Online Poker: Friday and Saturday's FTOPS Events

While the focus of the weekend centered on all of the big Sunday tournaments, there were four Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) events that won’t be forgotten. Stud, Omaha, and a couple hold’em variations played out to crown four new champions.

Event No. 4 — Pot-Limit Hold’em

On Friday afternoon, the $200 pot-limit hold’em event kicked off, attracting 1,076 entrants. The large field yielded a prize pool of $215,200, nearly a quarter of which would go to the eventual winner.

The event was hosted by Full Tilt pro Marco Traniello, but he failed to cash in his own event, fizzling out in 669th. Of the 108 players to cash, only Eddy Scharf and Scott Fischman were able to represent proudly for the men in red. Other notables to finish in the money included Nick “CapTinBiskuit” Blumenthal and Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim. It was a bittersweet day for Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen, who bubbled the final table in 13th. But the damage wasn’t yet done, as Rasmussen went on to bubble the next event, as well (read below).

The final table itself featured notables, as well (see results below). The title eventually went to EMSBas, who bested StellarCards heads up to take the top prize.

1. EMSBas — $48,420
2. StellarCards — $30,666
3. Kenny “Kenny Rap” Weinstein — $22,704
4. MissOldy — $17,754
5. Ralphie4 — $13,450
6. 1OutAllIn — $9,684
7. Chris “PiMaster” Viox — $6,456
8. Bonified — $4,842
9. jumissa — $3,443

Event No. 5 — Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better

The second event of the day gave those favoring the mixed games a chance at the title. Event No. 5 was a $200 seven-card stud eight-or-better tournament hosted by Full Tilt pro Jeff Madsen. Madsen finished third in a seven-card stud eight-or-better event during his run in the 2006 World Series of Poker. The 645 entrants in the Full Tilt event generated a prize pool of $129,000.

Just 80 players finished in the money; among them were Justin “looshle” Pechie and Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen, who, for the second time in one day, bubbled the final table by finishing in 11th.

The only Full Tilt pro to finish in the money was none other than Berry Johnston. Johnston made a deep run in the event before finally busting out in fourth place. In the end, voguepergola beat dman13 for the top spot.

1. voguepergola — $27,735
2. dman13 — $19,092
3. nimbus — $12,965
4. Berry Johnston — $8,385
5. Sillylife — $5,289
6. I_wishbear — $3,741
7. fan4mizzou — $2,709
8. solohomer — $1,819

Event No. 6 — Shorthanded Pot-Limit Omaha

One of the more action-filled events of the FTOPS series is the shorthanded pot-limit Omaha contest. This $500 event had 637 players sign up to create a prize pool of $318,500.

Full Tilt pro Dario Alioto hosted the contest, in which 84 players were paid. Other Full Tilt pros to cash in the event included David Chiu, Lee Watkinson, Martin Klaeser, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, and Scott Fischman.

The online notables to finish in the money were a veritable who’s who of the online poker community, including Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Brett “gank” Jungblutt, WHENTHUGSCRY, Shawn "phat_cat1" Luhman, Rami “Abrianight” Boukai, Phillip "USCphildo" Collins, Isaac "the guru 11" Baron, Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken, and Jake “TheFitGuy” Walsh, playing as CrayonBox. Two others who bubbled the final table of six were Matt “SamENole” Smith and Ben “1Mastermind” Chen.

When it was all over, mmmadd defeated scatterbrain123 heads up to win the nearly $70,000 first place prize.

1. mmmadd — $68,478
2. scatterbrain123 — $44,909
3. Kavin86 — $32,264
4. Care4Nature — $24,525
5. LokoIsBack — $17,518
6. bd3109 — $11,148

Event No. 7 — No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys

The biggest non-Sunday event of the weekend was the $100 no-limit hold’em with rebuys event. This wasn’t your typical $100 rebuy that you can find at least once a day online. This event had 1,811 entrants, 2,675 rebuys, and 1,041 add-ons, to generate a prize pool of $552,700.

A total of 261 players were paid during the Hans-Vogl hosted event. Despite the large number of entrants, only Erick Lindgren finished in the money to represent for the men in red. Lindgren, who has won an FTOPS event before, finished in 13th place, just short of the final table. Other notables to go deep included Jonas “Klausen” Klausen, Jason “Jcarver” Somerville, Ray “Exitonly” Coburn, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, and Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis, just to name a few.

When the dust settled, Jorn “jornx” Walthaus defeated Sebop to claim the first-place prize of more than $100,000.

1. Jorn “jornx” Walthaus — $102,250
2. Sebop — $63,008
3. ibleedbenjamins — $41,453
4. butter435 — $33,162
5. MB16021972 — $25,424
6. Colonel Mustard — $18,239
7. jarou — $13,265
8. eisenhower1 — $10,335
9. lpchil — $7,959

Today features two FTOPS VIII events. The first is a pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event, which has a $200+$16 buy-in and a $200,000 guarantee. That event has already started at 2 p.m. ET. The second is a no-limit hold’em event, which has a $1,000+$60 buy-in and a $1,500,000 guarantee. That event starts at 9 p.m. ET. Satellites are currently running for all of the remaining events in the FTOPS VIII, 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.