The
FullTilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) was back on track Tuesday after a disappointing turnout for Monday's limit event (
click here to read more on that). Last night's six-handed no-limit hold'em tournament, the fourth of nine
FTOPS events, guaranteed a $250,000 prize pool but actually brought in almost $320,000. Of the 1,596 entrants, 174 stood to profit from the event. All six players at the final table could look forward to a five-digit payday, with first place cashing in $63,840. No red-named FullTilt-sponsored pros broke into the money, the closest being Keith Sexton, who finished in 205th.
Internet superstar Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy pulled into the chip lead around the final 20 and continued to increase his stack through to the final table. Upon entering the final table, JohnnyBax had $1.3 million compared to ctx97 in second with $1 million. SpanishKey was pulling up the rear in sixth with $316,000. Both live and Internet pros flocked to the final table to watch JohnnyBax play, including Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan, Eric Froehlich, Stu Patterson, Eric "sheets" Haber, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and Adam "Roothlus" Levy.
PleaseChaseMe was almost as short on chips as SpanishKey, at $372,000, but PleaseChaseMe went down to the felt much sooner. In a hand just three minutes into the final table, PleaseChaseMe raised to $100,000 preflop with blinds at $10,000-$20,000 and ctx97 pushed all in, having PleaseChaseMe well covered. PleaseChaseMe eventually called and showed pocket jacks while ctx97 turned over A
K
. Ctx97 spiked a king on the flop and the turn and river failed to improve PleaseChaseMe, sending him home in sixth with $10,534.
The next elimination hand would claim the tournament lives of two players at once. On the hand just before the eliminations, heavy betting between SpanishKey and pizdets_vam on a flop of Q
9
4
eventually led to SpanishKey putting all of his chips in the middle. Pizdets_vam called, leaving himself with just $1,000, and showed K
9
for mid-pair. SpanishKey was in the lead when he flipped up K
Q
for a dominating hand. The 3
and the 8
came on the turn and river and SpanishKey doubled up while pizdets_vam was left crippled with one-third the ante.
Pizdets_vam was anted all in the next hand. With the big blind at $24,000, ctx97 raised to $85,000 and SpanishKey reraised up to $268,000. Ctx97 pushed all in, having SpanishKey's $1.2 million in total chips covered by just over $150,000. SpanishKey called and showed pocket jacks while ctx97 turned over A
K
. Pizdets_vam revealed J
5
as his forced all-in hand and was very behind. The flop came out K
3
3
, spiking a king for ctx97 and all but sealing the deal for SpanishKey and pizdets_vam's eliminations. The turn and river were the 6
and the 6
, officially busting pizdets_vam in fifth ($15,481) and SpanishKey in fourth ($22,344).
Ctx97 had taken over the chip lead with this hand, putting his stack up to $2.7 million compared to JohnnyBax's $1.6 million. JohnnyBax quickly narrowed ctx97's lead when he eliminated Antoshka just two hands later. Antoshka had just $566,000 in chips when he called JohnnyBax's preflop raise to $96,000. The flop came K
J
2
and JohnnyBax put out a bet of $72,000. Antoshka again called to see the turn of 9
. JohnnyBax now bet enough to put Antoshka all in and Antoshka called, showing 10
9
for a pair and a gutshot straight draw. JohnnyBax turned over pocket jacks for a flopped set and the lead. The river was the 5
, no help to Antoshka who was sent to the virtual rail in third with a $29,430 payday.
Losing three players in just three hands did nothing to slow down JohnnyBax or ctx97 initially. JohnnyBax entered heads-up play with $2.2 million and ctx97 held $2.5. Both players were aggressive and both took turns as the chip leader throughout the match. JohnnyBax won a big hand early in when he rivered a straight against ctx97's rivered two pair and took $1 million from him. Ctx97 returned the favor shortly thereafter when he called all in preflop against JohnnyBax and showed pocket kings versus JohnnyBax's pocket nines. Neither improved and they were virtually back to even again. In fact, after one hour of heads-up play, both players were back to having within $100,000 of that they'd started with, despite all of the chip swapping they'd done.
Ctx97 finally started to edge his way into the chip lead and slowly deplete JohnnyBax's stack. JohnnyBax had $1.6 million compared to ctx97's $3.2 million when the two limped to see a flop of 9
7
2
. JohnnyBax bet the pot, $100,000 and ctx97 raised to $520,000. JohnnyBax reraised all in for $1.5 million total and ctx97 called and showed 10
9
for top pair. JohnnyBax flipped over 9
8
for top pair as well, but he suffered from a worse kicker. JohnnyBax chanted for an 8 that never came as the turn and river put out 3
and A
respectively. JohnnyBax was ousted in second and earned $42,134 while ctx97 took down the tournament to win $63,840 and a special-edition
FTOPS avatar.
The final standings were as follows:
1) ctx97 - $62,840
2) JohnnyBax - $42,134.40
3) Antoshka - $29,430.24
4) SpanishKey - $22,344
5) pizdets_vam - $15,481.20
6) PleaseChaseMe - $10,533.60
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