The 1st No Limit Hold’em Rush tournament of FTOPS XVII took place last night, attracting 1,971 entrants. The guaranteed prize pool was $350,000, but the actual prize pool ended up being $394,200 with a healthy $81,205.20 for 1st place. Not only was Rush Poker the game of choice for this event, it was also a turbo! It should come as no surprise, then, that the entire tournament was wrapped up within 2.5 hours.
A couple very successful tournament players made the final table. You might know All In At 420 as Matthew Stout, an American pro living in New Jersey. Currently ranked at 52 on PocketFives, he has had great success in both live and online tournaments. His biggest live cash was in 2009 in the WPT No Limit Hold’em Championship where he won $265,710 for a 3rd place finish. His biggest online cash was in late 2008 in the PokerStars Sunday 500 where he placed 1st and won $105,353.60.
The other player you might know is Aaron “Aguskb” Gustavson. While he only ranks at #648 on PocketFives, he has some cashes that would make any poker player green with envy. His most notable cash was in 2009 when he played the PokerStars EPT London Main Event and won for an impressive $1.35 million. His largest cash online was a 1st place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Warmup for $135,010, and this was also in 2009.
The creme rose to the top as both All In At 420 and Aguskb made it to 3-handed play, but All In At 420 ended up busting in 3rd place for $39,814.20. This left HNE SNE SPEAKNE with the formidable task of playing Aguskb heads-up for the FTOPS gold jersey. The two players already had history at this final table. In the very first hand after the table formed, HNE SNE SPEAKNE got dealt 99 and Aguskb got AA. The two of them played a 3bet pot and got it all-in on the flop, and HNE SNE SPEAKNE was down to a 2-outer for his tournament life with only two cards to come. He must have polished up his luck box, though, because he did spike the two-outer on the river.
HNE SNE SPEAKNE couldn’t make repeat performance, though, and Aguskb dominated heads-up. When everything was said and done, Aguskb emerged victorious and now has a Gold Jersey to add to his Sunday Warmup and EPT title.
Congratulations to everyone that cashed! Below is a summary of the final table cashes. Be sure to stay tuned to FTR for more FTOPS XVII coverage in the days to come.
1st – Aguskb – $81,205.20
2nd – HNE SNE SPEAKNE – $53,611.20
3rd – All In At 420 – $39,814.20
4th – MajstorTH – $31,141.80
5th – Icemanmark – $23,257.80
6th – Suicide King007 – $16,162.20
7th – jaytheo40 – $9,855.00
8th – betembo9 – $6,701.4
9th – jake00mt – $4,730.40