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Event #5 of FTOPS XIV, Stud 8 or Better, kicked off Friday Night. Jennifer Harman was the host, and the event drew 555 players, creating a prize pool of $111,000. This met the guarantee by $11,000. First place was scheduled to win $26,307.

A host of Full Tilt Poker red pros turned out including Cyndy Violette, Huck Seed, John Cernuto, Berry Johnston, and of course host Harman. However, it was old school poker pro and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Artie Cobb that was the lone red pro to cash, finishing in 44th.

Event #5 FTOPS XIV final table photo

The final table was headlined by three former FTOPS winners. Steven Burkholder “UFman2″, Yuval Bronstein “yuvee04″, and Deception pt all made the final table. Burkholder started the final table as chip leader. This is how the final eight started final table play:

kobeallst 297,304

Yuval “yuvee” Bronstein 252,167

WB123456789 212,058

pinishe45 131,937

Deception Pt 283,346

dannymien 289,934

Shawn Grant “Shawnzjones” 354,578

Steven “UFman2″ Burkholder 398,676
Pinishe5 was the first player eliminated from the final table. On sixth street, Pinishe45 was showing a pair of queen on board and Grant was showing 5-10-2-7. Betting between the two players was capped, leaving pinishe45 just 1,437, which went in on the river. After making the call, grant showed 9-8-6 in the hole for a ten high straight and a low. Pinishe45 had A-A-4 in the hole for aces up. Whether or not Grant was freerolling with a low and back into a straight didn’t matter. Pinishe45 finished in 8th and won $1,665.

Yuval Bronstein was the next player to hit the rail. His stack was knocked down to just 55,667 and he decided to run with three diamonds. On fourth, he caught an open pair and Steven Burkholder caught an open pair of eights. On fifth, Brohnstein caught a fourth diamond and bet out. Burkholder caught an ace on fifth and raised, which put Brohnstein all-in. Bronhstein made the call to reveal his four flush and pair. Burkholder turned over 8-5 in the hole for trip eights. Sixth street left Brohnstein drawing dead when Burkholder caught an ace to make a full house and Bronstein caught a three. Yuval Bronstein finished this event in 7th place and won $2,442.

Shawn Grant was down to his last 132,515 and was dealt buried aces. He pushed the action until sixth street, when Deception Pt raised to put Grant all-in. Grant had only the aces he started with and to his dismay, Deception Pt was holding a six-high straight. Grant was drawing dead and finished in 6th place. Grant took $3,219 for his strong finish.
Dannymien got what every player hopes for being short stack, a rolled-up hand.

Dannymien was rolled up with four and got the last of his 230,736 stack in on sixth street. WB123456789 started with split deuces and caught a third on fourth and his trip deuces were still behind on sixth when he put dannymien at risk. In stud 8, a rolled up hand usually is not safe unless it fills up, and this happened to be the case. WB123456789 filled up on the river with deuces full and dannymien failed to fill up. As a result, he finishes in 5th place. $4,662 was his prize for his deep run but he clearly wishes his rolled-up fours would have held.
A deal was discussed four handed, but Steven Burkholder would not come off of his 21,000 figure that he wanted, and play continued. Things went downhill from there.

Burkholder had a sizable chip lead, but his opponents steadily chopped him down until he was the short stack. With just 211,509 left at the 30k-60k betting round, he got the rest of his stack in on fifth street with just a seven-low draw. Deception Pt held a pair of kings and the lead. Burkholder only improved to a pair of deuces and failed to make a low. Steven Burkholder became our 4th place finisher, taking in $7,548. Interestingly enough, players were only asking that he come off of $3,000, which would have left him $19,000 if the deal went through. In this case $3k cost him 12.

A deal was struck up between the final three players with the money pretty much evenly divided up. $2,000 would go to the winner as well as the gold jersey.

Kobeallst finished in 3rd place after going all-in on fifth street with a pair of aces and straight draw. He ran into a flush from Deception Pt and headed out in 3rd place.

Heads-up play say Deception Pt start with a dominating 1.925 Million to 294,528 lead over WB123456789. He was in good shape to win his 2nd FTOPS event. Heads-up play did not last long. A few hands into play, WB123456789 was all-in on sixth street with only a pair of sevens. Deception Pt held a six low and needed a four or ace for the scoop. The river fell gave Deception Pt a four, the scoop, and his 2nd FTOPS title.

Deception Pt officially takes home $20,625.55 and his 2nd FTOPS gold jersey. He entered the final table about middle of the pack and hung tough until he was able to make a move with four players left. In the end, he just had too big of a stack to overcome. Congratulations to Deception Pt, FTOPS Event #5 champion.

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Full Tilt Poker FTOPS XIII Event #22 kicked off on Saturday with a $2,620 6-handed NL Holdem event. 850 players turned out for the two day event to make a prize pool of $2,125,000. First place for the event received $453,687.50.

The heavy hitters turned out in force to take their shot at this title. Among the Full Tilt red pros in attendance were Allen Cunningham, Eli Elezra, Erick Lindgren, Huck Seed, Scott Clements, and November Nine member Phil Ivey. The host of the event, Patrik Antonius, did not last long in the event. He was the 8th player knocked, finishing 828th.

102 players made the money in this event. Scott Montgomery just squeaked in the money in 101st. Shaun Deeb aka tedsfishfry finished in 81st. Play concluded at the end of Day 1 with 66 players remaining. They returned Sunday to make their march to the final table.

Five Full Tilt red pros made Day 2, but only one would make the final table. Brian Hastings made the final table with well over a Million in chips. Joining him were GreatDANbino, debbiedds, bob2bob, CrazyIvan24, and psutennis11.

Bob2bob was the first eliminated from the final table. He moved all-in pre-flop with pocket deuces and received a call from psutennis11 holding Ad-Ks. The flop nearly sealed bob2bob’s fate when an ace hit. A two did not hit the turn or river and bob2bob went home in 6th and $73,312.50.

CrazyIvan24 was the next eliminated. He was all-in pre-flop with As-Qh and called by the pocket sevens of Brian Hastings. The flop fell with a queen to put CrazyIvan24 in the lead. However, the turn fell the 7d to give Hastings a set and the winning hand. CrazyIvan24 finished in 5th and received $114,750.

Debbiedds led out with a bet at the river on a board of 9h-3d-8c-8d-3s. Psutennis11 then moved all-in and debbiedds made the call. Psutennis11 showed As-8s for eights-full and debbiedds mucked. Debbiedds finished in 4th and $161.500 was her prize.

The GreatDANbino decided to shove his stack with pocket deuces and found himself in a race against the As-Jh of psutennis11. The flop and turn missed both players, but the river fell the Ac to send GreatDANbino out in 3rd. GreatDANbino received $212,500 for his strong finish.

Heads-up play was back and forth. Psutennis11 held the chip lead to start but then lost the lead to Hastings. He was then able to pull back to even when his pocket sevens flopped a set and turned a boat. He then retook the lead before the final hand that saw Hastings move all-in with pocket sixes and psutennis11 call with two over cards in Jc-8c. The flop gave psutennis11 a straight draw and the turn gave psutennis11 a pair of jacks. Only a six on the river would save Hastings. The river fell the Ks and Brian Hastings finished in 2nd place. Brian Hastings took home $297,500 for his fine effort.

Jake Toole Photo

Jake Toole aka Psutennis11 is the FTOPS Event #22 Champion. In addition to the $453,687.50 top prize, he will receive the FTOPS championship jersey. Congratulations.

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Event #10 of the Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Series (FTOPS) kicked off Sunday with a $322 NL Holdem Event. 5,660 players turned out for the event to make a prize pool of $1.698 Million, eclipsing the guarantee by almost $200k. 720 players received a payday in the event. First place for this event received $290,358 and the FTOPS Champion’s Jersey.

Full Tilt’s team of red pros turned out in force to take their shot at this event. Among the names in the field were Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Berry Johnston, Eli Elezra, Huck Seed, Lee Watkinson, and Scott Clements. November Nine participant James Akenhead finished in 182nd, Jon Turner finished 62nd, and Andy Bloch, fresh off of his 2nd place finish in the FTOPS Stud Event, finished in 42nd place. Bryan Micon made a deep run in this event but took a horrific bad beat to end his tournament. He raised pre-flop and received a call from another player. On a jack high flop with two hearts, Micon snap-called an all-in shove with pocket jacks. His opponent held two 7h-6h for a flush draw. The turn fell the Kh to complete his opponent’s flush and the river failed to fill up Micon.

The final table was reached around 6:40 US EST. CWTREFEREE04 started the final table with a slight chip advantage. These where the final table participants and their respective chip counts:

tiltslowplayer 1,314,572

t1ger heat 4,513,939

CWTREFEREE04 5,325,598

BacoPride 5,228,610

mrob00 720,912

HevvyDevvy 1,255,992

POSITIV_NEGITIV 3,885,491

Mike Daciuk 773,138

conslice 5,091,748

HevvyDevvy was the first player eliminated from the final table. BacoPride raised to 300,000 pre-flop and HevvyDevvy moved all-in for 955,992 from the cutoff. BacoPride made the call and showed Kh-Qh. HevvyDevvy had him dominated with Ah-Qc. The flop fell K-J-6 rainbow to give BacoPride the lead, but HevvyDevvy picked up a broadway draw. A ten did not come on the turn or river and HevvyDevvy finished in 9th.

Mike Daciuk moved all-in from middle position for 403,138 and action folded to CWTREFEREE04 in the small blind. He then shoved all-in for 3.19 Million and BacoPride folded. Mike Daciuk had Ah-Ks and CWTREFEREE04 held pocket jacks. CWTREEFEREE flopped a set of jacks and Mike Daciuk a broadway draw. As with HevvyDevvy, a ten did not come for Mike Daciuk on the turn or river and he finished in 8th.

Playing K-Q is dicey at best and CWTREFEREE04 found out about that the hard way. He raised pre-flop and was called by BacoPride. On a flop of Qh-3d-7s, CWTREFEREE04 bet out 480,000 and was called. Then he bet the same amount on the turn 3s. When the river fell the 4d, he moved all-in for 2.549 Million and BacoPride snap-called. CWTREFEREE04 showed Kc-Qd for two pair and BacoPride showed pocket sevens for sevens-full and left CWTREFEREE04 with only 195,982.

The very next hand, t1ger heat raised to 312,222 and CWTREFEREE04 called all-in for less. BacoPride called as did POSITIV_NEGITIV. The flop fell 4c-9c-7c and POSITIV_NEGITIV bet out 600,000. Everyone folded and CWTREFEREE04 found out the bad news. His Ks-10d was against Ac-Kc for the nut flush and he was drawing dead. CWTREFEREE04 went from chip leader at the start of the final table to 7th place finisher.

Mrob00 moved all-in from the button and was called by POSITIV_NEGITIV and conslice in the blinds. The board of Ac-6d-Qc-6h-10h was checked down and at showdown, mrob00 showed Qs-10s for two pair, but POSITIV_NEGITIV showed Ah-8h for a better two pair. Mrob00 finished in 6th place.

After a bit of coaxing that really sounded more like begging, a deal was looked at briefly and rejected. From the chat reactions, it appeared BacoPride did not like the deal.

On the first hand after the deal was discussed, BacoPride raised to 340,000 and tiltslowplayer moved all-in for 1.39 Million total. BacoPride snap-called with pocket aces. Tiltslowplayer was far behind with pocket eights. The board failed to produce an eight and tiltslowplayer finished in 5th.

A deal was looked at for a 2nd time and this time, the four remaining players came to terms. The following four will be paid out as follows:

conslice $206,218.51

t1ger heat $169,842.50

Baco Pride $168,711.48

POSITIV_NEGITIV $150,649.51

$50,000 was left in the prize pool to play for with $19,476.08 going to the eventual winner.

After the deal was struck, play loosened somewhat with chips mostly going to BacoPride. Conslice had held the chip lead when the deal was struck, but a series of pots moved BacoPride over 10 Million in chips. T1ger heat held 7.2 Million and both conslice and POSITIV_NEGITIV hovered around 5 Million.

As quick as he took the chip lead, BacoPride was crippled and subsequently eliminated. He sent most of his stack over to t1ger heat when he rivered trip sevens against BacoPride. The next hand, BacoPride was all-in pre-flop for his last 1.59 Million and called by conslice. Conslice held pocket tens and BacoPride held pocket fours. By the river, conslice held broadway and BacoPride headed out in 4th place.

Conslice made a great call to eliminate POSITIV_NEGITIV. POSITIV_NEGITIV moved all-in for 3.2 Million after conslice had raised from the button. Conslice contemplated for a bit, even using his time bank a bit. He finally made the call and discovered his Ks-7s was ahead of the Qc-10s of his opponent. The board fell nine-high and POSITIV_NEGITIV was eliminated in 3rd place.

It is unknown what conslice had in the next to last hand of this event, but before the hand started, both players had relatively even stack with conslice having a 49,260 chip advantage. 49,260 was all he had left after the hand as t1ger heat moved all-in on a board of K-2-5-Q-J. Conslice called and then mucked when t1ger heat showed K-10. The next hand, conslice was all-in for the blind and ante with Qd-9s and faced the pocket jacks of t1ger heat. The flop and turn missed both players, but the river Jc gave t1ger heat the hand and the victory.

In addition to the $169,842.50 that he received from the deal, t1ger heat won an addition

19476.08 for a grand total of $189,318.58. In addition to the prize money, t1ger heat received the FTOPS Champion’s Jersey. Congratulations to t1ger heat, FTOPS Event #10 Champion.

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The Main Event of FTOPS XII on Full Tilt Poker kicked off on Sunday with 4,581 runners putting up $535 each. First place for this event was $432,400 and 648 players were paid.

Full Tilt red pros Aaron Bartley, Erick Lindgren, Paul Wolfe, Isaac Baron, David Pham, and Bruno Stefanelli all made the money. Lindgren would finish highest among the red pros, taking home $1,500 for 205th place.

The final table had one name of note as Julian Adamson, aka hartwith, who made the final table as the second short stack. Also baDONKaD0NK88 is a 100/200 NL regular in high stakes games at Full Tilt Poker.

Pocketownage420 6,355,367
azzabentonaces 5,587,683
-NinG- 4,796,044
nickeltwenty 3,860,832
oiltrader 3,823,366
iDubDeuce 2,670,082
baDONKaD0NK88 2,468,496
Hartwith 2,453,887
RonFezBuddy 2,341,743

Oiltrader was the first player eliminated from the final table when he got into a raising war with azzabentonaces. When the smoke cleared, oiltrader was all in with A-K and far behind the K-K of azzabentonaces. Oiltrader picked up a straight draw on the turn to give azzabentonaces a sweat, but the river was a blank to send oiltrader home in 9th.

Azzabentonaces would then proceed to knock out two more players from this table. He limped from the small blind pre-flop only to have BaDONKaD0NK88 shove from the big blind for over 1.5 Million in chips. Azzabentonaces called to reveal pocket aces. BaDONKaD0NK88 held sixes and they were off to the races. BaDONKaD0NK88 flopped a straight draw, but then drew blank to finish in 8th. A few hands later, Azzabentonaces knocked out RonFezBuddy when he turned the nut flush holding A-Q of hearts.

-NinG- was the third player at this final table to push with a pocket pair only to run into a bigger pair. He pushed with nines and ran into the pocket aces of hartwith. As seemed to be the theme at this table, -NinG- flopped a straight draw, but failed to hit his draw. As a result, he went home in 6th place.

Nickeltwenty was the next player knocked out when he ran A-Q into the A-K of azzabentonaces. No help came for either player and azzabentonaces knocked out his 4th player of the final table.

In back to back hands, A-K spelled doom for hartwith. First, he moved in with pocket sixes against the A-K of iDubDeuce and iDubDeuce was able to outdraw his opponent to double up. The next hand, hartwith decided to push with A-3 and iDubDeuce had once again caught A-K. This time, he didn’t need any help to send hartwith to the door in 4th place.

Azzabentonaces got his 5th knockout of this final table when he rivered a flush against iDubDeuce. All the chips went in on the turn and at that point iDubDeuce was ahead with two pair. At this point, it seemed that Azzabentonaces was almost a lock to win with a 5 to 1 chip lead. However, Pocketownage420 was able to double up twice against him to take the lead.

The final hand of the game finally saw someone fill out a straight draw while all-in. All the money went in pre-flop as azzabentonaces shoved with pocket sevens. Pocketownage420 made the call with A-J. The flop fell K-Q-5 to give Pocketownage420 a gutshot straight draw. Unfortunately for azzabentonaces, the turn fell a 10 to give Pocketownage420 broadway and eliminated azzabentonaces in 2nd place. Pocketownage420 became the FTOPS XII Main Event Champion and took home Pocketownage420.

The final table of this FTOPS Main Event started out as a knockout clinic by azzabentonaces. Pocketownage420 just sat back and let the carnage take place before taking control of the wheel heads-up. In the end, he remained true to his name when his A-J owned the pocket sevens of his opponent. Congratulations to Pocketownage420, FTOP XII Main Event Champion.

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