It's been less than three months since Full Tilt held the Full Tilt Online Poker Series II (FTOPS), but the site is already ready to kick off the third iteration of the series. The $3.4 million in guaranteed-prize pool events started last night with a $200,000-guaranteed no-limit hold'em tournament.
The series was off to a good start when the tournament had 1,922 entrants with a $200 buy-in apiece, which brought the total prize pool to $384,400, well over the posted guarantee. Three red-named, Full Tilt-sponsored pros cashed in the event: Huck Seed (71st, for $653), Mike Matusow (83rd, for $538), and Steve Zolotow (228th, for $308). A slew of notable Internet pros also graced the in-the-money tables, including THE__D__RY (41st, for $961), ComeOnPhish1 (70th, for $653), and Eric "Rizen" Lynch (203rd, for $346).
The final table also featured a recognizable name with E Tyme. E Tyme created a stir when he played at the UltimateBet Online Championship (UBOC) main event final table and claimed to be Dan Harrington. He convinced Phil Hellmuth, who was commentating on the live radio coverage of the table, that he was, in fact, Harrington. Hellmuth later acknowledged that he wasn't completely convinced. Nevertheless, railbirds at the FTOPS III referred to E Tyme as "Dan," even though his identity is unconfirmed. E Tyme eventually finished in ninth at the UBOC ($17,000).
E Tyme came into this final table with $808,000 in chips, which put him squarely in fourth place. BigBukkinChickn was in first with $985,000 and linkocracy was the short stack at $273,000. E Tyme got involved in a big hand just over 10 minutes into the final-table action that would determine his fate at the table.
The action preflop was folded to BigBukkinChickn on the button, who raised all in for $666,000, with the big blind at $40,000. E Tyme called in the small blind, leaving himself with just $88,000 behind, and the big blind folded. E Tyme showed A
J and was ahead against BigBukkinChickn's K
10. The flop changed all of that when it came K
10
5, giving BigBukkinChickn top two pair for the lead. The turn and river were blanks, and E Tyme was severely crippled. Three minutes later, E Tyme pushed all in preflop and his A Q was drawn out on by the A 7 of Pugnacious23 when a 7 hit on the turn. E Tyme was eliminated in ninth and earned $5,382.
Cdbr3799 was the next player eliminated when he pushed all in preflop and durrtyD pushed all in preflop over the top a little more, folding the remaining players. Cdbr3799 revealed A 7 and durrtyD showed A Q. The 7 didn't come this time, however, and durrtyD took down the pot to eliminate cdbr3799 in eighth ($7,111).
DurrtyD enjoyed his near-double-up for just over 15 minutes before following cdbr3799 to the rail. DurrtyD pushed all in preflop and was called by Pugnacious23, who showed A K. DurrtyD had a 33 percent chance to double up preflop with his Q 6, but when the flop brought an ace, he was drawing threadbare. The turn was a blank and the river brought a needless king to give Pugnacious23 two pair and send durrtyD packing in seventh with $9,033.
One of the biggest hands of the tournament took place five minutes later. Pugnacious23, the chip leader at the time with $2.7 million, min-raised to $120,000 from under the gun. DAvAko pushed all in for $581,000 from mid-position and jpa24 called all in for $389,000 from the small blind. Pugnacious23 called both all-in bets and showed A Q. He was in bad shape against jpa24's A K and dAvAko's pocket tens. The preflop chances of winning the hand for each player were 20 percent for Pugnacious23, 34 percent for jpa24, and 45 percent for dAvAko (the remaining percent accounted for ties). The flop came 5 4 3, giving jpa24 and Pugnacious23 a chance to chop the main pot with a deuce, but the turn brought the Q, putting Pugnacious23 in the lead with a pair of queens against the two all-in players. The turn was the 6, which put an end to both dAvAko and jpa24's tournament lives. Jpa24 made $12,378 for sixth place and dAvAko pocketed $17,298 for fifth place.
The double elimination left only four players to vie for the top prize. Linkocracy had been having trouble getting his stack over $500,000 for much of the final table, but he finally doubled up and got his stack up to $520,000 when his A-K held up against the Q-7 of BigBukkinChickn. The double-up didn't last long, however, and BigBukkinChickn got his money back, plus some, in the very next hand. BigBukkinChickn raised to $180,000 preflop, with the big blind at $60,000, and linkocracy went all in. BigBukkinChickn called, having linkocracy covered by almost $600,000, and showed pocket tens. Linkocracy held pocket fours and was well behind. The board paired itself, but otherwise improved neither player, and linkocracy was eliminated in third place ($22,680).
At the start of three-way play, Pugnacious23 was in the lead with $3.8 million in chips. BigBukkinChickn was in second with $1.7 million and jpo123 was way behind at $316,000. Twenty minutes and a few key hands was all it took to bring jpo123's stack up to $2.1 million and put him in the chip lead. In fact, all three players' stacks were very close, and each of the three players held the chip lead at least once during three-way play.
Pugnacious23's fortunes changed when he pushed all in for $1.6 million on a flop of K 9 7, with $830,000 in the pot. BigBukkinChickn called all in, having $310,000 less, and showed K 5 for top pair. Pugnacious23 held A 3 for ace high and was behind. The turn was the J and the river the K, giving BigBukkinChickn trip kings to take down the pot. The aggressive flop play left Pugnacious23 crippled. He pushed all in the very next hand and BigBukkinChickn called and showed 8 2 versus Pugnacious23's A 10. The flop brought an 8 and it was all over for Pugnacious23, who finished the tournament in third place ($28,446).
BigBukkinChickn had $3.9 million going into the heads-up match against jpo123, who had $1.9 million. The very first hand of the match virtually swapped their stacks when jpo123 pushed all in preflop with pocket sevens and BigBukkinChickn called with A 10. The sevens held up and jpo123 took over the chip lead. The final hand took place eight minutes later.
BigBukkinChickn raised to $360,000 preflop, with the big blind at $120,000, and jpo123 pushed all in, having BigBukkinChickn covered by over $1.4 million. BigBukkinChickn said, "OK, let's go," and called, showing pocket fives. Jpo123 was slightly behind with K J (47 percent to 52 percent, with the remainder accounting for ties). The flop came K 7 2 and jpo123 pulled into the lead with a pair of kings. The K on the turn all but sealed the deal, and the 6 on the river put an end to the tournament. BigBukkinChickn earned $43,437 for second place while jpo123 got a huge $70,730 payday for his first-place finish. Jpo123 also earned an exclusive gold FTOPS jersey avatar for his win in the event.
The final standings were:
1) jpo123 – $70,729.60
2) BigBukkinChickn – $43,437.20
3) Pugnacious23 – $28,445.60
4) linkocracy – $22,679.60
5) dAvAko – $17,298
6) jpa24 – $12,377.68
7) durrtyD – $9,033.40
8) cdbr3799 – $7,111.10
9) E Tyme – $5,381.60
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