Full Tilt Poker’s multi-annual poker series features a whole range of different events. Along with games from Omaha to Razz, there are also plenty of different format variations to keep high-stakes tournament junkies on their toes. Conventional ideas like shootouts and deepstacks make their mark as well as the cashout tournaments that are unique to Full Tilt. One of the more popular variants took center stage for Event #25, a 6-max Knockout contest that favored the aggressive player and awarded competitors who employed a ruthless streak. This was a $240 + $16 tournament, with $40 of the buy-in placed as a bounty on the head of every player. Whenever you eliminated an opponent, you collected his bounty, encouraging fast-paced play where big stacks develop very quickly.

Fondness for the format, along with a relatively low buy-in, encouraged 5,093 players to enter Event #25, one of the highest turnouts for FTOPS XV. It took over 12 hours for the players to crown a winner. The buy-in easily surpassed the $800,000 guaranteed for this event, with 492 players picking up a portion of the $1,019,000 prize pool. The event was won by little-known BigMich08, who picked up $194,763.99 on top of plenty of knockout bounties. In second place was Ozzy87 for $119,293.20, followed by 3rd place MrJackhOFFman who collected $82,791.52.

The Event #25 champion is otherwise known as Matt Glassley, but, otherwise, is not known very much. His total online tournament winnings of $221,397 are almost all from this event, but at just 26 years old he has plenty of time to build on the biggest success of his career. To date, he has no major live cashes. Somewhat more famous is the second place finisher Ozzy87, real name Aurangzeb Sheikh. Ozzy is a high stakes cash game player of the highest calibre, who regularly tangles with Phil Ivey and cohorts on Full Tilt. The 21 year old has millions in online winnings and has featured on a WPT final table. He also managed to rack up two cashes at his first ever WSOP in 2009. The young Sheikh has courted controversy in the past, having been arrested for reckless driving and possession of marijuana.

The tournament was hosted by Full Tilt pro and Cardrunners instructor Ryan Daut. The New Jersey born player is only 22 years old, but already has a $1.5 million WPT title to his name. He beat fellow internet sensation Isaac Haxton to take down the title at the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He is a member of the Cardrunners teaching academy, where he learned the skills that have helped him become one of the strongest players online. Like Bertrand “Elky” Grosspelier and Hevad Khan before him, Daut is a convert from competitive Starcraft.

Ryan failed to make the money in his own tournament, but plenty of his Red Pro brethren managed to pick up a small return on their investment. The most successful sponsored pro was Chris Wolters, who picked up $1,876 for his 50th place finish. Christoph is an old-school poker pro and expert in 7-Card Stud, however he clearly had enough hold ‘em talent to notch up this impressive score. He was the only Team Full Tilt member to finish inside the top 100, but plenty of his compatriots found their way into the 492 cash places. Among them were Damian Salas (149th), David Benyamine (151st), Stefan Rapp (157th), Martin Kaleser (216th), Issac Baron (276th), Hans Vogl (436th), and Dag Mikkelsen (491st).

Final table payouts were as follows:

1.    BigMich08 $194,763.99
1.    Ozzy 87 $119,293.20
2.    MrJackhOFFman $82,791.52
3.    Tannina80 $61,176.00
4.    kleath $44,862.40
5.    E Tyme $30,588.00