They call me Straw Man

Full Tilt has long been running their "Iron Man" promotion. Earn 500 points on 25 different days in a month and you're an Iron Man. The problem I've had with this is that I never remember to start it at the first of the month. (Note to FTP: If you want lots of new participants, send out a reminder at the beginning of every month. And I mean a reminder specific to Iron Man, not just a regular "tip from the pros" that includes a link to Iron Man info.) 'Round about the 10th or 15th I'll remember it, but by then it's too late.

So this month I figured I'd start early. I know from long experience clearing bonuses that the best way for me to accumulate points is at limit. I used to be able to play four tables without any problem at all. If I'd had another display, or the sites supported resizeable windows at that time, I'm sure I'd have been able to do at least six. A bit after 7pm last night I sat down to earn me some Full Tilt points. I looked for action at full ring 2/4. Two tables, both full with waiting lists. 1/2? Three tables, all with waiting lists. I ended up at $0.25/$0.50 because that was the only place I could get a seat right away.

There were a lot more 6-max tables available at all the limits. It's an odd thing. I get killed every time I play 6-max limit. It's probably due to what I cut my teeth with. NL I greatly prefer 6-max, but I just can't get my bearings at 6-max limit.

I played for over an hour and earned all of 25 points. I did eventually find a seat at a higher limit table. Don't recall if it was 0.50/1 or 1/2. Regardless, it didn't seem to make much difference with the points.

About 11pm I decided to give it another shot. I got on the waiting list for two of the looser 2/4 tables. Ten minutes later a seat opened up at one of them. This was a table filled with some of the slowest limit players I've ever seen, particularly at 2/4. At William Hill the 1/2 tables used to fill with people purposely delaying so they could clear the five table hour bonus risking as little money as possible. You never saw that at 2/4. I played until almost midnight. A seat on the other table never did open up.

Based on my experience of last night, the "iron man" part refers to the fortitude you need to wait for a seat to open up at a table where you have a chance of earning some points. The evening ended with me earning all of 39 points, 11 points shy of the minimum daily rate for any of the Iron Man categories. So much for my attempting to reach Iron Man status. I'm not comfortable playing much above 2/4, assuming I could find a seat without waiting a week, and it's obviously impossible to earn enough points at lower levels without spending way more hours than I'm willing to devote to this. Call me Straw Man.

One rather odd thing did happen during this experience. I won money. I couldn't tell you the last time I won money at limit. I did see a few of the usual suckouts. Not being able to price out the flush draws kills me. But by the end of the evening I was up about $25.

Due to my time becoming a Straw Man, I didn't spend a lot of time on The Quest. I finished my brief session up a big $0.15.

Upon re-checking my re-checking of Wednesday's results, my original numbers were actually correct. Yesterday I overlooked that I won $0.10 in the last hand.