Sunday tournaments usually attract a huge number of players, and FTOPS XVI Event 9 was no exception. The $322 No Limit Hold Em tournament saw 4,192 players show up, causing the prize to swell to $1,257,600, just passing the $1,250,000 guarantee. The tournament was hosted by Full Tilt Pro Marco Traniello, the husband of Team Full Tilt member Jennifer Harman.

This tournament was grueling, lasting over fourteen hours and going into the wee hours of the morning. It was a rough day for the Full Tilt Pros as there wasn’t a single one that cashed out of the 47 that played. While they had some tough luck, there were quite a few tournament regulars that made deep runs, falling short of the final table. Those included jdpc27 coming in at 14th for $6,916.80, Michael “benvo123” Benvenuti coming in at 17th for $5,030.40, and bob2bob coming in 36th for $2,640.96.

The final table saw some proven talent, as well, with johne147, and Dani “Ansky451” Stern. You might know Dani from his stint on the TV show “2 Months 2 Million”.

Here were the stacks going into the final table:

1. StackemDeep – 4,543,670
2. jotslexx – 4,211,268
3. woj422 – 2,658,402
4. betrthanphil – 2,543,704
5. MagicGog – 2,165,244
6. johne147 – 1,654,963
7. Ansky451 – 1,551,026
8. polarbertoenail – 826,501
9. ragfelix4 – 798,222

With the blinds at 30k/60k with a 7.5k ante, the action would be fast and furious. On just the second hand of the final table, the first big hand occurred. It folded to woj422 in the hijack position, and he raised to 136,500. Johne147 responded by shoving in his ~1.6 million stack. It folded back to woj422 and he made the easy call with two aces, leaving johne147’s pocket eights in bad shape. The flop came out safe as J24 rainbow. The turn followed, pairing the twos. However, the river was the miracle eight, vaulting johne147 up to 3rd in chips with over 3.4 million and knocking woj422 all the way back down to 995k. Johne147 would continue his run just a few hands later, putting a bad beat on ragfelix4’s AK with K4 of hearts and busting him in 9th place for $13,833.60.

However, fortunes can change quickly. johne147 saw a 3.8 million pot shipped the wrong way at 40k/80k with a 10k ante, as his pocket queens fell victim to polarbertoenail’s KQ of spades. Just a few hands later johne147 would get it in with pocket fives against MagicGog’s pocket queens, and he busted in 8th place for $20,121.60.

Ansky451 was the next out, as his AT of spades was outflopped by jotslexx’s 97 of hearts and Ansky couldn’t catch up. He finished in 7th place for $28,924.80.

The blinds moved up to 50k/100k with a 10k ante, and there were numerous double ups and bad beats as the remaining players continued to battle for first place. StackemDeep was the next one to bust as he and polarbertoenail flipped for a 4.6 million chip pot, Stackem with pocket sevens and polarbertoenail with A9. Polarbertoenail hit trip nines on the flop and never looked back, sending StackemDeep out in 6th place for $42,758.40.

Polarbertoenail then ran into some rough times and got it all in with A3 versus betrthanphil’s pocket eights. The flop contained an eight and no miracles arrived for Polarbertoenail, so he busted in 5th for $61,622.40.

It was at this time that the remaining four players decided upon a deal that would leave each of the remaining four with over $100k a piece. They continued to play after the deal was made. At blinds 80k/160k with a 20k ante, woj422 got it all-in with AK of diamonds against betrthanphil’s pocket jacks in another classic race situation. Woj422 couldn’t hit, though, and he finished in 4th for $120,473.45. The action continued and just eleven hands later, jotslexx’s A4 failed to hold up against MagicGog’s QJ of clubs, and jotslexx departed in 3rd place, taking home $119,660.08.

MagicGog and betrthanphil played for quite some time, playing until the blinds reached 120k/240k with a 30k ante. Betrthanphil had MagicGog down two to one in chips with over 13 million. Betrthanphil limped on the button, MagicGog made it 960k, and betrthanphil called. The flop came down 239 with two spades, and MagicGog lead out for 1,325,000, which was met by a shove from betrthanphil. MagicGog called off the rest of his stack holding AK of spades, while betrthanphil had A3 offsuit. Magic wasn’t able to hit any of his twelve outs, and he had to settle for 2nd place and $141,791.90.

Betrthanphil collected an incredible $193,803.85 for his win and also the coveted gold jersey! Congratulations to him and everyone else who cashed in Event #9.

Here were the final table cashes:

1. betrthanphil $193,803.85
2. MagicGog $141,791.90
3. jotslexx $119,660.08
4. woj422 $120,473.45
5. polarbertoenail $61,622.40
6. StackemDeep $42,758.40
7. Ansky451 $28,924.80
8. johne147 $20,121.60
9. ragfelix4 $13,833.60