With FTOPS coming to a roaring conclusion on Sunday there were plenty of HUGE tournaments being played. Not only did Full Tilt have a big day, but PokerStars continues to thrive after some recent tournament turmoil. There were four big tournaments on Full Tilt yesterday, the FTOPS Main Event, the $5200 2-day event, the $120+$9 event #24 and the $216 Sunday Mulligan.
You can read all about the two-day event in my blog, for those looking for results here they are:
FTOPS Event #22 $5200 $2.5M Guaranteed
500 Entrants
1. amak316 $550,000
2. KaKeTKa $362,500
3. PureCash25 $262,500
4. Buster Love $195,000
5. NEONPILS99 $137,500
6. dpowell $90,000
The biggest tournament of the day was the FTOPS Main Event, a $500+$35 buy-in, $2,500,000 Guaranteed tournament. 5,225 of the world’s best online and live pros participated in the event creating a massive $2,612,500 prize pool and a first place check of over $450,000. Full Tilt had a strong showing of its pros in the event, with over 65 “Red Pros” playing. World-class cash game and tournament players Phil Ivey and Allen Cunningham were the biggest names in the field, along with WSOP 8th Place finisher Kelly Kim and WPT Champion David “The Dragon” Pham. 738 Players would finish in the money including nine Full Tilt Pros, the best being “Nordberg” who would take home nearly $13,000 for his 17th place finish.
In the end it was “Julian Verse” who would take home the title and a huge payday of $450,708 as he outlasted “sckilla” who would have to settle for $273,006 for a long days work.
FTOPS Main Event $535 $2.5M Guaranteed
5225 Entrants
1. Julian Verse – $450,708
2. sckilla – $273,006
3. Hummelhintern – $175,560
4. ilovepoka – $137,156
5. bazeman – $103,194
6. Kraag – $77,069
7. sinrake – $60,088
8. RollinHand1 – $45,719
9. sd bum – $33,963
The smallest buy-in FTOPS tourney took place on Sunday as well, however, with 7,000 entrants, it was still able to generate a large prize pool of $700,000. Event#24 took place of what is normally the Sunday Brawl, the weekly knock out event where each player is rewarded for knocking out other participants. In this tournament a player received $20 for knocking out a fellow competitor. In the end “slaskovic” would outlast the entire field and take home over $136,000 for his efforts. The most notable player at the Final Table was “IWEARGOGGLES”, a top-ranked pro who has four six-figure scores to his name including a win in the $750k on Full Tilt and the PokerStars Sunday Warm-up.
FTOPS Event #24 $129 KO $500,000 Guaranteed
7000 Entrants
1. slaskovic – $136,164
2. HorningT12 – $83,300
3. JAGERN – $58,800
4. moneymaking78 – $42,000
5. GabrielFortune – $30,100
6. IWEARGOGGLES – $20,300
7. Iceman Wins – $14,000
8. bmm77 – $9,800
9. imfatandugly – $7,000
Last but not least for a huge day on Full Tilt was the $216 Sunday Mulligan. This tournament gives everyone on Full Tilt one last shot at collecting a huge payday. 1273 players would generate a prize pool well above the $200,000 guarantee. Taking home the crown was mid-stakes MTT grinder “TheBeingOG,” who until yesterday only had a single five-figure score to his name in the FullTilt 50-50. FullTilt Red Pro Fabrice Soulier would make the final table but would bust in 8th earning $5,729. He was the only Pro out of the 20 or so that played that would make the money.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1273 Entrants
1. TheBeingOG – $56,012
2. zapatero – $35,644
3. kjansson – $26,224
4. AnthonysDAD – $20,686
5. dfish21 – $15,913
6. Black9ines – $11,457
7. MrsESPN – $7,638
8. Fabrice Soulier – $5,729
9. bad_egg – $4,074
PokerStars, trying not to be out staged by the FTOPS had another huge day in terms of MTTs. Starting off Sunday, as always, is the $750k Guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up. The $215 buy-in tournament attracted 3896 entrants creating a prize pool of nearly $780,000 with over $101,000 of that going to first place and eventual champion, “slyfox151”. A few big names made the final table, including high-stakes Cash game Pro “Bill Ivey,” who made the final table but would bust in first, earning just shy of $10,000 for his efforts. John “BlackFourz” May would make it to heads-up, but could not close the deal, busting in 2nd for over $70,000. This was by far and away his biggest online cash, dwarfing his previous best, a 7th place finish in the Brawl for $8845.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
3986 Entrants
1. slyfox151 – $101,296
2. BlackFourz – $70,128
3. jeroenromate – $46,752
4. aty79 – $38,960
5. RaisingRay91 – $31,168
6. Bjorg0010 – $23,376
7. ArzrA – $15,584
8. jwaces – $15,584
9. Bill Ivey – $9,740
Next up is the PokerStars Sunday 500, a $500k guaranteed $530 buy-in tournament that has been gaining momentum lately. At first the tournament was having a bit of trouble meeting its guarantee, but recently it’s been surpassing the number. This week was no different, as 1077 players created a $538,500 prize pool with nearly $98,000 going to first place. The bigger buy-in typically means that the Final Table is full of well-known online and live MTT Pros. This week was no exception, as the top 5 finishers are all successful tournament players. “ToetagU” is a top-50 ranked MTT-Pro with numerous five-figure scores to his name including a win in the FullTilt $80k Guaranteed $150-rebuy for over $57,000. Second-place finisher “Pist0nH0nda” has made the STR before for winning the Mulligan in October. This is his fourth career cash over $33,000.
PokerStars Sunday 500 $500k Guaranteed
1077 Entrants
1. toetagU – $97,361
2. Pist0nH0nda – $70,544
3. mojave14 – $53,850
4. Telefonkiosk – $40,388
5. shiptosails – $28,271
6. bufo523 – $22,886
7. armenioz – $17,501
8. jippo79 – $12,116
9. QuasiFiction – $7,539
The Sunday Million would once again reach its guarantee with 7999 entrants generating a prize pool of $1,599,800 with first place earning nearly $196,000. The final table had a few solid MTT Players including “Mr_BigQues” and “rS.Widsom.” Here were the chip counts entering Final Table play:
Seat 1: kesher79 (13642058 in chips)
Seat 2: rS.Wisdom (4937219 in chips)
Seat 3: RiverCardRob (4010987 in chips)
Seat 5: mjluth (11728249 in chips)
Seat 6: jarocho123 (5389440 in chips)
Seat 7: Mr_BigQueso (17791780 in chips)
Seat 8: maverick8487 (9796110 in chips)
Seat 9: orkim (12694157 in chips)
As you can see, only 8 players made the Final Table as there were two simultaneous bust-outs on the bubble.
First to go was “jarocho123” when he would not win a race with AQo against the pocket 4s of “kesher79”. He would take home just over $18,000 for his 8th place finish. “RiverCardRob” would be the next to go, when his AK would fall to QQ on a board of Ac4d2d5sQh. A sick river would leave him out in 7th place for $27,966. Finishing in 6th place was “orkim” when his pocket 8s were no match for rS.Wisdom’s pocket Aces. He would take home over $40,000 for a long-days work.
Next to fall was “Mr_BigQueso” when he unfortunately ran his A9s into the pocket Aces of “kesher79.” He would have to settle for $56,793 and a fifth place finish. He was certainly one of the better FT participants, having won the Stars $109r and the Absolute Poker $100k earlier this year.
“Maverick8487” would go out in 4th for $72,791 when his pocket fives were no match for the pocket Jacks of the chipleader “kesher79.” Going into three-handed, player kesher had a small chip-lead over rS.Wisdom with “mjluth” a distant third:
kesher79 — 36,500,259
rS.Wisdom — 33,243,243
mjluth — 10,246,498
Another Million with out a chop would leave the crowd on their toes as the final three slugged it out for huge differences in prize money. The short-stack mjluth would bust first after losing a 70/30 when his AK could not hold against kesher79 and his KQo on a Tc9d3hQh8s board. He would have to settle for third place and nearly $90,000 in prize money.
Going into heads up play, kesher79 had a 3:2 chip lead. It would not take long before he would take home the title when he would make QUADS against the Aces-up of rS.Wisdom on a JhTd2hAc2s board with kesher79 holding 22 and rS.Wisdom holding ATo. Wisdom would take home $132,143 for 2nd while kesher79 would win an enormous $195,976 for his victory
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
7999 Entrants
1. kesher79 – $195,976
2. rS.Wisdom – $132,143
3. mjluth – $89,589
4. maverick8487 – $72,791
5. Mr_BigQueso – $56,793
6. orkim – $40,795
7. RiverCardRob – $27,997
8. jarocho123 – $18,398
9. LEstradioto – $11,199
The $109r would easily eclipse its $150k guarantee with 498 players re-buying 1129 times and adding-on 378 times creating a $200,500 prize pool. The final table had a lot of big names including “PeachyMer”, Andre “aakari” Akari, “Wachovia”, “RandALLin”, “gbecks”, and “Ben86”. All would eventually fall victim to eventual winner “Godfatti” who would take home first and just over $38,000.
PokerStars $109r $150k Guaranteed
498 Entrants
1. Godfatti $38,095
2. Luigi da BP $28,070
3. PeachyMer $20,551.25
4. aakkari $15,639
5. kalamitsis $11,027.50
6. Wachovia $8,521.25
7. RandAllin $6,516.25
8. gbecks $4,511.25
9. Ben86 $3,328.30
While the $109r continues to thrive, the $215 has typically been missing its guarantee. However, this week 342 entrants would re-buy 547 times and add-on 233 times, creating a large $224,400 prize pool, easily eclipsing the $200k guarantee. Just like its little sister, the $215r had a bunch of big names at the final table including WSOPE ME winner Annette_15 along with THAY3R, USCphildo, and eventual champion “Halfrek.”
PokerStars $215r $200k Guaranteed
342 Entrants
1. Halfrek – $43,758
2. theNorfman – $33,099
3. sms9231 – $24,684
4. USCphildo – $18,850
5. Annette_15 – $12,903
6. max_pot – $10,098
7. ely_cash41 – $7,854
8. mcnallyville – $5,610
9. THAY3R – $3,927
Last but not least on Stars is the Sunday Second Chance, a $215 buy-in $250k Guarantee event that gives everyone one last shot at a $50k+ score on Sunday. 1484 players would create a nice prize pool over nearly $300,000 with over $53,000 going to first place and eventual champion “fisheater111.” While this was his biggest score ever, he is certainly no stranger to success, having two other $33,000+ scores to his name including a 2nd place finish in the $215r last December.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1484 Entrants
1. fisheater111 – $53,543
2. bigbadray2k – $38,732
3. MadAgenda – $29,680
4. Whitcore – $22,260
5. Bonds252525 – $15,582
6. The_Cam_Ron – $12,614
7. wmmcl – $9,646
8. ralloyd06 – $6,678
9. docbox3 – $4,155