Event 4 of FTOPS IX was a $300 No Limit Holdem tournament, with one rebuy and one add-on. 970 players showed up, causing the total prize pool to pass the guarantee. The final prize pool being $694,500, well over the guarantee of $600,000.
As usual, a ton of notable players just missed the final table. Darrenelias busted out in 10th, winning $6,597.75. Carter “ckingusc” King finished in 12th, also for $6,597.75. Other notables include FU_15 in 18th for $3,472.50, and Exitonly in 22nd for $2,708.55. FTR’s own Johnny_fish (playing as busto_soon) finished in 62nd for $1,666.80. Josh Arieh had the best finish of any of the Full Tilt Poker pros, placing 76th for $1,389.
As for the final table itself, here’s how the players looked coming in:
1. Uwannabone – 1,124,822 chips
2. greezhool – 1,005,891 chips
3. jeansasson – 761,492 chips
4. thakilla – 504,684 chips
5. benvo123 – 461,300 chips
6. bmf823 – 454,839 chips
7. Tomif gsd – 201,540 chips
8. DJ_Ponytale – 198,880 chips
9. ryanghall – 193,052 chips
The two most notable players coming into the final table were Ben “bmf823” Fineman and ryanghall. For those not familiar with Fineman, not only is he an extremely good online tournament pro, but he’s also cashed in live events for over $600,000. As for his online successes, just 8 events after this tournament, he took down FTOPS IX Event 12. That was a $1,000 No Limit Holdem tournament, and his prize was an impressive $300,000!
At the start of the final table, the blinds were at 10,000/20,000 with a 2,500 ante, meaning ryanghall, DJ_Ponytale, and Tomif gsd had no time to waste as short stacks. It folded around to jeansasson on the button, who made it 52,000 to go. Tomif shoved for about 200,000 from the small blind, Uwannabone folded from the big blind, and jeansasson snap called with AKs, dominating Tomif’s A3o. The AKT all hearts flop was a big one, as jeans flopped top two pair, but Tomif held the 3 of hearts for the low, but extremely live flush draw. The jack of spades fell on the turn, giving Tomif some more outs for the chop. However the five of diamonds didn’t do it, and Tomif left in 9th for $11,806.50.
With the blinds up to 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 ante, even more pressure to make a move was put on DJ_Ponytale and ryanghall, as both were around 140,000 in chips. It folded to DJ_Ponytale in the hijack, and he moved in for 142,000 total. It folded to jeans in the big blind, who had about 940,000. Jeans made the call with K9o, and was behind DJ_Ponytale’s A8s. The 9TQ flop was a killer for DJ_Ponytale, as he was not only out flopped, but had only flopped a lone spade as well. The three of diamonds on the turn killed any flush possibilities, and the river 4 sealed it. DJ_Ponytale busted in 8th place for $16,251.30.
The blinds continued their steep climb, increasing to 15,000/30,000 with a 4,000 ante, making each pot 73,000 preflop with the table 7-handed. Bmf823 had dwindled to 330,000 in chips and he was in the big blind. Action folded around to greezhool in the small blind, who had bmf823 covered by about 4 times. Greezhool made it 72,500 to go, and bmf823 shoved over him. Greezhool made the call, and it turned out to be a blind versus blind cooler as bmf823 held 77 to greezhool’s QQ. The Q82 flop left bmf823 drawing to running quads, which didn’t come. He finished in 7th for $20,835.
Despite being the chip leader coming into the final table, Uwannabone had been blinding away, down to 351,000 as action folded to him on the button. He raised it up to 76,000, and benvo123 shoved over him from the big blind, with just 30,000 less than Uwannabone. Uwannabone made the call with ATo, and was dominated by benvo123’s AKh. The 87T flop with two hearts was an exciting one, giving Uwannabone top pair top kicker and giving benvo123 an over-card and the nut flush draw. The 6 of diamonds on the turn gave benvo123 some more hope, but the deuce of diamonds on the river didn’t help him, and benvo123 busted due to this bad beat. He won $31,252.50 for his 6th place efforts.
After yet another blind raise, this time to 20,000/40,000 with a 5,000 ante, Uwannabone made it nearly 110,000 under-the-gun, with 590,000 behind. It folded to jeans in the big blind, who moved all in with KJo. Uwannabone made the easy call with pocket jacks. The 546 flop with two spades gave jeans some hope, as he held the king of spades. The turn Q of spades made it even more interesting, and the river 9 of spades completed the impressive beat against Uwannabone. jeans made the flush and Uwannabone was knocked out in 5th place for $43,406.25. Ouch.
The next big hand occurred later at 30,000/60,0000 with a 7,500 ante. By that time ryanghall was all the way up over 2 million chips despite coming into this final table with less than ten big-blinds. Thakilla was in good shape with 1.4 million chips in his stack, jeans was in around 866,000, and greezhool was down below ten blinds himself, with 560,000. ryanghall made it 150,000 to go under-the-gun, which greezhool shoved his short stack over from the big blind. Ryanghall snap-called for about 400,000 more and discovered that he was in a coinflip situation with AKo against greezhool’s TT. The Q94 flop was a dry one for ryanghall. The 6 of hearts did nothing for him either, but the king of hearts on the river was huge, as it gave ryanghall the over one million dollar pot, and finished greezhool’s run in 4th place for $57,296.26.
The blinds were up to 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante, as 3-handed play continued. ryanghall was down to about 1.8 million, while jeans was up to 2 million, and thakilla was down to 1.1 million. jeans folded on the button, while ryanghall just called in the small blind. Thakilla checked his option, and lo and behold, the rail got to see a flop. The flop came AQ2 with two hearts, and ryanghall bet the minimum. Thakilla just called, and the board paired on the turn, with the two of hearts, putting three hearts out there as well. ryanghall bet 140k, and thakilla reraised to 365k. ryanghall responded by pushing and Thakilla made the big call, creating a 2.2 million chip pot. Thakilla showed A6 with the 6 of hearts, but he was dominated by ryanghall’s Q2, which gave him the full house. Thakilla was drawing to one of the two remaining aces, but neither of them came. He finished in 3rd place for $74,658.75.
Heads-up didn’t start too well for ryanghall, with his stack down to 940,000, and jeans all the way up to nearly 4 million. The blinds had jumped to 50,000/100,000, with a 10,000 ante. ryanghall moved all in from the button, which was met by a call from jeans. jeans showed QJs, which was (of course) racing with ryanghall’s pocket fives. The A23 flop with two hearts was a good one for ryanghall, as was the ace of spades on the turn. The king of spades gave him the victory, and increasing his stack to 2 million chips.
ryanghall was back down to 1.5 million, with jeans up to 3.4 million, and jeans popped it to 200,000 from the button. Ryan made the call for 100,000 more, and we were off to the flop. The 8TT rainbow was checked by bother players. The 9 of diamonds came on the turn, and ryanghall checked again, which was met by a 310,000 bet by jeans. The river put out another ten, with the board reading 8TT9T, and ryanghall checked yet again. Jean checked, and ryanghall’s Q9 was good enough to win the big pot, beating out jean’s K3.
The blinds increased yet again, this time up to 60,000/120,000 with a 15,000 ante, when ryanghall limped from the button, with about 2.4 million behind. jeans raised from the big blind to 405,000, with 1,981,512 chips behind. Ryan called, and the flop came TT8 rainbow, with 840,000 in the pot. Jeans bet 460,000, and ryanghall cold-called. The turn was a 9, keeping the board rainbow. Jean checked it to ryanghall, who also checked. The 6 of clubs came on the river, and jean moved all-in for 1.5 million. ryanghall instacalled, as he held T9, good for the nuts. Jean’s ten high straight with 73 offsuit was no good, and ryanghall was the winner of the event, after starting the final table as the short-stack!
Jean finished in 2nd place for a healthy $100,702.50. ryanghall, as first place, earned himself $159,735 for his hard work. Congratulations to everyone who cashed in Event 4! Below is the list of all players who cashed in this event.
1 ryanghall $159,735.00
2 jeansasson $100,702.50
3 thakilla $74,658.75
4 greezhool $57,296.25
5 Uwannabone $43,406.25
6 benvo123 $31,252.50
7 bmf823 $20,835.00
8 DJ_Ponytale $16,251.30
9 Tomif gsd $11,806.50
10 darrenelias $6,597.75
11 chico134 $6,597.75
12 ckingusc $6,597.75
13 LuckyDuckyy $4,861.50
14 ace212121 $4,861.50
15 MVPapa $4,861.50
16 krawiec76 $3,472.50
17 the sacker $3,472.50
18 FU_15 $3,472.50
19 Keith_Dodd $2,708.55
20 PatHuntKK $2,708.55
21 ASTON DBS $2,708.55
22 Exitonly $2,708.55
23 OtherSense $2,708.55
24 califorication- $2,708.55
25 TheAssassin3 $2,708.55
26 aZeg $2,708.55
27 xcptmorganx $2,708.55
28 GetPWN3D $2,361.30
29 snackking $2,361.30
30 MrNissan1 $2,361.30
31 RolandThetrault $2,361.30
32 SLmelonman $2,361.30
33 6 feet under $2,361.30
34 derdings $2,361.30
35 nixod $2,361.30
36 terp4444 $2,361.30
37 chubbawubba $2,083.50
38 jkhp $2,083.50
39 KaKeTKa $2,083.50
40 midein $2,083.50
41 HeyImDro $2,083.50
42 DMill90 $2,083.50
43 peterleah $2,083.50
44 Dingo1010 $2,083.50
45 MadSickoHead $2,083.50
46 twoIcebears $1,875.15
47 kasper74 $1,875.15
48 treysfull21 $1,875.15
49 jason jiang $1,875.15
50 eisenhower1 $1,875.15
51 govshark2 $1,875.15
52 Paidu2play $1,875.15
53 Wiscomurray $1,875.15
54 GewissBallan $1,875.15
55 Gettin Daize $1,666.80
56 HouseLover $1,666.80
57 pepsi_zero $1,666.80
58 pu-sdaeh $1,666.80
59 hersom $1,666.80
60 C-D-Goes_woodo $1,666.80
61 bigfishy111 $1,666.80
62 busto_soon $1,666.80
63 I Am Ari $1,666.80
64 OnlyPlayRagz $1,527.90
65 Pankratser $1,527.90
66 yuvee04 $1,527.90
67 mpuskad3 $1,527.90
68 grafyx $1,527.90
69 PXFACTOR $1,527.90
70 FCUK01 $1,527.90
71 psychobenny $1,527.90
72 stpauli111 $1,527.90
73 mrjakopberlin $1,389.00
74 ALMULL22 $1,389.00
75 CheckingAccount $1,389.00
76 Josh Arieh $1,389.00
77 Roccanivo $1,389.00
78 chipmongerAA $1,389.00
79 Z06JOE $1,389.00
80 Hixx $1,389.00
81 PayStation $1,389.00
82 LobiS $1,250.10
83 jacob126b38 $1,250.10
84 Kroko-dill $1,250.10
85 Slutaments $1,250.10
86 Baikal $1,250.10
87 Vitaly Lunkin $1,250.10
88 dreedog $1,250.10
89 rur11 $1,250.10
90 Intervention $1,250.10