The endurance of tournament players all around the world was being tested as the Full Tilt Online Poker Series started approaching its end with event 40. In addition to the constant lineup of actual events and satellites pushing the stamina of tournament players to the limit, Event 40 was a two-day event, meaning that the eventual winner, NextCase222, has really proven that he has what it takes to be a tournament champion.
The Full Tilt Online Poker Series is more commonly known by its abbreviated name FTOPS, and is held on Full Tilt Poker roughly every three months. The series features a wide range of tournaments in varying formats, including Rush Poker Tournaments, and always attracts large crowds due the generous guaranteed prize pools. The nineteenth FTOPS has just come to an end, which boasted $22 Million in guaranteed prize pools spread over an impressive 45 events.
Event 40 was a two-day event, and had the second highest buy-in of any tournament in this series, coming in at $2,000 + $100. The tournament format was six-max, which tends to encourage more action as the blinds come round the table faster, meaning players have to make more daring moves. While the six-max aspect of the format encourages action and gambling, players must also be willing to go the long-haul to come out on top of a tournament that spans over two days. The $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool attracted 1,036 competitors, just enough to exceed the guarantee by $76,000.
All FTOPS events are hosted by a Team Full Tilt member, FTP Red Pro or Friend of Full Tilt. Event 40’s host falls under the latter category, namely tennis pro James Blake. Blake turned pro in 1999 and has over 15 career tennis titles. In addition to being a New York Times best-selling author, he also knows his way around a card room and was the runner-up in a Celebrity Poker Showdown. He got unlucky early on in Event 40 and was eliminated in place 794, but Full Tilt was nonetheless represented admirably by other red pros such as Isaac Baron who finished in an impressive 23rd place.
After two days of intense poker action with an undoubtedly sleepless night in between, it’s hard to fault the final three players who decided on a three-way chop instead of risking literally tens of thousands of dollars on how the cards fell. NextCase222, enterthewu19 and bonafidedonkey received $332,041.25, $282,245.16 and $310,861.59 respectively, after agreeing on a chop and then playing out for the remaining prize pool and the coveted FTOPS jersey. It was NextCase222 who came out on top, and was rewarded fittingly with the largest piece of the pie.