FTOPS V Results – Event 12
Phil Ivey (Credit: Full Tilt Poker)
On Saturday, Full Tilt Poker held its first-ever two day event as part of the FTOPS V. Phil Ivey, arguably the greatest poker player in the world, was the host for the $2,500 + $120 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tourney. The guarantee was $600,000 but the 648 entrants shattered that. Their entries brought the total prize pool up to an impressive $1,620,000 with almost $400,000 set aside for the champ.
The talented Ivey certainly wanted a slice of that tasty prize pie. He went deep into day one, which lasted about eight hours, but was ousted when his set of sevens lost to a set of tens.
At the close of the first day only 78 folks remained. Among those returning for Day Two were three Full Tilt Pros, David Chiu, Max Pescatori and Eddy Scharf, who was fresh off his cash in Event #11, Limit Hold'em 6 Max. Since just 63 players would make bank, play was super tight right off the bat.
SpikeTheAce, who was down to the virtual felt with less than one big blind left, was lucky enough to cash when a player at another table went all-in with big slick and caught nothing against his opponent's pocket treys. Three hours after the bubble burst, the final nine were ready to get down and dirty to win it all. Along the way, all three of Full Tilt's remaining pros hit the rail. Scharf again held the distinction of being the final professional finisher. His elimination in 54 th place was good for $4,455.00.
Grndhg25, the eventual winner, held the chip lead. He had 739,544 chips. Mattman got things started off when he went all-in with a pair of cowboys. Batera called him and flipped over the rockets. Mattman said a prayer for his tournament life and caught a set on the flop, crippling Batera. On the next hand, soggy dogg would say adios to the table. His A,Q would prove no good against Grndhg's queen-high straight.
Mattman then dispatched Batera in eighth place. After that, play tightened back up for a bit. That is until fridhem moved all-in with big slick in the hole. Viktor called and flipped over pocket ladies. The board didn't help fridhem out. However, he did earn over $50,000 for his sixth-place finish.
naskoxx would risk his tournament life with A,Q – ironically, that trouble hand has knocked event host Phil Ivey out of more than a few WPT tournaments. He found himself in big trouble when Grndhg called with a dominant A,K. A queen fell on the flop along with a king so it was sayonara, naskoxx. The action was down to five and the blinds went up to 4,000/8,000. Mattman, SkinnyRick and the unfortunately named bashpup were all nearing the danger zone, and things only worsened after the break when the blinds shot up again, this time to 5k/10k.
Mattman took a chance, going all-in with pocket sixes preflop. Grndhg25 called with K,10. A ten came down on the flop. With no six hitting on the turn or river, Mattman, who finished fourth in Event #1 of FTOPS V, was terminated in fifth place. SkinnyRick then found himself up against it when Grndhg called his all-in. Rick showed his A,4 and hoped for small cards against Grndhg's Big Slick. The board helped neither player so the Grndhg's kicker was good enough to eliminate Rick.
As three-handed play began, Grndhg had a clear chip lead with 2.2 mil. bashup, who had doubled up earlier, watched as his stack dwindled down to under 100k. He took a chance with his pocket queens. It looked good when Viktor called and flipped over 8,8 in the hole. However, the turn gave Viktor the lead as another eight hit the board. The river held no lady for bashup, and he was outta there with $182,250.00.
The heads-up match up began with Grndhg in a 2-to-1 lead over Viktor. However, Viktor couldn't do much to bridge the gap. Ten hands later, Grndhg dispatched of his opponent with a mere Q,8.
Here are the final table results:
1) Grndhg25 - $396,900.00
2) Viktor - $247,050.00
3) bashpup - $182,250.00
4) SkinnyRick - $141,750.00
5) Mattman14 - $105,300.00
6) naskoxx - $76,950.00
7) fridhem - $50,220.00