FullTilt barely pulled out a guarantee buster tonight with its
FullTilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $200 +$15 pot-limit hold'em event. The prize pool came to $201,000, only a grand more than the posted guarantee. The extra $1,000 was due to the tournament having just five players over the 1,000 needed to avoid an overlay.
Turnout for
FTOPS events has been all over the charts this week. Had this tournament's field been only 6 people shorter, the series would have been tied three and three on whether or not the events reached their attendance goals. As it stands, four of the six events have gone beyond their guarantees while two missed their marks and required overlays.
Red-named FullTilt poker pros continued to shy away from the money with this tournament by completely missing the 153 paying spots. The closest red name was Eric Froehlich, who finished in 181st. Despite this deficiency, some notable internet pros did make it deep into the money, including James "P0KERPR0" Campbell (14th, $1,910) and Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan (23rd, $1,045).
The final nine players' chip stacks were scattered all across the board entering the final table. Golfman81 held the lead with $836,000 while DiveTorti was very much the short stack at $70,000. The big blind was more than a third of DiveTorti's stack and, this being the case, he found himself pushing all in just five hands into the final-table action. Golfman81 made a pot-sized reraise to $245,000 and Donkzilla called all in for his remaining $130,000. With two players all in versus Golfman81's big stack, he flipped over A
7
. Donkzilla showed pocket jacks and DiveTorti revealed A
5
and was in big trouble. The board ran out K
Q
2
2
8
, further improving no one's hand and giving Donkzilla the entire pot to eliminate DiveTorti and more than double up. DiveTorti earned $3,116 for his ninth-place finish.
Donkzilla's newfound wealth didn't last long, as he was ousted just five minutes later. Bonaparte9 made a pot-sized raise preflop up to $72,000 and Donkzilla repotted up to $252,000. Bonaparte9 reraised enough to put Donkzilla all in and Donkzilla called, showing A
K
. Bonaparte9 gave Donkzilla some very bad news when he revealed pocket kings. The board was essentially harmless to Bonaparte9 as it bricked out down to the river. Donkzilla stood up and left with $4,121 in eighth.
In another preflop all-in moment, llcarill got all of his chips in against Black9ines. Black9ines turned over pocket sixes and llcarill flipped up K
Q
for a coin-flip situation. The flop wasn't good news for llcarill when it came J
10
6
, giving him an open-ended straight draw but also spiking a set for Black9ines. The 3
came on the turn to further decrease his chances of survival and the 5
on the river was the final nail in the coffin. Llcarill took home $5,126 for seventh place.
Like Donkzilla before him, Black9ines didn't have long to enjoy his stack. Black9ines made a pot-sized raise preflop and was called by Iakaris. The flop came 10
9
4
and Iakaris bet about a third of the pot, basically enough to put Black9ines all in. Black9ines threw in his remaining chips and Iakaris called and showed A
3
for ace high. Black9ines turned over K
3
for just king high and a dominated hand. The turn was a blank and the river gave Iakaris an unnecessary ace to take down the pot and eliminate Black9ines in sixth ($7,035).
Mike jo had been quiet for much of the final table, but finally decided to show some aggression by making a pot-sized raise preflop in a hand. Bonaparte9 repotted and mike jo called to see the flop of Q
3
2
. Bonaparte9 checked and mike jo pushed all in for about half the pot. Bonaparte9 called and showed A
Q
for top pair and the nut flush draw while mike jo turned over A
J
for just ace high. The turn was the 3
and the river was a blank to give Bonaparte9 two pair to finish off mike jo and send him packing in fifth with $9,648. With this hand, Bonaparte9's stack surged to $1.6 million, almost twice as much as Golfman81 in second with $883,000.
Just two minutes later, Iakaris was all in after having lost a big chunk of his stack over the past 10 minutes of play. Lillisa0523 called and showed A
3
versus Iakaris' K
10
. The board improved neither and each played his high card, giving lillisa0523 the pot. Iakaris was put out in fourth place with a $12,663 payday.
This elimination put lillisa0523 just barely ahead of Golfman81 to put her in second, but both players were still dominated by Bonaparte9's $1.6 million stack. The next elimination did much to remedy this problem. Golfman81 made the minimum raise preflop and was called by lillisa0523. The flop came 10
6
3
and Golfman81 shot out with the same smallish bet. Lillisa0523 raised the pot and Golfman81 reraised enough to put lillisa0523 all in. Lillisa0523 called and showed 9
7
for nine high with a gutshot straight draw while Golfman81 turned over A
Q
for ace high and the lead. Neither the turn nor the river improved either player and Golfman81's ace was enough to take the pot and eliminate lillisa0523 in third ($16,482).
Now the playing field was much more level. Golfman81 had taken the chip lead with $1.53 million while Bonaparte9 was right behind with $1.49 million. With even stacks at almost exactly 30 times the big blind, both players could have assumed a long heads-up match lay ahead. Four minutes would prove such an assumption to be folly. Bonaparte9 had gained a slight chip advantage over Golfman81 and he limped preflop. Golfman81 made a pot-sized raise to $100,000 and Bonaparte9 called to see a flop of Q
4
4
. Both players checked and the turn came the 7
. Golfman81 put out a minimum bet ($50,000) and Bonaparte9 raised to $150,000. Golfman81 called and the river came the A
. Golfman81 now bet $300,000 and Bonaparte9 raised to $1.4 million, enough to put Golfman81 all in. Golfman81 hesitated for a while and asked, "Four?" before finally calling all in. Bonaparte9 showed that he did indeed have a four, with a king kicker, to give him trip fours. Golfman81 mucked his hand and was eliminated in second, earning $23,718. Bonaparte9 took down the pot to win the tournament and collect the $38,411 first-place prize. Bonaparte9 also received a special-edition
FTOPS avatar for his victory in the event.
The final standings were:
1) Bonaparte9 - $38,411.10
2) Golfman81 - $23,718
3) lillisa0523 - $16,482
4) Iakaris - $12,663
5) mike jo - $9,648
6) Black9ines - $7,035
7) llcarill - $5,125.50
8) Donkzilla - $4,120.50
9) DiveTorti - $3,115.50
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