Wherever an FTOPS treads a MiniFTOPS shall follow in its wake. Probably not a surprise then, to see MiniFTOPS XIX cresting the hill just as its bigger brother has been and gone.
The miniature series was conceived as a way for non-stacked players to experience the thrills and spills of a top-notch poker series for a fraction of the buy-in. A very specific fraction, in fact. Every tournament is an exact copy of the FTOPS roster, costing 1/10th of the entry fee.
We’re just a couple of days into this latest MiniFTOPS, but we’ve already reached as far as Event #12. The whole series features guarantees adding up to $8 million, with Event #12 getting a nice $100,000 sliver of that kitty.
This was a $20 + $2 No Limit Hold’em Rush Super Turbo tournament, in which the players began with only 300 chips. In Rush Poker, a Full Tilt exclusive format, as soon as you fold your hand you are transported to another table and dealt another one right away. Combining this with a super turbo clock and limited chip stack meant that the whole event was over in just under 2.5 hours.
In total the tournament wracked up a prize pool of $127,780, thanks to buy-ins from 6,389 entrants. Among them was Andrew Wiggins, the CardRunner founder called upon host the event. The Chicagoan can still be found grinding multiple tables online or sharing his wisdom in one of CardRunners’ many training videos.
Wiggins failed to make the money, but a few of his fellow Red Pros were not so unlucky. Bruno Stefanelli (134th), Chip Jett (424th), Mihai Manole (483rd), and Kelly Him (691st) all left Event #12 richer than when they entered.
None of them got close to the final table, however, which, in a series designed to cater to the amateur player, seems about right. The action was, by necessity, hard and fast. The player who managed to outlast every opponent was jamminclam, taking down $24,855.77 for his efforts. Known in the real world as Joe Opie, the New Jersey native already has over $130,000 in online winnings.
Just behind him in second place were juice561, who picked up $15,205.82 and rada1989, who earned $10,733.52 for third place.
Final table payouts were as follows:
1 jamminclam $24,855.77
2 juice561 $15,205.82
3 radar1989 $10,733.52
4 robrick33 $7,666.80
5 Sammy2Shirts $5,494.54
6 Dreamstation $3,705.62
7 DanaraB $2,555.60
8 4ttl $1,788.92
9 nallepuh777 $1,277.80