Dear Full Tilt

Here is an email that I sent to Full Tilts support and this person's response. Apparently, they receive these kind of emails on a regular basis.

SUBJECT: I Love Full Tilt Poker

"Dear Full Tilt Poker,

I am writing to tell you how much I love playing on your site. You have by far the best software in the history of the Computers. I love going to Las Vegas and wearing the Full Tilt merchandise that you send to me. Hopefully, one day I will win a seat into the WSOP Main Event or some other major live event and can proudly wear your gear all the way to the final table. One day, when I grow up, I want to become a Full Tilt Red Pro. That would be the best day of my life. In the meantime, I'd like to apologize for anything that I have done to make you upset. I didn't mean to log into another poker site. Honestly, I didn't. I'd also like to ask that you please turn off the doom switch on my account. I really would love to win money in one of your tournaments. I've heard that it's possible. Again, I apologize and wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Andrew aka TheJunkie"

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RESPONSE

"Hello Andrew,

Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support.

First of all, thank you for the very positive feedback ragarding Full Tilt Poker. I wish you the best of luck in your quest to be a top professional player.

Some players like to think that there is a button or switch at online poker sites that when flipped gives players terrible cards and horrible bad beats. The doom switch also has developed a counterpart known as the boomswitch which apparently gives players great cards and makes them unstoppable at the tables.

The whole concept of a doomswitch does not make sense for an online poker site. Please understand that a poker site makes its money off of rake which is a small portion of each pot played on the site. A poker site does not want to take your money because once you are broke you can no longer contribute rake. For a poker site, busting players with a doomswitch does not in any way increase revenue. If Full Tilt Poker made players who potentially would have spent many hours of happily playing raked hands on the site go bankrupt to bad beats they would be risking those players trying their luck at another site, or not playing for real money at all.

Conversely, giving great cards to all the players who are close to busting would also negatively affect profits. If the consistent players who play poker for a living were consistently losing to players who were getting fed the winning hands they would take their game to another site. This would cost a site a large percentage of players who play multiple tables forty or more hours a week. These players track their hands very closely and would be the first to recognize if there was a statistical discrepancy. Every high stake game you see being played is a statement by every player at the table that they trust the RNG at Full Tilt Poker.

Some players come up with more devious schemes for how this doom switch might operate in an effort to maximize profits for a poker site. However, these theories are no less speculative than theories about UFO's, secret societies, and mythical creatures. While it is easy to type up a reasonable motive for a poker site to rig action there is simply no evidence to support it.

The fact is that there are thousands of players who record every hand they play, and there has never been a manipulated shuffle discovered over a significant sample size. Players who have recorded a hundred thousand hands or more and taken the time to analyze the statistics simply do not write emails to poker sites accusing them of having a doom switch.

Regards,

Jamie
Poker Specialist
Full Tilt Poker Support"

Good Game Doom switch.

The Collapse

A few weeks ago, Full Tilt increased the starting chip stacks for the Nightly 50/50 tourney from 2k to 3k. This was great, but every since the change, for some reason, I hadn't made a deep run in this tournament. Prior to the change, I had 2nd, 3rd and 5th place finishes.

Well, last night I could finally see the writing on the wall. This was supposed to be my night to finally make it back to the another final table. With about 40 people left, I had chipped up to a nice stack which put me at the top of the leader board. I had about 250k.

As you can guess by the title of this post, poker can be a cruel game. The stacks were such that I couldn't fold any of my hands and I doubled up 4 different people. So, in a matter of 16 hands, I go from the chip leader to out in 31st place without tangling with any other big stack. This was the toughest way to go out of a tourney that I've ever had. Hopefully, this will lead to a run good stretch because I am due. A gold jersey would be nice. :)

Hand #1: The beginning of the end. I had told myself that I would fold to this guy's first SB shove without a AT+, 77+, KQ, type hand because he had gave me several walks, but I couldn't click the button.




Folded 1 hand.

Hand #2: Fairly easy call for me.




Folded 5 hands.

Hand #3:




Folded 1 hand.

Hand #4: I know the raiser is a solid player but this is an insta iso-shove with our stacks.




Folded 1 hand.

Hand #5: Sick




Folded 2 hands.

Hand #6 aka The Bustout Hand: Go figure.




For those keeping count, that's $250k to $0 in 16 hands. Take nothing for granted.

FTOPS IX Main Event Satellite

Warning. This is a little bad beat story. You have been warned.

I wasn't pissed that I lost the hand, but more so that I have been waiting all week to play in this satellite to the FTOPS Main Event, and busted in the 3rd hand. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. I usually win two seats by playing in this fishy satellite.

Hand #1
The more that I think about it, the more I know that I should have folded. Not because I thought I was behind, but because it was so early in the satellite. I think I'm an above average satellite player, but still make these mistakes from time to time.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: x3rces ($1,985)
Seat 2: Kiep Do Den FT ($2,000)
Seat 3: dukeabtu ($1,955) -
Seat 4: TheJunkie ($1,970) -
Seat 5: dhUltralisk ($2,000) Sitting Out -
Seat 6: dobriak ($2,045)
Seat 7: 53095 ($2,045)
Seat 9: RJA34 ($2,000)


PRE-FLOP:

TheJunkie posts small blind $15
dhUltralisk posts BIG blind $30
Dealt To: TheJunkie


CALL dobriak ($30)
FOLD 53095
RAISE RJA34 ($60)
FOLD x3rces
FOLD Kiep Do Den FT
FOLD dukeabtu
CALL TheJunkie ($45)
FOLD dhUltralisk
RAISE dobriak ($2045)
FOLD RJA34
CALL TheJunkie ($1910)
UNCALLED dobriak ($75)


FLOP:

Pot: $4030
   



TURN:

Pot: $4030
     



RIVER:

Pot: $4030
      



SHOWDOWN:
dobriak:

TheJunkie:


dobriak collected $4030 from main pot with a full house, Sixes full of Threes

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $4 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: x3rces didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: Kiep Do Den FT didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: dukeabtu button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: TheJunkie small blind showed [Jd Jh] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1970)
Seat 5: dhUltralisk big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-30)
Seat 6: dobriak showed [6d 4s] and won 4,030 with a full house, Sixes full of Threes - Net Gain/Loss: ($2060)
  
Seat 7: 53095 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 9: RJA34 folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-60)


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners