The 13th Full Tilt Series of Poker got underway with bang this week with Event #1. Since its establishment in 2006, the FTOPS has become a regular highlight in the high stakes online calendar. Not only does it attract a strong contingent of Full Tilt sponsored pros, but also the cream of the online poker community.
This first event featured a relatively low buy-in of $200 + $16 and was a plain and simple No Limit Hold ‘em tournament. The excitement surrounding the start of the series was obvious as 5712 players packed themselves into the event. The $1 million guaranteed by Full Tilt also provided an excellent attraction, with the eventual prize pool just tipping over the mark at $1,142,400.
After 12 hours of hotly contested action it was Deception Pt who walked away with $107,518.60 for first place. In fact he only finished 3rd in terms of payouts, thanks to the deal struck between the final five players. This was the first high profile example of the deal-making facilities Full Tilt added in their most recent software upgrade. With such large sums of money on the line, we can expect to see many more FTOPS final tables chopping the money.
In second was MaKaVeLi121 for $131,693.53, and in third was phil_ivey41 for $120,298.79. A healthy batch of Red Pros turned out for the event, and while none of them troubled the higher places a few of them made smaller cashes. The best sponsored finisher was Christian Kruel, the highest earning Brazilian player in history. He was eliminated in 193rd for a little over $570. The other notable finishers were Isaac Baron (449th), Brandon Adams (495th), Scott Fischman (528th), and Eli Elezra (531st).
As with all FTOPS tournaments, Event #1 featured its very own professional host. The honor of opening the tournament this year went to WSOP star Vitaly Lunkin. Although he was already a well known player in his native Russia, he gained global attention at this year’s World Series. He was victorious in the first open WSOP event- the specially devised $40k 40th Anniversary tournament. He also came close to a unique double, winning the two highest buy-in events at the same series, when he final tabled the prestigious $50k H.O.R.S.E. event. His 5 cashes were enough to leave him 3rd overall in the Player of the Year race and make him the highest earner from this year’s WSOP with over $2.7 million.
The top 10 payouts were as follows:
1* Deception Pt $107,518.60
2* MaKaVeLi121 $131,692.53
3* phil_ivey41 $120,298.79
4* HoundsBlood $107,273.07
5* hir03yj $89,508.69
6 lildavefish $37,699.20
7 m_hawk_1 $24,561.60
8 dousche $17,136.00
9 TheHebrewHammer $11,995.20
10 BigMich08 $8,225.28
See here for the full list.