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The Highs & Lows of Kiajessie at Event #8
Patience, determination, and perseverance. These are all elements that make an FTOPS champion. All three were on display in FTOPS Event #8 as it took nearly 10 hours to crown a champion of the Omaha Hi/Lo Limit tournament.
Hosted by Stuart Paterson, a field of 1,073 players gathered to compete for their share of more than $200K in prize money. The story leading up to the final table was that of Team Full Tilt’s own Chris Ferguson, who was riding high near the chip lead and looking like a force to be reckoned with. But as the field was narrowed and the final two tables neared, Chris was forced to put his tournament life on the line with a marginal hand. He finished the tournament in 20th place.
As final table action started, the chip counts were as follows:
Final Table Chip Count
Seat Player ID Chips
Seat 1 SDLARRY 541,756
Seat 2 Adar 366,430
Seat 3 muckmehard 305,472
Seat 4 cashnotax 136,494
Seat 5 bayne_s 7,279
Seat 6 Kiajessie 700,160
Seat 7 Gunslinger3 231,564
Seat 8 AD-Stars22 527,050
Seat 9 Ditka89 402,795
The action moved swiftly as the short stack, bayne_s, didn’t even have enough chips to cover the blinds, which were at 25K/50K. He was eliminated in ninth place when his all-in attempt was derailed by SDLARRY, who flopped trip 9s. cashnotax was next to go when his King-high straight was trumped by the Ace-high straight of Ditka89. Ditka89 won nearly 350K chips in the hand and was the new chip leader.
But chip leads can very quickly turn into fleeting memories. Ditka89, despite the calls from the railbirds on the sidelines of “Da Bears, Da Bears,” missed on a couple of big draws and soon found himself playing the short stack. He was sacked in seventh place when his hand of Ks-As-Ah-8h was scooped for both the high and low by AD-Stars22 Ad-5d-3h-7s on a board of 7c-Jh-6h-5c-2d.
The tournament continued to move quickly as Gunslinger3 was shot down by Kiajessie when his pair of Aces with a Jack kicker ran into a pair of Aces with a Queen kicker. A few hands later, SDLARRY was out in fifth place, surprised to find that his set of Jacks had been trumped by the quad 9s of AD-Stars22. AD-Stars22 wasn’t finished. Soon thereafter he rolled out the wheel on the all-in Adar, scooping him out of the competition. The field was suddenly down to just three players.
AD-Stars22 was in trouble a shortly into three-handed play, as his stack was whittled down to just over 200K, with the blind levels at 40K/80K. Kiajessie had more than 1.3 million in chips and muckmehard was the leader with over 1.6 million. But then things slowed down. A lot.
After winning a couple of sizable pots, AD-Stars22 managed to claw his way back into the fray. All three players hovered around the million chip mark, and the action went back and forth from there. Everyone got their shot to hold and lose the chip lead, as three-handed play lasted well over 50 hands. Play was so drawn out that even the railbirds seemed to quiet down, almost unheard of at an FTOPS final table.
Soon enough, though, the action picked back up. muckmehard − definitely a nominee for best player name − started to build up his chip stack through aggressive play. AD-Stars22, who had been blinded back down to about 200K in chips, wasn’t able to find a hand to fight back with. AD-Stars22 went all-in with a pair of Aces in his pocket, but ran into Kiajessie’s two pair and ended the tournament in third place. AD-Stars 22 took home more than $23K for his hours of top-notch play.
As heads-up play began, muckmehard had 2 million in chips to the 1 million of Kiajessie. After losing a couple of big hands right away, Kiajessie was down to his last 200K in chips and the tournament looked close to being over. But that, as the saying goes, is why it ain’t over til it’s over.
Kiajessie scooped his first all-in attempt to get back to around 500K. Then, after filling up a couple of nicely played boats, Kiajessie found himself miraculously even with muckmehard. Play steadied out a bit as each contestant waited patiently to take their shot at the other. Just as with three-handed play, heads-up play would last more than 50 hands.
Finally, Kiajessie grinded muckmehard down to fewer than 700K in chips, looking to complete his epic comeback. muckmehard went all-in on a board that contained three 6s, showing his pocket Aces for the full house. But Kiajessie flipped over his cards, revealing the fourth 6 to claim the coveted FTOPS title and gold jersey avatar. muckmehard took home more than $30K for his tremendous effort, but probably wasn’t satisfied with his second-place finish after coming so close to the gold. Kiajesse made one of the most remarkable turnarounds we’ve seen at an FTOPS final table and most definitely earned the $48,285 for his FTOPS Championship.
Event #8 Results - FTOPS V