Online Poker -- Amit 'amak316' Makhija Wins FTOPS $5K

The largest win of the weekend came with the Full Tilt Online Poker Series X (FTOPS X) and its big two-day no-limit hold'em tournament. Event No. 22 offered a $5,000+$200 buy-in and attracted the best of the best, a field of 500 that looked more like a World Poker Tour event at Bellagio than an online tournament. To make things more interesting, the tournament was played six-handed, providing a fun change of pace from the usual format that dominates big-buy-in events. The large field created a total prize pool of $2.5 million, with $550,000 of that reserved for the eventual winner.

The tournament was hosted by November Nine member Craig Marquis. The new Full Tilt pro was able to buck the trend and cash in his own tournament, finishing in 24th place and earning $17,500, not to mention the $200 bonus in rakeback. Two more red-named pros were able to represent their site proudly, as David "The Dragon" Pham and Brandon Adams both cashed. Adams took it one step further and actually bubbled the final table, busting in seventh place and taking home $57,500.

Other notables that were able to make the money included Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek (48th), Justin "Boosted J" Smith (47th), Keith "cheesemonster" Lehr (44th), Matt "NoBadBeatsPlz" Kay (43rd), Dani "Ansky451" Stern (40th), Luke "magikstick8" Vrabel (34th), govshark2 (33rd), Joe "Dyzalot" Morneau (31st), Kyle "kwob20" Bowker (28th), Eugene "myrabbifoo" Katchalov (20th), Hans "miAmihAns" Winzeler (17th), Steve "thorladen" Weinstein (16th), David "Davidp18" Peters (12th), and Kevin "GetPWN3D" Saul (11th).

The final table was star-studded, featuring online pros Amit "amak316" Makhija, Evan "NEONPILS99" Parkes, and live tournament pro Mark "Buster Love" Seif. Makhija came out on top, beating KaKeTKa heads up for the title and the full first-place prize of $550,000. This was Makhija's third six-figure score of the year, taking nearly $200,000 for a final table at the World Series of Poker and over $560,000 for a runner-up finish at the WPT Legends of Poker.

Here were the final results:

1. Amit "amak316" Makhija -- $550,000
2. KaKeTKa -- $362,500
3. PureCash25 -- $262,500
4. Mark "Buster Love" Seif -- $195,000
5. Evan "NEONPILS99" Parkes -- $137,500
6. dpowell -- $90,000

Related Articles

High Roller Busts First Hand Of $500k Event

Bad Beat Jackpot Hits In Canada For $1.7 Million

WATCH: Billionaire Hits Two Lucky Rivers On HSP

Most Viewed Articles