The MiniFTOPS XIX Main Event is only hours away, but there are still a few side events of note to wrap up before the series reaches its climax. Over the weekend, the third and final Heads Up event took place.
Event #42 cost $50 + $5 to enter, with a guarantee of $100,000 on tap to tempt in passing punters. As it turned out, the allure of a prestigious heads-up title was even more enticing than a few extra dollars, with the 3,438 entrants building a prize pool of $171,900.
Just like every MiniFTOPS Event, this was an exact analogue of its FTOPS equivalent with the buy-in divided by ten. Although this was a cheaper option, the action was no less fierce and it would be almost 12 hours before a champion could be crowned. With the National Heads-Up Championship having concluded last month, appetite for this format is obviously high.
Event #42 was hosted by Matt Hawrilenko, Limit Hold’em expert and all-around cash game master. Behind Gus Hansen, he is the second most profitable online player of 2011. His winnings so far this year have topped the $1.8 million mark. Matt is known for his extremely analytical style, applying exacting mathematical calculations to each and every pot. In addition to online success, his brain has powered him to 8 WSOP cashes.
He was on form again in this heads-up battle. A 251st place finish was good enough for $137.52, making him the only Full Tilt Pro to turn a profit. A relatively small contingent of Red Pros turned out for Event #42, but the likes of Aaron Bartley, David Pham, Melanie Weisenr, Scott Clements, and Trond Eidsvig all failed to cash.
After winning his way through ten heads-up rounds, Latte_Cafe emerged as the victor, picking up over $26,000. Latte is a regular mid-stakes tournament player, who made small cash earlier this series in MiniFTOPS Event #23.
Latte could have one won a whole chunk more, had he not made a deal with second player sosickPL. The Polish player might have missed out on a MiniFTOPS title, but he still took home over $14,600 for losing the final heads-up round. The losing semi-finalists were Consistent Luck and rwestover.
Top 8 payouts were as follows:
1* Latte_Cafe $22,912.20
2* sosickPL $18,000.00
3 Consistent Luck $7,391.70
4 rwestover $7,391.70
5 ftp_Cuji $3,781.80
6 C Menezes $3,781.80
7 a365551 $3,781.80
8 Jacopo Poker $3,781.80