While online poker and gambling in general may not always be held under the best light, there is no arguing that lately, FullTilt and other sites have been trying to change things. After the WSOP held yet another successful Ante Up for Africa event (which just aired on ESPN) FullTilt followed suit by hosting an FTOPS Event with the entire tournament fee pool going to charity. The tournament, a $100 + $20 event, drew 2,367 entrants meaning FullTilt generated nearly $50,000 for charity last night.
The tournament, a super-stack 9-handed NL Hold’em event was hosted by Actor and FullTilt Professional Don Cheadle. Cheadle has been active in poker lately and is best remembered for his roles in “Ocean’s Eleven”, “Crash”, and “Traffic”. On the felt Cheadle has not been as dominant, although he did eliminate Phil Ivey in the first round of the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2007.
Twenty-six other FullTilt “Red Pros” played in the event including Erick Lindgren, Allen Cunningham, David Pham, and Scott Fischman. Unfortunately none of the professionals made the money, which was set at the final 234 players. A few of the bigger names making deep runs were Johan “Busto_soon” Van Til and Zach “crazyzachary” Clark. Both players found themselves inside the final 100 but were unable to reach the final table.
One of the bigger names reaching the final nine was Nick “FU_15” Maimone, a successful online and live tournament player who had five $30,000+ scores to his name heading into the final table. FU_15 busted in 3rd place when his ATs lost to KJo on a KhQd2d5c7h board. The tournament came down to “warren_ace1” and “berkey11” and the experience edge was with the latter. However, warren_ace1, who has had little recorded success on FullTilt, was able to win the final coinflip, TT>AJo, to take down the title and just over $48,000.
Congratulations goes to all 234 who made the money and a special thanks goes to everyone who helped support the Ante Up for Africa cause!!
FTOPS XII Ante Up for Africa $100k Guaranteed
2,367 Entrants; $236,700 prize pool
1. warren_ace1 $48,274.97
2. berkey11 $31,244.40
3. FU_15 $23,196.60
4. YrrsiNN $17,515.80
5. awojj $12,308.40
6. j0ush0es $8,047.80
7. gimmeda1tyme $5,444.10
8. Oddla $3,787.20
9. Boinkage $2,840.40