FTOPS XVI Event 18 was a six-max No Limit Holdem $300 buy-in tournament with rebuys. Full Tilt Poker guaranteed a $1,000,000 prize pool and a total of 877 players registered. However, the tournament ended up $95,200 short of the $1 million guarantee. The final table and chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1 – midocean3 (25,720)
Seat 2 – FU_15 (1,351,672)
Seat 3 – dsindy (656,266)
Seat 4 – BLUFFforRENT (766,727)
Seat 5 – A_theKevlar_2 (1,433,956)
Seat 6 – wallstreetpro (368,659)
Blinds at the final table began at 6,000/12,000 giving the shortstack, midocean3, only two big blinds. It didn’t take long before the first player was knocked off the final table. FU_15 opened for 26,000 in middle position and wallstreetpro shoved all 294,000 of his chips. A classic race was to go down as FU_15’s AhQh went against wallstreetpro’s 6h6d. The 9s8h4s flush missed FU_15 and wallstreetpro had a commanding lead at this point. The 2h turn gave FU_15 a backdoor flush draw and the Jh river completed the draw to give FU_15 the hand and knock out wallstreetpro in sixth place.
An interesting hand was played to knock out the next player in fifth place. FU_15 opened the pot and BLUFFforRENT raised on the button. In the big blind, midocean3 cold four-bet shoved for 166,000 in the big blind. FU_15 five-bet to 264,000 trying to get BLUFFforRENT out of the hand and have midocean3 heads-up. Unfortunately for FU_15, BLUFFforRENT had pocket jacks and was not going anywhere. He made it 1,300,000 and FU_15 mucked his hand. BLUFFforRENT’s jacks were against midocean’s KsQh. Midocean flopped a queen but a jack on the river sent him packing in fifth place.
Play continued and A_theKevlar_2 and dsindy were both knocked out in fourth and third place, respectively. Heads-up play began with BLUFFforRENT with a small lead and 2.9 million chips. FU_15 was not far behind with 2 million chips. A cooler would end the tournament when BLUFFforRENT raised in position and FU_15 called. Both players saw the 5c5d3s flop. FU_15 donked the flop, BLUFFforRENT raised, FU_15 three-bet, and BLUFFforRENT called to bring the 6h turn. FU_15 lead one again and BLUFFforRENT shoved over the bet. FU_15 called and showed a monster: 8s5s for trips. Unfortunately for FU_15, BLUFFforRENT had trips as well with a larger kicker: Kc5h. The river was a Kh to add insult to injury. This gave BLUFFforRENT the pot, $213,500, and the golden jersey.