geoff manning » Poker

The Twitter Poker Tour Championship Series

Geoff — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:54:19 +0000

Well, I teased it during my last blog post, so here it is: We have setup a brand new tournament series called the Twitter Poker Tour Championship Series (or TPTCS for short) that will run from April until June on Full Tilt Poker. These events will run in place of the monthly leaderboard events. We have been looking for a way to mix things up a little and address the issues that some of our players and fans have, namely:

Buyin’s are Too Small/Big!

The TPTCS will feature buyins from $2 up to $50 so that we can cater to a wider pool of players. We are always looking to attract more players and by widening the range of buyins, we hope to do that.

Enough Holdem Already!

We wanted to start offering a different game selection other than No Limit Holdem but we weren’t quite sure how to do it. If we replaced our regular Thursday events with a different game, we would alienate our players that enjoy NLHE. Under this new tournament series, we will have games running Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. We will keep Thursday as NLHE (though we will introduce different game types like 6-max and HU) and will add different games in the Tuesday/Sunday slot. Games like PLO, Razz, 2-7, Stud, etc.

Start Time is Too Early/Late!

With players joining us from across North America as well as Europe, the 9PM ET start time can be a little problematic. It’s still fairly early on the US West Coast and really late in the UK/Ireland and Europe. Though the Tuesday/Thursday events will remain at 9PM ET, the Sunday events will take place at 2PM ET and that’s a late breakfast for the West Coast and early in the night across the pond.

The series will feature 26 events including a multi-entry Main Event and a Tournament of Champions. The winner of each of the 25 preliminary events will get entered into the TOC event with a $216 step 4 ticket up for grabs! In fact, we will be awarding 5 step 4 tickets and some smaller step tickets for winning/placing in various events throughout the series.

Additionally, there will be Full Tilt Red Pro and other poker celebrity players that will be acting as hosts for these events. The current list of hosts include:

Aaron Bartley
Esther Rossi
Linda Johnson
Kelly Kim
Greg Mueller
Matt Jarvis
Matt Savage
Michael Mizrachi

Shaking Things up at the Twitter Poker Tour

Geoff — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:17:00 +0000

@coolwhipflea and I have been discussing for some time now what we can do to expand and promote the Twitter Poker Tour. We have a pretty loyal, albeit small, following of die-hards that play in our weekly online poker events. Many of which have been with us since day 1. Over the years and months we have grown from 20 to 110 players and back to our regular 50 weekly players.

Some of the questions we asked ourselves:

Is the $5 + $1 buyin too small?
Is the one month leaderboard season too short?
Are we providing any added value to the league?
Are we creating compelling enough content on the Twitter Poker Tour website to attract and maintain traffic?

And over the last few weeks we have been putting together something that we hope will be exciting to our existing players and intriguing to our prospective players. We aim to answer all of the questions above, and in fact have already begun doing so.

For instance, we have started to post some poker strategy and how-to articles on-site and in the forums. Speaking of the forum, we have made steps to reinvigorate it. We have re-modded 4Get24BetMe. Some people love him, some hate him but there are a few things that are true about him: He has been a loyal supporter of the TPT since almost (if not the) beginning. He really knows how to play poker and (when he’s not being a wise-ass) does a pretty good job at explaining strategy in the forums. And he helps us out a lot behind the scenes.

As for what we have planned….that’ll have to wait for another post! Paul is working on a press release and we are finalizing some details with Full Tilt and our sponsors. When we are ready, you’ll be the first to know!

Rush Poker Mobile Yanked from Android Market

Geoff — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:25:41 +0000

Recently, Full Tilt Poker was forced to pull their Rush Poker Mobile application from the Android marketplace. This application allowed players to play holdem poker online for real cash. According to Full Tilt, they voluntarily took the app off of the market for “maintenance.” In an email response to those questioning why the app was pulled, Full Tilt stated that the application was no longer available due to maintenance. They also mentioned that they were happy at how successful the app was but because it was only in the beta testing stage there were some maintenance issues that had to be addressed.

Though the aforementioned, is Full Tilt Poker’s take on the matter, the Android Market website seems to suggest otherwise. The website mentions that all gambling websites have to be rated correctly. The correct rating is Teen or above. Also, only simulated gambling is allowed, no real money games via apps are allowed. The latter may be a big reason the Rush Poker Mobile app was pulled, even though the company doesn’t state so.

For those still interested in using the app on their phone, they can download it from the Full Tilt website. In order for it to work, their telephone must have Flash Version 10.1 or higher. There is no word on whether or not the app will once again be added to the Android marketplace.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding what may really be a non-issue. The company may have taken the app down for maintenance. It was after all in beta. Changes are often made to programs in this stage. However, the mystery develops when one reads Androids TOS regarding apps. It looks like Rush violated them and were thus forced to take their app down. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t just admit that and move on. It would have caused less furor. For those individuals still interested in the app, again, it can be found on the Full Tilt website.

Huge Sunday Events at Full Tilt Poker

Geoff — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:28:11 +0000

What do you associate with Sunday? Church? Football? Well, thanks to Full Tilt Poker you can now associate Sunday with online poker. Full Tilt has went above and beyond and now has over $1,000,000 in guaranteed money being paid out every single Sunday. They call this series of events Big Money Sundays which consists of the Sunday Brawl, the $750k Guarantee and the Sunday Mulligan.

The Sunday Brawl

This is a nice little starter tournament that kicks off at 2:00 PM EST every Sunday. The entry is $240 + $16 with $200 going to the prize pool and $40 going to the knockout bounty pool. The guaranteed money for this event is $350,000. The fun twist to this tournament is that for every person you knockout of the tournament, you get $40! Makes for a pretty aggressive poker game.

$750K Sunday Guarantee

This is Full Tilt Pokers largest weekly guaranteed tournament. There is $750K guaranteed every single Sunday. The tournament starts at 5:00 PM EST and is $200 + $16 to enter. There is late registration options as well as options to buy entry with you Full Tilt Points.

Sunday Mulligan

If you haven’t had enough online poker yet or you missed these first two tournaments, the Sunday Mulligan is still available. This tournament kicks off every Sunday at 7:05 PM EST and has a $200,000 guarantee to it.

Throughout the week Full Tilt Poker has a very nice schedule of guarantee tournaments. But to get the most bang for your buck, give the Big Money Sundays a try one of these weeks and you just might walk a way a winner thanks to Full Tilt Poker.

FallenHeroesUSA.org Charity Poker Tournament This Sunday

Geoff — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:06:59 +0000

You can help out a good cause this weekend by playing in the FallenHeroesUSA.org Charity Poker tournament hosted on Full Tilt Poker. It’s just a $10 buyin with half of the proceeds going to the prize pool and the other half going directly to support the charity. The charity is run by Scott Diamond (@DeputySD) and it’s main purpose is to help the families of police officers who have given the ultimate sacrifice while protecting their communities.

Event Information

When: Sunday at 4PM ET
Where: Full Tilt Poker
What: $5 + $5 NLHE Event
Event ID: 190775719
Password: FHUSA

You can also search for ‘cprpoker’ on Full Tilt to find the event. Check the TPT website if you need to signup for a Full Tilt account.

So far there are 3 Full Tilt Red Pro’s registered to play: Andy Bloch, Esther Rossi and Kelly Kim so here’s your chance to play with the pro’s! If you happen to bust one of them, you’ll get your buyin back and an “I busted a Pro” Full Tilt shirt! If you need to brush up on your skills, learn how to play texas hold’em from the pro’s themselves.

About Fallen Heroes USA

FallenHeroesUSA.org was established to assist the families of Law Enforcement Officers who have given their lives serving their communities in the United States. We are a Non-Profit Foundation and no one affiliated receives any compensation for their time and effort.

Our goal is to be able to help the families and memorialize the Officers by posting their pictures on our Heroes page, so no one ever forgets them and the sacrifice they have made for us.

The Twitter Poker Tour Live Experience

Geoff — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:14:13 +0000

We started broadcasting TPT live alongside our weekly online poker tournament well over a year ago. Our listening audience consists mainly of the players involved in the Twitter Poker Tour tournament, but they are treated week in and week out to a host of great guests. We have been joined on air with some of the top poker pro’s and poker journalists in the industry.

Being a co-host of a live internet radio show is not something that comes naturally to me. Luckily I am joined each week by Paul Ellis (@coolwhipflea) and he really anchors the three-hour plus program. The content of the show is based around the play at the tables but driven towards current events in the poker industry and the guests we have on air.

We have recently been joined semi-regularly from some poker media members that I have known of and respected long since before we started the broadcast. Matt Waldron @MattCWaldron), Kevin Mathers (@kevmath) and BJ Nemeth (@BJNemeth) add great insight to the program and give our listeners a peak inside the ropes of the live poker scene.

Funny story about the appearances on TPT Live by BJ Nemeth: He’s the one guest that we’ve had where while we’re broadcasting I forget that it’s our show he’s on. BJ co-hosts/guests on several top poker podcasts that when I listen to his commentary I feel like I am listening to the award winning Poker Beat, and not my own show.

We broadcast live each Thursday at 9PM ET alongside the Twitter Poker Tour. So feel free to listen live and play along!

November Nine Time – The Wait is Over

Geoff — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:54:07 +0000

It’s been a long time since I traveled out to Las Vegas for the 2010 WSOP Main Event, arriving on Day 5 and seeing it through to 15 remaining (damn travel plans). Here is my 2010 WSOP trip report incase you missed it! After the final table hiatus the time has come for the remaining nine players to reconvene at the Rio and play until they crown a new Main Event Champion who will take home almost $9m in cash.

There are a few players that I am actively rooting for. After spending so many hours watching it in-person, it’s hard not to start pulling for certain players. The biggest name still in the hunt is Michael Mizrachi (7th in chips at $14.4m) and if he were to be able to pull it out it would be historic. He would have won the two most prestigious events in the 2010 WSOP, the $50K Players Championship and the Main Event. That would tie him with Frank Kassela for POY honors. It also helps that Grinder joined the TPT Live broadcast and spent some time on-air with Paul and I (Listen: Grinder on the TPT.)

Another player I am pulling for is John Racener (4th in chips at $19m). He’s an accomplished live and online player and has over $2m in live tournament winnings. He’s a young guy at just 24 and started his poker bankroll from a $50 online deposit. Must be nice!

Lastly I am pulling for Joseph Cheong to win the 2010 Main Event. Cheong, the on-again, off-again chip leader over the time I spent at the event sits 3rd in chips with over $23m. I was most impressed by his table persona and his seemingly impossible-to-tilt character. After suffering a devastating blow at the hands of Filippo Candio (see youtube clip below), he was able to shake it off and hind himself 3rd in chips at the November Nine.

Changes Brewing on the Twitter Poker Tour

Geoff — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:15:49 +0000

Paul (@coolwhipflea) and I have been busy at work for the past few months getting things in line for the upcoming year. As we celebrate our 2 Year Anniversary this month, we have started to roll out some changes that online poker players on the Twitter Poker Tour will certainly enjoy.

First off, we have inked a deal with DeepStacks University and DeepStacks Live as a sponsor. They will be providing the TPT with prizes for the monthly leaderboard as well as provide access to their stable of poker pros’/instructors to join us on the TPT Live program. Be on the lookout for this in November.

Additionally we have partnered with CardzShoppe.com to provide a leaderboard prize, also starting in November. Gary will be providing us with a poker chip set retailing at $125 to award as a prize on the leaderboard. Welcome aboard!

We still have a few tricks up our sleeves we’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks that will really juice up the prize pool. We are very excited about these changes and can’t wait for November!

If you haven’t had a chance to play in our events, please feel free to drop on by the Twitter Poker Tour website to find out more information about the league.

The 2010 WSOP Experience

Geoff — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:55:38 +0000

All week I have been recapping my trip out to Las Vegas for the 2010 World Series of Poker. I wrote it partly for my family and friends that read this but I also wrote it down for myself. Though the days were long and tedious at times, the experience flew by. I wanted to be get it all out on “paper” so I can share and remember.

2010 WSOP Trip

I fully plan to return to a future WSOP and I hope it will be next year. 2011 will be a tough but incredibly rewarding year as we will be adding a new addition so we’ll see. I hoped you enjoyed reading my recaps and I had a lot of fun writing them. I haven’t been writing here nearly as much as I want to so I hope this will kick-start this blog and I can get back to updating it regularly.

2010 World Series of Poker Trip Report – Part V

Geoff — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:20:22 +0000

This is part IV in a multi-part series covering my trip out to Las Vegas to cover the 2010 World Series of Poker. Please see part I, part II, part III and part IV.

Even though I had been up for about 23 hours the day before, sleep was hard to come by on my last night in Vegas. I was partly excited for the play down from 27 to 9 and partly afraid to be woken up by housekeeping sometime after checkout. I had set the alarm on my iPhone so I wouldn’t sleep past 9:30 but as it turns out I would be walking down the halls of the Rio at that time. For those of you wondering, my iPhone alarm sounds something like this.

I was the first one into the media room since it was so damn early, well second as Seth Palansky (WSOP Communications Director) beat me in….and he was in for a looooong day. When I got settled in I was able to parse through the table draws and chip counts and get some notes written down about the day to come. This is what the Day 8 table draws were:

Table: Amazon 100

1: Michael Mizrachi (MIAMI, FL, US) – $6,300,000.00
2: Scott Clements (MOUNT VERNON, WA, US) - $7,250,000.00
3: Michiel Sijpkens (ROTTERDAM, , NL) - $7,765,000.00
4: John Dolan (BONITA SPRINGS, FL, US) - $2,175,000.00
5: John Racener (PORT RICHEY, FL, US) - $10,470,000.00
6: Brandon Steven (WICHITA, KS, US) - $6,045,000.00
7: Redmond Lee (LONDON, , GB) - $3,315,000.00
8: William Thorson (VARBERG, , SE) - $3,680,000.00
9: Mads Wissing (COPENHAGEN, , DK) - $3,070,000.00

Table: Amazon 101

1: Johnny Lodden (JORPELAND, , NO) - $1,560,000.00
2: Joseph Cheong (LA MIRADA, CA, US) - $24,490,000.00
3: Jason Senti (MN, US) - $13,550,000.00
4: Matt Affleck (MILL CREEK, WA, US) - $12,515,000.00
5: Matthew Jarvis (SURREY, BC, CA) - $13,300,000.00
6: Matthew Bucaric (KNOXVILLE, TN, US) - $2,270,000.00
7: David Baker (KATY, TX, US) - $6,825,000.00
8: Filippo Candio (CAGLIARI, IT) - $10,020,000.00
9: Ronnie Bardah (STONEHAM, MA, US) - $2,525,000.00

Table: Amazon 102

1: Adam Levy (LOS ANGELES, CA, US) - $4,745,000.00
2: Benjamin Statz (MADISON, WI, US) - $9,885,000.00
3: Soi Nguyen (SANTA ANA, CA, US) - $23,100,000.00
4: Duy Le (SAN JOSE, CA, US) - $7,255,000.00
5: Jonathan Duhamel (BOUCHERVILLE, QC, CA) - $10,520,000.00
6: Robert Pisano (LAS VEGAS, NV, US) - $8,060,000.00
7: Pascal LeFrancois (ROSEMERE, QC, CA) - $15,780,000.00
8: Hasan Habib (DOWNEY, CA, US) - $1,510,000.00
9: Patrick Eskandar (LADERA RANCH, CA, US) - $1,655,000.00

The 27 players that started Day 8 were placed at the two TV tables and a newly formed third feature table (Amazon 102) right behind the secondary table. Media access to these tables was really tough, as expected. Once they get this deep into the tournament they need to give preference to the ESPN/441 Productions cameras and the PokerNews staff.

@MattCWaldron Ducking the ESPN Camera Jib

After taking pictures of the final three tables, Paul and I would settle into the media platform on the near side of the secondary feature table. This area comes with a bit of a warning though as there is no standing allowed and is restricted to media access only. One fan tried to come in and Seth Palansky politely told him that the ESPN camera jib overhead was a safety issue and he needed to move. The fan pointed to Paul and I and said “What about those guys?”. Seth told him that were were part of the media and that we’d signed waivers that we couldn’t sue for decapitation. Me: Wait, What?!?!

Watching the secondary feature table from this vantage point was pretty cool actually, especially after table 102 broke and we had our final two tables. There was tons of confusion and commotion when trying to seat the final two tables as each player was trying to get their family and friends inside the rail to watch them try to make the November 9.

At the dinner break we were down to 15 players and play would reconvene at 8:30. Paul and I headed down to McFaddens for a final meal before I left for the airport for a 10pm flight. We met up with Lori (@PokerVixen) and Paul’s friend Tim from home. The non-poker highlight of the day happened when Paul bit into his burger and hit an air-pocket which erupted and covered Tim in a combination of BBQ sauce, ketchup and special sauce!

As the dinner break came to an end, I had to bid farewell to the Rio and Lori offered to drive me over to the airport to catch my flight. I was sad to leave the Rio, especially when they were still at 15 players, but I promised the little one I would wake her up on Sunday morning which was now just 7 hours away.

When I got to the airport and was waiting to board, Matt Affleck had his aces cracked vs. Jonathan Duhamel’s JJ on a Td-9c-7h-Qd board for a monster 40m+ chip pot. They were all in on the Turn when the 8d would land giving Duhamel the straight and end Matt Affleck’s November 9 hopes. The beat wasn’t extremely brutal as Duhamel had 10 outs to win, but at this stage in the tournament with so much riding on it, it was just gut wrenching.

The battery on my phone was dying so I powered it off as I boarded US Air flight 66 to Boston. I hoped that when I landed and powered it back on, I would know who the November 9 was. Well, fast forward 6 hours and when we touched down in Boston and I fired up the iPhone they were still 10 handed! Paul was tweeting the action hand-for-hand which went something like this: “Player X opens for Y, and picks up the blinds”.

I grabbed a Starbucks and plugged in my phone at Terminal C so I could charge up and have enough juice to follow the action on the cab ride home. Pure tweet-rail degeneracy. After about 15 minutes of charging I took a cab back to my house, was there to wake up my daughter and was able to rail the November 9 bubble during breakfast on the east coast.

The bubble would end when Brandon Steven busted in 10th place, taking home $635K. Here is your November 9:

Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000
John Dolan — 46,250,000
Joseph ’subiime’ Cheong — 23,525,000 (@subiime)
John Racener — 19,050,000
Matthew Jarvis — 16,700,000
Filippo Candio — 16,400,000
Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi — 14,450,000 (@TheGrinder44)
Soi Nguyen — 9,650,000
Jason Senti — 7,625,000 (@PBJaxx)

This trip to Las Vegas was unlike any other I’ve taken. My previous trips were predominantly for bachelor parties and they played out more like the movie The Hangover. This trip was part work, part play and entirely a poker geeks summer camp. Hopefully I will have this opportunity again in the future, but for now it’s back to reality!