With $300,000 guaranteed, and a bargain buy-in at $20+$2, the MiniFTOPS XIX Event #1 was sure to attract a lot of action. The prize pool ended up at a staggering $550,780, generated by the 27,539 players who made up the day’s field. 3,240 places were paid.
Full Tilt’s Nick Schulman hosted the event. Schulman, a WSOP bracelet winner with $3.8 million in tournament winnings to boot, is a successful live and online tournament player. At only 24 years old, the poker pro has had quite the string of successes.
David “Dragon” Pham was only red pro poker player to make it deep into the field. With $7 million in tournament earnings, Pham is always a force to be reckoned with. He made his presence felt when, with his stack as little as 10% of the chip leader, his bets routinely met a respectful fold from his opponents. Few players were willing to take risks against the consistent player.
The Dragon ran into trouble, however, when he found himself in the small blind and in desperate need of a double up. Ty4tilt (on the button) raised Pham by twice the blind for 24,000, holding A5. Pham pushed in all-in with KQ, for a total of 190,335. Ty4tilt hit three aces on the flop, and Pham, with no luck on the turn or river, went home in 416th place, earning only $126.68.
After Pham made his abrupt exit, player Siroland moved to the top of the rankings at an impressive 2.5 million chips, with the closest opponent being folkmoon, sitting at barely 2 million chips. Siroland remained in his commanding lead as a couple of hundred players were taken out.
With only 141 players left, however, folkmoon took a big chunk out of Siroland and rocketed from 10th up to first place with a massive 3.7 million in chips. Down to only 110 players, Siroland saw his once commanding lead drop to a devastating 77th place, on his way to an unfortunate 109th place finish with $391.05 in earnings. Folkmoon made a sudden drop in standings not long after, and finished in 46th place with $677.46 in earnings.
The final nine was a whole new set of faces. Meulike and MikkelW commanded the final table, and ended up making a deal to split the winnings almost evenly. Meulike left in 1st place with $68,521.97 and MikkelW made 2nd, with $63,5000.
All in all, the MiniFTOPS XIX Event #1 was a big success. Lots of action, and a surprising amount of professional play from a tournament with such a low buy-in, led to an engaging experience for the players and observers alike. With only a $20+$2 buy-in, and more than 10% of the players being paid, the MiniFTOPS XIX is attracting players from all over the world.
The final table’s standings and payouts:
1. Meulike – $68,521.97
2. MikkelW – $63,500.00
3. xxxMac3xxx – $36,351.48
4. billbysea – $25,886.66
5. soccerajs77 – $18,175.74
6. SCIORTINO1 – $13,218.72
7. Spectator63 – $9,914.04
8. kristian_uk – $7,325.37
9. J_Michael420 – $5,177.33