FTOPStupid

It's really amazing what full tilt has done with the FTOPS. I know ultimately this post is going to read an awful lot like at least one or two other posts I have done here either 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or exactly a year ago, but what can I say. Full tilt keeps making the same mistake, and I keep suffering as a result, so you read about it here.

Go back just about a week right here and you can read all about how I was looking forward to sitting down to play some FTOPS tournaments for the first time in at least a year. I haven't been playing hardly any mtt's recently and the upcoming FTOPS seemed like as good a chance as any I would have to get back into the thick of things and to play for some real money. I was amazed in that post because I literally hadn't been looking forward to the FTOPS this much in a long, long time, maybe a few years even, and at the time if you had asked me how many events would I play in the series, I would have probably guessed somewhere around 7 or 8 tournaments total.

Instead, here we are on Friday, nearing the end of the entire tournament series, and how many events have I played in total? Just one. How pathetic is that? And it's not pathetic of me -- it's pathetic of full tilt, as usual. I mean, it's not like I ran out of money or "broke even" one too many times. And it's not like I've been too busy, or just haven't been interested in playing poker after all on these days. Much the opposite -- I've sat at my pc probably all but one or two of the last nine nights since FTOPS XVII began and played in poker tournaments. Some of them with buyins as large or larger than the corresponding FTOPS event that night! The FTOPS tournaments, on an almost nightly basis, just do not stack up to what else is available out there for the mtt player to partake in.

It's almost like full tilt is going out of their way to make the nighttime events bad, and/or to put the good events at times when Americans with day jobs cannot make the games. I mean, the very first event of FTOPS XVII was the standard series-opening $216 nlh event, which I played that same night as my FTOPS post referred to above. I lasted not more than 90 minutes or so, at which point I managed to run 15 outs into top set that turned into a boat before I knew what hit me. It was a fine time, I enjoyed playing for some big money, and although I did not at all appreciate the setup hand I took it in stride and moved on to bigger and better things that night.

But since then? Look at the events at night so far after FTOPS Event #1:

There was Event #4 on Thursday night, the $535 HORSE event hosted by Svetlana Gromenkova, truly one of the top five worst HORSE players I have ever bumped into on my travels in online poker. I mean, you can't get it in behind more frequently and make poorer poker decisions than this biatch seems to do all the time, be it in sitngos, FTOPS or anywhere else I happen to run into her. Anyways, I tried one quick satellite to this event -- Gromenoka sucked me out like the horse that she is on the bubble -- but I've had my blood boiling several times previously in this event over the regoddamdiculous play even for $535, so I did not make much of an effort as the combination of the donkey game with the large buyin just makes this not all that attractive for a guy with my game to play.

Then Event #7 on Friday night? Stud-8. Again, I've been playing hi-lo longer than any other poker game out there, but the thought of chipping in $216 to a pool for a bunch of chasedonkeys to go nutso when they only have a decent draw at a decent hand for one-half the pot, and then counterfeit me and win, it's enough to make my eyes bulge out of their sockets. And let's not forget, host Aaron Bartley is perhaps the only numbskull on full tilt that even gives the lovely Svetlana a run for her money in terms of cluelessness. So that one was a no-go.

As usual, the geniuses at ftp did not run any events on Saturday or Sunday night -- far and away the prime time to play for anyone in the United States -- even though they have increased their FTOPS schedule to include not one, not two but three FTOPS events on each weekend day. And yet still nothing later than 6pm ET. Sheer brilliance. That's strikes through five days and 13 events of FTOPS, with only one tournament I actually attended to show for it -- me, a guy who has the money and the desire to play, was actually looking forward and anticipating FTOPS this time around, and who has played and won in every single poker game FTOPS spreads. It's unreal.

Then on to this week, where Monday started with the 1k buyin nlh event, a format which I again attempted exactly one time to satellite in to, but which otherwise is just not worth the buyin for a guy like me to play against some of the best competition on the site. Plus, I knew there would always be Tuesday night this week, which was? A $535 shootout tournament. 3-way shootout in fact. Something that only a true and total moron would ever pony up his hard earned money for. If I won $160 million in the lottery I wouldn't bother playing a 729-runner shootout at $535 a clip. No way no how, that's got to be the worst nighttime tournament in a whole schedule chock full of horrific events.

Finally this past Wednesday night saw FTOPS Event #22, which I had already seen was holdem and thus I figured finally I would get to play another event. Or not. Turns out it was a $322 rebuy. I mean, come on guys!! I'm the best rebuy tournament player I know bar none, and I would not even consider ponying up what it would likely cost to buy a fair chance in that event. Of course I logged in Thursday night as well, and of course it was $216 stud hi. One of the donkiest, most cards-driven games there is, a game where I know for a fact any fuckhole with any two pairs will call down through the river regardless of what any other board is showing or the action from the other players. Not even considering it, sorry.

And here we are. Before I am home tonight, FTOPS Event #27 will be underway. 27 events in to the FTOPS, again an FTOPS that I was anticipating highly and looking forward to participating in. And boooom, one event I've played, way back in Event #1. And on tap for tonight at 9pm ET? Razz. $322 a pop. What a fuckajoke.

And for all you smartasses out there who want to critique my willingness to play such a broad smattering of games, let's be clear about one thing: I would play a regular nlh tournament at almost any buyin below the 1k. I would play a 6-max nlh event at the same levels. I would play any pot-limit Omaha format of any kind -- hi-low or PLO -- at almost any buyin. I would play any rush version of nl or omaha in the formats I mentioned above. I would play any heads-up event in almost any game at almost any buyin level. I would play a knockout event of any of these games at almost any buyin below 1k. I would even play that shorthanded limit holdem event they've run several times as part of FTOPS in the recent past. Basically, there's only 7 or 8 types of tournaments I wouldn't participate in as part of the FTOPS, and they've managed to screw us Americans so badly that those 7 or 8 events are basically the nightly FTOPS schedule over the past week and a half. It's just unreal.

It's no wonder really that everyone on the planet already agrees that full tilt has utterly butchered their FTOPS brand. The powers that be with the FTOPS are Just Plain Clueless.

Woe is the FTOPS

What the hell did full tilt do to the FTOPS this time around? I mean, I guess it's inevitable that they would screw something up after running 850 of these series over the past couple of years, but damn sometimes I just cannot understand why people insist on fixing things that ain't broke.

Now, I'm too lazy to go back and look up the last several FTOPS schedules. But here's what I do know about FTOPS 1,000,000,000,000,000 that is currently running right now: there's barely anything for the good, hard-working American poker lovers to play. And that has most definitely never happened before.

Again without bothering to go and look up the details, I know I have played in upwards of 6 or 7 events in the FTOPS in prior runs of the tournament series. I specifically recall one of the FTOPS runs probably a good two years ago or so where I received four FTOPS baseball caps for cashing in four separate events. And I definitely recall other FTOPS series where I was debating playing in that night's event almost every single night, be it the $240 PLO knockout, $216 PLO8 freezeout, or even stud hi-lo on occasion as I recall.

And yet, somehow, this time around, I am going to play in a grand total of one FTOPS tournament. That's it. Granted, I missed Event #1 this time around due to fatigue, and that was my own choice and not something of course that I could ever blame on full tilt. But otherwise, how is it that I am playing online poker almost every night during the entire FTOPS series, but cannot for the life of me find a single event to play other than Tuesday night's $216 turbo mtt? Event #1 was last Wednesday night, the standard FTOPS-opening $216 nlh mtt, which as I mentioned I missed. But then Thursday night was a $500 shootout. $500 shootout? That's the best you can come up with over at full tilt, guys? Because -- and I don't care if you're a poker blogger, if you're me, or if you're Phil fuggin Ivey -- large mtt shootouts are not profitable poker. Period. Sure, somebody wins it every time you play it. But, unlike a general mtt where you can make some decent coin for finishing in, say, the top 50 or 100 spots in the field, in a shootout, you need to absolutely straight-out win your entire table, and then you have to sit at a new table comprised solely of people who were good enough to have just won their entire tables, and you have to win that table as well, just to make it to the final table where the real money begins, where you then get to face a full table of people who were good enough to win not only their starting table, but then their second table full of all people who also won their own starting tables. To the inexperienced winning three consecutive one-table sitngos may seem a lot easier than navigating your way through a field of 3000 donkeys in a regular nlh mtt. But take it from me, it's harder. Much, much harder. Even given all of the above, I still might've given it a shot, if the buyin wasn't $500. A $500 shootout for FTOPS Event #3? Major error.

Then they followed this up with last Friday night's limit holdem tournament. Just what I'm looking for -- a chasefest. And don't get me wrong, I understand that they have other events in the afternoons on those days, but for us working stiffs in the U.S. those are of course not doable, and ultimately in the past I always played the FTOPS on at least one if not both of those second and third nights of the series. This time around, I wouldn't consider it. And I know that $500 shootout is a new event for the FTOPS, a big mistake in my view. I didn't play over the weekend as I never do, and of course as usual FTOPS misses out on an opportunity to get the "family men" active on the weekend nights when they probably have the best opportunity of all for big fields. Why not just run a regular $100 or $200 nlh event? What about a $100 rebuy or something? Can I get anything on the weekend nights?

Then here starts Week 2 of the FTOPS, and I don't even remember what Monday night's event was, but I do recall that it blew. Tuesday night was the usual $216 turbo mtt, which I played but busted early from when my pocket 9s of course ran into pocket Queens from a guy who had raised at least 17 of the previous 5 hands before the flop. And then before logging off, I went ahead and looked with anticipation to see which other FTOPS events I would be playing this week. And you know what? It's none of them None! Wednesday night is the $322 rebuy, which at that buyin level just plain sucks for 99% of full tilt's user base. Thursday is I think Stud Hi. What a joke -- no "chase to two pairs" for me. Friday is the usual Razz event, which full tilt for some reason insists on carrying an increased buyin of $322 instead of the standard $216. And since I'm not a masochist chasemonkey peabrain who tires of getting dealt rolled up Kings in the only situation where I want nothing to do with them, you won't find me razzing it up either. And then that's it, just like that, FTOPS is over.

What the hell happened to the $216 O8 event that was in the evening early in the second week for the past umpteen hundred FTOPS series? Why is there not a $100 or even a $200 rebuy tournament, instead of this insistence on making that a $322 buyin? Why is there no knockout tournament anywhere in the evenings during the entire series?

I know that pokerstars has completely given the middle finger to Americans with their WCOOP, making every single event start in the middle of the afternoon New York time, which effectively shuts out the working-guy Americans entirely and unfortunately for pokerstars simply means that what they're really running is the WCOEP since the whole thing is primarily played by Euros. But in the past full tilt has distinguished itself among all other online poker sites by offering up a very attractive mix of games available in the weekday evenings four times a year, at buyin levels and at times that are actually accessible to the average, day job-having Americans who make up a big slice of their user base. This time around, full tilt seriously dropped the ball.

Now, in addition to offering far and away the best nightly tournament structures available anywhere in online poker, thanks to full tilt we can now look to UltimateBet as the site that also offers the best regular online poker series for normal red-blooded Americans with their UBOC. And if I'm full tilt, that is the saddest part of the whole debacle known as FTOPS MCMXLVIII.

FTOPS IX

So the FTOPS is upon us once again, with the first event of FTOPS IX slated to go off on Wednesday evening at 9pm ET. Given my stated focus on playing in the bigger cash tournaments out there, I am always a real FTOPS whore, which will be especially true this time around since the last time the FTOPS ran in May, I was completely out of pocket thanks to a little dose of mononucleosis. Fun times as that was, I'm definitely looking forward to making some runs in this month's FTOPS tournament series, which I believe is the biggest and longest of any FTOPS series yet run by full tilt -- now 25 total events and I believe $15 million in guaranteed prize money. Today I wanted to take a look at the entire schedule of events and see which ones I plan on playing and which I might consider taking a shot at, even if it means buying in direct for cash. This is actually the first time I have ever sat down and looked at the entire schedule, so me doing this is more for me than it even is for you guys, but here is the full schedule of the 25 events comprising FTOPS IX, along with any comments I have after each:

Event #1
Wednesday August 6th
21:00 ET $200 + $16
NL Hold 'em $1,000,000

This first event of the FTOPS is one I have played in in basically every single FTOPS series that has run since I've been a full tilt tournament guy, as the series always begins with a standard-buyin $216 no-limit holdem tournament. This one is no exception, and I'm expecting it will be really huge since they've been running a billion satellites into this thing over the past few weeks. It's a bit late at this point, but the best ways to play into this thing on the cheap are either the nightly $10 rebuy turbo satellite that runs somewhere shortly around 9:50pm ET every night heading up to the onset of the FTOPS, or the incredibly soft $75 one-table sngs that run at all times and which pay out seats to the top 3 out of 9 finishers.


Event #2
Thursday August 7th
14:00 ET $240 + $16
PL Omaha/8
Knockout $200,000

Would love to play this one as I did two FTOPS series ago, but the timing in the middle of the day and with me leaving my current job in a couple of weeks, it's just not going to happen. This is a kickass tournament though, I highly encourage all you suckbox luckdonks out there to get in on the draw-heavy Omaha action. You know who you are.


Event #3
ThursdayAugust 7th
21:00 ET $200 + $16
NL Hold 'em
4 x Shootout
6-Max $250,000

This looks new to me, although recall that I did not play at all in FTOPS VIII so it might have been in there as well. I suspect I will be buying in direct to this one on Thursday night.


Event #4
Friday August 8th
14:00 ET $300 + $22
NL Hold 'em
1 rebuy and 1 add-on
6-Max $600,000

Another kickass tournament that I won't be playing in because of the timing. Personally I wish the 1r1a FTOPS event could be $216 buyin instead of $322, but in a way the larger buyin isn't so bad since it is only a maximum investment of under a grand. Maybe next time around for me.


Event #5
Friday August 8th
21:00 ET $200 + $16
Stud $100,000

Stud tournament? Blech.


Event #6

Saturday August 9th
14:00 ET $500 + $35
PL Omaha
6-Max $300,000

Here's another one for the suckboxes out there. The timing makes this one a no-go for me but I'm sure some of the omadonks will have a blast spending a grand to qualify and then dropping the 5 hundy when some longshot draw sucks out at the river.


Event #7
Saturday August 9th
16:30 ET TBD $100 + $9
NL Hold 'em
Rebuy $500,000

Not a huge fan of big-buyin rebuy tournaments, but at $100 a pop I do like the setup here and wish the time were later so I could get in on some of this. I don't mind missing it thought as the donkery is sure to be fast and furious early in this thing.


Event #8
Sunday August 10th
14:00 ET $240 + $16
NL Hold 'em
6-Max Knockout $500,000

Badass tournament right here. Shorthanded, knockout and a nice buyin level should combine for a super fun event. Again there's no way I'm playing a 2pm Sunday event but for those of you who like to frequent the Sunday Brawl, this one should be a no-brainer.

Event #9
Sunday August 10th
16:00 ET $500 + $35
NL Hold 'em
Heads Up $500,000

More badass. One of the few setups where I do think $500 is a good buyin level is in the heads-up tournaments. Once again Sunday at 4pm ain't happening for me but if I had the time and the cash I would be in here for sure.


Event #10
Sunday August 10th
18:00 ET $300 + $22
NL Hold 'em $1,500,000

This is another tournament that has run in this same time slot in basically every FTOPS for a couple of years now, and also one to which full tilt runs copious satellites to allow anyone who wants to get in and has a modicum of tournament skill to win his or her seat. Personally I have already won 3 if not 4 seats to Event #10 this time around, which was the same story in the last FTOPS I played in because they not only have excellent 1-table sngs for the $322 nlh tournament, but they also run regular nightly mtt satellites to it for a $50 buyin, I think maybe at 10:40pm ET every night, or something right around there. That nightly mtt sat is a great place to run into some bloggers as well as it is one of the best values around for your money in mtt play.

Event #11
Monday August 11th
14:00 ET $200 + $16
Limit Hold'em $200,000

Omg thank god this one is a Monday at a bad time. Let the Euros have their little limit tournament and save the real poker for that evening.


Event #12
Monday August 11th
21:00 ET $1,000 + $60
NL Hold 'em
6-Max $1,500,000

This is the one I mentioned yesterday that I am really looking forward to given how infrequently I get to play events with 1k buyins. The way to get in to this one is to qualify in the $165 buyin satellites that run I think several times nightly, most notably for my schedule at 10:20pm ET every night leading up to the FTOPS. The best part about these sats which themselves have that steep $165 buyin is that full tilt is smart about it, and they run nightly turbo supersatellites to get into the $165 events for the couple of hours preceding the satellite every day of the week. I've still never cashed in a 1k buyin event on full tilt, although I have come sickeningly close once in the FTOPS and once in the regular Monday 1k, so I'm hopeful I can do more than I have in the past in this one when it goes off in a couple weeks.


Event #13
TuesdayAugust 12th
14:00 ET $200 + $16
HA (half PL Hold 'em,
half PL Omaha) $200,000

Bad time for me, but a fun game with half holdem and half Omaha high. The best part is, the pot-limit structure as opposed to no limit definitely favors the more skilled players as opposed to the two-card push monkeys that we all know and love.


Event #14
Tuesday August 12th
21:00 ET $500 + $35
HORSE $300,000

Here we have my biggest money drain so far in this FTOPS, as I have probably played 4 different satellites mostly at $75 apiece without success to qualify for this bad boy. Sometimes I really can't believe I'm the same guy who was so strong in HORSE back a couple of years now, and it seems like forever ago that I managed to win the weekly Sunday HORSE 30k guaranteed tourney on full tilt. I plan to make a few more attempts here in the coming week or so, but I'm not going to go nuts with it, and at $535 to get in, I really hope I don't just buy in direct. From my view, if I can't find a way to satellite in to this event for a reasonable price, then I don't belong playing in there either.


Event #15
Tuesday August 12th
21:00 ET $200 + $16
NL Hold 'em
Turbo $500,000

I will most definitely be in this event, as turbo mtts are one of the secret pleasures in my poker mtt life. It's a fairly new FTOPS event, but I believe it is the one and only tournament I actually made the time to play in May when I was bedridden, and I cashed it and ran well doing so. Best part about this one is that the whole thing is probably done in just over two hours start to finish. Like I said, there's almost no way I miss this thing, and although I do not recall seeing many satellites to it thus far, I will fork over the cash to get in direct if that's the way it has to be.


Event #16
Wednesday August 13th
14:00 ET $200 + $16
Omaha/8 $200,000

I would love to play a good old-fashioned O8 tournament as this is a game I have had a fair amount of success in over time, but unfortunately the Euro-friendly time once again is shizz for me so I will have to pass. But that won't stop me from continuing to compete in the many sng satellites to this event, which are soft as balls, and then just unregistering and keeping the $T.


Event #17
Wednesday August 13th
21:00 ET $300 + $22
NL Hold 'em
6-Max Rebuy $1,000,000

Hoy says no to $300 rebuy tournaments. Some aggro donk with a huge bankroll though will win a pretty penny when all is said and done here. My guess is no bloggers really try to run an event like this though, myself definitely included.


Event #18
Thursday August 14th
14:00 ET $500 + $35
NL Hold 'em
3 x Shootout $300,000

Once again the timing is wrong for us working stiffs in the U.S., and of all structures I am not really a shootout guy in any event.


Event #19
Thursday August 14th
21:00 ET $300 + $22
Mixed Hold'em
6-Max $300,000

I mentioned yesterday that I recently qualified for this tournament, and I'm actually really looking forward to it. Yeah I'm not a huge limit holdem fan, but I've read all the "bibles" of limit play and I can play it well despite its donkish nature as a game that generally rewards and really forces drawing hands to stick around and suck out. And mixing it with half no-limit really makes for an entirely different feel than a straight dickass limit tournament. Definitely my preferred way to get in to this thing are the regular $105 sng satellites that are always filling up on full tilt.


Event #20
Friday August 15th
14:00 ET $200 + $16
NL Hold 'em
6-Max $400,000

Nothing like some good old-fashioned 6-max nlh, even though this isn't a game I've spent any real time playing for over a year now. If I'm around that Friday night, I will make an attempt to get in this thing. That said, this will also be my last official day at my current employer, so I might likely be hammered out of my mind.


Event #21
Friday August 15th
21:00 ET $300 + $22
Razz $150,000

I'm pretty sure only a monkey plays online razz at this buyin limit. I haven't been sucked into playing this event in any FTOPS yet, and I won't be starting now.


Event #22
Saturday August 16th
14:00 ET $2,500 + $120
NL Hold 'em
Two Day Event $2,000,000

Someday maybe I will play in this thing. But not this time around. Two days including afternoons over a weekend is not happening for me. Plus I imagine I'll still be sleeping off quite a hangover after my Friday night end-of-work festivities.


Event #23
Saturday August 16th
16:30 ET $100 + $9
PL Omaha
Rebuy $350,000

I'd love to play any $100 PLO rebuy tournament, but #1 I am not nearly luckboxian enough to survive in this thing with fewer than 15 or 20 rebuys, and #2 the time is bad at 4:30pm ET on a Saturday. So no-go for me, but the luckboxes ought to be out in force for this one.


Event #24
Sunday August 17th
14:00 ET $120 + $9
NL Hold 'em
Knockout $400,000

Again, Sunday at 2pm ET is bad for me, but otherwise I would love to play any knockout tournament with a low-ish buyin in the FTOPS.


Main Event
Sunday August 17th
18:00 ET $500 + $35
NL Hold 'em $2,500,000

Obviously I would love to play in the Main Event, especially given that juicyass $2.5M guarantee, and I am more than willing to buy in for cash although I'm quite sure I can satellite in between now and the 17th if I make it a point to do so. They have a nice $20 nightly rebuy satellite that is quite winnable compared to the other straight $26 sats they run, plus there are usually a few sng satellites going as well, and of course there is always that juicy night-before megasat with the $50 buyin where 1 out of every 10 runners will win their seat. Odds are around 50-50 I would say of me being in there, although if I do win a satellite seat then I might get up the nerve to attempt to get pre-approval for this one.


OK this post is much longer than even I intended, so I'll get it up there now. Look for me tonight in the megasatellite to FTOPS #1 that will run tonight I think at 9:45pm ET. I've already won multiple seats to this event but as I mentioned above the megasatellites are simply the very best value out there for anyone who understands solid tournament and satellite poker.

Blogger Razz, and More on the FTOPS

Congratulations out to Gary Cox for winning this week's Blogger Skill Game in razz. For me the game surely lived up to its reputation as the most hated and frustrating of all the major poker variants, and given some of the play that I saw on a few tables that I had open, I really have to hand it to Gary for busting out with the win here. Razz with bloggers -- especially for a $12 buyin -- is something I wouldn't really wish on my worst enemy, and surviving through that minefield to claim victory is something really worth relishing. Hopefully Gary didn't strangle anyone or break too many computer screens along the way, because ooooo weeeeee razz can be painful. And it was last night. As bad as some of the plays I made were in the tournament, the stuff I saw was like button mashing at its finest. Dayummm. Effing razz. 'Nuff said. Wtg Gary.

So today is Mookday once again. I think I mentioned this last week but Mookie and I have finalized our prop bet for the Mookie this year -- whichever one of us wins the tournament first at any point during 2008, the other has to buy the winner in to the next three months' worth of Mookie tournaments. It's a good bet, with a reasonable incentive for one of us to try to finally win this thing. Not that I haven't won for lack of trying. I played in 39 Mookies in 2007 and came up with 4 or 5 final tables, three of which were top-4 finishes and all of which I thought I had a good shot of winning. But in general, as I've written about here ooooh maybe once or twice, I have had some baaaaaaaad luck in the Mookie. My ass gets kicked into oblivion in some new and creative way just about every time I sit down to play on Wednesday night. And yet still, like a wounded dog from Michael Vick's compound, I keep coming back for more, week in and week out. So I will be there tonight for the Mookie at 10pm ET on full tilt (password as always is "vegas1"), and you should be too. We had a great crowd as I recall last week for the biggest gathering of blonkeys this side of Las Vegas in December every single week, so let's see if we can come up with another big crowd today as well. And of course don't forget to fire up Buddydank Radio, where he and IT will join forces once again with Don and I believe I saw that Peaker is going to be a guest host this week as well to bring you the most fun you'll have on the radio until, well, at least next Wednesday.

And speaking of Miami Don, let's everyone make a real effort to get into this coming Sunday night's Big Game, willya? I can tell Don is getting nervous that no one will show for this thing, but I know that's not going to happen. I know $75 is a steep price to pay for many of you to play with a bunch of blonkeys and get eliminated by some jackass calling an allin on the turn with just a flush draw, etc. But the Big Game is really fucking fun and it's a great part of the blogger private tournament tradition, something I really hope is not going to be a BBT-only tournament like it was for a lot of 2007. And I've said it before and I'll say it again: with the 9:45pm ET token frenzy tournament available to all of us on full tilt, where you pay just $14 + $1 for a chance to win a $75 token which is awarded to the top 19% of finishers out of what is usually around a 120-150 runner field, there really is no excuse for all of us not to be in there every night this week taking our shot at a Tier II token for use in the Big Game this coming Sunday night at 9:30pm ET. So, as I have done in the past, I will be playing the token frenzy every single night this week at 9:45pm ET, and I hope all of you who are available will join me in winning a token and then immediately using it to register for the Big Game. Frankly, I don't see how anybody stays away from the token frenzy whenever all these juicy FTOPS satellites are in town like they are as of this past weekend -- the $75 buyin sats are always significantly better bangs for your buck than the lower-buyin sats, and at the end of the day for many of the larger-buyin FTOPS tournaments like the $1000 buyin FTOPS #10, they really only regularly offer Tier II buyin satellites in any event. So please I invite you all to join me in the nightly token frenzy tournament on full tilt every night between now and the Big Game on Sunday, and for those of you who are in to these kinds of things, I will definitely post here every day with who among the bloggers won their token the previous night, including a link to everyone's blog who made the cut the night before. So I look forward to seeing you there, starting tonight just 15 minutes before the Mookie.

If my calculations are correct (and they might not be), our boy jeciimd should resume the action for Day 2 of the Aussie Millions starting sometime in the evening on Wednesday EST. For those of you who don't know, the BBTwo champion started up in the Aussie Millions on Day 1a, had a few big hands but followed the proper strategy of playing tight on the first day of a 5-day tournament with 90-minute blind rounds, and stayed close to his 20k starting stack throughout most of the day. Then, on the second to last hand of the night, jec was lucky enough to find AA. Even more lucky (for him) was that someone else at the table happened to have KK at the same time, and fast forward 1 minute to see that jec had doubled up to just under 50k in chips heading into Day 2. There were three Day 1s to accomodate the field of I think over 800 players in the Aussie Millions, and Day 1a saw them play the 280-some runners down to I think 91 players remaining, with jec squarely in the middle of the pack and looking for some more action on Day 2. My advice to jec for Day 2 is pretty much the same as Day 1 -- play tight. Not only is that jec's game, but it is still pretty much the proper strategy even for Day 2 of an event that only saw 6 blind rounds played in all of Day 1. In reality you probably need to loosen up just a little bit since the blinds (and antes, if those kick in yet) will start to mean something especially around the later rounds on Day 2, but tight is still right for the most part on a day where a lot of the uber fish have already been weeded out. But as someone who has never even survived until the second day of a major poker tournament myself, I congratulate jeciimd very genuinely for a job well done. Keep making us proud Dr. J!!

OK so I mentioned earlier in the week that I wanted to find the time to take another look at the full schedule for FTOPS VII and determine which events I really want to play in, and which I am unavailable to play in, and that time is now.

For starters, as usually is the case, FTOPS #1 is a standard $216 buyin nlh tournament on the first Wednesday night of the series. This is one I definitely want to play in. I've cashed I think once out of four tries in this particular event to start the previous FTOPS's, and I expect to be in there again. Before Tuesday night I did not see a single satellite available to FTOPS #1, but I think I might have seen a $10 rebuy sat that started for the first time on Tuesday evening, so I may get me some of that over the next few days and try to get in on the cheap.

FTOPS #2 is that juicy $256 PLO knockout tournament that I already qualified for. It's at 2pm ET which really blows, but hey an afternoon off from work is going to feel real good at that point in time.

FTOPS #3 is an awesome $535 HORSE tournament at 9pm ET on Thursday the 7th. I am all about this one, though it is going to be a real bear to qualify for with all the limit poker donkeys out there. I'm almost tempted just to play one of those super turbo 100-chip satellites to this thing like I did last time around, because those will almost be an easier way to qualify for a $535 event than playing limit poker with a bunch of chasedonkeys who can't even spell O8 or stud, let alone play it. But I definitely hope to be in this thing come that Thursday night, hopefully right after I take down the afternoon PLO knockout tournament for 50 large in cash.

FTOPS #4 is the normal first-Friday FTOPS $216 event in pot-limit holdem. I've played this in the last five FTOPS series, but this will be the first time I do not, as this event is also at 2pm ET this time around (those Euros sure do love them some pot-limit poker) and I won't be skipping out early two days in a row from work just to play online poker. Even if the other lazy shitheads I work with probably won't be in either day anyways.

FTOPS #5 is $216 6-max limit holdem. Super fun format for me, and I already qualified in my first shot in a $75 buyin 6-max sng where the top 2 finishers won their seats. Bring it.

One of the coolest events in the entire FTOPS VII schedule is Event #6, Saturday February 9 at 2pm ET, which is the $535 PLO 6-max tournament. Normally I would kill to be in this thing, but that Saturday afternoon is no good for me as I am out to an early dinner at Tao -- the original in New York, not the knockoff in Vegas -- to celebrate the 30th birthdays of my little brother aquaverse and his fiancee. I'm sure PLO boy will be in this one, and I am jealous because it is going to be a real riot playing that big at a shorthanded PLO table.

FTOPS Event #7 is also later on that Saturday evening, which unfortunately means I also won't be playing due to my dinner plans. But that event is a $109 rebuy nlh tournament. I don't play the FTOPS rebuys, because although I have satellited in to them on many occasions in the past, I just don't like going into them knowing that I don't really want to afford to play them the way a rebuy really needs to be played, with at least the ability and willingless to rebuy 3 or 4 times if I get donked out early. So no rebuys for me, and I really don't mind not being available for this one.

Now on Sunday the 10th are two really cool FTOPS events, beginning at 2pm ET with FTOPS #8, the $129 knockout 6-max nlh tournament. I would love to play in this thing and still might try to give it a whirl, but the real problem is that Sunday afternoon is just not a good time for me family-wise, and it's probably not worth pushing things more than I already tend to do a little bit during FTOPS time. So probably no Event #8 for me this time around.

However, I will definitely be playing in FTOPS #9, the $322 nlh tournament on Sunday at 6pm ET, which I already qualified for with that recockulous comeback from 195 chips and 8 players remaining a few nights ago. This is a biggie, with a $1 million guarantee, and I will definitely be there. So already ducking out early before the kids' bedtime to play this tournament, the chances of me being in there for Event #8 at 2pm ET this same day are probably near nil. Too bad, but when I win 400k in the evening it will all seem like a blur anyways, right?

FTOPS #10 is a big one on Monday the 11th at 9pm ET, the $1060 buyin nlh event and the second-largest buyin of all the tournaments that are part of FTOPS VII. This one also has a $1 million guarantee, and I qualified for it this past weekend, so I will be playing for a million-dollar prize pool on two consecutive days in early February, something I'm really looking forward to. Despite my concerns voiced earlier here in the blog about the long-term EV of me playing in $1000 buyin events, I am definitely making a run here in the FTOPS and let's see how far I can get into this field, which may or may not be as strong as the usual Monday 1k field that I wrote about previously.

FTOPS #11 on Tuesday the 12th is $216 Limit O8. I know very well how to play O8, but as I've said many times I really don't like the game and I know a luckboxy game when I see one. So I may play in this thing, but really only if I qualify in a supersat or maybe I will try once or twice to get in cheaply to it via satellites. It's not a priority for me, O8 is for luckdonks for the most part, I know that.

FTOPS #12 is another $322 buyin nlh tournament, this one in 6-max format, but it is a rebuy. Especially at that buyin level, I'm not even remotely interested.

Thursday the 14th sees a return to the 2pm ET tournaments for the Euros out there, starting with the $200 HA Event #13. I would love to play this event and HA (half pot-limit holdem and half pot-limit Omaha) is one of my stronger games, but again I won't be coming home early from work more than the one time to play online poker, so that one is a no-go for me.

Later that Thursday night is the $322 razz tournament for FTOPS #14. I've played this one in the past and I have had some success in razz tournaments in general, but I am really hoping I do not play in this thing. Razz always ends up tilting me before too long, first because of the recockulous runner runner runner boats I end up drawing to, and second and more powerfully because of the unbelievable lack of skill that I see most other players exhibit in this, probably the easiest and the most formulaic of all major poker variations. So I doubt I will make a serious run or commit any serious cash to qualifying for razz that night.

Friday the 15th brings FTOPS #15 which is another 2pm ET event, this one a straight-up $216 6-max nlh tournament. This is just the kind of tournament I would like to play in, but alas it is 2pm on a Friday so no-go for me.

Friday night is FTOPS #16, a $216 stud tournament. I haven't played much stud high in my day, but I know how to play it well and I suppose I could see myself spending a little bit of cash trying to get into this thing for less than the $216 pricetag. It's still not a huge priority for me but it is something I will keep on the radar screen as a potential tournament to play.

FTOPS #17 is a rehash from an earlier FTOPS series, the $2700 buyin two-day nlh tournament. It starts at 2pm ET on Saturday, and as much fun as it would be to play in, I won't be making an effort given the time of day. Weekend afternoons are family time and I am happy to keep it that way for the most part. Hopefully some bloggers will find their way in to this tournament, though, because the $1.5 million guarantee is juicy enough to be worth taking a shot at.

Later on Saturday is FTOPS #18, a $109 PLO Rebuy tournament. I'm not in to FTOPS rebuys of course, but there is an off chance that I may try to play this thing. Probably not though. Definitely not a priority.

Sunday, February 17th at 2pm ET is the second-to-last event of FTOPS VII, Event #19 which is another $256 tournament, this one a nlh knockout event. Once again I would love to play in this thing, but Sunday at 2pm ET is not good for me, in particular with the Main Event coming up that evening at 6pm ET.

And that brings us to the final tournament of FTOPS VII, the Main Event, at 6pm ET on Sunday the 17th. I have played this two or three times before, once donking out at the end of the second hour, once suffering a sickening suckout just short of the money, and once running all the way to 100th place out of 4700-some runners for a nice four-digit score, so I'm looking forward to playing and playing well this time around. I was unable to play in the ME from FTOPS VI due to other plans, so I'm definitely looking to get a piece of that fluffy $2 million guaranteed prize pool next month. Look for me in various satellites as I definitely plan to find my way in to this thing.

So overall, it looks like my big remaining priorities with respect to this FTPOS are: FTOPS 1 ($216 nlh), FTOPS 3 ($535 HORSE) and FTOPS 20 (Main Event, $535 nlh). I've already played in to the four other events I am really interested in -- FTOPS 2 ($240 PLO KO), FTOPS #5 ($216 LHE), FTOPS #9 ($322 nlh) and FTOPS #10 ($1060 nlh), so that is a good thing, but the two $535 events I have on my wish list are both going to be really tough to find my way in to, so I want to get started as early as I can for both of those. Look for me in the FTOPS satellites over the coming nights, in particular for the three events listed above, and hopefully I will see some of you in there as well.

Don't forget the Mookie tonight at 10pm ET, or that token frenzy at 9:45pm ET for a chance to see your name, in print, right here tomorrow if you win your way in to Miami Don's Big Game tonight!

FTOPS Back in Da Hizzy!!

Don't forget, it's Monday night, the start to a new week and thus to a new week of blogger tournaments on full tilt, beginning with tonight's 6-max MATH tournament at 10pm ET:



As always with my private tournaments, the password is "hammer" and I look forward to seeing everyone there if you can make it. We're only in the second week of the MATH for 2008 and there was a four-way chop for first place in our first tournament of the year, which means no large payouts to any one person and therefore nobody has a big head start on anyone else on the 2008 moneyboard. Btw still no updates on a prize for the 2007 moneyboard leaders, but I'm still working on it and I will let you know here as soon as I know anything myself.

So the big news from my perspective this weekend is that FTOPS VII is back in the hee-ouse! This quarter's Full Tilt Online Poker Series will last from Wednesday, February 6 through Sunday, February 17, including a record 20 different events and culminating once again in the February 17 Main Event, a no-limit holdem tournament with a $2 million guaranteed prize pool. In keeping with my poker goals for 2008 as well as some of my biggest successes in past years, I plan to play as many of these FTOPS tournaments as I am able, focusing of course on the games which I view as my best and where I have had the most success in the past.

As with past FTOPS series, I like to look at the entire schedule early on and determine which events I know I cannot play or which don't really fit into my normal schedule, and especially which events I would really like to play so that I know which ones to focus my generally successful tournament satelliting efforts. As such, here is the entire FTOPS VI schedule:

Event #1: NL Hold-m - $200 + $16, on Feb 6th at 21:00 ET - $750,000 Prize Pool

Event #2: PL Omaha Knockout - $240+ $16, Feb 7th at 14:00 ET - $100,000

Event #3 HORSE - $500+ $35, Feb 7th at 21:00 ET - $300,000

Event #4 PLH - $200+ $16, Feb 8th at 14:00 ET -$150,000

Event #5 LH - $200+ $16, (6 max) Feb 8th at 21:00 ET - $150,000

Event #6 PL Omaha - $500 + $35, Feb 9th at 14:00 ET - $250,000

Event #7 NL Hold ‘em Rebuy - $100 + $9, Feb 9th at 16:30 ET - $400,000

Event #8 NL Hold ‘em Knockout - $120 + $9, Feb 10th at 14:00 ET - $150k

Event #9 NL Hold’ em - $300+ $22, Feb 10th at 18:00 ET - $1,000,000

Event #10: NL Hold ‘em- $1000+ $60, (6-max) Feb 11th at 21:00 ET- $1,000,000

Event #11: Limit Omaha Hi/Lo- $200+ $16, Feb 12th at 21:00 ET - $200,000

Event #12: NL Hold’em - $300 + $22, (6-Max, Rebuy) Feb 13th at 21:00 ET - $1,000,000

Event #13: HA (PL Hold ‘em and PL Omaha) - $200+ $16, Feb 14th at 14:00 ET- $100,000

Event #14: Razz - $200+ $16, Feb 14th at 14:00 ET - $100,000

Event #15: NL Hold ‘em - $200 + $16, (6 max) Feb 15th at 14:00 ET- $150,000

Event #16: Stud - $200 + $16, Feb 15th at 21:00 ET- $100,000

Event #17: NL Hold ‘em 2-day - $2,500+ $120, Feb 16th at 14:00 ET- $1,500,000

Event #18: PL Omaha Rebuy - $100 + $9, Feb 16th at 16:30 ET- $300,000

Event #19: NL Hold’em Knockout - $240 + $16, Feb 17th at 14:00 ET- $300,000

Main Event: NL Hold ‘em - $500 + $35, Feb 17th at 18:00 ET - $2,000,000

Taking a quick look at this schedule, the first event that jumped right out at me as a supremely fun tournament to play was FTOPS Event #2, a $240 pot-limit Omaha tournament which will feature a $40 knockout bounty for every player eliminated. Now, even though PLO tends to be a brutal game of suckouts and redraws, I have said here many times that it is a game I enjoy playing in a tournament format probably even more than good old-fashioned no-limit holdem, which is really saying something since nlh is the game that brought me to online poker in the first place a few years ago. It is also a game I have performed very well at in the somewhat limited time I have spent playing Omaha tournaments, so that also adds to the mystique, along with the knock format which I think will be especially fun in a brutal and fast-moving game like PLO. The one problem with this tournament? It is on a Thursday, a work day, at 2pm ET, making it basically impossible for me to play due to my day job. But then the solution hit me all at once: Fuck my job. My manager wouldn't know leadership if it bit him in the ass, and he couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag over the past couple of years. So, to repay my boss for all of his tremendous efforts, all of which have essentially worked to my and my company's detriment, I will either be taking the whole day off or at least the afternoon off. Yes, to play online poker. Deal with it.

Looking at the slate of satellites for this tournament, the ones that jumped out at me immediately are these $33 + $3 PLO sitngos, with the top finisher out of 9 runners being awarded the FTOPS #2 seat. So, being the entreprenurial guy that I am, I solicited some PLO-loving bloggers on Friday night, waited two hours for one of these sngs to fill, and then I played in my first one. After getting sucked out on twice and sucking out on KOD once, I found myself in 2nd place out of 3 remaining (these particular sngs are winner-take-all). At that point I ended up pushing preflop with a decent but not great starting hand, got called by a high pocket pair, and that pair ended up making a set on the flop so IGH in 3rd place. One attempt, one strike. Then on Saturday night this weekend, everyone's favorite PLO blogger was up for the challenge once again, and this time our satellite filled from just us two to nine players much more quickly. Fast forward about 40 minutes, and I was heads-up with Bayne himself, with me at close to a 2-to-1 chip lead, and I got in ahead of Bayne's medium-pocket-pair hand and actually had a favorite hold up against him to take it down:



So that was $72 spent, and I was qualified for FTOPS #2, a $240 knockout PLO tournament. Good stuff, good investment.

Next up on the slate was FTOPS #9, a $322 buyin nlh tournament hosted by Erick Lindgren, for which full tilt has been running some good mtt satellites on a nightly basis -- in particular I like the $75 buyin mtt sat at 10:10pm ET every night. Again, and you will find this to be a pattern with me, I strongly prefer the larger-buyin satellites (if your roll can afford it of course), because although everyone would of course prefer to play into these things as cheaply as possible, the cheaper the satellite buyin, the harder and more rare it is to win your way in through that low-buyin satellite. Personally, with the roll I have and the success I have had over time in satelliting in to larger-buyin tournaments, I prefer to take what I consider to be the second- or third-level buyin satellites, ranging in the $40 to $75 range depending on the size of the underlying tournament. For example, with this nightly $75 buyin satellite into the $322 FTOPS #9, that basically means that 3 out of every 13 players will win their seats. If your roll can withstand it, this is the kind of ratio you want to see in your mtt satellites, because having to win outright out of 30 players in a $26 satellite into the same $322 buyin FTOPS #9 is about 100 times harder to pull off than just finishing in the top few spots out of 13 runners.

Anyways, I tried this tournament on Friday night as well, the first night I really started seeing these FTOPS satellites back on the tournament tab on full tilt, and I flamed out early with I forget what. It wasn't a good play by me whatever it was, as I do not recall getting sucked out on in that spot (I only took about 435 suckouts this weekend, costing me I would estimate maybe 10 grand in winnings, so it was a good weekend overall for me and a highly lucky one as well compared to the way I usually run). So I also tried it again on Saturday night, a satellite in which cmitch and I both made it to the final table around the end of the first hour of the nlh event, albeit both with short stacks. And when I say I had a short stack early at the final table, let me show you what I mean:



195 chips, with 8 players remaining and the top 3 getting seats to FTOPS #9. 195 chips. This was the result of a really bad call by me on the previous hand where I had called an allin from a similar-sized stack to my own on an AA7 flop against a guy whom I had not read for a strong hand when he called my preflop raise out of the blinds. I agonized and then eventually made the allin call holding pocket 6s, and he flipped up some garbage like KJ or KT for the higher two pairs, and I was mega-crippled like you see above.

After this point, however, began one of the greatest comebacks in poker tournament history, right up there with Jack "chip and a chair" Strauss in the World Series of Poker back in 1982. Starting with less than two big blinds in my stack, and with cmitch the next closest stack at over 1300 chips, I began by doubling up twice with two high-card hands that held up in showdowns to give me at least a little bit of breathing room. At some point cmitch and I think one other player dropped out, and I was then in 6th place of 6 but was right up around 1000 chips. This gave me just enough chips to get the players behind me to fold with allin bets from me once or twice, allowing me to chip up even further. About 25 minutes after being down to 195 chips, I was actually dealt a real hand for the only time at the final table, taking JJ and doubling through the next-shortest stack once again who got allin with an Ace and a kicker lower than my Jacks. From here it was just play good-timing poker, pushing aggressively whenever no one else had shown any strength while being sure not to get stuck calling anyone's allin with an inferior hand, and I was able to survive to the bubble when one of the big stacks got caught with a straight against another big stacks' trips, bringing us down to four players, with one short stack and the other three of us in good position to win the FTOPS #9 seats. The shorty made a bad move and made things easy by pushing allin on the very first hand with what turned out to be 63o, getting called by AQ and that was all she wrote -- over about 90 minutes I went from 195 chips and in a distant last out of 8 players remaining to this:



BOOOOooooooooom! So getting in to FTOPS #9 is in the books. That one is the first Sunday of the FTOPS, and it's at 6pm ET but I can make that happen with Hammer Wife. The Hammer kids don't really stay up that much past 6 anyways most days, and she can finish that off on the night in exchange for something good I can figure out to throw her way. Hammer Wife tries to act like she isn't in to this whole poker thing, but she's good like that. So anyways, this one was $150 spent for a $322 buyin. Wish it was less, but I'll take it.

Then on Sunday night, having already won my way into FTOPS #2 and #9 earlier in the weekend, I was focusing on another tournament that I really enjoyed for the first time in the last FTOPS series -- FTOPS #5 in 6-max limit holdem. This is another $216 buyin tournament, and it is scheduled for Friday evening, February 8 at 9pm ET, a time when I pretty much always play the FTOPS as this last night of the first week of FTOPS has traditionally been saved for pot-limit holdem, but this time around it will be shorthanded limit. As I've said here many times, I really can't stand limit holdem for its donkchasey nature, but if you adjust properly, find a high enough buyin so that it keeps out at least the abject fonkadonks, and play is shorthanded I find that this is an enjoyable game for someone who has read and practiced a lot of limit holdem strategies and techniques. For this tournament, I very quickly located the best satellite for my roll, which was once again one of these second- or third-level buyins of $70. Since the underlying FTOPS #5 is 6-max, the sng satellites running for it are also 6-max which I love and which makes good sense, so for a $70 buyin you get to play a sitngo with 6 players, the top two of which will win their seats to FTOPS #5. Me likely. So, fast forward about two hours in this, my first attempt to satellite in to FTOPS #5, and skipping over about 4 suckouts that each threatened to cripple me in various ways and at various times in the sat, and here you go:



So, it was a highly fruitful weekend for me on the FTOPS front, winning my way into FTOPS #2, #5 and #9 with a total investment of under $300 to win seats worth $256, $216 and $322 for a total of nearly $800. So not only am I in to three big tournaments that I really want to play in, but I've done so at a very low cost relative to the cost of just buyin in direct, which of course is the whole objective all along of playing in these satellites to begin with. Later in the week I plan to discuss the other FTOPS VII tournaments I am looking to play my way into, and which satellites if any are out there that look the most attractive to me to do so.

One last thing:



That is me winning another donkament this past Friday, my first of 2008 and my third blonkament victory already in just the first couple weeks of the new year. In this one I was in 12th place out of 15 players with 5500 chips -- just one late-hour double-up above the minimum rebuy + addon after I sat out for the first 40 minutes or so of Monkey Hour for the third straight week to have dinner and watch a little tv with Hammer Wife. I very quickly doubled up with AQ over AJ at the beginning of Hour 2, and then managed to ride that medium stack to the final table. I had a blast at the final table taking out all the entire tuckfard nutz boys one by one by one, including my own personal punching bag NutzCarson on the old favorite "counterfeit" bad beat when my A8 beat his 88 on a QQx99 board. Sorry Carson, I am sure you'll get me back one of these days in this thing! Anyways, it was $60, but again as with all the blonkaments it is far less about the money and more about the fun and the pride. And with a goal of winning 15 blonkaments in all of 2008, to have already knocked out three of 'em in just a couple of weeks is a very good start for a guy who takes setting and meeting my goals very seriously when it comes to poker.

See you tonight at Mondays at the Hoy on full tilt!