Always looking to push the envelope, Full Tilt Poker is now adding an extra twist to your Friday nights.  The Friday Night Fights.  There are three new guarantee tournaments as well the chance to rail a Heads-Up match between two of your favorite Full Tilt pros.  This week’s battle will take place between Gus Hansen and Andy Bloch.

Their match will kick off at 21:00ET but you can get in on the action an hour earlier by joining one of the $5,000 Sweat Tournaments.  For $11 you can enter a $5,000 guarantee tournament with a chance at bigger prizes.  You have an option to choose between a Gus Hansen or Andy Bloch tournaments, if you win the Sweat Tournament and your players wins his match, you will automatically win an entry into the $75,000 guarantee Friday Night Fights Knockout Tournament.

The Friday Night Fights Knockout Tournament is the final event of the night with a $500+35 entry fee and plenty of chances for some KO dollars.  The tournament kicks off at 21:00ET along with the Gus Hansen/Andy Bloch Main Event.

More after the jump

Gus Hansen – Has over $7,000,000 in career tournament earnings.  Has four World Poker Tour Championships including the very first WPT event at the Bellagio.  His last tournament win was the 2007 Aussie Millions but came close to winning this year’s WPT World Championship finishing second for $1.7 million.  Hansen spends a lot of his time playing high stakes, high limit online poker.  Either Heads-Up or the big 6-max tables, Hansen is always at the top of the list when it comes to grinding it out at the big limits.

Andy Bloch – Has nearly $4,000,000 in career tournament earnings.  Had two final table appearance during the 2008 World Series of Poker, finishing second in Event #1 and 7th in Event #30.  Bloch’s HU resume includes a 5th place and 2nd place finish in National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Friday Night Fights

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Tom “durrr” Dwan issued a big challenge to poker players

Tom “durrr” Dwan threw down the gauntlet earlier this month via Bluff Magazine that involves big money and some of the biggest name in poker.  Dwan spoke with them and issued the following challenge online:

“I’m making this heads-up challenge to the world. Anyone can accept. Four tables, minimum of $200/$400, and I’ll put up $1.5 million to their $500,000. We play 50,000 hands minimum and if they end up a dollar after rake they keep the side money or whatever. So basically, if you and I played and you won a dollar, you would get my $1.5 million and if I won a dollar I would win your $500,000.”

In followup forum posts, he clarified his intentions and has excluded his friend Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond from participating. It didn’t take long for some of the biggest names to accept the challenge, there are rumors running amok on the forums that Phil Ivey, David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius are ready to hit the tables and take him up on the offer.

While they have yet to kick off the official challenge, the news seems to have put some real juice into the biggest cash games.  Full Tilt Poker is already the home for the biggest cash games online and this weekend saw some monster tables, especially the Pot Limit Omaha Head’s Up tables.  It wasn’t uncommon to find a few tables of $500/$1000 HU PLO and HU PL-HA running with ear-bleeding stacks.

Tom “durrr” Dwan and Gus Hansen play with over $700,000 on the table

The picture about shows one of the bigger tables but you could rail a stable of big name players at all ranges in all games.  Finish big money player Ilari “ziigmund” Sahamies can be regularly found battling it out with Phil Ivey.  Phil Gordon will be throwing chips around at the Limit Omaha/8 games.  You can always find Gus Hansen willing to sling for big pots.

I would suggest keeping your eye on the high limit tables in the weeks coming up as you’ll likely be able to watch of the top players with stacks few can imagine.  I’ll be back with information should the Tom “durrr” Dwan challenge get off the ground.

Ilari “ziigmund” Sahamies all-in versus Phil Ivey

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Tom “durrr” Dwan puts big money on the line

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Either that or they’re sitting around in front of air conditioners, chowing down on Ben & Jerry’s, and playing a little online poker here at the Tilt. Either way, they’re certainly having more fun than me.

While we’re talking about online play, I thought it would be good to revisit a little feature we’ve dropped over the past few weeks: the big stakes games. Thanks to our friends over at the High Stakes Database, we can tell you that since July 1^st, the biggest overall winner on the site has been OnTheRize, who’s banked more than $851K so far. He’s followed closely by Team Full Tilt’s Gus Hansen who’s picked up more than $822K, and CHUFTY, who’s raked in nearly $760,000. The full list of the top 10 is shown below:

• OnTheRize – $851.316,00
• Gus Hansen – $822.244,55
• CHUFTY – $758.302,00
• Urindanger – $588.364,75
• David Oppenheim – $509.842,30
• Aeron73 – $509.703,65
• pr1nnyraid – $508.134,25
• La Key U – $505.299,95
• Nizot Skizared – $462.186,25
• Rob Hollink – $434.431,55

When it comes to specific games, pr1nnyraid is leading the No-Limit Hold ‘em money lead with more than $306K in winnings since July 1^st, while OnTheRize has made all of his money at the PLO tables. Gus Hansen is the big, big winner in this month’s PLO Hi/Lo games, with more that $1.4 million in profit, though he’s given about $600K of that back to the poker community in other games. Who says the pros don’t know how to share?

Return of the Monthly Million

After a two month hiatus for FTOPS VIII and our 150 Main Event Guarantee, the Monthly Million returned to the schedule last weekend, much to the delight of GulahPapyrus who took down the tournament and more than $219K in first-place prize money.

Overall, 2,396 ponied up for Sunday’s big tourney, generating a prize pool worth $1,198,000, which was good enough to pay out the top 351 finishers. Some of the notable names who padded their bankrolls on Sunday include Michael Craig, Roy Winston, Matt Sexton, and our newest Full Tilt Poker pro, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh.

Welcome to the Family

While we’re talking about new FTP pros like Josh, we’d be remiss to mention a few other red names you’ll be seeing around the site. First off is notable high-stakes player and the always entertaining, Eli Elezra who brings with him one WSOP bracelet and a whole lot of “gamble”.

Another bracelet winner joining the pro ranks is Nikolay Evdakov, who along with Vitaly Lunkin and Svetlana Gromakova, make up our new Russian team. Speaking of teams, our buddies over at CardRunners have expanded their lineup as well, adding some familiar online names to our roster. Look for Isaac Baron, David Benefield, and Ryan Daut playing under their own names in our ring games and on our educational tables.

Personally, I’m lobbying to head up our newest effort, Team St. Bart’s, but it’s going to be a tough fight against The Captain. Wish me luck.

Until next time…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: One Million Dollars!

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Recently, Paul Wasicka was good enough to let us in on what was going through his head as a particularly memorable hand played out against Gus Hansen at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Here’s what he had to tell us:

I remember one particular hand that I got into with Gus Hansen at last year’s Aussie Millions. There were 18 people left, so we were pretty deep in the money and playing short-handed. In fact, there were only four people at our table. I started the hand with about 380K and Gus had about 600k, which represented the chip lead at our table. The blinds were 5K/10K with a 5K ante and Gus – being Gus – was raising about 80% of the hands. At this point it was tough, because I wasn’t picking up many cards, so I really had to pick my hands.

In this particular hand, Gus was under the gun and raised to about 27K. I was in the big blind with A-J suited. Looking back, it’s hard to say what I should have done with that kind of stack. I made the decision to call because I was pretty sure that he would make a continuation bet on the flop – represent with a pretty big bet – and then I could check-raise him all in and force him to fold. The only problem here is that Gus doesn’t like to fold if he even thinks that he has anyouts at all, which gives him a chance to hit a worse hand. Anyway, that’s what I decided to do – just flat call.

As I expected, he made a continuation bet of 50K on an 8-7-5 rainbow flop. I thought about it for a while and, like I said, he doesn’t like to bluff and these cards were definitely in his range. Ultimately, I had to go with a physical read. I didn’t think that he looked very strong, so I made the decision to move all-in for about 300K more.

My thought was that he might fold a middle pair with an Ace or something like that; something that did have me beat, but that wasn’t that strong. He sat there and thought forever, and the more he thought, the more nervous I got. After about five or six minutes, he decided to call.

Immediately, he looked at me and said “I have nothing.” I thought “oh my God – did I just get called with A-K?!” I told him that I didn’t have anything either, and we turned them over. He had A-6, giving him an open-ender.

Honestly, I was happy to see that. If he was going to call, that’s about the best hand that I could hope for, because it was almost a coin-flip at that point – I was just a little bit ahead. The turn brought a 6 and gave him a pair, but before I could really think about it the river was a 4 and we chopped the pot.

It was a nerve-wracking hand. When he said “I call,” I thought that I was dead. When I pushed on the flop, I really thought that I had enough to get him to fold because 300K represented a good portion of his stack. And up until then, he was doing just fine running over the table. I don’t know if I would’ve done anything different looking back at it, but it was very, very nerve-wracking hand. I guess that if there is a moral to this story, it’s “don’t bluff Gus.”

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Paul Wasicka

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I think that the game that is most translatable to poker is backgammon. It’s a great game of skill with a healthy dose of luck. It’s a complicated game because you’re dealing with a lot – you have to be thinking with every single move that you make. You’re constantly trying to minimize the effectiveness of the most likely rolls of your opponent and trying to maximize the number of possible good rolls for your next turn. You’re distributing your checkers in a way that makes them flow nicely over a wide range of numbers while trying to minimize the good numbers for your opponent.

In poker, you’re trying to do that all of the time. You’re tying to maximize the chances that the chips you put in the pot are going to come back to you with a nice, healthy return. You’re also thinking about a wide range of potential cards – tying to minimize losses when the cards go poorly for you and maximize your chance of winning when they’re in your favor.

Chess is also a great game – you develop discipline and good critical thinking skills, but there’s been a poor crossover to poker, particularly with players at the highest levels. Although chess requires a great deal of skill to master, it’s a game that rewards your skill too consistently – at least compared to poker. It’s one of the reasons people don’t really gamble at chess.

It’s certainly not a lesser game, but when you reach the level of grand master in chess, one of the skills that you really haven’t learned is how to deal with the luck. I think that someone who has reached that level has a hard time making the transition to a game where they might play great for an evening and then lose. It’s hard to deal with emotionally. On the other hand, backgammon players do this all of the time. And you see that a lot of the world’s best backgammon players have successfully made the crossover. Guys like Gus Hansen and Erik Seidel, amongst others. I can’t give you a list for chess.

Something else that’s developed with or through other games that’s relevant is competitiveness – the desire to beat your opponent. We’re hardwired to compete in this world. In the real world 10,000 years ago, this competition was for food or maybe a territorial skirmish where, in both cases, life was on the line. The beauty of games is that you get to satisfy these urges and no one dies at the end (usually). It’s the idea of engaging in competition, and the fact that there is honor in winning. 

I was a pretty good backgammon player, and I think that this competitive drive is what helped me. As my skill developed, I was able to be around world-class players. There was always a certain mentality, a certain approach that they took; it was an uncompromisingly self-critical ability that’s common amongst those who had become world-class. It was this mentality that I applied to poker. I really hadn’t been exposed to people like that before and, if I hadn’t, I don’t think I could have developed the critical ability necessary to become a great poker player. I believe that’s important for sure.

It might not be so much about the games themselves as much as being exposed to the players who have developed that ability. If you’re serious about poker, choose your friends wisely. Find accomplished people that are really excited about the game. That’s what will make you a better player.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak (For a fourth time!): Howard Lederer

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Recently, I laid my hands on an early copy of Gus Hansen’s Every Hand Revealed, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I have to say that I was really hoping for a chapter or two detailing Gus’ prowess/experience with the ladies. You know, some real pro tips along the lines of The Machiavellian’s Guide to Womanizing. However, this was not the case.

Instead I found an entertaining narrative of Gus’ experience from start to victory at the 2007 Aussie Millions. Taken directly from recordings that he consistently made throughout the tournament, Gus methodically walks through what was happening at the table and in his head every step of the way. Rather than the diary of a madman at the table, Revealed gives the reader clear and direct insight to Gus’ critical thought process from start to finish.

Gus explains his decisions employing the type and depth of theory that you’d expect from a player of his caliber, but his delivery is more practical application than treatise on game theory. More to the point, its how it was – in fact is – for one player rather than a “how to play” instructional. Supported by liberal commentary and subtle humor, it’s a good read if you’ve ever wondered how Gus makes some of the plays that he does.

Examples of this abound, but his philosophy on avoiding certain “ugly scenarios” illustrates the tone of his book. As Gus details the hand where he busted Patrick Antonius, his “toughest opponent” who “easily made his top-ten list of pretty, Finnish poker-players,” he methodically examines his options following the turn:

“…and No. 3: The all-in bet: 1.7 million! Pulling the trigger is often my favorite play. No more nonsense, no more worrying about disgusting river bets, just the plain and simple ‘Do you wanna dance?’ puts on the ultimate pressure.”

Reckless out of context, his discussion identifies exactly how he arrived at this decision and how it played out – and sent Patrick to the rail. Later, Gus offers a final opinion on “the all-in play,” stating that even if it’s a mistake, “at least it’s gonna be the last one you make.”

As books go, Every Hand Revealed is a poker book written by a professional poker player specifically for poker players. Gus gives us his experience Down Under one hand at a time to illustrate exactly how he operates. In his own words, it’s a visit to his world.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Every Hand Revealed

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The bad news: your opponent is Team Full Tilt’s Gus Hansen and he’s got a 5-1 chip advantage.

That folks, is the scenario that played out in the Bellagio on Saturday when David Chiu staged one of the most dramatic comebacks ever seen on the felt and ended what looked like Gus’ easy march to victory in the WPT’s biggest event of the year. In case you missed the drama, here’s a quick recap of the action:

• Final table play begins with six competitors and Hansen holding the big stack
• Gus knocks four players off the table in just 22 hands and enters heads-up play with 80% of the chips in his possession
• Chiu manages a couple of key double-ups and then takes the chip lead on hand #78
• On hand #80, Chiu catches trip Aces on the river, beating Hansen’s two pair of 10s and 8s, and walks away the victor 

The win earned Chiu, a four-time WSOP bracelet winner, nearly $3.4 million in prize money – the biggest payday of his career.

In another move sure to warm the hearts of poker players all across the land (at least in the continental United States and maybe, just maybe, in Alaska and Hawaii too), Congressman Barney Frank is stepping up his efforts to stop the UIGEA in its tracks.

Frank, along with Congressional life partner Ron Paul, has authored a letter to the heads of the US Treasury and Federal Reserve warning both agencies not to spend any more time trying to implement UIGEA-related regulations. Frank and Paul go on to say the law is seriously flawed at it’s most basic level and that it would be imprudent for the agencies to “devote additional agency resources to this Sisyphean task, especially as we plan to pursue legislation to prevent the implementation of these regulations.”

Way to go Barney and Ron. Just one thing though – most members of Congress seem to have the mental agility of small soap dishes, so referencing tragic figures in Greek mythology may cause their synapses to short circuit. Still, we appreciate your Herculean efforts on behalf of online poker players everywhere.

One of the strangest stories floating around this week involves Phil Ivey and David Blaine. Yes, the Phenom and the Magic Man are apparently friendly enough to break bread – and glasses – at the Tao restaurant in Manhattan.

According to sources, Ivey offered Blaine a very tasty prop bet – $10K to eat a glass from the table. Blaine, ever the entertainer, took the bet and Ivey’s cash after smashing a “large glass” and devouring the pieces.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: The Comeback Kid

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Category	Gus Hansen	Beth Shak	Survey Says
Career Earnings	Almost $5.5 million	More than $380K	Granted, Shak has only been playing poker for about three years now. But if we gave her 30 years would she ever have the chance to catch up with Hansen? We say no. Round one goes to the Great Dane.
Major Titles	Four WPT Titles	None	Beth may very well win a major tourney one of these days. Until then, we’ll accept no excuses for her having no bling to fling. Gus two, Beth zero.
Tournament Play	Probably one of the best tourney players in the world.	Shak is an up and comer on the tourney circuit, nearly winning her first bracelet at the 2007 WSOP.	As much as we love a good up and comer around here (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more), Shak-alicious really stands no chance against Gus in this category. Hansen has proven time and again that he’s always a player to be watched in any tourney. The beat down continues – Hansen three, Shak zippo.
Cash Game Play	Plays with the big boys at the Bellagio.	Not known as a cash game player, but anyone can learn, right?	The way Gus throws his money around on the table at Full Tilt Poker, especially with PLO, is both amazing and disgusting to us all. The only time we like to toss around hundreds of thousands of dollars is when we make it “rain” money on the strippers at the club. Except for The All-In-Uit of course, who prefers to make her money rain on Patrik Antonius. What was I saying? Oh yeah, score another point for Hansen.
Playing Style	Loosey Goosey	Tighty Whitey	Tighty Whitey having no racial implications, of course. We just like words that rhyme with other words. Like booze and cruise, and Keeley Hazell and painful erection. At any rate, we haven’t seen the Shak-tastic one play enough to really judge her style, so we’ll go with Hansen on this one just to be safe. We always love a player who’s willing to go with any two cards at any time. Hansen five, Shak still at nada.
Table Talk	Charmingly disarming	Philly fly	Gus is so charming with his table talk that he could probably talk the panties off Clonie Gowen and steal her chips at the same time (somewhere, Michael Craig’s head has just exploded). Shak-erino talks with that fly Philly lisp, but it’s just no match for Hansen. The blanking continues.
Nickname	The Great Dane	The Shak Attack	The Great Dane? Isn’t that like a breed of dog or something? Oh wait, I get it. It’s because he’s Danish, right? Meanwhile, The Shak Attack might be the best nickname on the market right about now. Who cares if we made it up? Let’s just hope it sticks. Shak stops the bleeding − the score stands at six to one for Gus.
Outside Poker	Likes to make time for the ladies.	Likes to make time for her children and designing dresses (and other attire) made from poker chips.	We’re all for people who spend time with their children and do crazy things with poker chips. Then again, we’re also all about the ladies (note: The All-In-Uit once again wishes to express that she isn’t all about the ladies, but wouldn’t mind getting her mittens on Patrik Antonius). Hmmm, I wonder who we’ll go with here. The ladies’ man wins another round.
Number of Children	Unknown	Five	As far as we’re concerned, Gus Hansen might have a child in every country of the world. Which would make for like 22, right? Whatever the number is, it’s surely higher than the pitiful five children that Shak-alaka-ding-dong has pushed out. Gus cements his victory with another firm implantation (to his score that is).

So there you have it people – Gus “The Sperminator” Hansen takes down Beth Shak-tacular by a score of eight to one. Hey, it wasn’t a flawless victory, but it was close. Check back next week for some more fun and games…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: Gus Hansen Versus Beth Shak

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