FTOPS XI kicked-off today with a huge bang. FullTilt continues to deliver a great tournament series with 25 scheduled events and over $15,000,000 in guaranteed prize money! First up, Event #1, a $1,000,000 guaranteed NL Hold’em Event.
The $200+$16 buy-in tournament attracted 6,275 of the best tournament players around the world, creating a prize pool of $1,255,000. This event was hosted by FullTilt Poker co-owner and WSOP bracelet winner Howard Lederer. Lederer is no stranger to tournament success, having won two WSOP bracelets, two World Poker Tour titles, and the 2008 Aussie Millions high-roller $100,000 buy-in event. Lederer isn’t the only great player in his family, as his sister Annie Duke also has a WSOP bracelet to her name.
Lederer fared quite well in his own event, eventually busting out in 697th place for a $326.30 payday. All in all, 58 FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the event, with five, including Lederer, making the money. Lee Watkinson, a final-table participant from the 2007 WSOP Main Event, had the best run of all the pros, finishing in 211th place for $727.90. Other big names playing included Allen Cunningham, Brandon Adams, David Pham, and former WSOP ME Champion Huck Seed.
As the final table approached a few well known names remained, including John Newcombe, a tournament grinder who finished 4th for $175,106 in FTOPS Event #17 this past February. Another player with success on FullTilt was kudos1017 who finished 4th in the Sunday Brawl this past May for $21,596 to go along with 7 other 5-figure scores. Dan “Wretchy” Martin made a nice run, finally busting in 13th place when his ATo could not outrun pocket Queens. Martin had to be considered one of the favorites as he has many big wins to his name including a victory in the Brawl this past June and a win in the $109r on PokerStars in October.
A solid structure left the average stack with 30BBs nearing the final table. After over ten hours of poker the final table was set, “Muckducks” entered with a slight chip lead over “sticky seat.” Here are the final table starting stacks:
Seat 1: sticky seat 8,542,663
Seat 2: Almerud 1,529,339
Seat 3: amster_ATX 2,037,866
Seat 4: song1234 1,566,232
Seat 5: muckducks 8,847,150
Seat 6: headbang 1,846,196
Seat 7: John Newcombe 3,679,525
Seat 8: two8off 1,805,256
Seat 9: ich_bin_pro 1,520,773
The first final table casualty was amster_ATX who picked up ATs in late position only to run into headbang’s KK. Amster_ATX took home just over $16,000 for a long-days work:
Seat 1: sticky seat (9,394,136)
Seat 2: Almerud (3,038,678)
Seat 3: amster_ATX (997,054)
Seat 4: song1234 (2,832,464)
Seat 5: muckducks (8,527,150)
Seat 6: headbang (1,606,196)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (2,033,293)
Seat 8: two8off (1,405,256)
Seat 9: ich_bin_pro (1,540,773)
muckducks posts the small blind of 80,000
headbang posts the big blind of 160,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
John Newcombe folds
two8off folds
ich_bin_pro folds
sticky seat folds
Almerud folds
amster_ATX raises to 977,054, and is all in
song1234 folds
muckducks folds
headbang calls 817,054
amster_ATX shows [As Ts]
headbang shows [Kc Kd]
*** FLOP *** [Qd 3s 3c]
*** TURN *** [Qd 3s 3c] [Ks]
John Newcombe: gg
*** RIVER *** [Qd 3s 3c Ks] [6c]
amster_ATX shows a pair of Threes
headbang shows a full house, Kings full of Threes
headbang wins the pot (2,214,108) with a full house, Kings full of Threes
Heading home in 8th place was ich_bin_pro when he lost a classic coin flip, JJ versus AQ. The nearly $22,000 cash appears to be the biggest of his career:
Seat 1: sticky seat (9,486,508)
Seat 2: Almerud (2,538,678)
Seat 4: song1234 (3,098,129)
Seat 5: muckducks (9,147,150)
Seat 6: headbang (2,663,250)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (2,575,256)
Seat 8: two8off (1,065,256)
Seat 9: ich_bin_pro (800,773)
sticky seat posts the small blind of 80,000
Almerud posts the big blind of 160,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
song1234 folds
muckducks raises to 400,000
headbang folds
John Newcombe folds
two8off folds
ich_bin_pro raises to 780,773, and is all in
sticky seat folds
Almerud folds
muckducks calls 380,773
ich_bin_pro shows [Js Jd]
muckducks shows [Ac Qc]
*** FLOP *** [Kd 2h Ah]
*** TURN *** [Kd 2h Ah] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 2h Ah Ad] [6s]
ich_bin_pro shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
muckducks shows three of a kind, Aces
muckducks wins the pot (1,961,546) with three of a kind, Aces
The blinds started to catch up with the majority of the field, as muckducks and sticky seat held more than 65% of the chips in play 7-handed. With the average stack having only 22BBs, most of the field was extremely short. It was only a matter of time until the barrage of all-ins occurred, and song1234 was the first to take a shot. Unfortunately he would run his pocket tens into sticky seat’s pocket Kings and bust in 7th place, earning just under $29,000:
Seat 1: sticky seat (9,952,053)
Seat 2: Almerud (2,108,678)
Seat 4: song1234 (2,043,129)
Seat 5: muckducks (11,317,378)
Seat 6: headbang (2,773,250)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (2,630,256)
Seat 8: two8off (550,256)
song1234 posts the small blind of 100,000
muckducks posts the big blind of 200,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
headbang has 15 seconds left to act
headbang folds
John Newcombe folds
two8off folds
sticky seat raises to 525,555
Almerud folds
song1234 raises to 2,018,129, and is all in
muckducks folds
sticky seat calls 1,492,574
song1234 shows [Td Th]
sticky seat shows [Kc Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Ah 9s 4d]
*** TURN *** [Ah 9s 4d] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 9s 4d Jd] [3c]
song1234 shows a pair of Tens
sticky seat shows a pair of Kings
sticky seat wins the pot (4,411,258) with a pair of Kings
Two8off started to run well winning multiple all-ins, including almerud’s final hand, when his ATo could not outrun pocket nines. Almerud had to settle for 6th place and just over $37,000 in prize money:
Seat 1: sticky seat (12,186,849)
Seat 2: Almerud (1,333,166)
Seat 5: muckducks (11,925,711)
Seat 6: headbang (1,948,250)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (2,005,000)
Seat 8: two8off (1,976,024)
John Newcombe posts the small blind of 100,000
two8off posts the big blind of 200,000
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
sticky seat folds
Almerud has 15 seconds left to act
Almerud raises to 1,308,166, and is all in
muckducks folds
sticky seat is feeling normal
headbang folds
John Newcombe folds
two8off calls 1,108,166
Almerud shows [Ad Th]
two8off shows [9h 9d]
*** FLOP *** [7d 3h Jd]
*** TURN *** [7d 3h Jd] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [7d 3h Jd Kh] [Jc]
Almerud shows a pair of Jacks
two8off shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
two8off wins the pot (2,866,332) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
The first bad beat in the tournament left headbang out in 5th place, taking home just under $50,000 for his efforts. It was looking more and more like a two-man race between sticky seat and muckducks as the now controlled over 80% of the chips in play:
Seat 1: sticky seat (11,299,350)
Seat 5: muckducks (13,825,710)
Seat 6: headbang (1,223,250)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (1,855,000)
Seat 8: two8off (3,171,690)
headbang posts the small blind of 100,000
John Newcombe posts the big blind of 200,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
two8off folds
sticky seat: hoping to win $50
sticky seat has 15 seconds left to act
sticky seat raises to 600,000
muckducks folds
headbang raises to 1,198,250, and is all in
John Newcombe folds
sticky seat calls 598,250
headbang shows [Kc As]
sticky seat shows [Jd 9d]
*** FLOP *** [5h 8s 2h]
*** TURN *** [5h 8s 2h] [6h]
sticky seat: wow
*** RIVER *** [5h 8s 2h 6h] [Jh]
headbang shows Ace King high
sticky seat shows a pair of Jacks
sticky seat wins the pot (2,721,500) with a pair of Jacks
Two8off’s luck eventually ran out has he would make a standard shove with less than 10BB’s in the SB with A4o only to run into sticky seat’s pocket sevens. After the board bricked out, two8off was out in 4th place, earning over $65,000 for a great run:
Seat 1: sticky seat (16,072,600)
Seat 5: muckducks (10,445,710)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (2,835,000)
Seat 8: two8off (2,021,690)
two8off posts the small blind of 120,000
sticky seat posts the big blind of 240,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
muckducks folds
John Newcombe folds
two8off raises to 1,991,690, and is all in
sticky seat calls 1,751,690
two8off shows [Ac 4h]
sticky seat shows [7h 7c]
*** FLOP *** [Js Qd Qc]
*** TURN *** [Js Qd Qc] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Js Qd Qc 3h] [5h]
two8off shows a pair of Queens
sticky seat shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
sticky seat wins the pot (4,103,380) with two pair, Queens and Sevens
Sticky seat was beginning to create some separation from the field as he now held just over 60% of the chips in play 3-handed. However, John Newcombe would not go down with out a fight, as he won a t10,000,000 chip pot when his AA held against sticky seat’s AQo. Muckducks now became the shortest stack at the table, however, he still had more than 30BB’s, allowing for some nice action. Undeterred, sticky seat once again took control of the final table, working his stack back up to over 17,000,000 chips, well over half of the chips in play. After passing around the blinds for a few orbits, a tough beat left John Newcombe out in 3rd place, earning $84,336:
Seat 1: sticky seat (18,250,223)
Seat 5: muckducks (7,508,285)
Seat 7: John Newcombe (5,616,492)
John Newcombe posts the small blind of 140,000
sticky seat posts the big blind of 280,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
muckducks folds
John Newcombe has 15 seconds left to act
John Newcombe raises to 660,000
sticky seat calls 380,000
*** FLOP *** [2d 9h 4s]
John Newcombe checks
sticky seat has 15 seconds left to act
sticky seat bets 444,444
John Newcombe raises to 4,921,492, and is all in
sticky seat calls 4,477,048
John Newcombe shows [Js Jh]
sticky seat shows [9s 6s]
*** TURN *** [2d 9h 4s] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [2d 9h 4s 8h] [9d]
John Newcombe shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
sticky seat shows three of a kind, Nines
sticky seat wins the pot (11,267,984) with three of a kind, Nines
Entering heads-up play, sticky seat had a more than 3 to 1 chip advantage holding nearly 24,000,000 chips compared to muckducks 7,500,000. Sticky seat had a great chance to win the title when he called a shove holding QQ versus muckducks’ A6o. Unforunately for sticky seat an Ace flopped and muckducks assumed a slight chiplead:
Seat 1: sticky seat (22,626,715)
Seat 5: muckducks (8,748,285)
sticky seat posts the small blind of 140,000
muckducks posts the big blind of 280,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
sticky seat raises to 712,222
muckducks raises to 8,713,285, and is all in
sticky seat calls 8,001,063
muckducks shows [Ac 6s]
sticky seat shows [Qs Qd]
*** FLOP *** [7d As Kc]
*** TURN *** [7d As Kc] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [7d As Kc 7h] [3s]
muckducks shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
sticky seat shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
muckducks wins the pot (17,496,570) with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Sticky seat used a lot of Pre-Flop aggression to take back the chip lead from muckducks. The two players were playing what amounted to an $85,000 heads-up SNG, and it seemed sticky seat was playing with a ton of confidence. He was repeatedly coming over the top of muckducks button raises, putting his opponent to the test time and time again. However, muckducks eventually turned things around, making some big hands and getting nice value out of them. He took his biggest lead of the match after 4bet shoving over a 3bet from sticky seat who quickly folded. The chip lead would change hands multiple times, but muckducks finally took command when his pocket Queens held against sticky seat’s pocket sevens:
Seat 1: sticky seat (18,035,867)
Seat 5: muckducks (13,339,133)
muckducks posts the small blind of 170,000
sticky seat posts the big blind of 340,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
muckducks raises to 800,000
sticky seat raises to 3,255,555
muckducks raises to 13,299,133, and is all in
sticky seat calls 10,043,578
muckducks shows [7c 7h]
sticky seat shows [Qh Qd]
*** FLOP *** [9c Ah Ks]
*** TURN *** [9c Ah Ks] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [9c Ah Ks 8d] [7d]
muckducks shows three of a kind, Sevens
sticky seat shows a pair of Queens
muckducks wins the pot (26,678,266) with three of a kind, Sevens
The tournament could not seem to end, as just five hands later sticky seat would be all in for his last 5,000,000 chips with KQo:
Seat 1: sticky seat (5,376,734)
Seat 5: muckducks (25,998,266)
muckducks posts the small blind of 200,000
sticky seat posts the big blind of 400,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
muckducks raises to 25,948,266, and is all in
sticky seat calls 4,926,734, and is all in
muckducks shows [Ad 8d]
sticky seat shows [Qs Kd]
Uncalled bet of 20,621,532 returned to muckducks
*** FLOP *** [4s 7s 9h]
*** TURN *** [4s 7s 9h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [4s 7s 9h Ks] [4h]
muckducks shows a pair of Fours
sticky seat shows two pair, Kings and Fours
sticky seat wins the pot (10,753,468) with two pair, Kings and Fours
After nearly 13 hours of play, the tournament finally came to an end. Sticky seat would get it in with the best of it, holding AKo. Unfortunately for him muckducks flopped the nuts and had his opponent drawing dead on the turn:
Seat 1: sticky seat (10,853,468)
Seat 5: muckducks (20,521,532)
sticky seat posts the small blind of 200,000
muckducks posts the big blind of 400,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
sticky seat raises to 1,111,111
muckducks raises to 20,471,532, and is all in
sticky seat calls 9,692,357, and is all in
muckducks shows [Jd Td]
sticky seat shows [As Kc]
Uncalled bet of 9,668,064 returned to muckducks
*** FLOP *** [8d 9c Qc]
*** TURN *** [8d 9c Qc] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9c Qc Qs] [5d]
muckducks shows a straight, Queen high
sticky seat shows a pair of Queens
muckducks wins the pot (21,706,936) with a straight, Queen high
Congratulations to all of those who made the money and make sure to look for more coverage of FTOPS XI from FlopTurnRiver.com.
FullTilt Poker FTOPS Event #1 $1M Guaranteed
6,275 Entrants; $1,255,000 prize pool
1. muckducks $216,512.60
2. sticky seat $131,147.50
3. John Newcombe $84,336
4. two8off $65,887.50
5. headbang $49,572.50
6. Almerud $37,022.50
7. song1234 $28,865
8. ich_bin_pro $21,962.50
9. amster_ATX $16,315