Quick Update

It's been a while.

The Good:
Had my first, hopefully of many, 6 figure score. 7 way chop of the Feb. 2010 FTOPS ME. Was pretty exciting, but disappointed that I didn't win. I was open for chopping because we didn't reach the final table until about 8am EST. I was beyond tired. The frustrating part of the situation was that after the chop, I didn't realize that there was still money on the table to play for. This was my first chop on FTP since they released the automatic chop tool. So, I played half-heartedly thinking that all of the money was accounted for. Oh well, I expect to be back at a major final table in the near future. I'll TID then.

Also, won a Bracelet Race package on FTP. These are pretty cool. My third year winning a package. Hopefully, I can win the "real" package, a WSOP ME seat.

The Bad:
Running like shit on FTP. The doomswitch is on full blast right now. Killing my drive and confidence. Haven't done much of anything since the FTOPS final table.

The Ugly:
After chopping the 10re in Jan., don't think I've come close to even sniffing a final table. Running horribly on there like it's 2007. That resulted in me not playing on Stars on even a semi-semi-regular basis util January 2009. Hasn't gotton to that point, but it's getting close.

That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.

The Collapse

Well, I've finally completed my collapse on Full Tilt. This year started out so promising on that site. I was up $11k to start the year, after January. Now, I'm down for the year. Shit sucks. Just gotta keep trying to improve and hopefully my hard work will pay off.

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.