FTOPS 10 ENDS ON A HIGH NOTE

21 November 2008

Guarantee on prize pool exceeded

 

The Full Tilt online poker website celebrated the end of another successful series this week with the completion of edition 10 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. With two big-money events, it was a fitting climax to a tournament that saw plenty of action from skilled online poker players around the world.

The big crowd puller was the Main Event, a $500+$35 NLHE game that attracted 5 225 players, generating a prize pool of $2 612 500 - comfortably above the $2.5 million guaranteed by Full Tilt. Top online players entering the event included Nenad 'serb2127' Khan, young gun James 'Mig_com' Mackey and Christian "da_professional" Iacobellis, among many others. None of them reached the final table, however.

That final table was eventually decided after 11 hours of full-on action at the tables. The chip count lead was held (for the second time in an FTOPS main event) by 'sckilla', who was almost 4 million in chips ahead of his nearest rival when final table play commenced. Others around the table were Va Shon 'Julian Verse' Watkins - the closest rival on 7 274 056 in chips; 'sinrake' - almost 2 million behind Watkins; 'ilovepoka' - another 2 million back in the field; 'Kraag -3'; 'RollinHand1'; 'Hummelhintern'; 'bazeman' and 'sd bum.'

This time around sckilla made sure he maintained a clear lead, almost dominating the game to the heads up, which saw him with 22.5 million in chips against his last opponent, 'Julian Verse' Watkins, trailing but still dangerous on 16.7 million. Watkins put in a thriller of a performance, coming close to and finally overtaking sckilla to eventually win the game and take home the respect and a healthy $450 708.50 boost for his bank account.

Sckilla had to be content with a second placing prize of $273 006 and change - still a good return on his initial $535 entry fee investment. The six-figure money extended down to the fifth placing, where 'bazeman' took home almost $104 000; 'ilovepoker' collected $137 156 and third placed Hummelhintern's paycheck was worth $175 560.

The other major FTOPS 10 closing tournament was the two day "high roller" $5 000+200 NLHE 6-max game, which pulled in 500 entries and was won by Amit Makhija. The field was, as expected, well patronised by top players and included Brandon Adams, Kevin Saul, David Peters, Craig Marquis fresh from his WSOP final table, Christian Iacobellis and David Pham.

After two tough days, the competition was down to six players around the final table, with Makhija ('amak316') the closest rival on 746 125 to chip leader 'KaKeTKa' who was on 832 144. Other players were PureCash25, dpowell, Evan "NEONPILS99" Parkes and Mark "Buster Love" Seif.

The departure of PureCash25 in third place for $262 500 set the scene for the heads up between 'KaKeTKa' and Makhija, with the latter holding a massive 5 to 1 chip lead that he used to lethal advantage in eventually eliminating his last opponent. KaKeTKa's second placing payday netted him $362 500, whilst Amit Makhija took the honours and the first place prize of $550 000.