"I Wanted to Eat My Chinese Takeaway, So I Started Shoving All-In"
In recent days, Daniel Charlton (pictured), who is known on PocketFives as judgedredd13, was part of a three-way chop of Event #15 of the ongoing Full Tilt Online Poker Series, or FTOPS, a $129 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry Knockout. Charlton earned $42,000 as part of the chop, which came just four months after he was part of the historic 900 millionth tournament dealt on PokerStars. Charlton happily agreed to discuss his latest article-worthy achievement.
PocketFives: How are you feeling about the FTOPS chop?
Daniel Charlton: Pretty good. I didn’t have the best July, so it has more than made up for that and I’m pretty happy with the result, although I made a huge mistake when making the chop. I don’t play much on Full Tilt and we agreed to look at the numbers. I had played for like 14 hours that day and agreed to an ICM chop. I thought all the money had been chopped, but it was only afterward that I realized we were still playing for another $7,000.
The first hand after the deal had been agreed to, the two other players moved all-in with 2-2 and J-10 suited, so I assumed all the money had been chopped. I wanted to eat my Chinese takeaway, so I started shoving all-in the next hand and got third place not really caring. I found out later that there was money to play for still; apparently, the other players didn’t know either.
PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?
Daniel Charlton: I’m going to Spain in a few weeks for a holiday. I’ll save some and I want to take my girlfriend away somewhere nice too. I’ll use some as bankroll as well.
PocketFives: Do you approach a knockout tournament any differently than a regular tournament?
Daniel Charlton: Yeah, of course. The knockouts don’t play as much of a part in your strategy as they do in the super knockouts or progressive knockouts, but they definitely should affect your decisions. In this kind of format, they affect your decision-making much more in the early stages of a tournament. You can think of the knockout as having a chip value, so you can factor in the pot odds when you’re doing your decision-making. In the later stages of the tournament, the bounties become pretty negligible, but they’re always a bonus.
PocketFives: When would you reenter a tournament like this?
Daniel Charlton: I will usually reenter if I can still get an 80 big blind stack or greater. If I’m getting any less than that, I will probably just skip it and move onto the next one. I’ve not really studied much about them, so maybe I’m missing out on some good reentry strategy, but I think if you can still get a good playable stack when you reenter, then I’m all for it.
PocketFives: How much has your poker career changed since we last talked to you during the PokerStars 900 millionth tournament promotion (final table payouts pictured)?
Daniel Charlton: I bought myself a new desktop and am approaching the game a lot more seriously. I had one of my friends who is good with computers customize it for me, so it’s great to play a ton of tables and different sites and never have any issues with lag and all that. I’m playing pretty much all the high-stakes MTTs online now and really enjoying where I’m at.
PocketFives: Do you have any poker goals for the rest of the year?
Daniel Charlton: I had a Triple Crown prop bet a couple of weeks ago where I bet $300 on myself to win it within a week against a few mates who bet 5:1 that I couldn’t do it. I didn’t leave my room for the first five days and managed to win zero of the three tournaments I needed. I tapped out on the fifth day and admitted defeat, paid my mates the money, and went to the pub for the last two days. So, I’d love to win a Triple Crown before the year is out.
PocketFives: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Daniel Charlton: I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way. A big shout out to my parents, who were not really happy when I told them I wanted to pursue this as a career initially, but have been very supportive over the last few years and appreciate that this is something most parents probably wouldn’t want their son pursuing as a job. So, thanks to everyone.
The FTOPS is currently running at Full Tilt Poker. Sign up for Full Tilt through the links on PocketFives to get $25 free plus one free month of PocketFives Training with no sign-up fee. Click here to get started.
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