Full Tilt Online Poker Series XV is drawing big numbers and prizes. Event #4 was no different. The $200 buy-in tournament allowed for one rebuy and one add-on. With 1,524 players, 1,070 rebuys, and 986 add-ons, the prize pool grew to an astounding $716,000. This meant a first prize surpassing $150,000 for the first place winner.
The final table was seated as follows:
Seat 1 – IamsmartSMRT (440,808)
Seat 2 – Rudhouse (247,740)
Seat 3 – Tabalaba (736,944)
Seat 4 – kimjohn (1,385,801)
Seat 5 – GPTBigGuy (396,536)
Seat 6 – ddanchev ($1,098,916)
Seat 7 – flpro (1,093,301)
Seat 8 – jacquo93 (182,591)
Seat 9 – Sirocko (2,070,363)
As the final table rolled around, the blinds were up to 10,000/20,000 with a 2,500 ante. Five hands into the final table, Rudhouse looked to double up his small stack. From the button, IamsmartSMRT put in a small raise with AhJh which Rudhouse reraised all-in with Ac8c. IamsmartSMRT’s jack kicker held and Rudhouse was eliminated in ninth place and $10,024 extra in his account.
Kimjohn was the next to be eliminated as he found himself all-in preflop with TcTh against Sirocko’s AsQd. An ace on the flop and queen on the turn left kimjohn drawing slim. The river was a blank and kimjohn was eliminated in eighth place. Soon after, Jacquo93 shoved with KdJs and was called by Tabalaba’s Ad8s. The board was no help to either player and Tabalaba won the hand with ace-high. Unfortunately for Tabalaba, he was still the shortstack. He lost that stack soon after to place in sixth place. Then a coin flip involving IamsmartSMRT and ddanchev sent IamsmartSMRT to the rail in fifth place.
The eliminations did not stop for ddanchev. Just three hands after knocking out IamsmartSMRT, ddanchev picked up pocket kings and eliminated GPTBigGuy who held pocket queens. The kings held and GPTBigGuy was the fourth place finisher. After this hand, ddanchev was far and away the chip leader with almost 5 million chips. Sirocko, flpro, and ddanchev worked out a deal guaranteeing $131,000 for ddanchev while the other two were guaranteed $90,000. The remaining $12,632 was to be split between the first and second place finishers.
The chip leader made easy work of his remaining opponents. Sirocko, with less than 500,000 chips at the time, shoved from the small blind with Kd4c. With pocket fives, ddanchev called from the big blind. The board was kingless and ddanchev sent Sirocko home in third place. The very next hand, the tournament would be over! It was pocket eights against pocket sevens with ddanchev playing catch up with his sevens. The KsKdQd was clear of any game changers, but the 7c on the turn gave ddanchev a set of sevens and a huge lead in the hand. The river was a blank and flpro suffered a bad beat. He was the runner-up of FTOPS XV Event #4 and won $92,967.25. Ddanchev took home $140,664.75 and more importantly, the gold jersey to show everyone he is among poker’s elite.