It is mid-season here at the FTR Gauntlet. Game 12 of 24 hit the felt on 11/7 and 19 players felt they were destined for victory. If you are not sure what the Gauntlet is, be sure to click on the word “Gauntlet” to find out and register. Basically, it is FTR’s own private league where we donk around and have fun. You will see in a lot of the hand histories there is some bashing/talking, and that’s because we all know each other and have a good time. If you haven’t already, register and play with us next game. After reading the summary, make sure to see who won this games award for “lol cooleraments” which will be the cooler of the night, “wtf was he thinking” which will be the questionable play of the night, along with “donk of the night” which will be the worst beat.

With it being mid-season, it is interesting to look at the results prior to the game and see who has a chance at victory:

FTR Name – GP – Points / Week Change
Jimmy Mac – 6 – 489.07 / 0
givememyleg – 8 – 440.04 / 0
Alexos – 7 – 374.32 / 0
bigred – 6 – 365.11 / 0
kmind – 5 – 362.11 / 0
ackthecat – 7 – 355.18 / 0
Shifubowa – 7 – 335.45 / +2
bigspenda73 – 7 – 310.44 / +3
Mirage – 6 – 293.23 / +1
Bender50 – 5 – 279.26 / -3

There were no changes atop of the leaderboard, only the bottom 4 of the top 10 had any spot changes. As I said last week, Jimmy Mac is still a huge favorite and he has 6 more games to play of the remaining 12. Unless someone in the top 5 goes on an extreme heater, it is in the bag for JM. Of course he could always forget to play his last 6 games! Some other notable position changes are bigspenda73 moving up 3 spots with his 3rd place finish in Game 11 (one time!), and Shifubowa up two with his second place last week.

This is the 6th season of the Gauntlet and there seems to be a trend. Usually the first 5-6 games will have a ton of players, as they are excited for the start. Then it levels off from that point. Games 1 – 6 had an average player turnout of 29 and games 7 – 12 only 19. The steady decline is still running its course but I hope we can start to see some larger fields again once the earlier players start coming around again. Time for the action.

Game 12 only had 19 players, but the action was still plentiful. Some notable players of these 19 include Season V champ I Like Pie (PokerStars name C2Knuckles), courtie’s crush swiggidy, the youngest man at heart Warpe, Mr. Culinary himself flomo, muscle man Galapogos (PokerStars I_Lie_2_U), and the man who says “wheeeeeeee” chardrian. Prior to the game Xianti announced that there would be a surprise bonus prize, which turned out to be a bounty on Bender50 (the only player in the top 10 who played in Game 12). The prize was any one free item from the FTR Store, which has some nice stuff! Thanks X-Man for the special bonuses!

Early on it seemed as if it just wasn’t geno9’s night. He has been known for his very tight play, but it would be tough to get away from this hand (especially against the maniac kingnat!):

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Qc Qs]
kingnat: raises 69 to 99
chardrian: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
spinswell: folds
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: calls 99
kingnat said, “i was always a big fan of BooYAH!.. like… 14 years ago…”
pokerajkq: folds
Warpe: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d 7d 2c]
kingnat: bets 210
swiggidy said, “no, hoo-ha”
swiggidy said, “for the VJJ”
geno9: raises 390 to 600
kingnat: raises 851 to 1451 and is all-in
geno9: calls 851
kingnat said, “g’night kids”
chardrian said, “VJJ is g00000t”
swiggidy said, “booyah still has it’s place”
*** TURN *** [6d 7d 2c] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7d 2c 2h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [Qc Qs] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
geno9: shows [Js Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)
kingnat said, “oh VJJ!!!!”
kingnat collected 3145 from pot
swiggidy said, “like there”
kingnat said, “BOOYAH!!!”

Booyah indeed. This sent kingnat on a rush and gave him the early chip lead. After this hand geno9 was left with just 185 chips and was sure to be eliminated next. However, do not count him out, as he went on a rush of his own:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to geno9 [4d 4h]
Warpe said, “can’t believe the copywriters slipped that one through”
spinswell: folds
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: raises 155 to 185 and is all-in
pokerajkq: folds
Warpe: folds
kingnat: calls 185
chardrian: raises 1330 to 1515 and is all-in
C2Knuckles: folds
kingnat: folds
swiggidy said, “like the whale?”
*** FLOP *** [3d Jh Td]
chardrian said, “SQUEEZE ME!!”
*** TURN *** [3d Jh Td] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [3d Jh Td 6s] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chardrian: shows [Ah Kd] (high card Ace)
geno9: shows [4d 4h] (a pair of Fours)
kingnat said, “FUG…”
geno9 collected 585 from pot

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to geno9 [Tc Th]
Warpe: folds
kingnat: folds
chardrian said, “dog didn’t realize how offensive the N word was??”
chardrian: folds
C2Knuckles: raises 125 to 175
spinswell: folds
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: raises 365 to 540 and is all-in
C2Knuckles: calls 365
*** FLOP *** [8h 3h 2d]
chardrian said, “I’ll sit on his face and squeeze”
swiggidy said, “that’s terrible for society”
Warpe said, “he’s a freak”
*** TURN *** [8h 3h 2d] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3h 2d Jc] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
geno9: shows [Tc Th] (two pair, Tens and Threes)
C2Knuckles: shows [9c 6d] (a pair of Threes)
geno9 collected 1105 from pot

He went from 185 chips to 1105 in a short time and had a chance again! It seems like it was going to be the kingnat show, as he then went on the pull a move against the dangerous wheeeeeing chard:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Qh 7h]
chardrian said, “I watch that when there’s nothing else on”
C2Knuckles: folds
spinswell: folds
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: folds
Warpe: folds
kingnat: calls 25
chardrian: checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 8h 8c]
kingnat: bets 100
chardrian said, “but it’s purty boring”
chardrian: raises 200 to 300
kingnat: raises 1250 to 1550
chardrian: calls 1075 and is all-in
kingnat said, “ya getta see fat people though”
kingnat said, “WEEE”
*** TURN *** [7c 8h 8c] [Ks]
chardrian said, “outkicked”
swiggidy said, “people need to start getting knocked out”
*** RIVER *** [7c 8h 8c Ks] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [Qh 7h] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
chardrian: shows [7s Jh] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
swiggidy said, “thk”
kingnat collected 1425 from pot
chardrian collected 1425 from pot
chardrian said, “wheeeeeeeee”

But his fortune was lost from a chopped pot. Moving along, it seemed to be overpair vs overpair night, as swiggidy was next to feel the good fortune:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Kc Kh]
kingnat said, “RIG’D!”
spinswell: calls 50
studboyjoe: folds
chardrian said, “what a bad push”
swiggidy: raises 116 to 166
geno9: folds
Warpe: calls 166
kingnat said, “i put you on J7…”
kingnat: folds
chardrian: folds
C2Knuckles: calls 116
spinswell: calls 116
*** FLOP *** [6h 9d 2h]
C2Knuckles: checks
chardrian said, “but everyone loves me”
swiggidy said, “don’t float me warpe”
spinswell: checks
chardrian said, “and I just play to chat”
swiggidy: bets 400
Warpe: folds
kingnat said, “this is true…”
C2Knuckles: folds
spinswell: raises 655 to 1055 and is all-in
swiggidy: calls 655
C2Knuckles said, “thank god”
*** TURN *** [6h 9d 2h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [6h 9d 2h As] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
spinswell: shows [Td Ts] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
swiggidy: shows [Kc Kh] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
C2Knuckles said, “damn”
swiggidy collected 2799 from pot

That sent spinwell home in 16th place and gave swiggidy some much needed chips. The bounty prize is something no one wants over their head. It makes people want to get all your chips in the middle to win a bonus. Nothing was working out for Bender50 tonight and it may had to do with the bulleye’s on his chest. He would eventually fall victim after being very short stacked:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PomPey97 [Ad Jh]
flomosapien: folds
I_Lie_2_U: folds
fimanoid: folds
pfsbulldawg: folds
Bender50: calls 100
PomPey97: raises 200 to 300
J0nnyB0y: folds
SandbaggerJO: folds
Bender50: raises 145 to 445 and is all-in
PomPey97: calls 145
SandbaggerJO said, “nooooooooooooooo”
*** FLOP *** [5d Ah 9s]
SandbaggerJO said, “nooooooooooooo”
*** TURN *** [5d Ah 9s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [5d Ah 9s 6d] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Bender50: shows [Ks Kh] (a pair of Kings)
PomPey97: shows [Ad Jh] (a pair of Aces)
pfsbulldawg said, “free thong”
Bender50 said, “gg”
PomPey97 collected 1040 from pot
PomPey97 said, “yeeeess”

Congrats to PomP for earning the bounty! Turn your channels back to the kingnat show. He had been slipping a bit, but that wasn’t going to stop him. Why? Because this guy has an insane luckbox!

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Ac 9d]
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy said, “and he looks me in the eyes and says “roadhead?””
swiggidy: folds
geno9: folds
Warpe: folds
kingnat said, “LOL… that’s awesome”
swiggidy said, “I’m the driver, fyi”
kingnat: raises 200 to 300
chardrian: raises 775 to 1075 and is all-in
C2Knuckles: folds
kingnat: calls 775
*** FLOP *** [3s Ts 7d]
C2Knuckles said, “i had an A”
*** TURN *** [3s Ts 7d] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [3s Ts 7d 8h] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chardrian: shows [Qs Qc] (a pair of Queens)
kingnat: shows [Ac 9d] (a straight, Six to Ten)
kingnat said, “WEE!”
kingnat collected 2250 from pot

That sent chardrian home in 14th place and kingnat would regain his chip lead. The action seemed to die down until the final table, with the final casualty being studboyjoe in 10th place.

Near the start of the final table, it was PomP who was dominating with 6680 chips, 2nd was swiggidy with 4037, and 3rd sat Warpe with 3828. At the very bottom was the victim of some bad luck early on, geno9, with only 1301 chips. However, we learned early on not to count this guy out:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to geno9 [Ac Ah]
kingnat: folds
Warpe: folds
pfsbulldawg: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
Warpe said, “whoze pompey?”
J0nnyB0y: raises 1940 to 2140 and is all-in
swiggidy: folds
geno9: calls 1201 and is all-in
I_Lie_2_U: folds
swiggidy said, “new”
*** FLOP *** [Qd 9d 2s]
J0nnyB0y said, “lolz”
*** TURN *** [Qd 9d 2s] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 9d 2s 7c] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
geno9: shows [Ac Ah] (a pair of Aces)
J0nnyB0y: shows [As Td] (a pair of Tens)
swiggidy said, “well then”
geno9 collected 2802 from pot

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to geno9 [Ad Js]
Warpe said, “swig takes the lead!!!”
pfsbulldawg: folds
C2Knuckles: raises 366 to 566
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy said, “what!?!?!?”
Warpe said, “*****”
swiggidy: folds
swiggidy said, “don’t put this pressure on me”
geno9: raises 1936 to 2502 and is all-in
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat: folds
Warpe: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
geno9 collected 1432 from pot
geno9: doesn’t show hand

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to geno9 [Qh Ah]
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: raises 325 to 525
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat: folds
pfsbulldawg: calls 425
C2Knuckles: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jh Td 7h]
pfsbulldawg: checks
geno9: bets 1400
pfsbulldawg: folds
geno9 collected 1425 from pot
geno9: doesn’t show hand

Remember, he had 185 chips left with 18 people left. He now sat with over 3400 at the final table! The first few eliminated was JL (PokerStarts J0nnyB0y) in 9th, Warpe in 8th, and chopper (PokerStars pfsbulldawg) in 7th. If you think chopper played bad to go out, just ask kingnat:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Ad 8h]
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: folds
I_Lie_2_U: raises 400 to 600
swiggidy said, “so what’s everyone drinking tonight?”
kingnat: raises 1882 to 2482 and is all-in
pfsbulldawg: calls 1925 and is all-in
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat said, “wee?… that’s bad…'”
*** FLOP *** [As Qs 8d]
C2Knuckles said, “water for me”
kingnat said, “A is goot”
kingnat said, “LOGOGOG”
geno9 said, “haha”
*** TURN *** [As Qs 8d] [9c]
PomPey97 said, “mam”
*** RIVER *** [As Qs 8d 9c] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [Ad 8h] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
pfsbulldawg: shows [Kh Kc] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
swiggidy said, “:-0”
kingnat collected 5025 from pot

Not even the best players in the world can beat someone with that good of a luckbox! Now down to 6 way action everything was much different, and here were the chip counts:

Seat 1: geno9 (2918 in chips)
Seat 2: I_Lie_2_U (4127 in chips)
Seat 3: kingnat (4907 in chips)
Seat 6: C2Knuckles (2250 in chips)
Seat 7: PomPey97 (4950 in chips)
Seat 9: swiggidy (9348 in chips)

Swiggidy had taken a massive lead, with kingnat and Pomp nearly tied for 2nd. With the blinds at 100/200/25 it could still be anyways game, but swiggidy sent a message to the table; something along the lines of “get up off my big blind.”

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [3s Jc]
geno9: folds
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: raises 200 to 400
swiggidy said, “have you had the boston harbor?”
swiggidy: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Tc 4s Kd]
PomPey97: bets 400
swiggidy: raises 1000 to 1400
PomPey97: folds
PomPey97 said, “nb”
swiggidy collected 1750 from pot
swiggidy: doesn’t show hand

If you thought swiggidy would stop there you were wrong. He went nuts and started eliminating people like mad:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Ah Qs]
kingnat: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: raises 599 to 999
geno9 said, “ok…”
geno9: raises 1194 to 2193 and is all-in
I_Lie_2_U: folds
swiggidy: calls 1194
*** FLOP *** [Td 5d 3d]
PomPey97 said, “ouch”
*** TURN *** [Td 5d 3d] [Kh]
swiggidy said, “D”
swiggidy said, “d”
*** RIVER *** [Td 5d 3d Kh] [5s]
swiggidy said, “d”
swiggidy said, “d”
geno9 said, “gg”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
geno9: shows [Js Ad] (a pair of Fives)
swiggidy: shows [Ah Qs] (a pair of Fives – Ace+King+Queen kicker)
swiggidy collected 4936 from pot

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Ac 7s]
swiggidy said, “except I’m out of rocks”
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: raises 490 to 890
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat: calls 490
*** FLOP *** [Ad 4d 4h]
kingnat: checks
swiggidy: checks
*** TURN *** [Ad 4d 4h] [7h]
kingnat: bets 4142 and is all-in
swiggidy: calls 4142
*** RIVER *** [Ad 4d 4h 7h] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [6h 5h] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
swiggidy: shows [Ac 7s] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)
kingnat said, “nh”
swiggidy collected 10389 from pot

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Ks Ah]
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: raises 490 to 890
I_Lie_2_U: raises 4237 to 5127 and is all-in
swiggidy: calls 4237
*** FLOP *** [8h 2d Ac]
*** TURN *** [8h 2d Ac] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 2d Ac 5s] [Ts]
swiggidy said, “gg”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
swiggidy: shows [Ks Ah] (a pair of Aces)
I_Lie_2_U: shows [6h As] (a pair of Aces – lower kicker)
swiggidy collected 10354 from pot

Yes that was in the course of 5 hands. He sent the comeback king geno9 out in 6th, the agro maniac kingnat in 5th, and Galapogos (I_Lie_2_U) as the bubble boy in 4th place. Down to 3 way it was pretty easy to pick a favorite:

Seat 6: C2Knuckles (2625 in chips)
Seat 7: PomPey97 (2425 in chips)
Seat 9: swiggidy (23450 in chips)

Swiggidy was in complete control, and it only took 2 hands before we were heads up:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Ac 9s]
PomPey97 said, “damn u”
PomPey97: raises 2000 to 2400 and is all-in
swiggidy: calls 2200
C2Knuckles: folds
*** FLOP *** [As Td 7c]
PomPey97 said, “ouch”
*** TURN *** [As Td 7c] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [As Td 7c Qh] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
swiggidy: shows [Ac 9s] (a pair of Aces)
PomPey97: shows [8c Ad] (a pair of Aces – lower kicker)
swiggidy collected 5275 from pot

Now it was heads up with swiggidy having about a 10:1 chip lead over last year’s champ I Like Pie, ~26,000 to 2500. It started as a heated “folding battle” (as quoted from swigg) until I Like Pie finally found a hand to go with:

Seat 6: C2Knuckles (5314 in chips)
Seat 9: swiggidy (23186 in chips)
C2Knuckles: posts the ante 50
swiggidy: posts the ante 50
swiggidy: posts small blind 300
C2Knuckles: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [8h Th]
swiggidy said, “I’ve gotten so many 53, 62”
swiggidy: raises 5400 to 6000
C2Knuckles: calls 4664 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [8c Td 4d]
*** TURN *** [8c Td 4d] [Jd]
swiggidy said, “oooh”
*** RIVER *** [8c Td 4d Jd] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
C2Knuckles: shows [4s Ad] (two pair, Tens and Fours)
swiggidy: shows [8h Th] (a full house, Tens full of Eights)
swiggidy said, “gg”
swiggidy collected 10628 from pot

Much to the dismay of courtibee, swiggidy was Gauntlet’s Game 12 champ! Congrats to him and everyone else who moved up in position from Game 12. And now for the hands of the night:

lol cooleraments

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Qc Qs]
kingnat: raises 69 to 99
chardrian: folds
C2Knuckles: folds
spinswell: folds
studboyjoe: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: calls 99
kingnat said, “i was always a big fan of BooYAH!.. like… 14 years ago…”
pokerajkq: folds
Warpe: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d 7d 2c]
kingnat: bets 210
swiggidy said, “no, hoo-ha”
swiggidy said, “for the VJJ”
geno9: raises 390 to 600
kingnat: raises 851 to 1451 and is all-in
geno9: calls 851
kingnat said, “g’night kids”
chardrian said, “VJJ is g00000t”
swiggidy said, “booyah still has it’s place”
*** TURN *** [6d 7d 2c] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7d 2c 2h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [Qc Qs] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
geno9: shows [Js Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)
kingnat said, “oh VJJ!!!!”
kingnat collected 3145 from pot
swiggidy said, “like there”
kingnat said, “BOOYAH!!!”

There may be a chance to get away from this hand, but on that draw heavy board when your opponent is kingnat, it is a pretty big cooler.

WTF was he Thinking?

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swiggidy [Ac 7s]
swiggidy said, “except I’m out of rocks”
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: raises 490 to 890
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat: calls 490
*** FLOP *** [Ad 4d 4h]
kingnat: checks
swiggidy: checks
*** TURN *** [Ad 4d 4h] [7h]
kingnat: bets 4142 and is all-in
swiggidy: calls 4142
*** RIVER *** [Ad 4d 4h 7h] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [6h 5h] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
swiggidy: shows [Ac 7s] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)
kingnat said, “nh”
swiggidy collected 10389 from pot

This one was actually pretty tough as I didn’t have very many hands to work with. Even though kingnat had max outs here, he could have been drawing to 2 outs and the push was a pretty big overbet. But it wasn’t that bad of a push.

Donk of the Night

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kingnat [Ad 8h]
C2Knuckles: folds
PomPey97: folds
swiggidy: folds
geno9: folds
I_Lie_2_U: raises 400 to 600
swiggidy said, “so what’s everyone drinking tonight?”
kingnat: raises 1882 to 2482 and is all-in
pfsbulldawg: calls 1925 and is all-in
I_Lie_2_U: folds
kingnat said, “wee?… that’s bad…'”
*** FLOP *** [As Qs 8d]
C2Knuckles said, “water for me”
kingnat said, “A is goot”
kingnat said, “LOGOGOG”
geno9 said, “haha”
*** TURN *** [As Qs 8d] [9c]
PomPey97 said, “mam”
*** RIVER *** [As Qs 8d 9c] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kingnat: shows [Ad 8h] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
pfsbulldawg: shows [Kh Kc] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
swiggidy said, “:-0”
kingnat collected 5025 from pot

Mr Luckbox himself takes the donk of the night title! Also congrats to kingnat for being featured in every hand of the night.

The FTR Gauntlet is played every Wednesday at 10:00 PM EST, and Sunday at 3:00 PM EST. Be sure to check it out and play! We are now half way through, you can still play all 12 games, so if you haven’t registered to play yet, now is the time!