tay has a blog up about it

congrats to those guys well deserved imo.

funny that there are people complaining that ftp will become hard to beat now... im sure if you play poker you know what cardrunners is... not really a big mystery anymore... Congrats guys

I wonder if this makes them have to close their stars accounts?

Lots of regular players don't know anything about the poker community or the training sites.

The guy who introduced me to online poker has never heard of any training sites, and he's been playing regularly for years. He had one very nice cash a year and half ago, and can't understand why he's losing now. I told him about training sites and he didn't believe me. He laughed at the PXF SNG video I showed him- "I don't care what you say, you can't ever shove 9-5 off". He has a -11% ROI on Sharkscope now.

2 people introduced me to poker, one of who doesnt play anymore (lack of time, and wife hates it) the other guy, i now stake in mtts. funny thing it is.

This is his blog from today:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" height="100" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="100%">Feels Good to be Red </td></tr><tr><!-- This was replaced because CR wanted it to link to the profile instead. <td colspan="4" align="left">(Monday, March 10, 2008) Written by Taylor</td><td colspan="4" align="left">(Monday, March 10, 2008) Written by Taylor</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" align="left">Views: 1769</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" valign="top">Today is a very exciting day for the CardRunners community. All seven of the CardRunners lead pros, myself, Andrew, Brian T., Cole, Brian H., Eric, and Mike are now officially Full Tilt Pros! Personally, and I know the other guys feel the same way, I'm honored to become a Full Tilt Pro. I truly believe that FTP is the best site to play on, and is the place I tell all of my friends to play. This blog will serve to discuss our relationship in a more informal manner, as I'm sure a lot of people in the CR community will have some questions for us.

Basically, some time last summer, FTP approached us and told us that they love what we are doing. Our pros are some of the biggest winners in the history of online poker, but we do things the right way. We aren't the type of guys to go around bragging about how great we are, rather, we let our results and accomplishments speak for ourselves. In a time when internet players are typically known as young "punks" to people outside of our world, I think we have carved out our niche as internet pros that are respectful to other players and to the game that has given us all so much. Full Tilt suggested that we form a partnership, so that our lead pros would become Full Tilt Pros, and our company could reap some of the benefits that a top-tier online site could provide.

Of course we were flattered that Full Tilt showed interest in our pros and our company, but we weren't sure exactly how this partnership would work. The first thing that came to my mind was "wow, what a great way to expose our brand to lots of poker players eager to learn the game, but how our are members going to react to this?" The last thing I wanted to do was engage in a deal that wouldn't provide value to a combination of our members, our pros, and our company. After all, CardRunners has always been about the community as much as anything else, and that's something I don't ever want to change. Cautiously optimistic, we continued discussions with FTP.

Over the course of the next few months, we talked a little bit more about the deal. We worked out some things that I think will be great for the CR community. One thing I am excited about is fund that FTP is providing for us to attract top MTT talent. We'll be able to provide top MTT players with buy-ins to major tournaments, in exchange for videos for the CR community. We will also be ramping up our recruitment of cash game pros. This deal should solidify our position as the class of our industry, and we aren't stopping here. Expect to continue to see big name additions to our staff of instructors. Finally, we're also going to be awarding free World Series seats, including one seat to the Main Event. Our members will directly benefit from all of these parts of the deal, and that's really important to me. On top of this, we figured we'd throw in some cool prizes, including the Macbook Air, and some gift certificates to StubHub. More details on this are coming soon.

As I'm sitting here writing this, I really don't know how to best describe the feelings I'm having. I grew up in the "Moneymaker era," just like most of the rest of the "internet kids." Before his huge win, I played poker in the dorms with many of my friends. I remember rushing home from summer school that summer so I could catch the new episodes of the WSOP. That summer I cut my shifts in half at the pool so I could grind $5 SNG's on UB, ha. I don't really know what I was thinking. Poker was just so new and fun to me back then, if anyone ever told me I'd eventually gain a sponsorship to play poker I don't know what I would have said.

Another part of the deal that feels so unbelievable is that I remember the days of online poker before FTP even existed. When FTP first launched, I immediately registered an account and tried it out. I remember thinking it was really cool that you could play with Phil Ivey, who has always been my favorite player. I didn't play too much at FTP back then because there was no high stakes action, but the site was always a first tier place to play. Over the course of 2004 and 2005, FTP slowly built up its player base, and really became the best site to play at. I split my play on UB and FTP at this time, as it was clear that FTP was really becoming the place to play.

The CR pros will be playing across the SSNL games on FTP today, so feel free to stop by and say hi. Please feel free to comment here or send me a PM if you have any questions or good ideas for CR in general. We want to continue to make this the best learning community for poker players everywhere, and I'm always available to listen to input.

To close, I'd like to say thanks to all of the people that have helped me out along the way. My family, friends, Melissa, and of course, all of the people who have given me advice on poker and CR. Finally, I'd like to say thanks to all of the CardRunners members out there. Without you guys, CR wouldn't be what it is today. thank you!

tc

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I think they have to play exclusively under THEIR name on FT...so I think he can still play as Stinger on stars...just not Brian Hastings if he happened to have that account

We are red pros now and will be making videos only on FTP (not CR as a whole, just our red pros). I have been advised not to discuss the deal publicly, but I would just like to say that there probably is misinformation that will become "public," so don't believe everything you hear.

thanks,
tc

so you dont really get 7 virgins?

Congrats CR Pros. you guys have done so much for my game. thanks for everything. continued success in the future

We'll be able to provide top MTT players with buy-ins to major tournaments, in exchange for videos for the CR community

I always thought it would be a good idea if the training sites would announce ahead of time that one of their pro's would be playing tourney X , Y and Z. Then the videos would be up the next day or so(they might already do this, I do not know).

This way they can not just cherry pick the best.

congrats taylor and the rest of the CR guys that got this awesome deal. You guys helped me alot with my game.