Full Tilt New Promotion--Take 2

Hello All,

Take a look at the new Full Tilt Promo....sign up today...it starts on Tuesday 9-1-09!

You have to earn 1 full tilt point on each table in order for the 'day' to qualify.

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Take 2 - Earn up to $50 and Double Points

Earn up to $50 cash AND double the number of Full Tilt Points you’d normally receive, duringTake 2.

Take 2 runs from Tuesday, September 1st to Wednesday, September 30th. By playing at least two ring-game tables at the same time during Take 2, you’ll earn double Full Tilt Points on both tables. Play as often as you can during September and you’ll be rewarded with cash, up to $50, depending on the number of days you play.

Get up to $50 in Cash

The more you play during Take 2, the more cash you can earn. Reach four different levels depending on the number of days that you play and you can earn up to $50:

• Level 1: Play for 5 days and receive $5
• Level 2: Play for 10 days to get $10, for a cumulative total of $15
• Level 3: Play for 15 days and take home another $10, a cumulative total of $25
• Level 4: Play for 25 days and you’ll earn an additional $25, for a cumulative total of $50

Earn Double Points on Both Tables

When you play two tables on Full Tilt Poker, you get twice the points. During Take 2, we’ll give you a lot more: when you play on two ring-game tables at the same time, we’ll double the number of points you’d normally receive on BOTH tables.

For example, if you earn 60 points at one table and 40 at another, ordinarily you would get 100 points. However, during Take 2, you’ll get 200 points instead of 100. That’s 100 points for your play and 100 bonus points.

You can use your bonus points in the Full Tilt Poker Store to get plasma TVs, iPods, custom Full Tilt Poker jerseys and more, or to enter special Full Tilt Points Sit & Gos and Multi-Table Tournaments.

Register to Participate in Take 2

Follow these steps to claim your cash and double points during Take 2:

• Log in to Full Tilt Poker
• Click on the Cashier button
• Select the My Promotions box
• Click on the Take 2 box
• Follow the instructions on the Take 2 My Promotions page – you must elect to participate in this promotion or you will not receive cash or double points for your play during Take 2
• Return to the game lobby and play at two ring-game tables simultaneously to start earning cash and double Full Tilt Points at each table

Malinda Wins 2009 Summer Tournament of Champions!

In a 5 hour 37 minute long match that saw chips flying back and forth between the 9 Tournament of Champions players...it was Malinda "Nemesis" Cardenas who was the only one with chips left on the felt at the end of this 2009 Summer TOC!

This is Malinda's fourth TOC Ticket win however, her first TOC Championship. Congratulations Nemesis!

It was a strange TOC which had for the first time not one....but two forfeits including the session point leader ("Matusow" and "Chaser"). These adjustments took out over 14,000 chips off of the table and reduced the TOC from 2 tables down to 1.

The TOC blind levels are set at 30 minutes and start at a low low 10/20 which as the lowest chips stack over 200 times the big blind to start the match. So there was plenty of early back and forth as players were testing the waters....and some matchups took shape including Bud "Monster" vs Mike "Blind Me Down" and "Karaoke" Phil vs Greg "NewLife". The forfeit of "Matusow" placed Mark "Verbal" in the number one chip spot at the start of the TOC, however he was closely followed by several CPL Members.

After the first set of blinds were over and we entered the first break, all 9 members were remaining and "Nemesis", "Karaoke", and "NewLife" had begun collecting chips to take early leads.

3 hours into the match and the first casualty appeared to be Bud "Monster" as he was the short stack entering into the TOC and was all in vs "Blind Me Down", and pushed all in with AJ on a board of 8-5-3 and got a caller in "Blind Me Down" who was holding 5-3 for two pair. However, that shrank up fast as another 8 on the turn conterfeited "Blind Me Down's" pair and the J on the river gave "Monster" the pot and doubled him up to keep him in the match!

This was a critical hand as "Monster" next tangled with Bill "Comeback Kid" and again got won the pot, and the TOC saw the first player knocked out as "Comeback" went out in 9th place. Suddenly, "Monster" was in great shape with a mound of chips in front of him.

Out in 8th was Wanda "Wicked1". "Wicked1" had seen a gradual decline in her chip stack throughout the match and really didn't get anything going during this TOC.

Out in 7th was Mark "Verbal". "Verbal" went up against "Karaoke" with Big Slick on a Q high board to get snap called by "Karaoke" holding AQ. No K for "Verbal" on the Turn or River and "Verbal" exists the TOC early (is this the return of the second seed curse that Mark broke in 2008?).

We were then on the money bubble with 6 players remaining....both "Blind Me Down" and Scott "Hollywood" were the short stacks and were eyeing each other hand after hand to see who would go down first.

They both held on round after round however the blinds would eventually require one of them to push and "Hollywood" would be the one to blink as he went out in 6th place tangling against "NewLife".

Then another big change in the chips happened as "Monster" went out in 5th after seeing his massive chip stack wander away to "Nemesis", "NewLife", and "Karaoke" hand after hand after hand...with the last of it going to "NewLife". A great match for "Monster" who finished 6 spots above his seeding!!

With four players remaining....we entered the ticket bubble.

"NewLife" had about 22K and "Nemesis" had about 20K. "Karaoke" was left with only 9K, and "Blind Me Down" was severely short stacked with less than 3K. Blinds entered the 500/1000 level and the fireworks began.

"Blind Me Down" was blinded down into 4th place...finally relinquishing his chips to "Karaoke"....in a very long drawn out decision by "Karaoke" after "Blind Me Down" channelled Jamie Gold, advising "Karaoke" to call and even showed "Karaoke" his A before "Karaoke's" decision was made. "Karaoke" went into the tank....and followed his guts to call with middle connectors against "Blind Me Down's" small A. After an 8 hit the turn to pair up "Karaoke". "Blind Me Down" needed a Greestein to continue his TOC...which didn't happen and "Blind Me Down" exited in 4th on the ticket bubble.

The 3 Tournament ticket winners were decided....now the TOC crown was in sight....

Only a few hands into the 3 handed match, "NewLife" bet up to 3000 with an A , "Nemesis" re-raised to 6000 with KQ, and "NewLife" called. With a Q high flop, "Nemesis" bet 4500 which prompted an All In by "NewLife" and "Nemesis" went into the tank...."Nemesis" barely had "NewLife" covered...and called staring at the fortune in the pot. "NewLife" would not hit his Ace on the Turn or River and went out in 3rd place.

"Nemesis" now had a massive chip stack at this point and went up against "Karaoke" in heads up play.

And again....only a few hands into heads up play...On a flop of A-Q-10..."Karaoke" shoved with his A-3 only to get snap called by "Nemesis" who had flopped a straight as she held the K-J. A blank on the turn ended it in second place for "Karaoke" and "Nemesis" claimed the TOC crown.

Congratulations to the 2009 Summer Session Tournament Ticket winners Nemesis, Karaoke, and NewLife! Stay tuned for reports on how they do at the Running Aces Midwest Fall Classic as they use their TOC tickets to go for the cash at Running Aces at the end of Sept...

CPL Quote of the Week:

"So is Box the Clown performing at your daughter's party?"--"Karaoke" to "Comeback Kid"

2009 Summer TOC Results

1-Malinda "Nemesis" Cardenas--Ticket Winner

2-"Karaoke" Phil Fuehrer--Ticket Winner

3-Greg "NewLife" Durand--Ticket Winner

4-Mike "Blind Me Down" Behr

5-Bud "Monster" Abbott

6-Scott "Hollywood" Bauer

7-Mark "Verbal" Cardenas

8-Wanda "Wicked1" Bublitz

9-Bill "Comeback Kid" Lanoux

10-Jeff "Matusow" Matson--by forfeit

11-Steve "Chaser" Bennewitz--by forfeit

Karaoke Phil Stages Comeback in CPL Week 11

Karaoke Phil topped the CPL field of 9 during Week 11...but it sure didn't look like he would after losing over 2/3rds of his chips early in the night and stopping out of the room (Phil Hellmuth sytle).

But he staged a dramatic comeback to take down the week and move him into the 5th seed for today's TOC!

Congrats Phil!

CPL Honorable Mention to Bud "Monster" Abbott for 'backing' into the TOC....nice!

Congrats to all that have made it to this Sessions TOC! Good Luck to All!

CPL Final Leaderboard

Week 11 points Awarded

Free Poker Network / CPL kudos

Kudos to "Comeback Kid" Bill Lanoux. It looks like he took down session 2 (second 8-week half of the season) at Erik's Bar in the FreePokerNetwork League (FPN). That allows him to skip regions and go straight to the state tourney where several seats to Vegas (where the championship tourney will give away several seats to the Heartland Poker Tour's season opening tourney at the Red Rock Casino) will be handed out. Wanda "Wicked1" Bublitz looks to have squeaked into the regional tourney where she'll play along side Karaoke Phil who took 4th in session 1 (top 6 qualified to regions), but slipped in session 2 to 10th/11th.

And, speaking of Karaoke Phil, regions may be moot. He was finally able to use his online token in a 10 player SNG satellite for an online seat to the Vegas give away this Sunday. Except for a 10 - 15 hand lull in the middle of the tourney Karaoke dominated the field (60% of the chips with 4 players left and 88% of the chips with 3 players remaining). There were 38 runners signed up for the Sunday tourney and Karaoke thinks it will be about 50 total come tourney time. The winner will get a Vegas seat at the Nationals Championship with 2nd place receiving an Ipod Nano.

Nice job CPLers.

Also, look for our docu-series "Suck Out!" to continue this weekend!!!

Monday Madness and Site Numbers

Formalities first - tonight's Monday Madness password is: CPL (surprised??).

A good chance we'll also be doing the podcast which means live commentary if you get in and play.

Now, on to our monthly site traffic. It as a long time coming (and not quite a record) but we broke 400 visits from July 16 to August 15 (our standard tracking timeframe) clocking in with 428. We had 394 during the shortened time period of Feb to March but the record still stands at 436 (Oct to Nov, 2008).

While we just missed the record (this time) we have a lot more to be happy about. We think our content is better and the number seem to bear it out. This month's visits came from 99 cities in 22 countries - both better than the 67 cities/14 countries from the record month.

Circle Pines, MN moves back into the top 5 cities (up from 8th) and Fargo is the location for the most non-Minnesota visits (tied for 8th). With our new Suck Out! series and other additions - let's break that record.

Staking, part two of "Suck Out! - A Horse with No Name Recognition"

Editor's Note: This is the second post in our "Suck Out!" serial. You can read the first posting here.

Staking

This serial is about staking and our real life encounter with it. Before we get too far into the series we should be sure that we are all on the same page as there are a few terms and concepts you should know.

Poker is divided into tournaments and cash games. Tournaments play down to a winner (or until a “deal” is reached) while a cash game is simply ongoing play where you sit down to play and then leave as you wish – while the game continues (or breaks up if it’s 3 am and your wife is screaming at you to shut the hell up so she can get some sleep). Usually, at lower stakes anyway, players pay their own way. If it’s a $125 tournament at a casino or sitting down at a home cash game with $40 the player digs into his pocket uses his own cash.

Sometimes players are “staked”. This is certainly more common for pricier cash games or tournaments, but with online poker it can be for any amount or money level. Staking means that someone else is putting up the money being used. Stu Ungar’s third WSOP Main Event (ME) win in 1997 is, perhaps, the greatest story about staking.

For years Ungar had abused cocaine and led a self-destructive lifestyle. The 1980 and 1981 back-to-back ME winner had reportedly gone from broke to millionaire to broke 3 or 4 times. His poor decision-making in his life meant that he had barely played in the WSOP since 1991. But then April 1997 rolled around. Stu wanted to play again, redeem himself. His bankroll had other plans. Stu was broke. Billy Baxter, a close friend of Ungar’s, offered to stake him in the Main Event and Ungar was able to register minutes before start time, the last player to register for the tournament. Stu went on to win his third WSOP ME Title.

So, in staking, you have someone who provides money, or invests, in a player. The one with the money is called a backer. The player, or the one being staked, is typically called a “horse”. The backer and horse come to agreement on the terms of a staking including money splits, playing requirements and any other conditions.

Staking is often a losing proposition in the short term in tournament play. A horse may go several tournaments without cashing. As a result, many stakings include a “make-up” or “cake” clause. Simply put, a make-up clause means that if a horse loses an initial stake – say a $1500 WSOP tourney buy in that the player busts out of before cashing – then the player will need to make up that $1500 the next time the backer stakes him. For our example, say the backer decides to stake the player for a second $1500 tourney. This time the player cashes in the amount of $5500. Rather than splitting the $4000 profit from this tournament the player needs to “make up” the previously lost $1500 due to the cake clause they had in place. That means the actual split is on only $2500 after the player makes up for the other $1500 he lost.

For “Suck Out!” the total stake is $55 to be used in 5 - $11 tournaments. The tournaments may be multi-tables or sit-n-goes: horse’s choice.

Editor's Note: Look for regular postings (every few days) as we work through the stake - next post: "The Stake (A Backer's Perspective)". We'd love to hear your comments and thoughts as well.

Blind Me Down Wins Week 10!

In a dramatic, never ending CPL Week 10, Mike Blind Me Down Behr topped the field of 12 to take the number one spot and which vaulted Blind Me Down to 4th place and guarantees him a spot in the coveted CPL Tournament of Champions!

Playing 6 handed for quite a while set an odd pace to the game and did not set well for both CPL directors as Verbal exited in 12th and Karaoke in 11th. However during this 6 handed play the CPL witnessed another Straight Flush! Congrats to Greg NewLife Durand for pulling off this feat!

And as rare as a Straight Flush....Blind Me Down found himself heads up against Bill Comeback Kid Lanoux! During this re-match however Blind Me Down got the best of the flops and the cards and took care of business to take down the CPL Week 10!

Congrats Mike on a great win and for clinching your seat at the TOC!

Others who clinched TOC seats during week 10--Congrats!

Wicked1

Nemesis

Karaoke Phil

Chaser

Hollywood

Thanks Also to Pam and Steve for hosting during Week 10!

Only one week left and only one seat remains open for the TOC.

Which of the 3 remaining CPL members will make it to the TOC?

CPL Week 10 Leaderboard

Points Awarded During Week 10

CPL presents: "Suck Out! – A Horse with no Name Recognition"

Forward

This serial will consist of published installments in the vein of George Plimpton's "Paper Lion". We will be covering poker in the first person as an amateur effectively being paid to compete. For our purposes, and since we're not independently wealthy, we are starting with a backing offer of $55. Karaoke Phil will do most of the writing of his experiences with observations from "Verbal" Mark Cardenas sprinkled in. We hope you enjoy and welcome any comments and feedback.

Introduction

It all started with a simple series of emails:
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Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 12:30 PM
Subject: Poker round # 2. Saturday Jan 8th 6:00pm
Happy New Year Everyone!
Now that the bustle of the Holiday season is over it’s time to do some gambling!!
Poker Round 2
When: Saturday January 8th 6:00pm.
Game: Texas Hold’em. Last person standing takes all.
Buy in: $25.00 per person gets you $1000 in chips.
Please RSVP and let me know if you need more specific instructions!
Mark

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Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 2:01 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Poker round # 2. Saturday Jan 8th 6:00pm
cough, cough..
Um...hello? Are you available on Saturday? I haven’t heard from you?
Mark

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Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Poker round # 2. Saturday Jan 8th 6:00pm
I will come - this time for sure. I'll need to review the Texas Hold 'em rules though. I've never really played it (that I can recall) just seen it on ESPN a couple/three times. Beginner's luck??
Phil

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So began my love affair with poker. Sure, I had played dealer's choice home games - red dog, baseball, "in between" and the like. But, those games just aren't Omaha 8 Hi/Lo, Stud 8 Hi/Lo, HORSE or the "Cadillac" of poker games - Texas Hold 'em, no-limit of course. Until 2005 I never really played the "real" games of poker. I certainly had not even attempted to study the game. All of that changed on that cold Minnesota day in January when I finally, truly played the game. I was hooked.

Television coverage of the WPT, WSOP, US Poker Championship and even shows like Celebrity Poker Showdown fueled my aspirations and dreams. Poker, they say, is the one sport where an amateur can sit down against a grizzled veteran pro and have a decent shot at winning. And, victories can bring millions of dollars. I found out that I wasn't god-awful bad. I could compete. I lost money for a while, but not huge amounts and not in a matter of days. At first, it would slowly drain away and I would need to make another deposit or have someone transfer me some additional funds every couple of months.

I read, studied, contemplated, discussed and improved. No, I haven't had the meteoric rise that some internet young guns have had. I didn't go pro within two months of sitting down at a computer terminal. But, then again, that's not my style. I am, now, though, what I call a "slow profit" player. I am not getting rich (yet). In fact, I tend to float up and down within a narrow zone range. But, I haven't needed to deposit any funds (indeed, I have even transferred a little to others) in over a year. The bankroll holds steady and occassionally slowly builds. You will see me on the virtual felt - a lot. All in all, the progress has been huge and I anticipate it will continue.

Editor's Note - Look for further entries as "Suck Out! - A Horse with no Name Recognition" unfolds

Suck Out - A Horse with no Name Recognition

We've tweeted about this (July 13 and 25th) and did a little promo/preview on the podcast (July 25th episode) and are ready to begin the chronicling.

Titled: "Suck Out - A Horse with no Name Recognition", Karaoke Phil will be staked by Verbal Cardenas in a series of poker tournaments.

In the vein of George Plimpton's "Paper Lion" (and other endeavors), we'll blog (and incorporate into the Podcast and on Twitter) this series as it unfolds, likely posting a blog entry every third or so day over several weeks. Look for the first entry this weekend sometime.

We'd be happy to have any feedback or comments!

Your CPL Poker Blog/Podcast Directors.

New Podcast Out

Take a listen - click the player on the left pane or go here (GCast host)

Enjoy - let us know what you think.