Okay I know this is just a freeroll but I had to qualify for this thing and I am so pissed right now I could explode.

A large majority of people didn't show up for this thing and guess what happens, I get seated at a table with 7 people away. SEVEN. That's supposed to be good right? Free money? Wrong.

Instead I get seated in such a way that I'm stuck with only one chance to steal these free blinds, while these other two guys (especially the guy to my right) gets like 4-5 free steals if the other active players fold. This is a load of crap and I demand that something be done about this. These two guys literally took all of the money from these AFK people while I sat there and struggled to do anything. Then they get so many chips that my all in preflop doesn't deter them at all. This is ridiculous. I would have been better off playing one of those scratchcard games.

Look at this:



You might as well have just given the top two active guys there 4x as many chips as me. What a joke.

and now look:



I'd really like someone to explain why I should have to lose because of this.

UNluck of the draw.

What the hell do you want them to say? Play the game. Players are seated randomly at tables, a lot of people don't show up to these *freeroll* tournaments. Here, here's your money back. Happy? I had the top 4 stacks at my table with 60+ people left, how does that make sense? It doesn't, but it's what happens in a random system. Adapt or perish, welcome to poker.

Random random random. Who cares? I could care less if they were to seat players by age or race or gender. My point is that in a tournament, even a freeroll (which isn't free when you have to QUALIFY for it), everyone should start off on an equal foot.

Would you not care if some people "randomly" got twice as many chips to start with? "That's poker, adapt!" No thanks. There is a reason everyone gets an EQUAL amount of chips. Because everyone is supposed to be... *gasp* equal! I hardly see my situation as being equal to the guys in the upper two seats.

I'm sorry but I don't like to just bend over and take what is given. I'd prefer that the issue gets addressed so that it could possibly be fixed or at least improved on in the future. You know... make it so the registration for freerolls with predetermined dates happens a few hours before the tournament starts... stuff like that. I mean honestly if you're not ready for the tournament a couple of hours before it starts, you're probably not going to be playing in it.

It's just silly when you can register for these qualifier tournies a day or so in advance and then half of the field doesn't show up because they forget about it.

I do feel like I'm entitled to something because it happened again today in the other Protege tourney. It's happening to many people. I don't care if you say it's "free" because to me it's not. If it was free for all then there would be a lot more people playing in it. It was for people who qualified for it. If you put in overtime at work to qualify for a dream vacation at the end of the month, would you not be pissed if the contest was unfair? "Well we've decided that everyone gets their name placed in the hat and we will pull out one name who gets to win the vacation, but oh wait, John and Sally get 5 extra copies of their name in there because they were picked at random to have an advantage over everyone else. Good luck!"

Just because they aren't on your left doesn't mean you can't steal from them. You just have to adjust your play for a 3 handed game as opposed to a 10 handed game. It's unfortunate that people sign up and don't show up for these, but FCP doesn't know who IS and who ISN'T going to show up. I wouldn't blame them, or expect them to do anything for you.

I agree with you Konidas, its lame...

Saying that you cannot steal blinds because someone on your left may re-raise you is quite frankly ridiculous, and a sign of an extremely weak style. You actually have first in vigorish in most pots, which I would argue is an advantage in this situation, because when your stacks were even (you did START with the same chips), they had to put more of their stack at risk to re-raise and steal from you as well.

Also, the chips on the table add up to quite a bit more than just stolen blinds when you busted, meaning that they played well enough or got good enough cards to bust other people who filtered through the table. I suppose support should look into getting you better cards as well.

1. If you know they are coming in on a steal, why would you not use that to your advantage to get more chips from them ?

2. one of the away players has over 3000 he must be doing something right

3. If you were playing the same way you played the seat 2 final table, maybe it just caught you up.....just saying.

Okay here is the dilemma. You can't play it as if it were just a 3 way game because those two players are going to constantly have the edge in position. You can't possibly play too aggressive against them for several reasons:

1. they will call with anything that looks good to them because even if they miss the flop, they know they will still have plenty of chances to get free blinds from the Away people to get their chips back

2. if they hit on the flop you're screwed.

Aggressive style only really works if you're getting people to fold... but these people aren't going to fold as they have too sweet of a position. Trust me, I was trying to be aggressive and get some blind steals in... they weren't working at all. I'd bet 200 into a 45 chip pot and get called by at least one of them. What can you do when you bet 200 with AK suited and the flop totally misses you? You can't keep firing out at the call station who could already have a pair. (because we all know once they get a pair, they wouldn't fold their hand if their life depended on it)

So like I'm trying to say... they play far more loose than usual because they are confident they will steal blinds from the Away players to make back any chips they lose. I don't get that luxury, and it's impossible for anyone to be aggressive in my position. Even if I fire out a big bet every preflop, I'm still not going to get half as many safe chances to steal blinds as those two guys.

edit: you also have to take into account that these two people at least have basic knowledge of poker and know that in a 3 handed situation, you have to loosen your starting hand requirements. so it gives them even more reason to play loose.

I can't believe you're even arguing the fact that it's unfair for me to be playing 3 handed in a 10 seat per table tournament while other tables are playing 10 handed. ESPECIALLY when I'm in the worst position to take blinds. I'm having to play a far more loose game than people at other tables. I have to take a lot more risk a lot more often. If I play tight I'd be no better than the Away people.

maybe you should've just sat out too

~shrug~

1. Not every table was playing 10 handed. My tables had between 4 and 6 people until about 20 minutes after the first break when they all started dropping like flies by naturally being blinded out (well after you went out). 2. You're talking like the two people were colluding against you. Your whole argument loses validty if these 2 are playing each other just as hard as they are playing you. If this is the case, take notes and send it to support next time. 3. The way you're describing the way you went about playing these situations is marginal at best. You're risking tons of chips to win very few. You're going to hit a flop just as often as they are over the long run. When you did hit flops, they didn't call you down? When you missed flops, why keep betting at a known calling station? I'll refer you back to my comment about adapting to the players and situation at your table. If you think this is a leak in your game, get DN's DVD and watch the intermediate section about classifying and playing against players, as well as the Harrington on Hold'Em books.

Bottom line, you did not have a unique situation in this tournament. If you had opened up any other tables you would have seen the exact same thing. It creates interesting situations where people sign up and don't show up, but it's done for the convenience of people who may miss the start of a tournament and to accomodate as many of the 1k who qualified for this as possible.

Refund this guy's entry, immediately.

Are you freaking serious, man?

Do you want them to kick out the 7 people who were sitting out? What's the appropriate action in your mind, here?

I already did, even gave him twice his money back. Still not satisfied. Go figure.