Isaac 'the guru 11' Baron Wins First Event in FTOPS VIII

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series VIII (FTOPS) kicked off in style last night when the first event of the series easily surpassed its guarantee and also featured an online poker superstar as its winner.

The first event was a $200 buy-in six-max no-limit hold’em event with a $750,000 guarantee. The tournament found 4,158 entrants, who generated a prize pool of $831,600 and a first-place prize of nearly $160,000. Full Tilt pro David Chiu, fresh off of his World Poker Tour Championship win, hosted the event, but he took a very early exit (2,956th). However, two red-named Full Tilt pros did make it into the top 100 in the event: Scott Fischman (18th, $4,782) and John D’Agostino (97th, $848).

When it came down to the final table, the reigning Card Player Online Player of the Year, Isaac Baron (pictured at right), was still in the hunt, playing as the guru 11 (rather than his retired Full Tilt screen name, mjorgenson13). He ultimately outlasted the five other finalists to pocket the entire first-place prize and to claim the honor of being the first FTOPS VIII champion. He can now sport an exclusive gold FTOPS jersey in live events he plays or a gold FTOPS jersey avatar when he plays on Full Tilt, both benefits of being an FTOPS event-winner.

Possibly even more significant is the fact that the win pushed Baron into second place in the 2008 Online Player of the Year (OPOY) race. He has 3,528 OPOY points, which is only eight points behind current OPOY leader-board leader Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins. With just about two-thirds of the year remaining to earn points, it is still anyone’s race to win, but Baron has proven that he can hold on to the top spot when he climbs into it, and he is a serious threat once again.

Here are the final results of event No. 1 of the FTOPS VIII:

1. Isaac “the guru 11” Baron — $158,852
2. dan_dada — $97,297
3. TheFunseeker — $67,526
4. commitment — $49,896
5. jnjnlee86 — $36,590
6. CABOWABO23 — $24,948

Today features two FTOPS VIII events. The first is a pot-limit Omaha knockout (bounty) event, which has a $240+$16 buy-in ($40 of which goes to the bounty) and a $200,000 guarantee. That event starts shortly, at 2 p.m. ET. The second event of the day is a $500+$35 buy-in $300,000-guaranteed no-limit hold’em triple shootout tournament, which starts at 9 p.m. ET. Satellites are currently running for both of those events, and Card Player offers a Full Tilt deposit bonus to get players started. Card Player has made the full FTOPS VIII schedule available in an easy to read format.