Posts Tagged ‘MiniFTOPS’
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
Big Monday Sunday and MiniFTOPS
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
If you couldn’t find action on Full Tilt Poker on Sunday, you just weren’t looking hard enough. On top of the regular Big Money Sunday games, you also had three additional large guarantee events for MiniFTOPS XIII. Those 6 tournaments alone drew just shy of 40,000 players and a huge prize pool over $2,300,000. You had a choice between Heads Up, 6-max, or good old fashioned Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em. There was a little something for every player.
Earlier in the weekend we saw a family battle to dominate MiniFTOPS. Both Chip Jett and wife Karina Jett found themselves at final tables in two different events. Chip Jett entered the MiniFTOPS Event #5 Stud tournament with 1,907 other lasted longer than all but one of them. “inter27″ was the only player left standing when defeated Jett heads up. Not to be overshadowed, Karina Jett battled through 2,210 players to take third in the Pot Limit Omaha Event #6. She may have finished one spot lower on the final board but she went through more players and banked more cash. Chip added $4,337 to his bankroll while Karina cashed for over $9,000.
My sad attempts to play in the MiniFOPS have been hard to come by. I’m certainly glad I did not make that prep bet with Michael Craig. As things settle down around me I will pony up some of my hard-won bankroll on some of these incredibly juicy, huge field tournaments. There are 5 great tournament over the next two days including a whopping $100+9 buyin, $250,000 guarantee tournament this evening with Antes from the start. You can find the complete MiniFTOPS XIII Schedule here.
Event #11 Pot Limit Hold’em / Pot Limit Omaha
When: Monday, September 14th at 13:00ET
Buyin: $20+2
Guarantee: $30,000
Event #12 No Limit Hold’em Ante from the Start
When: Monday, September 14th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $100+9
Guarantee: $250,000
Event #13 No Limit Hold’em 3x Shootout
When: Tuesday, September 15th at 13:00ET
Buyin: $50+5
Guarantee: $30,000
Event #14 H.O.R.S.E.
When: Tuesday, September 15th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $50+5
Guarantee: $50,000
Event #15 No Limit Hold’em 6-max Turbo
When: Tuesday, September 15th at 21:00ET
Buyin: $20+2
Guarantee: $100,000
Big Money Sunday and MiniFTOPS results after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, MiniFTOPS
MiniFTOPS XIII blasts off
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Wow.
That’s all I was saying last night as I watched the number of entrants sour through the roof for MiniFTOPS XIII Event #1. I would generally wait until the end of the week to do a little recap of the last few events but this turnout warranted it’s own post. 16,750 players for a mid-week, late-night (for my time zone) tournament is incredible. A prizepool of $335,000 with over $50,000 going to first place, all for a tiny buyin of $20+2 or satellite for as little as 75c. The event brought out a baker’s dozen of Team Full Tilt including fellow FTP blogger Michael Craig, Lee Watkinson, Roy Winston, and Scott Fischman. Jon “Pearljammer” Turner was the last pro standing but fell short of the cash.
Professional player Mike “GoLeahsGoEh” Leah was my interesting story of the event. I am spending my next two weeks camped out at the Borgata Hotel and Casino for the WPT event, a little writing and a little playing. Leah was seen here in the tournament room yesterday afternoon competing in their first event of the series but busted out in the late afternoon. Just a few hours later and I was railing him in MiniFTOPS Event #1 and he was tearing up the field. He went on to finish 273rd out of 16,750 and is now sitting in the live tournament room competing again.
The tournament ran an incredible 12 hours, finishing up at 9am my time. Long after my eyes were closed and I was dreaming of bracelets, trophies and little avatar jerseys. The time from start to bubble seemed to fly but there is only so many ways to bust players out. Sitting at the final table, the average chip stack was jus south of 10,000,000 and I was amazed to see that no one made a deal when things were short-handed. Here’s how everything was paid out in the end:
1st – leoelectric – $50,250
2nd – zcooper123 – $33,500
3rd – rova33 – $23,450
4th – Bio72 – $16,750
5th – Chantastic1 – $11,725
6th – ZBTHorton – $8,710
7th – Shadi888 – $6,301
8th – OMGlefty – $4,623
9th – Gags30 – $3,283
My personal MiniFTOPS experience was postponed by one game as I wandered the tables in search of stories and pictures. There were quite a few young guns from the online world in the live field including Matt “All in at 420″ Stout who mentioned to the table that he was missing this MiniFTOPS game, I tried to keep track of his sister for him while he played. We’ve already proven that their will be quite a number of players dividing their time between the live poker world here and the online world during this series.
There are two more MiniFTOPS events today. Event #2 (6-max NLHE Shootout) is already sold out at 1,296 players but there is plenty of room for the 21:00ET Event #3 ($20+2 Limit Omaha/8). You can find the complete schedule here. This looks to be a great series of events for the smaller bankrolled players, giving everyone an opportunity for a big money boost and experience in large field tournaments. My plan is to pony up the money for the Omaha/8 and prepare for my Borgata run at the live version fo the game tomorrow.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, MiniFTOPS
MiniFTOPS XIII set to start
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
A few weeks ago we had FTOPS XIII run its course with huge fields and fantastic turnouts. Tomorrow kicks off the smaller version of the series with MiniFTOPS XIII. You’ll find the same 25 events at merely 10% of the big game buyins. At the beginning of the latest FTOPS, Full Tilt guaranteed $19,000,000 in prizepool money for the two combined series. The big series itself generated over $18,500,000 in cash payouts meaning MiniFTOPS will push us well over $20,000,000 paid out over the last few weeks. That’s a monstrous number no matter how you look at it.
MiniFTOPS XIII has a $3,000,000 guarantee and begins tomorrow (Septermber 9th) with a $200,000 No Limit Hold’em event for a tiny $20+2 buyin. This series has every game you can imagine, at small buyin amounts, for huge sums of money. In the tournaments lobbies you can find satellites into the events for as little as 75c or a few FTP points. These games are accessible by anyone with an account on the site. I plan to take a few shots of my own.
I’ve been looking over the schedule trying to see where I want to lay down some money. My track record proves that I am far from a dynamo when it comes to tournament play but these are going to be too juicy to avoid. I also had an ill-fated concept up my sleeve where I intended to issue a challenge to fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig, a little contest to see who would do better during the MiniFTOPS. Unfortunately for me, I’ll have a very limited schedule and will have to pick my games with care. Your trusty blogger will be making a rare live poker appearance at the Borgata Poker Open.
Games that are definitely out for me are the shootouts (no thank you!), rebuy events (proper bankroll management), and 6-max (I’m a tight nit). That leaves my options open still with a ton of events. I’ll mix in as many non-No Limit Hold’em events that I can fit with a few of the big guarantee pushfests. Looking over the list and here is my tentative schedule. You can find the entire MiniFTOPS schedule listed here.
My MiniFTOPS playing schedule after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, MiniFTOPS
FTOPS XII Week 1 update
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The first seven FTOPS and MiniFTOPS XII events are in the books and it’s been a remarkable start to the series. MiniFTOPS is making it’s debut and destroying expectations with participants and prizepools. The big events are seeing the Full Tilt pros do some serious damage which is a change from the norm.
Leading the pack and making good for all us overindulging, fun loving, gambling oafs, Gavin Smith won FTOPS XII Event #7. He cashed in for over $123,000 in the $100 rebuy event and his first major online tournament win. In the twittered words of the immortal degenerate “wow my firstever online tourny win! kinda sweet!” Congrats Gavin.
Other Full Tilt pros making waves in the first few days: Bruno Steffaneli was the first pro with win a MiniFTOPS event taking down Event #4. Event #5 saw four big names hit it big with Jon “Pearljammed” Turner (3rd), Esther Rossi (12th), Gavin Smith (13th), and David “The Dragon” Pham (19th). Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis continues on his recent heater with a 6th place finish in #3.
Perhaps the player on the biggest heater would be US player “torden” who had one heck of a Friday night/Saturday morning with FTOPS and MiniFTOPS #5. He/she managed quite a feat by not only final tabling both events but bringing home a win in the smaller buyin tournament.
The MiniFTOPS events have gone well and above the guaranteed prizepool for every event so far. There is plenty of chances for the lower rolled player to score big. MiniFTOPS XII Event #7 for instance was a $10 rebuy tournaments, traditionally an interesting exercise in estimating the pool size, had enough players in buyins alone to go over the guarantee by $7,000 before a single rebuy was purchased. I think MiniFTOPS will go down as one of the best innovations on Full Tilt (trailing as distant second to the much beloved synchronized breaks).
One interesting twist in the FTOPS/MiniFTOPS events was #3. The always popular shootout format drew exactly the same number of entrants in both events. Seems statiscally impropable that both tournaments would have exactly 729 players. Never a dull or boring moment.
Details of the first 7 tournaments after the jump:
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, MiniFTOPS
MiniFTOPS Event #1 – My Recap
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Alternate Title: How 6-max and flat-callers tilted me
Michael Craig claims that FTOPS acts as a vampire to his bankroll, after one MiniFTOPS I’m almost willing to put that claim down. My performance certainly was not outstanding and in the end I just tilted off my chips in a way I haven’t done in quite some time. It took me 4 straight episodes of Family Guy to finally come down off the ledge and take a look at what happened.
The numbers were huge. Over 14,000 players volunteered $22 for a shot at the $42,000 first prize. The total prizepool came to $280,000 and change. That’s 70 million chips plus in play with a slow structure and plenty of room to play the NLHE 6-max format. I was all set to go and make my mark on the very first MiniFTOPS event. I had my strategy in my mind, pick my spots and use the structure against the impatient push monkeys.
Best laid plans of mice and men.
The first hour was uneventful as it should be. This tournament was going to be 4 or 5 hours before it even sniffed the money bubble. I picked up a few biggish hands, no action on my one AA hand but I did have a dead stack to my left at the start for a little chip stealing. I was as high at 7k and started the break just under the chip average. Life was good and players were dropping at an amazing rate. Then I found the table where Full Tilt grayed out the fold button for most players.
I will never be that guy who goes on and on about the sub-par play in small buyin tournaments. I won’t go on and on, I promise.
6-max is obviously not the format most suited for my game. From what I can tell, the optimum strategy is to disregard position, hand strength and the betting patterns of your opponents. Suited connectors are practically unbeatable, ace rag will never lose, and baby pairs are the mortal nuts to three raises.
My patience was paying off for awhile, even if I had to snap a couple players off who began to think my blinds were there for the stealing, but I never showed down anything that wasn’t upper deck. I started to lose some chips by open-raising with big aces only to get half the table calling down then folding to monster action post-flop. I admit that I let the calling stations get under my skin. After the 100th time of the same player making moves on my BB, I made a read that my 88 was way ahead of his junk on the flop.
Bad read as he finally had a hand for the first time we were at the same table. 88 no good versus AA with two cards to come. I take full credit for losing my patience, making a bad read, and then way overplaying afterwards. My game plan went right out the window and I have no one to blame. Except those few button-mashing, junk-calling, over-hyphenating lemurs that I’ve added to my enemy list.
At least I outlasted Michael Craig, I’m putting that on my resume.
FTOPS and MiniFTOPS information after the jump.
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Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, FTOPS, Michael Craig, MiniFTOPS
