day off, go to the pool, maybe play some cash games, maybe just get some rest, whatever. I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep my head in the game and avoid getting burned out. If you’re doing the right things, you probably don’t need to take a day off. But if you’re struggling and you’re mentally down, which does happen in tournaments, take a couple of days off. Get away from it and do what you need to do to be rejuvenated. The key is to maintain your focus, and if you’re burned out and just going through the motions, then you’re just wasting your time – and money.

What do you think is the best way to avoid burn out?

Stay as physically fit as possible and get lots of rest. It’s also really important to balance playing poker with other activities. Don’t stay at the Rio or the Bellagio; rent a condo for the summer if you’re going to be out here that long. I do all of these things – go for jogs and workouts; try to stay away from the casinos when I’m not in a tournament. Go to the movies or do whatever works for you. The point is this: do other things.

Do you have any final words of advice?

It goes back to what I said earlier: play within your bankroll. This is definitely the key to playing in the World Series and poker in general. I’ve done this for a long time, and I still battle with it on occasion. I’ve had big losses that really hurt specifically because I played too big. When you play too big, you run bad; you’ll play timid and afraid. One of the most important keys to playing poker successfully is staying within your limit. If you’ve got a bankroll that allows you to play in $300 or $500 events, then play in them. Don’t play in the $50K HORSE event if you’ve only got $55K to your name. Play with what you’re comfortable with and you won’t worry about cashing, you won’t worry about having to make the money, about going to the pit to get even – you can just come in, sit down, and play. And if you lose, you join the long list of others and you get on with it – it’s very tough to win tournaments. If the money means too much, you’re going to do crazy things and everything will go completely wrong.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller – Part Two

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3. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller

To get a professional opinion on actually making it happen, our cohort in Vegas was able to get a few minutes of Greg Mueller’s time. Here’s his take, in his own words:

What advice would you offer to someone making their first foray into the WSOP?

It’s been a long time since I was there, and I probably play a lot different from someone sitting down for the first time. For example, I’m looking to pick up a lot of chips early in a $1.5K event, and if not, I’ll enjoy the rest of the day. Whereas if it was my first or only event, I’d be playing super tight and looking to survive early on and make the most of it.

For someone that’s here for the first time, I’d advise them to stay away from the pit – it’s a money burner. If you’re here for the tournaments, stay away from the cash games, because the last thing that you want to do is stay up all night until 6AM before a tournament and possibly lose a lot of money, because then you you’re not going to be focused on your $1.5K tournament. Map out your schedule, choose the events that you want to play and can afford, get a good night’s sleep and come in realizing that it’s the World Series. Take it seriously. It’s like anything else – you don’t want to be up partying and drinking the night before. If you’re doing it seriously and want to do well, then you’ve got to treat it seriously.

I know that this sounds like standard advice, but it gets overlooked or blown off all of the time. People are miserable because they weren’t prepared and got knocked out of a tournament, so they fly over to the pit thinking that they’re going to win their $1.5K back. The next thing you know, they’re down $10K. All of a sudden, a $1.5K buy-in that was affordable has now become almost a $12K loss. The key is to stick to the game plan early on – that’s key.

I’ve seen so many people come to the WSOP with a list of things that they plan on doing, like eating good, getting exercise, going for a massage, getting plenty of rest, and staying away from the pit and live action. After two days, they’ve been drunk, lost over half of their bankroll, haven’t done the other things that they wanted to do, and they haven’t even left the casino. They’ve done everything completely wrong in the first two days. Getting off to a good start is crucial, because it’s easier to keep doing things right than it is to try and get out of trouble. On the other hand, when you get off to a bad start, everything is a lot more likely to go wrong. The discipline is sticking to your own rules.

Is there anything that you’d say to players coming specifically from an online background?

I’d advise them to stay completely focused on the game at first, like not wearing headphones for example, because you’re going to miss out on things that are really important. You don’t want to miss out on blind structures, conversations at the table – there’s too much to pick up when you’re new to this type or level of tournament play. You need to stay focussed and try to pick up as much information as you can and not be distracted; watch the play, watch the action, and listen to the conversation.

This is especially true when you’re seated with good players. Back when I first started, I remember being seated with guys like Howard Lederer and I’d listen to everything that they said and watch how they played. You can learn a lot from good players just by watching them. I specifically remember watching him and another really good player, and really paying attention to how they played every hand. If you’ve got your earphones on and you’re just staring out into space, you’re not going to learn nearly as much. It’s a totally different world from online play.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller

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1. The Pros Speak: Greg Mueller – Part Two
2. The Pros Speak: Jennifer Harman
3. Heads Up: Lee Watkinson Versus Greg Mueller