The third day of the already exciting Full Tilt Online Poker Series was a day filled with hold’em and more tournament guarantees put to shame. Events 4 and 5 of FTOPS XI distributed more than $430,000 to more than 200 players, breaking through guarantees in the process. The two events also brought some names to the fore as ones who may go down in FTOPS history.
Event 4 began on February 6th with a shootout game, something that is quickly becoming a player favorite. The $300 + $22 no-limit hold’em triple shootout drew enough players to reach the cap of 729, putting the prize pool over the $200K guarantee at $218,700 to be split among the 81 finalists. Full Tilt pro Scott Fischman hosted the event, and the highest notable finisher was the 2008 World Series of Poker final tablist Scott Montgomery, who cashed in 26th place.
When the final table was set, there were some familiar names there. Julian Verse might be remembered for his recent win of the FTOPS X main event, and lauraj111 made the final table of the FTOPS XI Event 2 just the day before this one. It was clear that they were hot after the win, along with the others, all of whom began the table with 243K in chips:
ClockWyze
Julian Verse
sentin
donivan31
jolly001
Thin_Hamster
lauraj111
PeachyMer
scrapper41
Thin_Hamster lost most of his chips early and pushed his final 11,016 into the pot with 
. jolly001 called with 
, and the 
gave him the full house, eliminating Thin_Hamster in ninth place with a $2,952.45 prize.
sentin was the next player to become short-stacked, courtesy of jolly001, so sentin shoved his last 55K chips into the pot on the very next hand with 
. jolly001 wasn’t missing out on it, so he called with 
, and the flop hit him right where he wanted with 
. sentin was sent away in eighth place with $4,155.30.
In a surprise turn of events, the next significant hand involved Donivan31 and jolly001. Donivan31 moved all-in from the small blind with , but jolly001 called all-in with a shorter stack from the big blind holding . The virtual dealer showed 
, and jolly001 was suddenly out of the game in seventh place with $6,123.60.
It didn’t take long for scrapper41 to put his tournament life on the line as well, pushing preflop with 
. Julian Verse was along for the ride with pocket nines, and the board came 
to allow them to hold up. scrapper41 was gone in sixth place with $8,748.00.
Soon to tangle were PeachyMer and ClockWyze, as PeachyMer risked it all with pocket nines versus the 
of ClockWyze. When a king hit the flop and no more nines showed up on the board, PeachyMer had to leave in fifth place with $12,028.50.
ClockWyze was ready to stay in the action, and upon seeing a raise from lauraj111 preflop, ClockWyze pushed all-in with pocket queens. lauraj111 called and was all-in with . The rest of the cards came 
, and the queens held up to eliminate lauraj111 in fourth place with $16,402.50. In only four events to that point, it was the second final table finish from lauraj111.
When Julian Verse saw Donivan31 push all-in preflop, he looked down at and called. But Donivan31 turned over the pocket aces, and it looked like a double-up situation for the shorter stack. Instead, though, the board came , and those trip kings took the pot, leaving Donivan31 to accept third place and the $21,870 that went with it.
Heads-up play began with the following counts:
Julian Verse 1,358,402
ClockWyze 828,598
Julian Verse maintained his lead, and shortly into the duo’s action, some serious preflop betting led to Julian Verse pushing all-in. ClockWyze called - covered and all-in - with pocket nines. Julian Verse showed the 
, and the board came again in his favor with 
. Aces and eights for Julian Verse left ClockWyze with a second place finish and the corresponding $30,618 prize money.
Va Shon Watkins, better known as Julian Verse and the FTOPS X main event champion, claimed another FTOPS tournament for his list of accomplishments, this one coming with a $45,927 prize.
Event 5 was brought another outstanding field to the virtual felt on Friday. The $200 + $16 limit hold’em with 6-max tables combined a more classic limit game with the short-handed format that has gained popularity in recent years. Chau Giang was the Full Tilt pro hosting the tournament, and 1,603 players came to compete, creating a prize pool of $212,600, putting the $150K guarantee to shame.
By the time the final table was reached, the last six players standing and their corresponding chip counts were as follows:
tom10167 1,624,496
killinda_sts 1,432,881
TheMrC 568,256
TOPTEN 301,235
pool_shark_10 177,980
benvo123 147,152
Coming in as the severe short stack, benvo123 considered a move early. He got involved with killinda_sts to see a flop of 
, after which benvo123 committed the remainder of his 37,152 stack holding pocket threes. killinda_sts called with with only ace high, but the came on the turn to give him the lead. The on the river made it final, and benvo123 left in sixth place with $7,228.40.
Almost in order of starting chip counts, the next to be at risk was pool_shark_10, as his stack had been reduced to 70,712 chips. pool_shark_10 was all-in with 
, but tom10167 called and dominated with . The flop was all it took to seal the deal when it came 
because nothing came on the turn or river to help pool_shark_10, who was eliminated in fifth place with $11,267.80.
TheMrC decided to see a flop with killinda_sts, and when it came 
, more chips went into the pot. It was the on the turn that prompted a bet from killinda_sts but an all-in check-raise from TheMrC with . killinda_sts called with A-7, but when the 
came on the river, it sent TheMrC out in fourth place with $15,732.40.
killinda_sts seemed to be on track to make it to heads-up but lost chips consistently before getting involved with tom10167. The two saw a flop of , which led to more betting and the 
on the turn. tom10167 bet again, and killinda_sts called all-in with 
. tom10167 had the better hand, though, with , and the on the river did nothing to change that. killinda_sts was ousted in third place with a $21,047.40 prize.
Heads-up action began with the following chip counts:
tom10167 2,625,765
TOPTEN 1,626,235
There was some play between the two and no immediate outcome, but TOPTEN made a run for and finally gained the chip lead. tom10167 was finally reduced to less than 100K when he lost a significant pot to TOPTEN. Finally, tom10167 was all-in from the big blind on the next hand holding 
. TOPTEN was there with 
, and the board brought . tom10167 had to settle for $29,551.40 and second place.
It was TOPTEN who finished in the top spot in the tournament, which was good for a first place prize of $44,327 along with the FTOPS title.
More events await online players at Full Tilt Poker, as FTOPS XI has barely gotten off the ground. Satellites continue to run for the remaining tournaments. Download Full Tilt Poker
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