Full Tilt Poker has had a regular two-day event at each Full Tilt Online Poker Series since FTOPS V. They can be characterized by their large buy-ins and super deep stacks. This two-day event was no different. Event 29 of FTOPS XVII was a two-day event with a starting stack of 6,000 chips. With blinds starting at 10/20, players had 300 big blinds to work with. This meant more post-flop play and greater skill necessary to go into the deeper rounds. The six-max tables added to the aggression of most of the players seated.
This tournament is popular for a number of reasons. Firstly, its $2 million guarantee is attractive to everybody. However, the $2,000 + $100 buy-in may be too deep for some. The large buy-in guarantees that the competition is going to be fierce. Over 994 players entered the tournament. This resulted in a $12,000 overlay by Full Tilt Poker to cover the cost of the guarantee. Poker pros Eli Elezra, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Allen Cunningham, and David Pham took part in the tourney with only Pham making the money in 18th place (winning $13,000). Event 29 was hosted by Gavin Smith who placed 776th. The tournament was played over two days. The first day started on Saturday, August 14th at 2:00PM ET and ended at level 17 or when the money bubble burst, whichever event happened last.
Tournament play went through most of the night with the tournament winding down around 11:00pm ET on August 15th. The final two remaining were PureProfitFour and IReadYrSoul. Heads-up play did not last very long. The last hand saw two unpaired hands go all-in preflop. Stacks went in when PureProfitFour four-bet shoved with A2o and got called by IReadYrSoul’s KQs. Unfortunately for IReadYrSoul, this was the end of the road. The board was 3dJc5sTh6h and totally missed both players. PureProfitFour took the $417,000, the tournament, and the golden jersey with his ace-high. For coming in second, IReadYrSoul was awarded $278,000.
The final table placed as follows:
1 – PureProfitFour – $417,000
2 – IreadYrSoul – $278,000
3 – buck99 – $198,000
4 – JaEs SiK – $148,000
5 – Kaninschen – $106,000
6 – squeezeboxx – $68,000